Introduction

Much has been said about the account concerning the woman caught in the act of adultery; should it be here? Was it originally here? Is it inspired? Did Jesus even do this? Does it matter, and if so, how much? The following are the facts known about this passage, and the answers can be deduced from them.

Several words are used here that don’t occur in any other passage of John’s Gospel or other writings. This isn’t conclusive of anything. The earliest manuscripts do not include John 7:53-8:11. Many later manuscripts mark this section with asterisks.

One group of manuscripts inserts this section after Luke 21:38. A few manuscripts have this section after John 21:24, and one has it after John 7:36. It is found in many old manuscripts, if not in the very oldest and best. The Vulgate Latin, and in the Arabic, Coptic, Persian, and Ethiopian versions.

The oldest translation of the Bible doesn’t include it, nor do the earliest commentators mention it. A few of the oldest Latin witnesses do mention it. Eusebius states that Papais recounted it in 100 AD.

It is commented on by Augustine in his exposition of this Gospel, while in another of his writings, he expressly refers to and explains its omission from some manuscripts, that it is quoted and defended by Ambrose, referred to by Jerome, and treated as genuine in the Apostolical Constitutions.

It cannot be insisted that the passage ought to be here, or that it was originally here; thus, its inspiration is impossible to prove, as is Jesus’ role in this situation. I believe it does matter for the sake of the purity of Scripture, which must be maintained. However, as it doesn’t affect any doctrinal issue, it’s perhaps better to maintain the status quo rather than cause further disunity in the Christian family.

Morris, in his commentary, says the following.

‘If we cannot feel that this is part of John’s Gospel, we can feel that the story is true to the character of Jesus.’

‘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.’ John 8:1-11

John 7:53 tells us that after the failure of the temple guards to arrest Jesus, the Pharisees and other Sanhedrin decide to call it a night, allowing all to return home. Jesus goes to the Mount of Olives, John 8:1, possibly spending the night in prayer. He may have then gone on and spent the night with friends in one of the nearby towns.

Jesus returns to the temple, John 8:2, the temple court is where the rabbis held their schools and the Scribes their debates. A scribe may be a Rabbi, but not all Rabbis were scribes; scribes were mainly copyists.

Note Jesus sat down and taught, John 8:2 / Luke 4:20 / Matthew 13:2 / Matthew 23:2 / Matthew 24:3. This is the normal practice of the rabbis and teachers, and here, Jesus attracts a group of disciples very quickly.

The Pharisees had somehow ‘come across’ a woman in the act of adultery, John 8:3-4. We’re not sure how they ‘came across’ her, but it’s evident, they may well have entrapped her to use her as a weapon against Jesus. If this woman really was caught in the act, then where is the man who was caught with her? Leviticus 20:10 / Deuteronomy 22:24.

Her adultery could have been with a secret lover she was forbidden to see, or with the one she was betrothed to or with one sent by the authorities to seduce her. They may have intended to take the woman before the Sanhedrin council, but this isn’t very likely because, as we read, she was just a tool they used in the hope of trapping Jesus, John 8:6.

The woman must have appeared as a sorry sight before Jesus, John 8:3-4. John 8:5 tells us they hoped to get Jesus to deny Moses’ Law by forgiving her. Deuteronomy 22:23 says she ought to be stoned, or deny Roman Law, as the Jews were under Roman law, which forbade them from stoning people. But it’s clearly indicated that the accusers weren’t interested in justice; she was just a tool they used to try and trap Jesus, John 8:6 / Matthew 22:15.

And so, they leave Jesus with a dilemma because Deuteronomy 22:22-24, Moses commanded stoning. What do you say when you teach love? John 8:5. If He says no, don’t stone her, then He would be reported to the Sanhedrin for teaching against the law.

If He said yes, stone her, He would be going against His own teaching and also against Roman law, as the Jews were forbidden to stone people under Roman law.

Please note that the Greek text actually has Jesus saying in John 8:7. ‘Let him who hasn’t committed her kind of sin cast the first stone’. In other words, Jesus says, ‘if you’re accusing her of adultery and want her stoned, take a look at yourself’, Matthew 5:27-28. He’s basically calling them adulterers.

A question often asked is, What did Jesus write in that sand? John 8:6 / John 8:8. However, He has deemed it unnecessary for us to know, so we aren’t told. Many ideas have been brought forth, including the following.

1. The names and sins of the woman’s accusers.

2. A warning aimed at the accusers.

3. Jesus doodled, showing His disinterest in such matters.

4. He didn’t know what to say, so He played for time to think up an answer.

So, we don’t know what He wrote, but we do know that when they insisted on an answer, Jesus turned the legal squabble into a moral issue. A strange sense of morality overcomes the accusers and the others present, and they all leave, John 8:9, none able to say they were without her kind of sin.

The oldest go first, indicating either more skeletons hidden in their cupboards or their higher awareness of personal sin. If they were guilty of the same sin by either desire or intent, they themselves would be hypocrites. He doesn’t mean that judgments were to be carried out only by sinless people, for that would be impossible.

In John 8:10-11, we see Jesus dealing so kindly with this embarrassed, wretched woman. He doesn’t condemn her, condone her, or even chastise her; all He does is encourage her to leave her sinfulness, which gives her hope.

In this story, we see the hypocrisy that the Jews condemn in others but fail to see in themselves. We also see their double standards; they brought the woman, not the man, just a put-up job to trap Jesus. The day we meet Jesus is an opportunity to change our lives and become better people.