Posted on 12/13/2015 6:23:38 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Is the Story Scriptural or Not?
So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
John 8:8 (NKJV)
This Sunday, the Gospel reading in the Roman Catholic Lectionary will be the famous story of “The Woman Caught in Adultery” (John 8:1-11). Some scholars and a few pastors, both liberal and conservative, have questioned the veracity of this unique and beautiful story of God’s mercy and love. This blog post is my feeble attempt at defending the historical truthfulness and canonical faithfulness of this encounter between Jesus and the woman caught in adultery.
You will notice in your modern translations that brackets have been placed around the text with some type of footnote. The note explains that early Greek manuscripts of the Gospel of John do not contain this story and that this narrative when found is placed in different sections of the Gospel. The note seems to cast doubt on the reliability of “The Woman Caught in Adultery Story” causing many readers confusion.
To add to the confusion even some Bible-believing pastors have stopped preaching this famous story of testing, hypocrisy, and forgiveness. In another state, a pastor was teaching through the Gospel of John, as he worked through the text, the pastor came to the "Woman Caught in Adultery" story found in 7:53-8:11. He wrote in the church newsletter that this famous story was not reliable and should not be considered inspired of the Holy Spirit: "Why are we skipping over this passage? Simply put, because it is my suspicion, based on the evidence given by numerous textual scholars, that this story is not part of the inspired canon of Scripture." Therefore, the pastor concluded that he would not be teaching this famous story. To say the least, the pastor’s decision caused no small stir within that congregation.
Below, I list several reasons for the continued inclusion of the "Woman Caught in Adultery" story (John 7:52-8:11) in the canon of Scripture. Consequently, the story should be understood as inspired by the Holy Spirit and worthy of being taught to the Christian faithful.
1. Church Tradition: The Church has accepted the woman caught in adultery story for two thousand years, why stop teaching the passages now? “Throughout the history of the church, it has been held that, whoever wrote it, this little story is authentic.” [Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John, Revised, NICNT (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1995), 779]. The story resonates with the spirit and attitude of the Ancient Church toward those who have fallen and need Christ's mercy and grace.
2. Attestation: Contrary to this pastor’s newsletter article, writings during the Patristic period do refer to this story: Papias (Eusebius, HE 3.29.17), Apostolic Constitution (2.24), and Didymus the Blind. The woman caught in adultery story is not cited in the writings of the Greek fathers, but in the West, Ambrose (397), Ambrosiaster (350) and Augustine (430) refer to the pericope, or story-unit, in their sermons and commentaries. Jerome found the text in early Greek codices and thus translated the story into the Latin Vulgate (fourth century).
Also, during the fourth century, the woman caught in adultery story was accepted into the Sunday lectionary of the Greek East.
"It is plain enough that this passage was unknown anciently to the Greek Churches; and some conjecture that it has been brought from some other place and inserted here. But as it has always been received by the Latin Churches, and is found in many old Greek manuscripts, and contains nothing unworthy of an Apostolic Spirit, there is no reason why we should refuse to apply it to our advantage."
[John Calvin, Commentary on the Gospel According to John, 284.]
3. Reliability: The text may not be the actual writing of the Apostle John, but the story does reflect the writing style of Matthew, Mark and Luke. Many scholars acknowledge that adultery story does not belong at the end of chapter seven, but the passages do reflect the concerns, attitude, and teaching of Jesus.
"On one hand it seems clear that the weight of evidence mitigates against the originality of the story. That is, this brief account is probably not original to the Fourth Gospel. On the other hand, the story has every suggestion of historical veracity, suggesting that it was indeed an event that occurred in the life of Jesus and was a story worthy of collection and recitation.â€
[Gary M. Burge, The NIV Application Commentary: John (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000), 238].
4. Complexity: "Although this narrative is included in the sequence of the outline, it can hardly have belonged to the original text of this Gospel. It is absent from most of the oldest copies of the Gospel that precede the sixth century and from the works of the earliest commentators. To say that it does not belong in the Gospel is not identical with rejecting it as unhistorical. Its coherence and spirit show that it was preserved from a very early time, and it accords well with the known character of Jesus. It may be accepted as historical truth; but based on the information we now have, it was probably not a part of the original text."
[Merrill Tenney, John, Expositor's Bible Commentary [CD-Rom] (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1984).]
Even though a problem exists with the manuscript history of the story of the woman caught in adultery, that complex history is not enough to deny its truthfulness.
