Introduction
“Forgiveness” is a word that I am sure we are all familiar with. It is one of the central elements of the Christian faith, and there is a great deal of power in this word. But here is something you might not have known; the Hebrew Bible actually has three words which we translate into the English word “forgive.”
- “Nāśā” (נשׂא), which means “to bear” an offense. This is the idea is that the person who is hurt can choose to bear the offense instead of punishing the offender.
- “Kipper” (כפר), which is the idea of covering or washing away a sin, making it as though it never happened.
- “Sālaḥ” (סלח) which is the idea of giving a legal pardon, declaring the offender innocent, and striking the offense from the record.
Now I am not sharing this information as just a fun bit of Bible trivia. Every time you see a person forgiving someone in the Old Testament, it is the first word – “Nāśā” (נשׂא). The other two words “Kipper” (כפר) and “Sālaḥ” (סלח) are only ever used to describe what happens when God forgives a sinner.
There are very important truths here. We, as human beings, are commanded to forgive one another, to bear with one another’s sins. We are commanded not to hold someone’s sin against them. When we do forgive, we save ourselves the heartache that comes from sins like bitterness, resentment, anger, or vengeance. We are also given the opportunity to exercise our faith, because we are trusting that God sees the injustice done to us and will deal justly with this person, either in this life or on the day of judgment.
What we are not commanded to do, and what we cannot do, is to take away the person’s guilt or declare them innocent. That’s a type of forgiveness that only God can give. Think about it like this, if I were to sin against you, and you chose to forgive me, that would change the dynamics of our relationship. At the same time, you forgiving me wouldn’t change the fact that I am still a sinner who needs to repent. We might have reconciled, but I still need to reconciled with God.
It is important that we remember this, because this is essential to understanding why the Pharisees had such a problem with Jesus’ ministry. When he claimed to forgive someone’s sin, he was claiming the authority to forgive in a way that only God could.
Under the Old Testament Law, forgiveness between people could be handled as simply as an apology and restitution, but forgiveness from God could only come through the shedding of blood. Animals, usually a spotless lamb, would be given by the sinner to be sacrificed as a visual reminder that for the guilty to be spared an innocent one would have to absorb their guilt. This is why the ministry of Jesus began with John the Baptist declaring, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29, ESV) and why the author of Hebrews pointed to Christ’s death on the cross as the “once and for all” sacrifice, a sacrifice to end all sacrifices (Hebrews 9:22, 26, ESV).
I make mention of all of this because our passage this morning is a passage about forgiveness, but we need to understand that the forgiveness happening here is not just between a human man and a human woman. The forgiveness that we will see in this passage is the forgiveness that can only be given by God. It is a forgiveness grounded in love and paid for with a great price.
Let us turn to John 8 and read our main passage this morning.
This They Said To Test Him
Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.
John 8:2-6, ESV
Imagine this scene. Jesus, the Messiah, was in the temple teaching the people, most likely from the Law of God or the Prophets. All around him were structures that emphasized the Holiness of God. It is here that the scribes (those who knew the scriptures better than any) and the Pharisees (people who were known for their piety and strict observance of God’s Law) bring a woman caught in the act of committing a capital crime and, casting her before the Messiah, they ask they Jesus to pronounce a judgment. You couldn’t have asked for a stronger backdrop to contrast the events that were about to take place.
The Scribes and Pharisees knew that Jesus had claimed to be from God and able to speak with authority. They also knew that he had claimed to be one who forgives sins, not in the human sense of turning the other cheek and bearing the offense, but as a Son of God pronouncing sinners really and truly forgiven! Here they saw the perfect opportunity to turn this into a trap for Jesus.
The Law of God categorizes adultery as a capital offences worthy of the death penalty:
If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death.
Leviticus 20:10, ESV
If a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.
Deuteronomy 22:13-24, ESV
Capital offenses like this could not be carried out on hearsay. God’s Law required at least two witnesses and a trial for a conviction. Because it was rare for an adulterer to be caught in the act by two or more witnesses, most women who committed adultery would have typically been divorced instead. The Scribes and Pharisees would have known this, and would not have bothered bringing the woman to Jesus if they weren’t completely certain that she was guilty beyond a doubt. They would not have wasted an opportunity like this of the woman could be found innocent or if she could have been released because of a lack of evidence. She was guilty, and they wanted to force Jesus to decide her fate.
If Jesus told the Scribes and Pharisees not to punish the woman, they could then accuse him of teaching against the Law of Moses. They could say that he was contradicting the scriptures, something that the true Messiah would never do. On the other hand, if Jesus told them to have the woman put to death, they would be able to say that he was not greater than Moses and that he did not have the authority to forgive sins.
It’s also possible that there was a political trap being set here as well. At the time, Jerusalem was under Roman rule. The Romans typically let the Jewish people practice their faith, but they did not allow them to perform executions without Roman permission. This is why, later in the gospels, we see the Jewish leaders bringing Jesus before Pilate the Roman governor and asking permission to have him crucified. If Jesus chose to condemn this woman, he’d be declaring himself above Caesar and Rome, and the Scribes and Pharisees could have him arrested as an enemy of Rome.
