Jesus Forgives an Adulterous Woman

Scripture (John 8:1-30)

So today's study begins with:

Jesus Forgives an Adulterous Woman

This scripture seems to be out of place. It appears to have been inserted directly into the middle of an unrelated topic.


Adulerous Woman:
VERSE 1-2: - "but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them."

So, here hardly even taking a break, Jesus is back in the temple early in the morning; all the people were coming and He was continuing to teach.

VERSE 3- 5: - "The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?"

Here the scribes and Pharisees had brought this adulterous woman, but obviously not to justify the law, if so they would have also brought the man. He had broken the law just as much she had. The law required that both be stoned to death.(Lev. 20:10)

They were simply using this woman as a trap hoping to trick Jesus. The Romans didn't permit the Jews to carry out their own executions, so if He had ordered her stoned they would have reported Him to the Romans; if He had said she should not be stoned, they would accuse Him of breaking Moses' law.

VERSE 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."

We aren't told what, if anything, Jesus wrote in the dust with His finger. Some see a connection to when God wrote the ten commandments, but there is no scriptures to substantiate this view. There is no reason to debate what He may have written, or to think it was mistakenly left out of this scripture.

VERSE 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."

This is a tremendous statement about being judgmental toward not only the adulterous woman, but all sinners. Jesus said that only the sinless were worthy of casting the first stone. While we as Christians cannot condone sin we are not to be so quick to pass judgment, that is God's role, not ours. We are to show forgiveness and compassion. This is not easy, but is an example of how the Church is suppose to operate.

VERSES 8-9 - "And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9But 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."

So, with only the adulterous woman standing before Him, Jesus once again seemed to write something on the ground, and again we aren't told what it may have been.

Jesus had said that only the ones without sin could cast the first stone at the adulterous woman, so 'beginning with the older ones, they all went away one by one. Don't you think that they all knew they were in the wrong to start with and fell under conviction by the words and presence of Jesus. Maybe in the same way as the temple guards in Chapter seven who said "no man ever spoke like this before." Do you think the older men were wiser in scripture, or were they more aware of their sins than the younger. Perhaps both?

VERSES 10-11: - Jesus stood up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" 11She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."

This is an example of how Jesus forgives all sin. He did not condemned the adulterous woman to death, nor did he say, that, since He had come, her adulterous deed was no longer a sin. On the contrary, He openly revealed her sin when He told her to "go, and sin no more."

Jesus recognized, as did the Jews, that according to God's Law, this woman had committed a sin that demanded the death sentence. But Jesus, being God, had the authority to forgive this woman's sin, which He did.

Still, the death sentence for her sin, being a Commandment of God, had to be carried out; so a short time later Jesus took her sin upon Himself and died in her place on the cross, thereby fulfilling her death sentence.

Thge adulterous woman's sin was no longer held against her. It was forgiven by the Almighty God, never to be remembered again, giving her not only complete forgiveness, but eternal life with Him. What a wonderful plan and Saviour!

Jesus not only died for the sins of this woman, His death was for the sins of all who would later come to accept Him, He died for our sins, my sins, your sins, even to this day we can receive complete forgiveness and eternal life, but according to His word, only through His Plan of Salvation.

In light of this teaching, don't you feel that our sins are often taken too lightly. Our sins, like those of the adulterous woman demand the death penalty, but, as in this beautiful song: Jesus Paid it All!

We begin the rest of today's study in John 8:12, which is precisely where our last study ended.

"I Am the Light of the World" (John 8:12-30)

Jesus is the light that cannot be extinguished. The Creator of life came to bring light to mankind. In his light we see ourselves as we really are, (sinners in need of a Saviour). Jesus as our light removes the darkness and lights the path ahead of us so that we no longer blindly fall into sin, and can clearly see the paths of righteousness.

VERSE 12 - "Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

"Whoever follows me" Looking ahead to verse 20 we find that Jesus was speaking in the area of the temple where the offerings were placed and is also where candles burned to symbolize the pillars of fire that led the people of Israel through the desert (Exodus 13:21) The pillar of fire in the desert represented God's presence, protection and guidance. And it was in this setting, or context, (in the previous verse, verse 12) where Jesus referred to Himself as "the light of the world."

