John, pt. 44 | John 8:1-11

John 8:1-11 and the Textual Question of the Pericope Adulterae

He will at this time take your copy of the scriptures and turn to John chapter 8. We will be considering verses 1 through 11. John chapter 8, verses 1 through 11, and this is our 44th message in this gospel.

Oh God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Lord, as we enter into this time of opening your word and feasting on what you have for us, Lord, we pray this day like the days of old, Lord, when you caused manna to fall from heaven and the days when Jesus took the loaves and the bread and he fed the multitude, Lord, you will this day through your word feed us.

Lord, we love you and we praise the name of Jesus Christ. Be with all the churches that gather for this moment today to feast upon your word. In his name we pray, amen. All right, so let's begin with reading the text.

It actually starts in chapter 7, verse 53, but for some reason the verses break down in that sentence, so I'm just going to call it 1 through 11, but just note that we're reading verse 53 as well. Everyone went to his own, I mean everyone went to his home, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

Early in the morning he came again into the temple and all the people were coming to him and sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery and having set her in the center of the court, they said to him, Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery in.

The very act.

Now the law of Moses commands us to stone such woman. What do you say? They were saying this, testing him, so that they might have evidence to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground.

But when they persisted in asking him, he straightened up and said to them, Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her. Again he stooped down and he wrote on the ground.

And 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. Straightening up, Jesus said to her, Woman, where are they?

Did no one condemn you? She said, No one, Lord. And Jesus said, I do not condemn you either. Go and from now on sin no more. Our theme for this Lord's Day is mercy over condemnation. Mercy over condemnation.

Today we're going to witness God himself in the second person of the Trinity, God the Son, Jesus the Christ, show mercy to a woman who violated God's law. This is clear. She has violated God's law and Jesus shows mercy.

Now this paragraph we have here in our Bible is a story that brings controversy. Men who are way smarter than I am believe that this story does not belong in the Scriptures. Most of these men believe that this story actually happened.

This is a true event. This actually took place the way the text lays it out. They just don't believe it should be in Scripture. So what we have here, and I pointed this out a few months ago concerning John chapter 5.

Textual criticism, right? So for the most part you have what's called the critical text and the received text. The critical text is taken from the earliest manuscripts. And although most Bibles, I would say every Bible, even if it's a critical text or a received text has this story in here, like the LSB is from the received text.

And you see that it's laid out in brackets. And so you'll find where it says that the earlier manuscripts do not have this story.

In there.

But the received text does not, well the New King James will lay it out for you and say something like that. But it's taken from, the New King James is taken from the received text. I hold personally to what's called the majority view text, which is a minority view, right?

Not many Christians hold to the majority view. So the majority view would say out of all the texts that we have, the original, well not the original manuscripts, but the manuscripts that we have, the manuscript evidence that we have, we're going to take whatever is the most, we're going to say, okay, this is how God has preserved his word through the most copies.

And when you lay out the majority view of this, this story is in the majority text. There's more copies of the ancient manuscripts with this story in there than with it not.

In there.

And so because there's more copies with it in there, as a majority text advocate, I say it should be in there. And so I'm going to preach it. John McArthur and other people would skip this text. I'm not going to skip it.

So I want to lay out another way to look at this. So in 1 John 5, I want to read verses 7 and 8, just to kind of give you the idea of what I'm talking about. So I'm going to be reading this from the LSB, and then we'll read it from a different translation.

1 John 5, so this is called the Kamiohameni, or you can say John's comma, beginning in verse 7 says, for there are three that bear witness, the spirit, the water, and the blood. And these three are in agreement.

So that is from a critical text position. And that is also in the majority text view. That's what it should be. It shouldn't be any more than that. But from the received text says this, for there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost.

And these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, the water, and the blood. And these three are in one agreement. So the majority text kind of goes back and forth between the critical text and the received text.

It sides with both when both are right, because this comes to the majority. Which one of these had the majority? Concerning John's comma, there's only two manuscripts, two, which came about late, probably anywhere between the 15th, 16th, and 17th century.