It was an excellent trap from a theological and political perspective. Forgiveness would be seen as siding against the Law of God. Justice would be siding against Rome and against His stated mission to forgive sinners. It was seemingly a “no-win situation.”
Sometimes as Christ followers we find ourselves placed in what seem to be “no-win situations.” Maybe you have a dear friend or family member who is living a life of unrepentant sin. We know that ignoring the sin in their life is both offensive to God and dangerous for their soul, but we also feel like any sort of correction or rebuke would be interpreted as uncompassionate, unloving, or judgmental. Like Jesus, we want to be a friend to sinners (Luke 15:2), but at the same time we want to do what scripture says and love justice and hate what is evil (Amos 5:15). How do we do both? How do we avoid being “double-minded” (James 1:8) which the scriptures also warn against?
It feels almost like we are tightrope walkers trying not to lean too hard to the left or the right. I don’t think anyone other than Jesus managed to do this balancing act perfectly. I can recall times when I wish I had been bolder in standing up for what I knew to be right, but I let timidity and the fear of people’s opinions hold me back. I can also think if times where I wish I had been more patient and merciful, where I wish I had been slower to condemn and quicker to extend grace. Thank God that he forgives us and picks us up when we fall, and thank God that we have a perfect example to look to in Jesus. But what would Jesus, who always perfectly balanced truth and love, do in this situation?
When asked to pronounce a judgment, Jesus does something strange. He bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. What is this about? Some think he was quietly writing in the sand so that the accusers would have to repeat their question, giving them time to think about what they were doing by bringing this woman to Christ. Others think he may have been writing scriptures in the dirt for them to read, hoping to convict them. Maybe it was both, or maybe it was neither.
An interesting theory is that Jesus might have been fulfilling a prophecy from the days of Jeremiah:
O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame; those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living water.
Jeremiah 17:13-17, ESV
Whatever the reason, the fact that he delayed in answering must have frustrated the Scribes and the Pharisees, because we are told they continued to ask Jesus the same question until he stood up and gave them an answer.
Who Can Cast Stones?
And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground.
John 8:7-8, ESV
The phrase “Let him who is without sin throw the first stone” has been quoted so often that we might grow numb to what Jesus is really saying. Jesus is not taking a passive attitude towards this woman’s sin. He affirms the validity of the Law. He does not deny that the wages of this woman’s sin is death.
Now if that seems harsh to our modern ears, that is because our culture’s attitude towards sin (especially sexual sin) is far too permissive. The scriptures are clear that sex is not just a physical act, but also a deeply spiritual action. As a result, sexual sins are held as especially damaging and egregious in the eyes of the Lord:
Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 6:18-20, ESV
For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.
1 Thessalonians 4:2-8, ESV
The scriptures say that marriage is a living metaphor for the gospel (Ephesians 5:22-33) and sex is a holy action where two become one (Mark 10:8). Any perversion from this is an abomination and not something to be taken lightly.
Jesus does not deny that the woman is guilty, nor does he say that the penalty under God’s Law is too severe. What he does do is to put the demand for justice back to the accusers. Jesus gave the Scribes and Pharisees permission to stone the woman on the condition that they are willing to claim sinlessness themselves. It was a clever way of teaching the same lesson he taught in the sermon on the mount when he said,
Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.
Matthew 7:1-2, ESV
In other words, are you willing to hold yourself to the same standard that you hold others? This woman was caught in sin, but how often had her accusers committed sins that had never been exposed. Jesus would go on to say in a different passage:
Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore, whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.
Luke 12:2-3, ESV
That should make any of us think twice before we hold someone else’s sins against them. Jesus would even go a step further and say that we won’t be judged merely by our actions and our words, but also by our thoughts.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
Matthew 5:27-28, ESV
If the thought of our mind, the words of our mouth, and the actions taken in our body were recorded and then projected onto a giant movie screen for the world to see would be ok with letting people throw stones?
Remember where all of this was playing out? The Scribes and Pharisees were in God’s Temple, the holiest place in their religion. They were surrounded by reminders of God’s holiness. If they threw a stone and were not guiltless themselves, surely God would see it and would hold them accountable. As Jesus bent back down and continued to write in the sand, they began to ponder if any one of them was worthy? Slowly and silently, each one gave their own answer.
But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.
John 8:9, ESV
These men were almost certainly more righteous than this woman, but that was not the standard Jesus set. He did not say “Let the most righteous among you cast the first stone.” No, he said “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” We are told that the oldest among them were the first to walk away, probably because they were wise enough to know that they had often fallen short of that standard. Eventually though even the youngest and most arrogant among them could not stand before God and condemn this woman, because they themselves had to acknowledge that they had fallen short of God’s perfect standard.
