Note: I developed a set of slides on PowerPoint for my use in delivering this sermon. If you are interested in having the slides, send an Email to sam@srmccormick.net with the word “Slides” in the subject line and “Neither Do I Condemn You” in either the subject line or the body of the message, and I will send the PowerPoint pdf file to you directly, along with my notes with prompts to remind me when to advance slides and activate animations.
“Neither Do I Condemn You”
I. Introduction
As a congregation of bible-believing Christians, we are all bible-readers, because we all believe the bible to be God’s inspired and recorded message to the human race, the final court of inquiry for matters of faith and practice.
As we read the bible over a lifetime, we read with differing levels of understanding--not only from one person to another, but at different times in our lives.
As children we enjoy the exciting stories of baby Moses, Samson, and Daniel, as interesting and exciting stories. Then, even as small children, we become capable of learning simple lessons, or “morals” in the stories.
As we mature, we become capable of grasping the richer meanings in these stories.
We learn that everything is under a grand plan that appears before our expanding view, and that we are a part of that plan.
We learn how to become Christians, and how to become what God wants us to be.
The bible itself shows us that it is designed for us to progress to ever deeper understanding.
• Jesus scolded the scribes and Pharisees for hanging up on little things. The OT had “weightier matters” than tithing every little thing.
• The writer of Hebrews admonished the readers for preferring a diet of milk and not solid food, and for failing to advance as they should. Heb 5:13-14
I firmly believe the members of this church are progressing to greater depths, but we fool ourselves if we ever think we have fully plumbed the fathomless depths of the scriptures.
At age 84, Eulalia, a friend with whom I was discussing some bible topic said: “I’ve got that bible down pat.” When we think we’ve got it down pat, we stop learning.
In contrast, June Dodgen, not long before she went to her reward at age 94, told me she planned to grow and advance for as long as she lived.
The deeper things of the inspired words are like outer space, which goes on infinitely. We will never exhaust what they reveal. We limit ourselves and deny ourselves its richest bounty if we think we’ve gleaned everything the scriptures offer.
Let us never be content with a superficial understanding of the sacred writings.
When we read the bible, we must consider what we read in the light of the question, “What am I intended to take away from what I am reading?
II. The Text: John 8:3-11 - read
These verses are missing from the oldest manuscripts and those considered most reliable, causing many to believe that it was not in the original text, and is therefore not scripture.
Is John 7:53 - 8:11 an authentic part of inspired scripture?
The passage may have been in still earlier manuscripts than we possess, and deleted by copyists who believed the story contradicted the principles of upright living and consequences for actions; perhaps suspecting it was too much at variance with other scripture to have a credible claim to inspiration.
Matthew Henry says that in these verses there is more variation between the ancient manuscripts that do include the story than any other passage in all the scriptures.
We in the conservative tradition tend to think of every bit of text from any of the ancient manuscripts as scripture. If it’s in our printed bibles, we usually treat it as scripture.
I believe this passage is scripture, primarily because I believe it is compatible with all other scripture.
What does this story teach us?
• That adultery is a terrible sin? It is, but this passage doesn’t teach that.
• That the consequences of sin aren’t so bad? No, wholesale ignoring of sin is contrary to all the things he came to do. Jesus did not come to be an enabler.
• That only sinless people could apply the penalty specified in the law? No, for then no law could ever be upheld.
• That compassion for one caught in a compromising situation outweighs obedience? No, Jesus was compassionate, but he didn’t ignore her sin. Instead, he told her, “sin no more.”
• It is often suggested that the woman repented of her sin, providing a “doctrinally sound” path for Jesus to spare her.
It’s an easy leap for us to infer she must have repented, and that Jesus, all-knowing, recognized it and spared her--but it is a leap.
If that’s the lesson, we’re left to gather it from scriptures that didn’t exist then and weren’t to be written for years.
The story contains no evidence that she repented--or that she didn’t.