I can't quite remember. 16th century. There's only two manuscripts with it in there. So therefore, it is not a part of the majority text view. And I see that it shouldn't be in the text. Now again, as a majority text advocate, and I believe there's majority text advocates in here, as well as critical text advocates, and as well as the received text advocates.

But as a majority text advocate, I believe that the story is authoritative. And I believe that you should believe that as well. I'm not telling you that you have to believe that. That would be legalism.

But I do believe that you should believe that as well. Anyways, now to the text. In our outline, we're going to look at this story from three perspectives. The scribes and Pharisees, the woman, and Jesus.

We're going to break this down in scenes. Scene one, the scribes and Pharisees. Scene two, the woman. And scene three, Jesus. As we transition, this text takes place the day after the Feast of Boots. And we will pick back up on that that next day when we get to verse 12.

But just for right now, we're just going to look at it just in the sense of context. Look at verses one and two. Again, we're including verse 53 as verse one. Everyone went to his own home. So this is after Jesus gives the invitation.

The officers did not arrest Jesus. And now the Pharisees are accusing the officers of being deceived. And they're questioning Nicodemus for speaking up on Jesus's behalf. So after this, it says everyone went to his own home.

But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. And I'm assuming here, every time, usually he goes there and he prays. Early in the morning, so this will be the eighth day of the Feast of Boots. This is after the celebration is mostly over with.

He came again into the temple. And all the people were coming to him. And he sat down and he began to teach them. So Jesus, as was going through chapter seven, he was teaching at the temple. The eighth day, everyone goes to their own home.

Because remember, for seven days, they had to be at the feast. They had to be living in boots. Everyone that was staying and spending the night in boots for those seven days went home. Pharisees went home.

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. And the next morning, he goes back to the temple and he begins to teach. This takes us to scene one, the scribes and Pharisees. The scribes and Pharisees are looking for a way to catch Jesus in a trap.

And with this in mind, with this in their mind and in their heart, they find a woman who is committing adultery, who is in the very act of committing adultery. To them, Jesus is not a prophet. He's not the Christ and he is not the Son of God.

Jesus is nothing to them. He's just a troublemaker. To them, Jesus is nothing more than a troublemaker, a false teacher, who is trying to overthrow Judaism. They see him as a threat. They view Jesus as a threat to their religion.

He's not a prophet.

He's not the Christ and he's not the Son of God. He is a troublemaker, a false teacher, who is trying to overthrow Judaism. They've been doing things a certain way for a long time. And then all of a sudden, Jesus comes on the scene, claiming that he came down from heaven.

This comes with authority, right? I've never, people keep saying, when he speaks, he speaks in such a way that I've never heard.

Anyone speaks before.

He speaks as if he has authority and not like the scribes and Pharisees. He makes claims that he came down from heaven, and in doing so, he's saying that he's the.

He is here.

He is from above, remember, and they are from below. We went over that a couple months ago. He is from above, and they are from below.

He comes from heaven.

We come from earth. And so by claiming that he's coming from heaven, he's claiming authority that these religious leaders do not have. He is overthrowing things. Jesus begins to teach. He begins to have a separate following from these religious leaders.

Jesus begins to call people to follow him. Rabbis did not do that. A rabbi would not call someone to follow them. Jesus calls people to follow them. Jesus begins to perform signs and wonders on the Sabbath.

The religious leaders had a strict, held to a strict view concerning the Sabbath law, and Jesus was going and healing people on the Sabbath. Jesus called God his own father, making himself equal with God.

The religious leaders had no relationship with God. The relationship that they had was nothing more than a pagan relationship. When you look into paganism, they were doing things that they were told to do.

Prescribed worship. This is how you do things. Their interaction with God, I would add like the pagans at this point, was religious works and not like a father and a son, a relationship. Jesus comes in a true relationship with God, doing what he sees the father doing.

Chapter 5 and chapter 6. He says, I do what I see the father doing. I have a relationship with him. You're doing prescribed works given to you. And I mentioned that as a pagan because by the time Jesus comes, all that's done away with.

