Through the Bible in One Year

Day 140

John 7:53-8:11

Today we are going to the scene the famous scene between Jesus and the woman caught in the act of adultery.  As marginal notes in most modern translations indicate, this passage is absent from many important Greek manuscripts.  Many of the manuscripts that do include it contain scribal notations indicating doubt about the authenticity of the passage.  Many scholars, however, understand the story to be a historical event, and that is how we will deal with it too.

Then they all went home, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”—7:53-8:11

The scene suddenly shifts from the confrontation between Nicodemus and the Sanhedrin to an early morning setting in which Jesus addressed a large crowd in the temple precinct.  Jesus took the normal teaching position of sitting as he spoke.  Without warning, the teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought before Jesus a woman caught in the act of adultery, in other words they drug this woman through the streets of Jerusalem naked in order to present her before Jesus.  Their duplicity was evident.  The Old Testament law on which they based their charges required both parties to be punished.  The male partner was conspicuously absent.  Furthermore, the Romans did not allow the Jews to hand down the death penalty.  The leaders were using the woman as a pawn.  They wanted to play off Jesus’ well-known compassion for “sinners” against the demands of the law.  Their strategy seemed foolproof.  If Jesus suggested that the woman be treated with mercy, then he could be accused of breaking the law.  If he upheld Jewish law and called for her to be stoned, he would violate Roman law.  Jesus responded by kneeling down and scribbling something on the ground.  Then Jesus challenged those without sin to begin the stoning.  He then knelt down again and wrote on the ground.  Beginning with the oldest, all the accusers left.  When only Jesus and the woman remained Jesus called on her to make a decisive break with her lifestyle.  His words were similar to those he had spoken to the lame man (5:14).  Jesus extended mercy to the woman while at the same time calling her to account for her sin.

Then they all went home, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”—7:53-8:7

In an effort to trap Jesus, the authorities had actually twisted the law and had possibly even staged this event.  This particular method of execution was used when there was a very specific set of circumstances that may or may not have applied here.  In addition, the law would have required the execution of both parties involved in sexual relations outside of their own marriages.  Still, this situation presented a real test for Jesus because the Romans did not allow the Jews to carry out death sentences.  Yet Jesus could have been accused of not supporting the Jewish law if he simply dismissed the case.  Jesus’ answer took away the opportunity for the authorities to trap him in his own words because he still talked about throwing stones, so he could not be accused of ignoring the law.  However, he actually prevented the authorities from taking action into their own hands.  We must be careful not us use Jesus’ words here to justify the tolerance of sin in the church or to treat lightly the moral failure of those who claim to be followers of Christ, because to do so means we too are rejecting what the Bible (and thus God) is saying about sin among God’s people.

1. The church’s conduct and response toward sinners outside the church who may have had little chance to respond to God, and its conduct towards those within the church who sin and defy Christ, are two different situations.
2. God’s Word teaches that one, unashamed sins committed by those within the church must not be tolerated, but ought to be confronted and exposed.

Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”—8:8-11

Jesus attitude reflects his mercy and his desire to forgive sin and restore people to a right relationship with God.  He does not condemn the woman as if she is unfit for forgiveness, but treats he with kindness and patience in order to lead her to repent.  If she responds to Jesus’ challenge, she can receive spiritual salvation, no matter what she did in her past.  However, there are two important things that we need understand out of this passage in the heart of John’s Gospel.

1. Jesus is forgiving the sinner, not accepting the sin of adultery and the heartbreak it causes for both adults and children.
2. What Jesus offers this woman is an opportunity for salvation and a way out of her sinful life.  But she will only escape God’s punishment if she turns completely from her old ways and begins to live as part of God’s kingdom.

And we will pick from there tomorrow when he see Jesus’ second “I am” statement.

Tomorrow’s Bible Readings:

1 Samuel 29-31, John 11:55-12:19, Psalm 118:1-18 and Proverbs 15:24-26