The scriptures are silent, and that means we don’t know.
We only know that Jesus concluded the encounter by telling her to repent, with the words, “Go your way, and from now on sin no more.”
She then vanishes from history.
But Jesus didn’t have this encounter and John didn’t tell us about it just so we could take away all the things it doesn’t teach us.
What is our take-away?
III. Background
To answer that question, let us first look at some background and the real situation.
1. Although they called Jesus “Teacher,” the scribes and Pharisees did not come as respectful students to learn the law’s penalty for adultery.
They came to set a trap by malicious tattling.
Theirs was a game of sanctimonious pretense.
In rabbinic law capital punishment could be inflicted only by a court of 23 qualified members.
None of them thought Jesus had authority to render a binding ruling.
2. The Pharisees thought Jesus was a pretender and a usurper who posed as a teacher who came from God, acting dismissively of the revered law of Moses with intent to repeal it and put his own law in effect, for he sometimes seemed to speak and act in ways they considered violations of the law.
3. Let us understand that the law of Moses was in effect throughout Jesus’ ministry, and practiced in Jerusalem by Jewish Christians for almost 40 years after Christ ascended to heaven. It was in effect the day the adulterer was brought to Jesus.
What did the law require?
Deuteronomy 22:22 - If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.
Lev 20:10 'If there is a man who commits adultery with another man's wife, one who commits adultery with his friend's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.
The duplicity of the accusers is plain to see. They pretended to be concerned about the law, but where was the man?
We are left to wonder, but we will never know why the man wasn’t brought.
That law was in effect when the Pharisees brought the woman to Jesus.
4. The Pharisees thought Jesus cared little for the law, they believed Jesus was “soft on sin.”
In fact, one of the criticisms they leveled at him was “This man receives sinners.”
That’s the situation. And now…
• There the woman stands, guilty.
• The penalty for her sin is well known to every Jew.
• The question was put to Jesus.
• And the trap was set.
On the surface, it’s impossible to make sense of Jesus’ words.
They seem to say, “Because others have sinned, the law’s punishment is voided.”
If that’s what Jesus meant, our entire religious understanding collapses.
The sacred text tells us what was really going on, and we have to examine it in that light.
The accusers had ulterior motives, and there is where Jesus met them.
IV. Unpack each thing Jesus said and did
1. Jesus didn’t give an immediate answer. Instead, he bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.
It is impossible to tell, and therefore pointless to ask, what he wrote on the ground.
The content of whatever he wrote on the ground doesn’t matter. If it did, we would know.
However, we see the effect of it.
The scribes and Pharisees came storming up with a head of steam in a manner clearly calculated to put Jesus on the defensive.
You don’t shove Jesus into a corner.
Jesus transferred control of the moment from the Pharisees to himself. He was in control of all that happened from the instant he appeared to ignore their question.
Jesus took no notice of their false fervor for knowing and doing the right thing.
It was camouflage for the trap.
A sign I noticed some time back in a store window:
“You don’t have to attend every argument you’re invited to.”
In a few words, this sign goes a long way toward understanding this story.
Jesus didn’t participate in their kabuki dance and condemn the woman just to pass their test.
He dealt with them on the basis of what was REALLY going on, not on the stage play they offered him.
Luke 7:31-32 "To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and what are they like? "They are like children who sit in the market place and call to one another, and they say, 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.'
They thought they could manipulate Jesus, like a jig doll, believing if he didn’t act the way they wanted, he would be exposed as a failure and a fraud.
2. Pressed by the scribes and Pharisees, he answered,
"Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her."
These words have been used to excuse every kind of sin by every kind of sinner.
They have been used to argue that sin is commonplace and is therefore unremarkable and uncondemnable.
Did we listen to Jesus? He didn’t tell them to disregard or disobey the law, but to obey it.
Jesus did not say she didn’t deserve to be stoned.
Jesus did not tell them not to impose the law’s requirements.