Read Isaiah. He loathes their sacrifice. He doesn't receive it. He hates it. Something is changing. Jesus came and he brings that change. Jesus was disrupting their religion. So to them, guess what? Jesus had to go.

So they find this woman who is breaking the law of God by committing adultery.

She's guilty.

And they bring her to Jesus in hopes to trick Jesus. Now let's read that interaction. This takes place in verse 3 to verse 6b.

Verse 3.

The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery and having set her in the center of the court. And they said to him, teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery in the very act. Now the law of Moses commanded us to stone such woman.

What then do you say? They were saying this, testing him so that they might have evidence to accuse him. Now at this time in history, Jerusalem has been taken over by Rome. Rome had a system in place called the Pax Romana.

The Pax Romana is Latin for Roman peace. The Pax Romana lasted roughly 200 years from 27 BC to 180 AD. A part of this pact was that the Jews could not carry out the death penalty. If someone was to do something deserving of the death penalty, they would have to convince Rome of their wrongdoing.

And Rome would put them to death. And to make this personal to you, this is why Jesus was not stoned. That's why he wasn't stoned.

He was crucified.

If the Jews would have put him to death, he would have been stoned to death for the crimes that he was, the accusations of his crimes.

But he was crucified.

And that's how Rome put people to death. That's how Rome killed criminals. So if Jesus says that this woman doesn't deserve to be stoned, then he is going against the law of Moses. Hence, they're testing him.

And the Jews will recognize him as a false teacher. Think about that. If Jesus was to stand up and say, look, look, look, ladies and gentlemen, this woman does not deserve to be stoned. She's clearly broken God's law.

She clearly deserves death.

So if Jesus would have said, you know what? Let's just not do that. She doesn't deserve it. They would have looked at him as a false prophet going against what God's word said. If Jesus would have said stone her, he goes against the law of Rome.

And so when you look back here in our text where it says, they were saying this, testing him so that they might have evidence to accuse him, accusing him to Rome. And therefore, Rome would have had reason to put Jesus on trial.

They thought they had him in a trap. They're looking to trap him. If he says, no, don't stone her, she doesn't deserve it. He's a false prophet. If he says stone her, she deserves it. He goes against Rome and therefore he's put on trial.

It seemed to be a win-win for them because they're trying to get rid of the troublemaker. Scene two, the woman. This woman was in the very act of breaking the law of God. The very act. She's committing adultery.

In the Ten Commandments, the transcendent law, the seventh commandment is, you shall not commit adultery. The text doesn't tell us if she was cheating on her husband, right, if she was married and cheating on her husband, or if she was just sleeping with a married man.

Like, it doesn't fill in that gap. The punishment for breaking this commandment was death. If you will look with me in Leviticus chapter 20 verse 10. The Old Testament gives us two texts to look at. Our first one is Leviticus chapter 20 verse 10.

If there is a man who is caught committing adultery with another man's wife, one who commits adultery with his friend's wife and the adulterer, excuse me, the adulterer and the adulteress, shall surely be put to death.

Also, if you will, turn to Deuteronomy chapter 22 verse 22. Deuteronomy chapter 22 verse 22. If a man is found lying with a married woman, then both of them shall die. The man who lies with the woman and the woman and the woman, thus you shall purge the evil from Israel.

The woman, along with the man, is guilty. They should be put to death. According to the law of Moses, they're guilty. They should die. The woman, along with the man, is guilty. And under the Jewish penal code, they deserve death.

It is rightly pointed out that the woman alone is brought to Jesus to be judged. And listen, there are so many opinions about this. If I was to just list the opinions, that's another sermon. There's so many opinions about this on why.

I read this and see that the scribes and Pharisees were not committed to the law of God as one would think. Being that she was caught in the very act. So if they're in the very act, that means there's two parties taking, two parties that's in this.

And they were, then if she was caught in the very act, then why did they not bring the man as well? They themselves know the law and know that both man and woman are to be put to death. Not just woman, not just man.

