John • The passed-over passages 9 • Jesus and the adulterous woman

Steve Schott
Oct 25
7 min read

► Previously in John we looked at the 7 signs recorded, and referenced in John 20:30-31, where it says

30 Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.

► We also explored the 7 "I AM" statements that do not always correspond to the signs, but also add definition to the nature and purposes of Jesus.

► Links to all of these posts can be found at the end of this posting

► Now I'm going to turn my attention to what I call the "passed-over" passages, Those passages from chapter 1 to chapter 12 which I haven't previously dealt with.

► After that we'll deal with chapters 13 to 19, which I call "the end of it all". These chapters deal with a single 24-hour period, that starts with the last supper in the upper room, and takes us all the way to the cross and the tomb.

► And then we'll end with chapters 20 and 21 that I call "the new beginning".

► This passage in chapter 8 is marked in most translations as most likely NOT in the original manuscripts, but pretty much all the commentators I read noted that it still seems very compatible with Jesus' character and His teachings, so I'll discuss it today. I do believe that there are valuable lessons to be learned from this passage, that are all consistent with the balance of the Scriptures.

► The questionable passage actually begins with the last verse of chapter 7, so we will include that today.

Jesus and the adulterous woman → John 7:53 to 8:11

John 7:53 - 8:11 → ^7:53[Everyone went to his home.

^8:1But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ² Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them. ³ The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, ⁴ they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. ⁵ Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?” ⁶ They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground. ⁷ But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. ⁹ When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court. ¹⁰ Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” ¹¹ She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.”]

► 7:53 →"Everyone went to his home." → this is in reference (at least how it fits chronologically in the gospel of John) to all the dialogue in chapter 7. All the big uproar of just who exactly is Jesus, and what are we going to do about it. Then, according to this passage, they all went home.

► 8:1 → Except for Jesus, who "went to the Mount of Olives." We're not told why He went, just that He did. We know that it was one of His preferred places to go to pray while he was in Jerusalem.

► 8:2 → Jesus returns to the temple to teach some more.

► 8:3 → The "scribes and Pharisees" (the Jewish leaders of Israel), in the presence of all the people who had come to hear Jesus teach, brought to Jesus "a woman caught in adultery,...".

► 8:4 → They said to Jesus "this woman has been caught in adultery, IN THE VERY ACT. (emphasis mine)". Which leads me to ask a couple of questions...

1st → Where were they, that they would actually bust in on a couple romantically intertwined? I mean, could you see her standing there either naked, or maybe wrapped in a sheet of some kind? Did they tell her to get dressed, or did they leave her in a state of shame? It seems like taking her to Jesus as-is would be so much more provocative in the moment, but the text doesn't say.

2nd → Where's the guy? You've heard the phrase "it takes two to tango", and in this scenario, where there's adultery going on, there should have been two people to bear the burden of the guilt. Yet the only bring the woman.

► 8:5 → The leaders remind Jesus that the Law of Moses "commanded us to stone such women."

► 8:6 → Jesus, in typical "I'm going to do or say something that will so totally confound you all" fashion, doesn't initially respond at all, but rather starts finger painting in the dirt.

► 8:7 → They kept pressing on Jesus to respond, so He stands up and says “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”

► 8:8 → Jesus goes back to writing in the dirt. We are never told exactly what He is writing.

► 8:9 → The text says that when the leaders heard what Jesus had to say, and possibly saw what He was writing, that they "began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones,...", until Jesus is left alone with the woman.

The way the text is written, it's hard to tell if it means that (1) of the group that came in while Jesus was teaching (leaders and woman), that only the woman of that group is left, but all the witnesses are still there, or (2) if even those witnesses have also left.

► 8:10 → Jesus then addresses the woman, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?”

► 8:11 → The woman replies "No one, Lord". I'm not sure if her calling Jesus "Lord" is just a sign of respect toward Him, or an acknowledgement of her understanding of His divinity. Jesus responds by telling her two things...

1st → "I do not condemn you, either." Jesus is not denying, or negating, that the Old Testament clearly condemns adultery. He just saying that He isn't going to condemn her either. Maybe He saw in her a repentant heart.

2nd → "Go. From now on sin no more." Such simple words, but so powerful. He is fully aware that what she was doing was sin, and so was she. But He does command her to not remain in that state.

So what?

► I've often wondered, just exactly what was Jesus writing in the dirt? Some have speculated, and I agree with them (because it just makes so much sense), that Jesus was writing out the sins of the very people that brought the adulterous woman before Him. Each, in turn, as they saw Jesus writing out their sins, began to leave, unwilling to become the focus of the shame they were projecting on the woman. We don't know for sure, but it really does explain why they would all start leaving without so much as a word from Jesus.

► Jesus' words to the woman "I do not condemn you either" should resonate with all who believe in Jesus as their Savior. He doesn't condemn us, because he's already paid the penalty for that condemnation while He was on the cross. The debt of our sin has been paid by the blood of Christ.

► But His additional words, "Go. From now on sin no more" should also remind us that once saved, we are called to be sanctified, or made holy. We are to choose to move forward in our lives attempting, at least, to live a life set apart for God. It's kind of cliche, but it's so true that we should be consistently be asking ourselves, WWJD (What Would Jesus Do), and then choosing to act in a way that is consistent with His character and His teachings.

► So here's the charter for today → receive Jesus TODAY as your Savior (if you haven't already) AND determine to live, moving forward, in a way that shows that you've chosen Jesus as your Lord as well.

The Signs

► Sign 1, Water to Wine, Jesus is the master of the ELEMENTS → John 2:1-12

► Sign 2, Nobleman's Son, Jesus is the master over DISTANCE → John 4:46-54

► Sign 3, Lame Man at Bethesda, Jesus is the master over TIME → John 5:1-18

► Sign 4, Feeding of 5,000+, Jesus is the master over DIMENSION → John 6:1-15

► Sign 5, Jesus walks on water, Jesus is the master over NATURE → John 6:15-21

► Sign 6, The Man Born Blind, Jesus is the master over HISTORY → John 9:1-41

► Sign 7, The Raising of Lazarus, Jesus is the master over DEATH → John 11:1-46

The "I AM" Statements

► I AM #1 • I AM the Bread of Life - Jesus ELIMINATES HUNGER → John 6:26-58

► I AM #2 • I AM the Light of the World - Jesus ELIMINATES DARKNESS → John 8:12-9:5

► I AM #3 • I AM the Door of the Sheep - Jesus ELIMINATES DEATH & DESTRUCTION → John 10:1-10