SEPTEMBER 3, 2017
JESUS AND THE ADULTEROUS WOMAN
INTRODUCTION:
1. Those who wish to sin without censure, usually have two favorite passages in the Bible from which they would employ Jesus own words as support for their way of thinking. One is found in Matt. 7:1, “Judge not that ye be not judged;” the other is here in John 8:11, “…neither do I condemn thee.” In neither place does Jesus lend the slightest support to any such idea.
2. In Matt. 7:1 Jesus does not forbid that righteous judgment which in other places He requires of us. In John 8:11 He is not winking at, or in any way excusing this woman’s sin, as we shall see.
3. Because many misunderstand what Jesus did and did not do, and what He did and did not say here, some very wrong and extreme conclusions have been reached.
a) Some, because they cannot reconcile what they think He meant with the teachings of Scripture, have thrown doubt upon the authenticity of the passage. Some versions either leave it out, or include it with disclaimers.
b) Others, as already suggested, understand Jesus to be almost condoning her sin, refusing to pass judgment on the woman, sending her away unreproved.
4. Since the tendency of human nature is to turn the grace of God into lasciviousness, in considering this rich passage respecting Jesus and the adulterous woman, be warned against pitting Moses against Christ.
I. THE OCCASION AND PLACE OF THIS MEETING, WITH THE CIRCUMSTANCES SURROUNDING IT. (VERSES 1-3)
A. THE PREVIOUS SCENES WERE VACATED AS EACH WENT TO HIS OWN PLACE. (CH. 7:53)
1. Frustrated over their inability to arrest Christ, the Sanhedrin fell into bickering over details of biblical prophecy. (Verses 45-52)
2. During this discussion, Nicodemus charged that they were prejudging Jesus without giving Him a fair hearing.
3. Having concluded their meeting they and also the common people had retired to their homes, after living in tents during the feast days. (Verse 53)
B. JESUS, IN GREAT CONTRAST, HAD DEPARTED TO THE MOUNT OF OLIVES. (CH. 8:1)
1. Jesus had no home of His own, “no place to lay His head.” (Luke 9:58)
2. Nonetheless, it was to this homeless teacher that the great mass of people came the next morning for invaluable spiritual instruction. “And all the people came unto him; and he sat down and taught them.” (Verse 2)
C. IT WAS TO JESUS AS HE WAS TEACHING THAT THIS WOMAN WAS BROUGHT. (VERSE 3)
1. Into this sacred assembly came certain scribes and Pharisees, bringing a woman who was taken in the act of adultery.
2. They set her in the midst as Jesus was teaching.
3. This was not the first time these wicked hypocrites had barged in while Jesus was teaching, nor would it be the last. However this interruption was especially heinous, not only because of the nature of the case, but because of what they were attempting to do.
II. THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES CREATED A SITUATION BY WHICH THEY INTENDED TO TRY AND SET MOSES AGAINST CHRIST, AND VISE VERSA. (VERSES 4-6a)
A. THIS EVIL IS ESSENTIALLY TO SET THE LAW OF GOD AGAINST THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST.
1. Any attempt to do so in the evil work of the enemy.
2. Such attempts are really aimed at Christ Himself.
a) These hypocrites were not jealous for the Law of Moses.
b) They were not defenders of purity and justice.
c) They certainly were not the sinner’s friend.
3. They were seeking to entrap Jesus. (Verses 4, 6a)
a) They thought they had snared Christ whatever answer He should give.
b) If He replied negatively, that is, not to have her stoned to death, they were ready to decry Him as being against the Law of Moses, branding Him as a false Messiah.
c) If He replied positively, that is, to have her stoned, they would have accused Him to Pilate of infringing upon the rights of the Roman government respecting capital punishment.
B. JESUS CAME NOT TO DESTROY OR NEGATE THE LAW OR ANY PART OF IT. (MATT. 5:17-19)
1. Jesus’ earthly mission was to honor the Law of God, by fulfilling it.
a) This He did by rightly explaining it.
b) This He did by revealing its holy nature.
c) This He did by keeping all of its commandments.
d) This He did by satisfying the demands of the Law by His own death.