Conclusion: Regardless of whether the Apostle John wrote this story or an editor added it later, there is every reason to believe that the story was an actual event in the life of Jesus. No suspect doctrine is present in this text, and the story is certainly represents the manner in which Jesus dealt with Pharisees and sinners.
Does it matter what the sin was? Jesus showed compassion and gave forgiveness, and at the same time reflected the sins of the accusers. Do we need to know THEIR sins to make this story whole?
No, it’s Luke 3:10-18, “The crowds asked John the Baptist, ‘What should we do?’” and so on.
I was about to post the same thing. John 8:1-11 is the Gospel reading for the Fifth Sunday in Lent, Cycle C. The source for this thread was from a blog that was written March 20, 2010. March 21, 2010, was the Fifth Sunday in Lent, Cycle C.
You have your answer in the previous #9.
RE: Is he condoning adultery?
The words “Go and sin no more” tells us that He does not.
And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him. And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
LOL. Good one.
ping for later
I checked for a date on the thread, but didn’t go to the source. Posts are supposed to be dated so that readers aren’t confused by years’-old articles.
He is also pointing out that a new twist has been added. Direct appeal to God Himself for forgiveness.
Please correct me if I am mistaken, but as far as I know, Jesus never WROTE anything.
He taught, preached and testified and is very frequently quoted in the New Testament, but there are no "writings" attributed to Jesus (God incarnate).
Go read your Bible.
He bent down and wrote in the dust of the Temple. “What did He write?” is often asked. Read about the Sotah in Leviticus and you might have an idea.
No, Christ telling people to stone adulterers is not in the Bible. Mohammed telling his followers to stone adulterers (at least the woman) is a basic tenant of Islam that is practiced to this day.
I pray the Messiah forgave her even if she did not know who He was.
For the record:
http://jesusalive.cc/ques199.htm
In the Bible, God ordered people to be stoned to death for 11 things (that I could find).
#1. Touching Mt Sinai: (Ex 19:12-13)(Heb 12:20-21)
#2. Breaking the Sabbath: (Num 15:32-36)
#3. Child Sacrifice: (Lev 20:2)
#4. Being a medium or wizard: (Lev 20:27)
#5. Cursing God Or Blaspheming: (Lev 24:10-16,23)
#6. Idolatry: (Deut 17:2-5)
#7. Someone Who Entices Another To Commit Idolatry: (Deut 13:6-11)
#8. Rebellion Against Parents: (Deut 21:18-21)
#9. A Woman Who Proclaimed To Be A Virgin At Marriage, But Wasn’t: (Deut 22:13-21)
#10. Sex With A Betrothed Virgin: (Deut 22:23-24)
#11. Adultery: (Lev 20:10)(Implied by Jn 8:3-5)(Both man and woman to be stoned)
(An ox that gored someone to death was also to be stoned: (Ex 21:28,32)
No one in the Bible was to be stoned unless their sin could be verified by two or more witnesses. In addition, the witness (or witnesses) were to be the first to cast a stone at the condemned, followed by all of the people (Deut 17:6-7).
(Also see: Deut 19:15, Num 35:30, Jn 8:17, Lev 24:14)
The stoning usually took place outside of the camp or city walls (Lev 24:14,23)(Num 15:35)(Acts 7:58), and was usually done by the “men of his (or her) city” (Deut 21:21)(Deut 22:21).
Several innocent people were stoned to death in the Bible: Stephen (Acts 7:54-60), Naboth (1 Kin 21), Zechariah (2 Chr 24:20-22).
Paul was stoned as well, but did not die (they thought he was dead)(Acts 14:19-20)(2 Cor 11:25).
The Jews sought to stone Jesus at one point for what they believed was blasphemy (Jesus claiming to be God), but He escaped them (Jn 10:22-39).
“For the record:”
Yes, as I said no stonings committed by the followers of Christ.
My point exactly.
No one knows.. . .he wrote in the dirt, and there is no record of what he wrote. That does not constitute a "writing" (document) as any thinking person would understand the word.
The "Sotah" is a very enigmatic concept not defined in mainstream commentaries although it is supposedly refererenced in several old testament books, not just Leviticus.
External definitions of Sotah put the woman in dire straights, while the New Testament account describes Jesus as defending and forgiving the woman.
So what the blue blazes are you on about?
What an odd and ugly response.
It IS in the Bible. OT. Yes i know God changed his mind...but it DID happen.
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