Though God wrote the Bible through human prophets, He wrote at least three times without human assistance. His finger carved the Law into stone on Mount Sinai (Exodus 31:18). The fingers of a man’s hand wrote judgment against Babylon on its palace wall (Daniel 5:5, 24). Jesus wrote love on the Temple floor in Jerusalem (John 7:53-8:11). We don’t know the exact words Jesus used; we do know that His writing gave everyone present an opportunity to embrace love. Consider this Scripture from three perspectives.<\/p>\n
Augustine said the passage was removed from the gospel because “some were of slight faith, and to avoid scandal.” They thought Jesus showed too much kindness to the adulterous woman.<\/p>\n
Metzger says the account “has all the earmarks of historical veracity.” Carson agrees: “there is little reason for doubting that the event here described occurred.”<\/p>\n
Scribes often taught their students in the Temple’s outer court. Here, the Pharisees and scribes set a trap for Jesus, using an adulterous woman for bait.<\/p>\n
“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<\/em>” (John 8:5-6). They intended to put Jesus between a rock and a hard place.<\/p>\n If He opposes her stoning, He ignores the Law of Moses and encourages adultery. Is this not the Jesus who is always correcting the Pharisees with the words, “Have you not read?” The Lord’s enemies would relish an opportunity to turn His words against Him.<\/p>\n If He defends the Law, however, He will alienate His sinful friends, and infringe on Roman Law. Jews could not execute criminals (John 18:31-32).<\/p>\n The Lord’s opponents could not have anticipated His response. “But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear<\/em>” (John 8:6). The Jews, apparently mistaking this response for retreat, pressed Him for an answer. “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<\/em>” (John 8:7-8).<\/p>\n Jesus did not retreat; His opponents did. “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<\/em>” (John 8:9). The Jews were blindsided again.<\/p>\n To ruthless Pharisees, the prodigal daughter is a pawn: they use and abuse her. They appear unwilling to “hate the sin but love the sinner.” They forget that God orders Hosea to take back his adulterous wife as an illustration of God’s love for adulterous Israel (Hosea 1-3). He shows mercy to people who deserve no mercy (it is mercy, not merit). Such lessons are lost on hate-filled hypocrites.<\/p>\n In dealing with this sinner, Jesus strikes the perfect balance. The sinless Savior does not condemn her (by stoning) but neither does He condone her. Mercifully He warns, “Go and sin no more<\/em>” (John 8:11). Worldly people mistakenly equate tolerance and love, and therefore view Christians as bigots. They condemn Jesus Himself. The prodigal daughter does not come to Jesus on her own initiative. The text does not say whether she ever returns to Him for forgiveness. We do know, however, that Jesus is passionate in His pursuit of lost souls (Luke 19:10). May we follow His example with the same passion.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Rick Duggin vai\u00a0Biblical Insights, Vol. 14 No. 8, August 2014 Though God wrote the Bible through human prophets, He wrote at least three times without human assistance. His finger carved the Law into stone on Mount Sinai (Exodus 31:18). The fingers of a man’s hand wrote judgment against Babylon on its palace wall (Daniel…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[66,1571,959],"class_list":["post-97611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-adultery","tag-forgiveness","tag-john"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":31874,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-support-conscientious-objection\/","url_meta":{"origin":97611,"position":0},"title":"Do you support conscientious objection?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 19, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you or your church support selective conscientious objection and conscientious objection? Answer: Registering for the draft is a government law that does not violate any teaching of God. \"Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1296,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-boy-girl-relationships-not-advisable-at-a-young-age\/","url_meta":{"origin":97611,"position":1},"title":"Why are boy-girl relationships not advisable at a young age?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 3, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why are boy-girl relationships not advisable at a young age Answer: Youth is a time of impatient desires. They want the things available to adults, but adulthood seems so far away. The typical teenage boy enters puberty around the age of 11. The typical teenage girl enters puberty around\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32196,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-a-sin-to-take-out-insurance\/","url_meta":{"origin":97611,"position":2},"title":"Is it a sin to take out insurance?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it a sin to take out medical insurance or legal insurance? Are we rather expected to put our faith in the Lord to take care of those things? Answer: We were taught to pray, \"Give us this day our daily bread\" (Matthew 6:11), but God still commands us\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37138,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/we-lost-the-surprise-somewhere\/","url_meta":{"origin":97611,"position":3},"title":"We Lost the Surprise Somewhere","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I remember watching Mayberry RFD and related shows most of my childhood. Poor ignorant Gomer Pyle who worked as an auto mechanic was a notable character. But I can still recall my shock when I found out that Jim Nabors, who played Gomer, could sing --\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Gomer.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":61889,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-book-of-my-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":97611,"position":4},"title":"The Book of My Life","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 23, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Job 19:23-27 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Each week the paper publishes its list of top selling books \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sometimes the books are biographies, fictional stories, or fiction placed in historical settings. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They hope that others will also purchase the books, if for no other reason than curiosity. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Many author\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6988,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-there-passages-that-refer-to-the-lords-supper\/","url_meta":{"origin":97611,"position":5},"title":"Are there passages that refer to THE Lord’s Supper?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We have been studying the Lord's supper issues and one of our main concerns is about a second offering in which only a few partake, for the reasons you listed in your article (not doing it together). We have been questioning the idea of everyone taking it a second\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97611"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97614,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97611\/revisions\/97614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Twofold Correction<\/h2>\nThe Lord shows remarkable love for souls, intense hatred for sin, and unfathomable insight into men’s minds. He condemns the woman’s immorality, but also her accusers’ hypocrisy.
\nThe Jews, hoping to harm Jesus, “condemn” the woman (with words, not stones). Jesus also condemns the woman for her sin, but to lead her to repentance (John 8:11).\n