Jesus as the light of the world is our commander. We are to follow Him as a soldier follows his captain, as a slave follows his master we should follow His commands in scripture. As we follow the laws of the nation, we should follow the laws of the kingdom.

VERSES 13-14 - "So the Pharisees said to him, "You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true." 14Jesus answered, "Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going."

Here the Pharisees seem to be totally ignorant concerning Jesus, yet in Chapter five Jesus presented a number of witnesses who had verified that His testimony was true. These witnesses included God the Father, Scripture, John the Baptist, and the very works Jesus Himself did. So a good question might be "where were these guys then?" Jesus always seem to be confronting new people who new nothing of His past, present, and certainly not of His future. They only seemed to know what they wanted to know, what was most expedient to accomplish their purposes.

VERSE 15-16 "You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. 16Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me."

Jesus is saying Your judgment is on the level of this sinful world. and even though I am God the Son, at this time I am not judging anyone. But if I do it will be a true and sound judgment because I judge in union with the Father.

Doesn't this tell us that even though Jesus, as a man, needed to pray to the Father for strength and guidance, but that He, as God the Son shares in making decisions, and in this case, to pass judgments ("I and the Father") along with the Father.

VERSE 17 - "In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true."

As we have seen, the law recognized the strength of two witnesses over one.

VERSE 18-19 - "I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me. They said to him therefore, Where is your Father? Jesus answered, You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also."

The question in verse 19 makes it very clear that the people had not conception of the deity or mission of Jesus. In light of this, their attitude and hostility is not surprising. To our Father?" To them the father Jesus mentions is not present, therefore not admissible as a witness.

In their question they asked "where is your Father?" But the answer Jesus gave was "Who His Father was."

VERSE 20 - "These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come."

As a matter of interest concerning the treasury: "The temple treasury was located in the court of women. In this area, 13 collection boxes were for the temple tax,' the other six were for freewill offerings. This would be the area where the poor widow in Luke 21 had placed her money in one of the boxes and Jesus said had given more than all the others.

And again, he was not arrested simply because it was not the time appointed by God.

VERSE 21 - "so he said to them again, "I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come."

They would die in their sin because they were rejecting the Messiah. He was speaking of Heaven when He said "where I am going you cannot come."

VERSE 22 - "So the Jews said, "Will he kill himself, since he says, 'Where I am going, you cannot come'?"

VERSES 23-24 - "He said to them, "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins."

Jesus was pointing out the chasm separating them from His teaching. They were earthly, He was from heaven. By Jesus saying "If you do not believe I am He" points to the absolute necessity of faith in receiving salvation.

VERSE 25 - "So they said to him, "Who are you?" Jesus said to them, "Just what I have been telling you from the beginning."

The Greek text simply says "I Am," which is similar to the great "I Am" as used in the Old Testament(Ex 3:14),implying the self existence of the Messiah, a term beyond the grasp of the hearers.

So, Jesus basically left the question "who are you" unsmoked, and in verse 26 says:

VERSE 26 - "I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him."

This is different. Here He is saying that He has much to say and to judge 'about them.' Even though twice before He has told them they would die in their sins He has much more to say, and declare what He has hear from God the Father.

VERSE 27 - "They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father."

At this point most of us can probably agree that their misunderstanding is pathetic!

But verse 28 simply says:

VERSE 28 - "So Jesus said to them, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that i am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me."'

Here again we see the close relationship of the Father and the Son. At some point after Jesus' glorification they would recognize His deity and realize that the mission of Jesus was brought forth by the Father's authority.

VERSE 29 - "he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him."

Jesus said "I always do the things that are pleasing to Him." Jesus didn't only occasionally do the will of the Father. There was a constant presence of the Father in Jesus' life, and never a moment when He did not do the Father's will.

And our last verse in this study, verse 30 says:

VERSE 30 - "As he was saying these things, many believed in him."

Our Next Study is: Children of Abraham

The Light of the World>

Back to Main Bible Study Page

Bible Trivia

Home