John 7:53-8:11--The Woman Caught in Adultery

John 7:53-8:11
English Standard Version

[The earliest manuscripts do not include 7:53–8:11.]

The Woman Caught in Adultery
53 [[They went each to his own house, 
8 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” 6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”]]

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Before we get started, don't get worked up about the notes in brackets or the fact that this portion of the book of John is set off in brackets in my Bible or yours.  I kept all that for the sake of transparency, but whether these verses are there or not in your Bible does not change the message of the Book of John or the Bible as a whole and nothing happens in this story that we couldn't also find in Jesus' teaching elsewhere.  Primarily we'll see this story tell us that Jesus was not here during His first Advent to condemn and to judge.  That does not mean that He winks at the sin in this passage--He will deal with it by calling the woman to repent, but He will also deal with the self-righteousness of the Pharisees in His own way here.

Recall that we're still in the area of Jerusalem after the Feast of Booths and the Pharisees have just been embarrassed by their Temple guard who refused to arrest Jesus during the Feast.  They still want to try to make Jesus look bad in front of the people that are there and at least come up with a way to disqualify Him in the eyes of the people, if not grounds for arrest and and the death penalty.

Jesus has gone out to the Mount of Olives (a very special place with Messianic meaning).  Jesus likely went here to pray as the gospel of Luke tells us that this was His custom.  Jesus then returned to the Temple to start teaching the people.  The Pharisees decided to interrupt the lesson with a test they had prepared for Jesus to try to trap Him.

They brought a  woman who had been caught in the act of adultery to Jesus and said, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?”

The question already shows that they assume Jesus would not tell them to stone the woman to death, but that's not exactly what Jesus says here.  Jesus does not say that the woman doesn't deserve to be stoned--in fact, He doesn't say anything to them! He instead just starts writing something in the dirt right there in the Temple.  They are aggravated that He won't answer them and they keep insisting that He give an answer, so He finally says to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Notice that Jesus doesn't say that she doesn't deserve to die according to the Law, but instead addresses the hearts of the Pharisees who were accusing her implying that they too were guilty under the Law, likely of sins that were as serious as the one that this woman was accused of and they too deserved to be stoned to death.  Jesus has said many times in many other places that we should judge by the same standard that we want to be judged by and that we should measure out grace and forgiveness to others in the same amount that we want it to be measured out to us, and that those who fail to forgive others will themselves not be forgiven. (See Luke 6:37-49, Matthew 7, and Matthew 18:21-35 for just a few of the places Jesus talks about this).

So, while we don't know exactly what Jesus was writing, I assume it had something to do with the Law and probably with the ways in which these men had violated the Law and themselves were worthy of death.  All we know for sure though is that Jesus mostly ignored them and didn't give into the trap that they were trying to lay for Him.  One by one they all leave, from the oldest to the youngest.  This is probably a sign of respect, but it could also be a sign that those who were older realized they had more bloodguilt than those who were younger, but all of them eventually realized they too had bloodguilt (were worthy of the death penalty).

After they had all left, Jesus turns to the woman, who to this point has been largely ignored because it wasn't really about her or her sin, but about a standoff between the Pharisees and Jesus.  Now that they are gone, Jesus deals with the woman's sin by first showing her that there was no one left to accuse her, including Jesus, even though it would probably be clear at this point that He also knew her sin if He had been demonstrating that He knew all the sins of all the accusers.  He tells her, like He has already told others, to repent and to go and sin no more.  He does not say that judgment is not coming, but just that today was not the day for Him to judge her.  It's quite possible this woman believes on Jesus and that He pays her sin debt on the cross (less than six months away at the time of these events) and that God has already chosen to forget her sins because they have already been paid for in His mind.  Below are a few passages that speak to this idea of sins being taken away and no longer remembered by God for those who have believed.  I have to assume that's what going on here--one group is choosing to be judged by their actions and has fallen far short, and the other party is falling completely on the grace of God for forgiveness which is extended to her, but she is also told to repent and to stop sinning.  I do not find that inconsistent at all with the rest of Scripture, even the Old Testament.  We do not have a "God of the Old Testament" and a "God of the New Testament."  We have one unchanging God who is longsuffering and rich in mercy.  He is kind and loving, but He is also just and righteous.  These are not separate ideas, but all extensions of God's nature and His holiness.  So we should not try and take this passage out of context and try to make it out as if Jesus said that the Law doesn't matter--Jesus has said quite the opposite of that actually, and He called people to an even higher standard than the Law of Moses did--where the Law mostly judged people by their outward actions, Jesus said that man would not only be judged by their actions, but by their thoughts and lusts that were at the root of the fruit that we see.


Psalm 103:11-13
English Standard Version
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
    so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
13 As a father shows compassion to his children,
    so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

Hebrews 8
English Standard Version
Jesus, High Priest of a Better Covenant
8 Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2 a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. 4 Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. 5 They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” 6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.
8 For he finds fault with them when he says:
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,
    when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel
    and with the house of Judah,
9 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers
    on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
For they did not continue in my covenant,
    and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
    after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws into their minds,
    and write them on their hearts,
and I will be their God,
    and they shall be my people.
11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor
    and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
for they shall all know me,
    from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,
    and I will remember their sins no more.”
13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.


Hebrews 10:1-18
English Standard Version

​Christ's Sacrifice Once for All
10 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? 3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,
“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
    but a body have you prepared for me;
6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings
    you have taken no pleasure.
7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,
    as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”
8 When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), 9 then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. 10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
15 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,
16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them
    after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws on their hearts,
    and write them on their minds,”
17 then he adds,
“I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”
18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.