"An Adulterous Woman"
Scripture (John 8:1-30) So today's study begins with: Jesus Forgives an Adulterous Woman
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. The 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!
Our Next Study is: Jesus said, "I AM the Light of the World
Adulterous Woman Adulterous Woman |