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

53 They went each to his own house, 1 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."

There has always been a necessity to transmit and make copies of Scripture. The earliest manuscripts of John do not include verses 7:53-8:11. Jerome, translating the Hebrew and Greek texts into Latin from A.D. 382 to 405, included this section. Augustine inferred that this section was previously withheld for a period of time because adulterers were misusing it, claiming that Jesus forgave their adultery and that they could continue in it. Whatever the case, it is consistent with the teaching and actions of Jesus and is included here.

Several points are necessary to understand this passage. At the time of Jesus, Jewish law was trumped by Roman law because under Roman rule Jews could not independently invoke the death penalty. (That is why Pilate had to order Jesus’ crucifixion.) The scribes and Pharisees are carefully laying a trap for Jesus. The law teaches that adultery in this case of the woman requires the death penalty by stoning. By advocating stoning, Jesus would bring down the wrath of the Roman authorities. To step back from the death penalty would show Jesus unfaithful to the law. The trap was quite clever.

Adultery is specifically included in The Ten Commandments and is a capital offense. It is the breaching of a covenant relationship between husband and wife. In the law, the repercussions were severe and violent. Women caught in adultery were stoned to death on the porch of their father’s house while men were buried up to their knees in dung and strangled with a strip of cloth until they suffocated and fell over into the dung. (See Deuteronomy 22:22-28 and Leviticus 20:10-16 for further details.) Ironically, the scribes and Pharisees gave this woman the greatest gift by bringing her to Jesus!

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving-kindness; in your great compassion blot out my offenses. Wash me through and through from my wickedness, and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions only too well, and my sin is ever before me. Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One, have mercy upon me, a sinner. Enlighten my heart that I may remember and confess my sins and receive your absolution and unfailing mercy in and through the cross of Jesus Christ. Amen.