Sermon: The Woman Caught in Adultery (Pericope Adulterae)
Bible Passage: John 7:53-8:11
I. About the passage
1. Jesus came to the Temple very early in the morning to teach (8:2)
2. Jesus sat down to teach—it’s the posture of a teacher (8:2)
3. The teachers of the law and Pharisees brought in a woman who was caught in the act of adultery (8:3)
4. Instead of taking the woman to the Sanhedrin, they brought her to Jesus
a. Verses 4b-5: “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”
b. The purpose of bringing this woman to Jesus was to trap Him (verse 6 “They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him”)
c. Though they had evil intention, their decision to bring the woman to Jesus would turn out to be good for the woman
d. The accused go unpunished and the accusers go morally punished!
5. The woman violated the Jewish Law
a. If Jesus absolved her, He would be accused of violating the Mosaic law regarding adultery
b. If Jesus judged her to be stoned, it will be violation of Roman law because Jewish leaders had no authority to give death sentence (cf. John 18:31)
6. The scribes and Pharisees made her stand before the crowd—she was humiliated; she was surrounded by her accusers
II. Let’s look at the issue at hand
1. Exod 20:14 “you shall not commit adultery”
2. Lev 20:10 “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
3. Deut 22:22 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
a. “Adultery” is:
i. “Intercourse between a married man and married/betrothed woman”
ii. “The violation of the marriage of another person”
iii. In marriage, God has given to husband and wife exclusive “conjugal rights”—this conjugal rights cannot be shared with others
iv. When one of the partners indulge in adultery, the other partner’s conjugal right is stolen or violated
v. So, in an adultery irrespective of who commits, three persons are affected: God, husband, and wife
4. God’s purpose of sexuality is transgressed
5. It’s a social evil
6. Sexual fidelity (marriage faithfulness) is a demonstration of one’s commitment to his/her spouse
a. Adultery is a fruit of one’s depravity
b. Marriage is God’s enacted symbol of His relationship with the nation Israel—it points to something theological
i. The husband is the LORD, and the wife is the nation Israel (Hosea 3:1)
ii. As much as the Husband is committed to the wife (hesed), the wife needs to be faithful to the Husband
iii. Israel’s any relationship with foreign gods was treated as adultery that requires the severest punishment (cf. Hosea 4:12, 5:7, 9:1)
iv. Marriage is sacred because God created this relationship where He is the center, and it is used as a metaphor to communicate His relationship with His people
v. Adultery not only hurts human relationship, but it hurts God (it brings pain to God)
c. The woman violated the law and stood guilty who needed punishment prescribed in the law (the woman represents everyone)
i. All stand accused before God
ii. Rom 3:23 “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”
iii. Gal 3:10 “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law”
d. The law was incapable of making the woman behave faithfully and to remain loyal to her husband
i. Rom 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! Certainly, I would not have known sin except through the law. For indeed I would not have known what it means to desire something belonging to someone else if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”
e. The law did not have inherent power to transform people’s behavior, but it was capable of letting people know that they have violated and therefore “guilty”—the law of Moses was more an informer
III. Punishment for adultery
1. The punishment for adultery is the severest one—i.e., to stone to death
2. Deut 17:7 “The witnesses must be first to begin the execution, and then all the people are to join in afterward. In this way you will purge evil from among you”
3. Man and woman were involved in adultery
4. The Scripture warrants both to be equally punished (Deut 22:22)
5. Only the woman was brought to Jesus
6. As they accuse the woman, they themselves were guilty of breaking the law
a. Verse 8: “Let anyone of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her”…
i. Verse 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
7. The religious leaders showed zeal, but their zeal appears to be selective/partial
8. The scribes and Pharisees, the religious leaders, functioned as police officers
a. Matthew 7:3-4 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye
b. They came to punish the woman, but they got punished! (like the story of the older brother)
IV. Jesus’ take on this matter:
1. Verse 10 “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Sir,” “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
2. Just as Jesus forgave the prodigal son, accepted the Samaritan woman, and called Levi, He forgave this woman
3. Jesus knows that the Law could only inform us about sin, but it cannot make the faithful
4. Just as she was guilty her accusers were also guilty; she received Jesus’ forgiveness, but they left without receiving it
a. Rom 6:23 the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord
b. Rom 5:8 While we were still sinners, Christ died for us
5. The accusers became the accused—the Gospel is subversive and disruptive
V. Principles
1. All stood guilty before God
2. The law and conscience accused us that we were guilty before God and deserved to be punished
3. Just as Jesus forgive the woman who deserved death, God acquitted us graciously
4. Christian morality is not by avoiding a law out of fear, but it happens out of love for God
5. Life for those acquitted is not based on the law and moralism, but based on the work of the Holy Spirit
Take Away:
Embrace the undeserving with godly forgiveness and equip them with the Gospel which frees us them from legalism and morality