He merely suggested who should be the first to throw a stone, reminding them of their own sinful condition.
Convicted by their own sins, they went away rather than claiming to be without sin.
They were not sent away by Jesus, but by their own shame.
The Pharisees departed, leaving the woman and Jesus - the only one present who could have cast the first stone.
That stone was never cast...
…and that Jesus’ stone was uncast has profound significance.
By the standard Jesus gave, he could have executed the law’s penalty, AND HE DIDN’T!
Think of what that means to our souls’ salvation.
3. He asks, “Has no one condemned you?” She answers, “No one, Lord.”
4. Jesus says “Neither do I condemn you.”
That’s the most jaw-dropping statement in this story!
Why did he not?!
The weight of that statement is:
“The Pharisees didn’t condemn you, and I don’t condemn you either.”
Odd as it might seem, the scribes and Pharisees end up on the same side as Jesus.
Is this true to the character of Jesus? It is.
How is it true to his character?
We will miss the point of this story if we think of it only in terms of sin and its rightful penalty.
The way it is true to his character goes to the heart of Jesus’ purpose in coming to earth
Why did Jesus come?
There are dozens if not hundreds of ways of saying it. One song answers:
“Because he loved me so.”
The bible expresses it in many ways. Some, but not all, are:
To proclaim good news to the poor - Luke 4:18-19
To proclaim liberty to the captives - Luke 4:18-19
Recovering of sight to the blind - Luke 4:18-19
To set at liberty those who are oppressed - Luke 4:18-19
To proclaim the year of the Lord's favor - Luke 4:18-19
To reveal the Father - Matt. 11:27
To be a ransom for many - Matt. 20:28
To serve - Matt. 20:28
To save the world - John 3:17, Luke 19:10
To preach the good news of the kingdom of God -Luke 4:43
To bring division - Luke 12:51
To do the will of the Father - John 6:38
To give the Father's words - John 17:8
To testify to the truth - John 18:37
To die and destroy Satan's power - Heb. 2:14
To destroy the devil's works - 1 John 3:8
To fulfill the Law and the Prophets - Matt. 5:17
That they may have life and have it abundantly - John 10:10
To give eternal life - John 10:28
To taste death for everyone - Heb. 2:9
To become a high priest - Heb. 2:17
To atone for sin - Heb. 2:17
To bring judgment - John 9:39
To take away sin - 1 John 3:5
To preach - Mark 1:38
To call sinners - Mark 2:17
For us to know who is true - 1 John 5:20
To save sinners like Paul, the “foremost” - 1 Timothy 1:15
That whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life - John 3:16
To remove the condemnation to death - John 3:17
Not to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him - John 3:17
Jesus was not dismissive of the woman’s sin, as it might appear.
But Jesus did not come to condemn, but to save.
Jesus came to remove the condemnation to death.
John 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Make no mistake - there will be a time for condemnation.
Acts 17:30-31 - The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead."
The times of ignorance include includes the day the woman was brought to Jesus.
There’s a time for condemning sinners and that wasn’t it.
V. The take-away
What are we intended to take away from this story?
1. Let us have one thing clear: Jesus had the perfect right to speak as he did.
Jesus has the right to forgive sin on earth. Forgiving sin was his central purpose for leaving heaven and taking the form of a servant.
Romans 9:15 For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."
2. Jesus dealt with the real situation, not the staged one.
Sin must be and will be condemned, but to everything there is a season. We err if we think it was Christ’s duty to meet them on the false battlefield and condemn her on the day of their choosing.
3. Religious people who sin against their faith are just as guilty as people who are openly immoral.
The openly immoral may say, “at least I’m not a hypocrite,” as if that itself is the highest virtue.
Honesty is not the highest virtue.
It can be misused as a shield against criticism of open sin.
Or to cloak an unkind word or action.
But the scribes and Pharisees weren’t even being honest about what they were doing at that moment.