2. The Gospel of Christ establishes God’s Law. (Rom. 3:31)
III. JESUS DID NOT ABANDON THE LAW IN THE JUDGMENT OF SIN, AND NEITHER DOES THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST. (VERSES 6b-9)
A. JESUS DID NOT REMOVE THE LAW AS THE BASIS OF HUMAN GOVERNMENT. (VERSE 7)
1. From earliest times this passage has been wrested from its meaning to overthrow the exercise of government.
a) This is what it would do if Christ’s words are to be taken absolutely. “He that is without sin among you.” Who is absolutely sinless?
b) Such an understanding would preclude all civil and religious order, for thus none could or should judge another.
c) By ‘without sin” Jesus surely meant either the same sin which one judges, or one that deserves a like punishment.
2. Jesus was not deriding all judgment, but rather powerfully calling for righteous judgment with due process.
a) Had His enemies been interested in righteousness, they would have brought both guilty parties before the proper authority.
b) Jesus, though He certainly had authority to judge, would not be made a Justice of the Peace, just as He would not be made in another place, Judge of inheritance. (Luke 12:13-15)
c) That Jesus does not remove all judgment is obvious from His previous statement in the near context. (Ch.7:24)
B. JESUS DID NOT ESTABLISH A NEW RELIGIOUS STANDARD. (VERSE 8)
1. Antinomians have ever taught that the advent of the Gospel changed the standard of righteousness.
a) Some have taught that the Gospel abrogated the Law as a rule of life, at least for believers.
b) Others teach that it softened the rigors of the Law, and introduced a milder rule; that love is now the rule. (See Rom. 13:8-10)
2. When Jesus wrote on the ground, He was very likely transcribing the Law, one table at a time. (Vrs. 6b, 8)
3. The Gospel does not change the standard of righteousness, but it reveals the only method of obtaining righteousness.
a) Under the Mosaic economy, believers saw Christ in the shadowy forms and mystic representations of the Law.
b) True believers, even then, were not saved by law works, but by faith in Him who was foreshadowed. (See Rom. 3:19-26)
c) Nonetheless the Gospel establishes the Law. (Rom. 3:31)
d) The very righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in the believer, not another righteousness. (Rom. 8:1-4)
C. THE GOSPEL DOES TAKE JUDGMENT INTO THE MORAL AND SPIRITUAL REALM. (VRS. 7-9)
1. In this realm Jesus did here judge morally and spiritually as the Prophet of God. (Verse 7)
a) He judged His accusers. “He that is without sin among you…”
b) He judged the accused. “…let him cast the first stone at her.”
c) He was judging as He wrote on the ground. (Verse 8)
2. Jesus’ judgment was effective and disarming. (Verse 9)
a) It reached the conscience of His hardhearted enemies. “They…being convicted by their own conscience…”
b) Being convicted of their own guilt, they went out one by one, leaving only Jesus and the guilty woman.
c) We may suppose that His words and actions had an effect on her too.
IV. IN LIGHT OF ALL THIS, IT IS IMPORTANT FOR US TO UNDERSTAND WHAT JESUS REALLY DID IN THIS PASSAGE. (VERSES 10, 11)
A. IT IS IMPORTANT TO REALIZE THAT JESUS DID NOT FORGIVE THIS WOMAN.
1. This is not a parallel case to that of the penitent woman referred to in Luke’s Gospel. (Luke 7:48-50) To her Jesus said, “Thy sins are forgiven…thy faith hath saved thee: go in peace.”
2. There is no indication that this woman came willingly to Jesus, or that she, even after all that happened, was penitent for her sin.
B. THE WORDS OF CHRIST HERE ARE WORDS OF FOREBEARANCE, NOT FORGIVENESS. (VSE. 11)
1. He called upon her to acknowledge that none were left of her former accusers. “Where are…thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee?” She answered, “No man, Lord.”
2. He was, however, reminding her that there was one left, who might condemn her. He met the qualification required to “cast the first stone,” had He chosen to do so. (Verse 7b)
3. By these words, He granted her space for repentance.
4. He, in fact, called her to repentance. “Neither do I condemn thee; go and sin no more.”
5. Nevertheless, judgment, and that by Christ Himself, is reserved for this very woman as well as all unrepentant sinners in that Great Day. (Acts. 17:31)
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