Man and woman are to be put to death together. They themselves know the law and that they both should be put to death together. That's what the text tells us. The text doesn't tell us, speaking of our text, why they only brought the woman.

But what we can take for this is that they were not really holding to the law. They were not, how? By not bringing the man as well. So by them not bringing the man, we can conclude that they're not really holding to the law.

They're not really looking to stone this woman. Nor were they looking to stone the man. This is by trickery. This is, you know, look at this hand while this hand steals your wallet. They were trying to pull a trick on Jesus.

They were trying to make him fall. They were trying to make the cross to see him as a false prophet or having a way to accuse him to Rome. And as we've already mentioned, they were not allowed to put her to death because of the Pax Romanis.

But side note, they didn't always obey Rome. You want evidence?

Stephen.

They stoned Stephen in the book of Acts for preaching Christ from the beginning of the law on through. They didn't like what Stephen had to say. Stephen must have been in a remote place. So they picked up stones to stone him.

Concerning this woman who was caught in adultery in the very act, not only was this, not only was the outside of her cup, not the inside of her cup, not clean, but the outside of her cup wasn't clean.

Matthew chapter five, verses twenty seven and twenty eight says this.

This is Jesus speaking.

So you have to think that when this is taking place, Jesus has already said these words that I'm about to read. You have heard that it was said you shall not commit adultery. Now, what's he pointing to?

He's pointing to the law, but he's also pointing to the law of the flesh. Those passages where it talks about killing the people that commit adultery. So he's pointing to the transcendent law, and he's also pointing to the mosaic law, where it points out in Leviticus and Deuteronomy.

He says, you have heard that it was said do not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman to lust has already committed adultery in her heart or in his heart. Not only was this woman, the outsider of her cup, not clean, but in order for her to actually commit the physical act, first thing that happens is the mental act, right?

I may mention this several times. My hand cannot reach for this pen and pick it up without my mind telling my hand to reach for the pen to pick it up. The thought must come first before the action. If you commit adultery, you have also thought about committing adultery first.

So although her outside of her cup isn't clean and the inside of her cup isn't clean, Jesus knows that these Pharisees have thought about it. Though the outside of their cup is clean, the inside of the cup isn't clean.

No one's inside of their cup is clean. We're born with dead man's bones. Jesus knows this. He knows that everyone that is around him deserves to be put to death under the penal code. Scene three, Jesus.

Jesus is at the temple. He sat down to teach. And I would imagine that he is getting ready to teach the same things that he has been teaching so far in our text. That he is the son of God, right? There's only one God.

And this one God is three persons. The one being of God and the three persons, father, son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus has been teaching that he and the father are one. That even while he's on earth, he's able to see and interact with the father.

Chapter three, verse 13 says that he comes down from heaven and he's with him in heaven. Again, that he is the son of God and that he came down from heaven. And that if you believe in him, you have eternal life.

And in our text so far, we've seen that if you eat of his flesh and drink of his blood, that's believing in him. If you come to him and drink of the living water because he's the fountain, then you believe in him.

If you look at him, if you look to him on the cross, just as the serpent was hung on the pole and people would look at him to be healed, if you look to him on the cross, you will be healed speaking of believing in him.

So there's different ways that John has been explaining how someone believes in him. If you come to him and drink, if you look to him, if you eat of him and drink, if you eat of his flesh and drink of his blood, all this is just speaking about believing in him.

So when Jesus sits down to teach, as far as we walk through John, these are the three main themes that he's been teaching, that he is the son of God, that he came down from heaven, and that believing him is eternal life.

Then all of a sudden, the scribes and the Pharisees, they bring a woman into the temple trying to catch him off guard, who they call in the very act of adultery with a man. And they set her in front of Jesus, giving him an ultimatum.

Just imagine Jesus, as he's beginning to teach,.

He's got people around him,.

And all of a sudden, a woman is brought in who is caught in the very act of adultery. Now, some people have assumed that she might be beat up, they assume that she might be even not have any clothes on,.

Right?

