No man was to exercise an arbitrary power over another man’s conscience. Christ gave no ecclesiastical right to forgive sin, nor to sell indulgences, that men may sin without incurring the displeasure of God, nor did he give his servants liberty to accept a gift or bribe for cloaking sin, that it may escape merited censure. Jesus charged his disciples to preach the remission of sin in his name among all nations; but they themselves were not empowered to remove one stain of sin from the children of Adam. Nor were they to execute judgment against the guilty; the wrath of an offended God was to be proclaimed against the sinner; but the power which the Roman Church assumes to visit that wrath upon the offender is not established by any direction of Christ; he himself will execute the sentence pronounced against the impenitent. Whoever would attract the people to himself as one in whom is invested power to forgive sins, incurs the wrath of God, for he turns souls away from the heavenly Pardoner to a weak and erring mortal. {3SP 245.1}

Intet menneske skulle udøve et vilkårligt herredømme over et andet menneskes samvittighed. Kristus gav ikke nogen gejstlig ret til at forlade synd eller at sælge aflad, så at menneskerne kunne synde uden at pådrage sig Guds mishag, ej heller gav han sine tjenere frihed til at modtage en gave for at skjule synd, så at vedkommende kunne undgå sin fortjente straf. Jesus pålagde sine disciple at forkynde syndernes forladelse i "hans navn" blandt alle folkeslag men de fik ikke selv magt til at bortfjerne en eneste syndeplet fra Adams børn. Ej heller skulle de straffe de ugudelige. De skulle forkynde den fortørnede Guds vrede mod synderen; men den magt, som den romerske kirke har tilranet sig, så at den overfører denne vrede på overtræderen, har ikke nogen grund i Kristi undervisning. Han vil selv bringe den bestemte dom over de ubodfærdige. Den, som drager folk til sig selv og påstår, at han har magt til at forlade synd, pådrager sig Guds vrede; thi han vender sjæle bort fra (246) Jesus, som alene kan tilgive et svagt og fejlende menneskes synd.