WHATEVER HAPPENED TO SIN? (JOHN 8:1-11)
A study by a research organization several years ago questioned more than 1,000 American adult respondents whether they believe in such a thing as “sin” and then asked them whether 30 different behaviors were sinful. Out the list of 30 behaviors, adultery was most often described as a sinful behavior by the respondents (81 percent). Following adultery was racism (74 percent); using “hard” drugs (65 percent); not saying anything if a cashier gives you too much change (63 percent); abortion (56 percent); and homosexual activity or sex (52 percent) and pornographic literature (50%) that 50% or more respondents considered these practices sinful.
http://m.christianpost.com/news/study-behaviors-americans-consider-sinful--31504/
(“Study: Behaviors Americans Consider 'Sinful'” March 12, 2008)
How does the Bible define sin? Two passages present the two sides of sin – the sin of commission and the sin of omission. 1 John 5:17 tells us that “all wrongdoing is sin,” which is the sin of doing wrong. James 4:17, on the other hand, says “if anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them,” which is the sin of not doing the right thing. Romans 3:23 aptly sums it up as “for all have sinned (commission) and fall short (omission) of the glory of God.”
Why is God opposed to sin? What options do sinners have? How can we overcome pesky sin that so easily entangles us on the road to conversion and commitment?
Be Saddened by Sin
8 1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” (John 8:1-5)
A man was driving a rig in a long line of tractor-trailers when a police officer pulled him over for speeding. Astounded that he alone was caught, the man asked in protest, “Out of all these trucks that were going just as fast as I was, why did you pull me over?”
“Have you ever gone fishing?” the officer asked.
“Yes,” the man replied.
“Well, have you ever caught all the fish in the pond?”
This passage reveals the different faces of sinners in the Bible- the caught, the catchers, and the uncaught, or the dejected, the delighted and the departed, the person, the prosecution and the partner.
To the first person, unlike the lure and allure of sin in the novels and movies, sin was not good or glamorous. Sin is enslaving more than enjoying, lording rather than liberating us. From the word sin we have sinister. Sin is poison, toxic and fire. It is intense, inflammatory and insidious. Robert Morneau compares sin to an ingrown toenail, poison and cancer, and that sinfulness is the basic orientation away from God, a turning from light to darkness, and sin is the individual act or abiding attitude that chooses death over life. (Reconciliation, pp 54-55).
The subject of adultery is rampant in the gospels (Matt 5:32, 15:19, Mark 7:22), the New Testament and the Bible, but this is the first actual person “caught in adultery” (v 3), a catch under unusual and unfair circumstances. First, she, and not he, was caught. Second, she was dragged before the people instead of the court. Third, they could have questioned her alone, not before Jesus. Deuteronomy 22:23-24 says, “If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, you shall take BOTH of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death” (Deut 22:23). If both were involved, who and where was the man? Why did he escape? Why the disparity or double standards? Their motivation was cruel, to stone her. The verb “caught” (katalambano) means grabbed, seized or possessed. Nobody was caught in the Bible before for adultery, never man or woman.
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There are saved sinners and unsaved sinners, self-indulgent sinners and self-righteous sinners, helpless and hardened sinners, shamed and shameless sinners, and repentant and resistant sinners, but there is no such thing as an unintentional and involuntary sinner. Sin is instinctive and insatiable (2 Peter 2:14), but never involuntary, accidental or inescapable. It’s been said, “The first look is accidental and the second look is intentional.” The first look is an accidental, the second look is the analysis, and the third is an abomination.
In cases of stoning the Mosaic Law required at least two witnesses who had not participated in the sin to be the first to throw the stones (Leviticus 24:14; Deuteronomy 13:9; Deuteronomy 17:7), but all were involved, none was innocent. Jesus came to the temple to teach and not try others. Deut 17:6-8
6 At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. 7 The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you.
Romans 3 states the NOs like no other in KJV, see if you can count them:
“There is NONE righteous, no-not one” (v 10)
“There is NONE that understandeth, there is NONE that seeketh after God” (v 11)
“There is NONE that doeth good, no, NOT one” (v 12)
“The way of peace have they NOT known” (v 17)
“There is NO fear of God before their eyes” (v 18)
“By the deeds of the law there shall NO flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (v 20)
“For there is NO difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (vv 22-23)
Romans 3 is the perfect 10 “no” (ouk), and one bonus “no-not” (oude) in verse 10. The ISIS treatment did not work. Jesus was not shocked by sin or at sin.
Be Spared of Suffering
6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. (John 8:6-9)
Socrates , that great father of philosophy, advised young men to carry a mirror. If they were good looking, they should remind themselves that an ugly life was out of keeping with good looks. If their appearance was not attractive, they were told to remember that handsome actions offset ugly looks. (from Illustrations of Bible Truths # 594)
The world knows of sin and its cause and consequences but not the cure. It has its reason and results but not the remedy. Sin was not a dead end in Jesus. Just as bad as the sin of the woman was the selfishness of the men. She was just a pawn, a ploy and a pretense. The method (participle) the scribes and Pharisees used was to tempt him (v 6), but the purpose was to accuse (infinitive) him. The other translations for “accuse” is “witness against” (Mark 15:4) or “object” (Acts 24:19) as a verb. Not only did they attempt to trap or test (KJV) him in verse 6, they kept on questioning him (v 8). The sin of the scribes and Pharisees is not in the act but in the attitude, not on the outside but on the inside, not in their manners but in their motivation.
