Woman caught in adultery—was Jesus applying mercy and grace
instead of following the Law?
Bodie Hodge, Biblical Authority Ministries, April 29, 2020
Introduction
In the past few years, I’ve heard expositions of the account
of Jesus and the woman caught in adultery (John 8:2-11) from a multitude of
speakers and pastors. Most presenters on this subject point out that Jesus
deviated from the law to show mercy and grace to this lady and didn’t punish
her as she should have been. Expositors tend to use this as a springboard to
tell us that we should be like Jesus and be gracious toward sinners by essentially
letting their sin go, albeit recognizing that adultery was still sin.
My teenage daughter heard about Jesus and the adulteress at
youth group recently. Lo and behold, the
same message trickled through. She left with more questions than answers. My
daughter was taught that the adulterer that was with the adulterous woman was
nowhere to be found in the narrative even though they were “caught in the act”—perhaps
he ran away. The witnesses were missing too.
The main point she garnered from the devotion was that, Jesus showed extra grace and mercy and
deviated from the Law. So she was disturbed that the God-man Jesus—the very
Creator of the Law—didn’t follow the Law when it came down to it. And my
daughter’s reaction is rightly warranted! My daughter asked me to explain this
account seeing that what she heard was so convoluted it didn’t make sense.
Sin Is Serious
God takes a very serious view of sin. For proof, you only
need to read three chapters into the Bible. One sin by Adam and Eve and God
cursed the ground and sentenced man to die and return to dust (Genesis 3). In
the New Testament, one lie to the Holy Spirit by Ananias and Sapphira meant
immediate death (Acts 5:12).
The rest of the Bible after Adam’s sin until the last two
chapters of Revelation is God solving the sin problem that we, as mankind,
caused. For one sin, we deserve an everlasting and infinite punishment from an
eternal and infinite God for betraying Him and committing high treason against
Him. So sin is indeed a hot button issue with God and it should be as God is
perfectly holy and perfectly just.
Jesus, God incarnate, fulfilled and followed the law
perfectly being sinless (e.g., Matthew 5:17, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 4:15).
So to quickly jump to idea that Christ deviated from the Law to show mercy and grace
would call into question that Jesus fulfilled the law. This suddenly becomes a
greater problem; because if Jesus didn’t fulfill the Law, then He wasn’t the perfect
sacrifice and we are still dead in our sins.
Furthermore, grace and mercy are offered by God but it is
predicated on justice served. For instance, grace to sinners unto salvation was
offered as a result of Jesus being sacrificed
in our place and God’s justice was poured out on Christ in His death on the
cross. Those believers prior to Christ looked forward to what Jesus did in the
same way that we, who came after Christ, look back to His completed work though
His death, burial, and resurrection. The point I’m making is that when people argue
that Jesus simply decided to exercise
grace in the instance with the adulteress instead of following the Law, it
is misplaced.
Rarely do we take a close look at what the Law said
regarding this situation and see if Jesus followed it before jumping to the
conclusion that He went against the Law in an effort to give grace. Let’s
evaluate this narrative with more detail.
Jesus Actually Followed The Law Perfectly
Here is the relevant passage in John 8:2-11,
Now
early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to
Him; and He sat down and taught them.
Then
the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when
they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman was
caught in adultery, in the very act. “Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that
such should be stoned. But what do You say?"
This
they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him.
But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He
did not hear. So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said
to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her
first."
And
again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being
convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest
even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the
midst. When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said
to her, "Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned
you?"
She
said, "No one, Lord." And
Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more."
(NKJV)
First things first. When did this happen? It was early in the morning. So the woman was caught in adultery just
before this, in the earlier morning
hours. According to the scribes and Pharisees, she was caught in the very act
of adultery. So the scribes and Pharisees were acting as the direct witnesses
to the event. So missing witnesses we don’t have—they were there indeed.
It was true that the Law of Moses commanded that the
adulteress be put to death, or “stoned”, as the scribes and Pharisees said. So
what did Jesus do? He wrote on the ground with His finger. Did you ever wonder
what He wrote? Did He write “Koalas like rainbows”? Probably not. What He wrote
likely dealt with the situation at hand.
Think about this for a moment. They were in the Temple (John
8:2), but not in the inner area where a copy of the Scripture to scroll through
was readily available—there was little dirt or dust on the ground in the inner
portions of the Temple complex but well kept (i.e., clean) flooring as part of
the priestly duties for upkeep.
Instead, Jesus was in the outer area of the Temple complex (the
Court of the Gentiles—which was permissible for both Jews and gentiles which
were both likely among the crowd listening to Him teach).
This courtyard is the larger exterior court of the Temple
grounds that fit larger crowds that came to learn. This area was commonly
trampled on with dusty and dirty feet making it possible to write on the ground
for teaching. In the outer court, Jesus was using the ground the way we use a
chalkboard or white board today.