4. This story doesn’t show Jesus to be “soft (or weak) on sin.”
It simply shows Jesus didn’t step into a trap. Jesus did confront sin when it was proper to do so.
Jesus was not soft on sin.
• Matthew 23 is packed with Jesus’ condemnation of the scribes and Pharisees. Again and again he said “woe to you.” for their hypocrisy.
• In John 8 he told them, “you are of your father the devil.”
• Twice he turned over the tables of the crooks in the temple and drove them out with a whip.
Soft on sin? Not Jesus.
Sometimes people are mystified when he blisters the religious types and goes easy on people whose sins we--along with the scribes and Pharisees--consider horrible.
5. This story doesn’t settle the matter of the woman’s eternal destiny.
Jesus didn’t speak to that, and it would be a mistake for us to assign salvation of her soul to Jesus’ action.
Jesus addressed the woman’s eternal salvation at the same time and in the same way he addressed ours. That day wasn’t the right time and place.
When Jesus sometimes appeared to go easy on sinners, it was in accordance with his eternal purpose. The “foremost of sinners” explains:
1 Tim 1:16 - But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.
Similarly, perhaps a woman publicly shamed for undisputable sin--if she turned her life around--might be a better example to others than someone who had always lived a chaste life.
6. Paul gives the theological explanation.
God’s ministry in the world was undergoing radical change.
2 Cor 3:7-9 Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory.
John expresses it this way:
John 1:16-17 For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
The story of the adulterous woman is perfectly consistent with Jesus’ message to the world.
Regarding that, Paul wrote,
Rom 8:1 - There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Jesus didn’t look at the woman as she was, but what she could be.
His mission was not served by leaving her as a condemned sinner, but a forgiven sinner, blessed by her encounter with the bearer of sin and the giver of life.
VI. Who are you in this story?
1. Are you Jesus (or like Jesus)? Of course not literally, but mentally place yourself in his sandals.
If you had been in Jesus’ place, what would you have said to the scribes and Pharisees?
The law was in force.
What was the correct answer?
If we would have said the death penalty for adultery ought to be imposed because that’s the law, have we known Jesus?
I am convinced that Jesus gave the correct answer. Jesus was the author of the law given through Moses. He knew everything there was to know about the law. He was there when it was given.
He neither reflected badly upon the law nor excused the prisoner's guilt.
2. Are you the scribes and Pharisees? Does the role of the accuser describe you best?
Today’s version of the Pharisee might step forward and start throwing stones, arguing:
“How can we abhor sin and not condemn those who commit it?”
Or today’s Pharisee might say, “What will it say to our children if we insulate people from the right and proper consequences of their sins? Letting this woman off the hook is a slippery slope.”
I don’t like the slippery slope analogy because it can be used to argue against practically everything, and very often the thing to which it is applied is neither slippery nor sloping.
It argues that since A is bad, B is equally bad because it can lead to A.
It is precisely what led the scribes and rabbis to build a vast body of regulations supplemental to the law but equally binding.
Questions about Jesus healing on the Sabbath came right out of the slippery slope hyper-regulations about work on the Sabbath day.
It’s false reasoning. Jesus didn’t buy it, and condemn her because the ground he stood on was sloping and slippery.
Having said that, there are slopes and some are slippery. We do well to stay off of them.
But not everything is a slippery slope.
In his action Jesus was on solid and level ground.
3. Are you the woman - the one caught in sin?
She has no defense except the defense Jesus gives. The same is true of us.
Ought we not always condemn sin? Why didn’t Jesus?
The woman, though guilty of adultery, was innocent of any complicity in the trap
She was caught in the middle, and is herself a victim in the larger story.
Today, you could put yourself in the place of everyone in this story, even Jesus.
We are all in the place of the woman.
Your sin may not be adultery, but whatever it is, it has the potential of destroying your soul.
Unless you bring it to Jesus.
You can do that today.