Now some people take this teaching and take it to unbiblical conclusions. Jesus is not saying that no one has the right to call a sin out as sin. Jesus also is not saying that it’s wrong for criminals to be punished for their crimes. Because we live in a sinful and fallen world, God declared it good to have an orderly system of government in place that will punish those who break laws and harm their neighbors.
When the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome, he referred to government appointed rulers and judges as “God’s servant for your good” even going so far as to say that “he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out Gods’ wrath on the wrongdoer” (Romans 13:3-4, ESV). Likewise, the Apostle Peter called Christians to submit to the rule of governors as far as it was possible because they were sent “to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good” (1 Peter 2:13-17, ESV). By necessity, some people will have to serve as law enforcers in any society, but this is a special calling with special responsibilities. Those who are given such authority are warned in scripture to wield it justly because they are accountable to God for how they use or misuse their power.
This is not about man’s law or God’s Law. This is about how we respond to the sins of one another. The Pharisees and Scribes were acting with the wrong motivations, but ironically, they did something right without realizing it. They found a sinner, and brought her to Jesus.
Go and Sin No More
Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”
John 8:10-11, ESV
Jesus is not only the Son of God, but also the only sinless person who ever lived. As a result, he has the exclusive right to declare divine judgement out of his own authority. He was the only person who didn’t need the approval of a law, a court, or a government to pronounce judgement. As Jesus himself declared “the Father… has given all judgment to the Son” (John 5:22, ESV).
However, Jesus’ earthly ministry was not a ministry of judgment. It was a ministry of mercy and reconciliation.
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.
John 3:17, ESV
There will be a time and place for judgement. The scriptures tell us that one day Jesus will return in judgement, but that day has not yet come. His first coming was to save sinners, not to condemn them. There is a second coming, and that will be a day when all sinners give an account, and those who are not in Christ will be justly condemned, but these are still the days of grace!
Jesus, who preached against adultery and sin with the harshest condemnation, here extends mercy to this guilty woman. He tells her “neither do I condemn you.” The fact that this statement is uttered by Jesus is what gives it power. If you were to commit some grave sin and I were to say to you “I don’t condemn you”, that doesn’t change the fact that you are guilty under God’s Law. To have your sins forgiven, not just in the human sense of forgiveness, but in the ways that only God can forgive, you need a pardon from Jesus Christ. This is a costly pardon. The Son of God chose to pay your penalty and take your guilty, your sin, upon himself and suffer and die on a cross in your place. And because he took our place in death, and because he rose from the grave in new life, and because he is now seated at the right hand of God the Father, he alone can pardon sin.
This pardon is given to any who would repent and place their faith in Jesus, trusting Him as their Savior and Lord, but it is not given lightly and without expectation. Again, Jesus’ words to this woman were “Neither do I condemn you; go, and sin no more.” The compassion and mercy of Jesus is directly linked to his call to obedience to the Father. He did not save us from sin so that we might return to it. We can’t claim Jesus as our Savior and Lord while living a lifestyle that is actively opposed to his will. Paul summarized this truth in his letter to the church in Rome:
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
Romans 6:1-2, ESV
Are Jesus and Paul saying that a true Christians never sin? No, but a true Christian should not be able to live in continual unrepentant sin. When we consider the holiness of God, and the depths of our sin, and the cost of our salvation, and the divine love that made it all possible – how then can we who died to sin still live in it? We don’t know the rest of this woman’s story, but I can say with a decent amount of certainty that she did not return to her old life as an adulteress. May the same be said of us today.
Conclusion
So, what do we take from all of this? The woman caught in adultery is a picture of every person who has not yet come to Christ in faith. When it comes to matters of sin and judgment, the courts and opinions of this world are not going to matter. What will matter on the last day is the verdict of the only perfect and sinless judge. Christ and Christ alone will judge the wicked and the righteous, but the righteous will not be spared because of any good work they did. They will be spared because they accepted the pardon of Christ, the pardon that he bled and died to give to all who would turn to Him in faith. If we are pronounced righteous on the day of judgment, it will only be because of what Christ has done on our behalf. If you have not received that pardon, if you have not heard the savior say “neither do I condemn you” then I pray you would come in faith this morning and receive the greatest gift a sinner can receive.
If, however, you have confidence and assurance that your sins have been atoned for. That your life belongs to Christ I ask you to take some time in prayer to reflect on this passage. If we find ourselves casting stones, I pray that we would repent and choose mercy. If we find ourselves returning to old sins, the very sins that Christ bled and died to atone for, I pray that we would commit ourselves to fight, so that it wouldn’t be said of us that we who died to sin continued to live in it.
And if this morning, we find ourselves thinking of someone who, like this woman, is living far from God. May we commit ourselves to what we can to bring her to Christ while mercy and grace are still offered. May it be that no one in our lives goes into judgement without first hearing the good news of the pardon offered to them by Jesus Christ.