This location makes sense since the scribes and Pharisees
were bringing the lady caught in adultery to the Temple for judgment and had to
pass by Jesus teaching this crowd upon entering the Temple’s outer gate—which
allowed for this opportunity to occur.
The most logical thing Jesus would write is what the Law
says for this situation. Jesus was known for quoting Scripture to the scribes
and Pharisees when they challenged Him, so it makes sense, that Christ was
quoting Scripture in this instance as well. Consider that the discussion was on
the subject of adultery in the Law of Moses. Did Jesus write the exact Law
pertaining to the adulteress that the scribes and Pharisees were charging this
woman with? Why not?
What Jesus wrote on the ground clearly had an impact on the scribes
and Pharisees and convicted them one by one—from the most senior of them to the
least senior of them. Bear in mind that the senior scribe or Pharisee would be
the one with the honor of being the first to step forward to see what was
written. So what does the Law of Moses say about this adultery situation?
The
man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, he who commits adultery with
his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, shall surely be put to
death. (Leviticus 20:10, NKJV)
Why is this Law so important? Just as the scribes and Pharisees
stated, the woman is to be put to death, but it also reveals something else
that is extremely important. He who committed adultery with this woman is also
to be put to death.
How did these Pharisees know
that the woman was caught in the direct act of adultery so early in the
morning? Do they just get up and go looking for adulterous persons at the wee
hours every morning? Think more deeply here. The scribes and Pharisees were the
ones who were claiming to be the witnesses. How did all these men know that she
was an adulteress. The answer is directly in the text. Jesus said,
"He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first." (John 8:7, NKJV,
emphasis added)
What sin is Jesus referring to? The sin in context is
adultery. Jesus affirmed that her punishment was death but He also asked which
of them was not committing adultery with her.
The one who hadn’t committed adultery with her was allowed
to cast the first stone. This is how they knew she was committing adultery—they
were the ones doing it with her! That is how they caught her in the act. Whether
the act of adultery was all at once (i.e., an orgy) or she had been sneaking around
with all of the scribes and Pharisees in attendance one by one (i.e.,
fornication) and just now got caught which put them in a jealous rage to put
her to death, we simply don’t know.
Each scribe or Pharisee who committed adultery with her
should also be put to death in accordance with the Law of Moses. What we know
is that they were ALL committing adultery with her because they all left one by
one. They were each, “convicted by their conscience”. They knew they were guilty of adultery too and would die if they
remained. That means that all of them were “with sin” with this adulteress. Again,
that is how they knew she was committing adultery!
But these scribes and Pharisees were also adulterers and
thus, they should all be put to death if convicted. Instead, they left
forfeiting their position as a witnesses.
Suddenly, this now became a strange situation especially for
an on-looking crowd. The witnesses had fled and were no longer there to
testify. Jesus had again written on the ground. What did He write the second
time? When your witnesses disappear the Bible speaks to that too—especially
regarding a death sentence. The Law says,
"Whoever
is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three
witnesses; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness.
(Deuteronomy 17:6, NKJV)
You need two witnesses to convict. Yet all her witnesses had
disappeared. So there were none left. Of course, Jesus knew she was a sinner.
He even said for her to, “sin no more”. But even if you count Jesus as the sole
witness, the Law needed to be followed and one witness was not enough to
convict. According to the Law, she should be set free.
Thus, Jesus did exactly as the Law stated so He didn’t
condemn her either and let her go in keeping with the Law.
Conclusion
Jesus actually followed the Law perfectly and to the letter
by doing exactly what it said. This is the conclusion of the passage. Jesus
indeed fulfilled the Law in this instance and adhered to it as the authority in
this situation with the adulterous woman.
So it frustrates me when people say Jesus didn’t follow the Law in this situation but
instead exercised mercy and grace. As we’ve seen, Jesus followed the Law. And
the Law of Moses, which Jesus wrote in the first place and was given through
Moses by the Holy Spirit, when followed, allowed for a gracious and merciful
outcome to the woman caught in adultery.
But note Christ’s words to her in front of a crowd—“sin no
more”. He affirmed to the onlookers that she was indeed a sinner caught in
adultery and now everyone knew it. It was like He announced it over the PA system
when He said that.
We are in a church culture where some, sadly, despise the
Law and want to neglect it and distance themselves from it. Some use this
passage for justification that Jesus set the Law aside as a model for us to
follow. But as we’ve read, Jesus didn’t ignore the Law. He followed it and
fulfilled it.
We need to recognize the purpose of the Law. The Law is a
tutor and a shadow to help us understand the seriousness of sin and the good freedom
we have in Christ (e.g., Galatians 3:21-27, Hebrews 10:1). The Law is good when
used lawfully and this a reminder to Christians who are now under grace’s
righteousness. The Holy Spirit reveals through Paul in 1 Timothy 1,
But
we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this: that the
law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate,
for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of
fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for
sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other
thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of
the blessed God which was committed to my trust. (1 Timothy 1:8-11, NKJV)