The verb “kept on” (epimeno) in verse 7 makes its debut late in the Bible. It is translated as continue (John 8:7), tarry (Acts 10:48) and abide (Rom 11:23). The word is most associated with days, as in certain days (Acts 10:48), seven days (Acts 21:4), many days (Acts 21:10), three days (Acts 28:12) and 17 days (Gal 1:18). They pestered and pursued him for a long time, not leaving the woman, the Lord or the people alone. The scribes and Pharisees were just as sinful, worse not in morality but morally. They were there not to annoy and antagonize the woman, but to ambush and arrest Jesus. Not only was Jesus’ answer amazing, his tone in imperative and choice of words were appropriate because the adjective “without sin” (v 7) does not appear again in the Bible. Jesus did two things, the first written and the second spoken. No scholar could figure out what Jesus wrote. The verb “throw” (v 7) is an imperative, a command, as forceful and as furious and as ferocious as any. He ordered them to release their anger, but there were no takers. Jesus was not insensitive to sin, but he was suspicious of sinners.
His name JESUS means to “save” people from their sins. (Matt 1:21)
Much as he knew of sin’s snare, he promised the Savior’s salvation. The point was whether he was loving or lenient, mean or merciful. He did not expose or excuse the woman of sin. God does not look at sinners the way the scribes and the Pharisees did. The woman was the tempted, not the tempter. She was a casualty of sin, but the cause is of the devil. Jesus did not condone the sin nor condemn the sinner. He did not come to call the sinless, but to convert the sinful. His purposes were redemptive, not punitive. To seek and deliver, not to search and destroy. The men were not there to seek her welfare, but to seek her death. There is no understanding of the downfall and depravity of men apart from the death and deliverance of Jesus.
There are 11 things Jesus did for our sins:
1. To save his people from their sins (Matt 1:21)
2. To forgive sins (Matt 9:6)
3. To take away the sin of the world (John 1:29)
4. To blot out our sins (Acts 3:19)
5. To wash away our sins (Acts 22:16)
6. To free us from the law of sin and death (Rom 8:2)
7. To make reconciliation for the sins of the people (Heb 2:17)
8. To offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins (Heb 5:1)
9. To put away sin by the sacrifice of himself (Heb 9:26)
10. To bear the sins of many (Heb 9:28)
11. To suffer for our sins (1 Peter 3:18).
There are three ways to understand Jesus’ writing. One commentary speculates that “the design of this second stooping and writing on the ground was evidently to give her accusers an opportunity to slink away unobserved by Him.” (Jamieson, Robert, D.D.; Fausset, A. R.; Brown, David. “Commentary on John 8:8”) A Venetian MS. ascribed to the 10th century has the remarkable reading “wrote on the ground the sins of each one of them.” (Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges) Whedon suggested, “On his part the act of writing declares that the finger of judgment is ever making its record however the present case be dismissed.” (Daniel Whedon, “Commentary on John 8:8”)
Be Shaped through Sanctification
10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:10-11)
A non-Christian lawyer attended a church service and listened incredulously to the testimonies of some who were known to him for their shady deals and failure to meet their honest obligations. “How did you like the testimonies?” a man asked him at the close of the service. He replied, “To a lawyer there is a vast difference between testimony and evidence.” (from Illustrations of Bible Truths # 937)
The verbs “go” and “sin (no more)” are imperatives. The Lord commands us to be delivered from a life and a lifestyle of sin. The phrase “no more” is translated as henceforward (Matt 21:19) no more (Mark 1:45, hereafter (Mark 11:14), any longer (Acts 25:24
any longer (no longer). The temptation of sin did not disappear, but the turnaround from sin is obligation. The snare of sin did not vanish, but the submission to sin is promised.
The worst thing Jesus could do was to leave the woman alone in her lifestyle and loneliness. To be fastened to Jesus means to be free from sin. She had a choice, but her options are limited. Jesus told her how to live her life, restore her dignity. All along, she was passive, but now she had to act. The solution to self-esteem is not lust, but love. The good ending is not to presently escape, but to permanently escape; not to be free from cruel stoning but free from continual sinning. The solution to sin is not sex, but sanctification, which is no short-cut, but to be chastened and cleansed in your heart. It is to be sanctified or set apart for God and to be separated from sin, not severed from sin. Conversion is an instance, but consecration is a lifetime. The purpose of sin then is to remind us of the Savior
Conclusion: It’s been said, “With Christ there is endless hope; without Christ there is hopeless end.” Sin is not a small matter or a single issue, and it does not come with a simple solution or a short cut. The right response to sin is not gladness but sadness, not helplessness but humility. Are your goals to glorify God, obey Him, acknowledge Him, love and serve Him?
Victor Yap
Bible.ryl.hk (Grammar Bible)
Preachchrist.com (sermons)