Like, why would they tell her to put her clothes on? They want her to be humiliated. We don't, we're not there, we don't know the scene, but all we know is, is that this woman, as Jesus begins to teach, is put in front of him, she's caught in the very act of adultery.

Verse 5, this is the Pharisees speaking. Now, in the law of Moses, commands us, commanded us to stone such woman. Where did it say that? It didn't say to stone such woman. It says both, man and woman.

Right here, we see they're taking free liberty with the text, because it doesn't say to stone such woman, it says to stone both, both. And yet, they only bring the woman. Now, in the law of Moses, it commands us to stone such woman.

Listen, what do you say? So, they ask Jesus, what do you say? Jesus gives three responses. We see the first response in verse 6c. Look at verse 6. They were saying this to test him. No, I'm sorry, I'm reading all of verse 6.

But they were saying this to test him, that they might have evidence to accuse him. So, here's verse 6c. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger, wrote on the ground. His first response was, he begins to write with his finger on the ground.

His second response is in verse 7. Look at verse 7. But when they persisted in asking him, he straightened up and said to them, let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.

His third response is found in verse 8. Look at verse 8. Again, he stooped down and wrote on the ground. First response, he writes on the ground. Second response, he speaks to them. Third response, he writes on the ground again.

In his first response, Jesus stooped on the ground and began to write on the ground. Now, the text does not tell us what Jesus wrote on the ground. But I'm going to go out on a limb. I'm going to go out on a limb here because I believe that I know what Jesus wrote on the ground.

I believe he was writing their names. And you say, well, that's a lot of liberty that you're taking, Jeff. And trust me, I know. I know. I was at a church one time. It was a Methodist church. And the pastor was preaching this message.

He says, there's no way for any of us to know what Jesus wrote on the ground. We wasn't there. And as I was leaving, he was one of those pastors that stood at the end by the door. As people would leave, he would shake their hands.

And I said, Jeremiah 17, 13.

He said, what?

I said, Jeremiah 17, 13. I said, I believe that's what he wrote on the ground. I mean, I believe that text tells us what he wrote on the ground. So in Jeremiah 17, verse 13, it says this. Oh, Yahweh, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you will be put to shame.

Those who turn away on the earth will be written down because they have forsaken. Notice our context, the fountain of living water, even Yahweh. Now, all other translations that I have available to me, which is a lot, says their names will be written in the dust or written in the earth.

Jesus in John chapter seven, the day before this had given them an invitation and declared himself to be the fountain of living water. If you go to chapter two of Jeremiah, verse 13 says this. For my people have done two evils.

They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water. God calling him, Yahweh calling himself the fountain of living water. And they have the living water to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

And I pointed out that to reject Jesus is to establish your own righteousness. By the time Jesus comes, this is why I was talking about their religious works has turned to paganism because God has done something else.

God is doing something new. The new covenant is here. And if you continue to live under the old covenant, that's paganism. You do not have relationship with God. You have things that you are told to do.

And even those things that you were told to do is no longer any good. Jeremiah is prophesying that these people have taken the way that God has prescribed.

For them to worship.

And they even made it into a harlot. They've changed it. They're doing, if you read, is it Nehemiah? Or it could be Hosea, I can't remember right now. But he talks about that they have taken the, instead of giving the best lamb, they're giving spotted lambs.

And instead of the priest rejecting their offering, he's receiving their offering. They have hewed for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold no water. So in this text, it tells us that God himself is the fountain of living water.

And then in chapter 17, verse 13 says, O Yahweh, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn away on the earth will be written down because they have forsaken the fountain of living water.

In John chapter seven, verse 37, Jesus says, if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture said, from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.

This is saying that Jesus is the fountain. Jesus is God. Put this together, that's what the text is teaching, that Jesus himself is Yahweh. He is the fountain of living water. And now he is writing on the ground some names.

And I believe it's the names of those who reject him. That day specifically of the scribes and the Pharisees who were in front of him. And we'll come back to that second response. He stands up and he says the famous words, let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.

