That's a small detail that doesn't get a lot of commentary from Dante in the Comedy. And yet, it's something I've been thinking about a lot lately due to some discernment issues our church is facing.
Protestants don't think about this a whole lot, but Jesus appears to give the church the authority to forgive sins, or not. After his resurrection in the gospel of John, Jesus says this to his disciples:
John 20.21-23This notion is paralleled in the Synoptic gospels, where Peter is given the authority to "bind and loose" with the "keys of the kingdom":
Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Matthew 16.19But this power isn't restricted to Peter. It is, rather, a power held by the church when "two or three gather" in the name of Jesus:
"I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Matthew 18.15-20Again, for Protestants the ordering here seems all wrong. Our impulse isn't to take the lead, but to follow the dictates of heaven. In our discernment we generally ask, "What does the Bible say? What does God bind? What does heaven forgive?"
“If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
“Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
“Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
But in the gospel accounts this order is reversed. Heaven follows our choices. Whatever we forgive on earth will be forgiven in heaven. Whatever we loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
Catholics get these texts, believing that the church does, in fact, have both this power and responsibility. Protestants, by contrast, have no idea what to do when handed Peter's keys.
It seems that heaven hasn't given us a strict rulebook to follow. We have to make decisions as we go, making choices about what is or isn't a sin, what should be bound or loosed. Heaven then follows our choices.
That seems crazy to us, God waiting on us to make a call. But that seems to be the situation we're in.