He's saying, is your cup really clean? The outside's clean, but is the inside clean? Let him who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her. His third response, and then he stoops down and begins to ride on the ground again.

And I want to go out on another limb because the text doesn't say it. I believe here he writes the, he doesn't write Jeremiah 17, 13, because the book's not broken down like that. But I believe he's writing the verse.

And I'm going to read it this time in the ESV. New King James, King James ES, like Young's literal translation, the Greek, like everything that I read spells it out like this. Oh Lord, capital L-O-R-D, Yahweh, the hope of Israel, all those who forsake you shall be put to shame.

Those who turn away from you. Think about chapter seven when he's given the invitation. Those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the Lord, capital L-O-R-D, Yahweh, the fountain of living water.

Ladies and gentlemen, is Jesus the fountain of living water?

Is he God?

Did these people forsake him? Their names are written in the earth. Their names are written in the earth. Now I want to give you three reasons why they walked away. The first reason is found in verse nine.

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, and the woman where she was in the center of the court. So when they heard what?

Let him who was without sin among you be the first to throw the stone. Deep down, these Pharisees knew that they weren't clean, that they were not without sin. They had the sacrificial system. When the priest would go in to offer the sacrifice, he was not just offering it for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people, but even the Pharisees are included.

The religious leaders are included in this forgiveness. They weren't spotless. And I think deep down, they had to know this. The second reason is that their plan didn't work. They're trying to trick Jesus.

Jesus flips the script on them. Jesus didn't go against the law of Moses, nor did he go against the law of Rome. Jesus put it back on them to go against the law of Moses and the law of Rome. If he were to say, if you who was without sin be the first to cast the stone, if they would have threw the stone, they would have been charged by Rome.

Or if they would have said, you know what? She doesn't deserve it. They would have been held as false prophets. Instead, when they heard the words, let him who was without sin be the first to cast the stone, they used that because everyone knows everyone sins.

Like the Jews knew that, that everyone sins. The sacrifices have to be made. There were sacrifices done every day. Everyone has some sin. So they dropped the stones and they began to walk away. Again, if they would have put her to death in such a public way, they themselves would have been charged by Rome.

The third is, now I'm going out on my two limbs at the same time here that I was speaking about earlier. When Jesus was writing their names on the ground and when he pointed to them that verse, they saw their sin and they knew they couldn't throw the stone.

Maybe deep down they, for a split second, they felt conviction that they had rejected the fountain of living water. Again, these are things that we can only assume.

The previous day,.

They had forsaken the fountain of living water. They did not respond positively to the invitation. Instead of coming to Jesus to drink from the fountain by, so coming to Jesus to drink of him is to believe in him.

So instead of coming to him and believing him that he is the son of God, that he came down from heaven and that believing in him is eternal life, instead of coming to him in that way, they reject him.

They sent officers to arrest him. And they called the, they basically said that the people are cursed from the law, those who are arguing about him being the Christ or him being the prophet, saying that they don't even know the law, they are cursed.

They themselves forsook, did not come to Jesus, they forsook him. They did not come to Jesus the Christ to drink of the living water. Ladies and gentlemen, I just want to pause right here and say, everyone will be written down.

Everyone's name, listen to me, everyone's name, past, present, future, everyone's name will be written down. Either in the book of life or in the dust of the earth. Everyone, kids listen, if you do not come to Jesus and drink from the fountain, you will be written down in the earth because you have forsaken the Lord, even Yahweh.

Everyone's name is going to be written down, either in the book of life or in the earth. Look at verses nine through 11. And when they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones.

And he was left alone with the woman where she was in the center of the court. Straightened up, Jesus said to her, woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you? So right here, thanks stone her. The judgment was to be stoned to death.

Did no one condemn you? She said, no one, Lord, Adonai. And Jesus said, neither do I condemn you. Meaning, neither do I throw a stone at you. Neither do I condemn you either. Go and from now on, sin no more.

According to the law of Moses, Jesus is the only one worthy to throw the stone. He could have picked up a stone and threw it at her. And he would have been worthy to do so. Worthy to judge, worthy to condemn.