John 8; 2-11

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, 6that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 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. 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. 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."

We all know this story, at least those of us who have any knowledge of the life of Jesus of Nazareth. I am writing about this very well worn story because I think it is understood (and therefore also taught) incorrectly.

The way the teaching usually goes is this. Jesus is teaching in the Temple and the Pharisees come and place this woman before Him who was caught in the very act of adultery. Then the question is posed concerning the Law of Moses. The dilemma here is that if Jesus says to stone her then He has violated Roman authority by commanding an execution for a crime which was a right reserved by the Empire for itself. Vassal kingdoms could administer laws as they saw fit but could not execute anyone. If a capital crime was committed then the procurator/governor would have to be brought in to determine whether or not the criminal could be executed. However if Jesus declares they not stone her, because of Roman Law, then He would be saying de facto that a; Rome's authority was higher than Moses' or b; that Moses' Law needed to be set aside because stoning people for adultery was just a little harsh, and therefore they could accuse Jesus of not honoring Moses and thus discredit Him. Therefore they brought this woman to present Him with an inescapable dilemma. But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, instead knelt down and scribbled in the dirt. Now this dirt writing is really important because it made the accusers drop their stones and run away shame faced. Because of this most teachers say that Jesus was either scribbling the Law, which the Pharisees knew they were guilty under, or He was scribbling specific sins which He knew they had committed because He was God after all. Once everyone leaves He then asks the woman where the accusers have gone and receiving her answer has an "awe shucks" moments with her and sends her on her way.

Everyone applauds for Jesus.

My problem with this is not the teaching that mercy and forgiveness are also part of the Law (which by the way I think is true) my problem is that I don't think THIS story teaches that lesson. The reason why is that I think the focus is wrong. Jesus is teaching and the Pharisees and present this woman. We are to believe that they are sexist because it takes two to commit adultery, and while that most certainly was true, that is not the emphasis of the story. Furthermore they ask their question and Jesus answers them by writing in the dirt, and His words having such impact convict them of their sins. The problem with this being that the very thing over which the Pharisees and Jesus clashed the most was Jesus' constant insistence that the pharisees needed the forgiveness of God. The Pharisees had persuaded themselves that they were keeping the Law and were going to Heaven based on being "good people". <-- Sound familiar? So the likelihood that they would suddenly have a change of heart in the midst of this scene seems really far fetched to me. Furthermore then we are to believe that Jesus makes light of this woman's sin because He doesn't stone her and we too, for the sake of forgiveness and mercy, are also to make light of sin.

Does anyone else have a problem with that?

So here is how I think we can rightly interpret this verse.

Jesus is teaching in the Temple and the Pharisees bring this woman to Him to test Him because of the strictures of Roman Law concerning execution of criminals as well as the command of the Law of Moses. In response to their initial questioning Jesus stoops on the ground and begins to write whatever it is on the ground. I think we should be very careful of asserting that He wrote this, that or the other thing on the ground because the writer does not tell us what He wrote, and making a dogmatic statement on a point the Bible is I think deliberately vague on is a bad idea. Furthermore we know good and well they were not perturbed by what He wrote because we already know their disposition concerning their own sin, but furthermore the Text tells us that they continued to question Him as He did this. So what is Jesus doing? I think He is ignoring them. Why? Because they are trying to hang Him using Roman Law, but in coming to Him to ask if this woman should be executed they have already implicitly admitted that Jesus' authority is higher than Rome's. So he has no need to answer their question because they have already answered it by asking Him for judgment instead of Pilate. Which it need not be mentioned that when they really did want someone executed, namely Jesus, they took Him to Pilate and not some other itinerite rabbi.

Learn your Greek

I get a verse everyday on Facebook and this is today's.

Romans 12:3 And because of God's gracious gift to me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you should. Instead, be modest in your thinking, and judge yourself according to the amount of faith that God has given you. (GNT)

Now this struck me as odd because it seemed to say that we should judge ourselves (which is the first sin committed in the Garden) in the Faith based on the amount of Faith we have. That is if someone has more faith than me then he/she is higher in the Faith than I am and visa versa. Apart from this being an odd thing to see in any Bible verse it would be especially odd given that Paul wrote Romans and he repeatedly called all religious achievements dung. So I looked it up.

The English Standard Version (the one I use most often) renders it like this...

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

It seemed to say the same thing, but it still struck me as incongruous with the rest of Paul's writings so I went to the Greek.

Λέγω γὰρ διὰ τῆς χάριτος τῆς δοθείσης μοι παντὶ τῷ ὄντι ἐν ὑμῖν μὴ ὑπερφρονεῖν παρ᾽ ὃ δεῖ φρονεῖν ἀλλὰ φρονεῖν εἰς τὸ σωφρονεῖν ἑκάστῳ ὡς ὁ θεὸς ἐμέρισεν μέτρον πίστεως.

Does that help?

Actually the Greek says, "I say for through that grace that is given unto me to every man that is among you not highly to think more of himself but thinking into the thought to every man according as the God has dealt the measure of faith."

Did that help?

OK I'll stop messing around now. I think it is better rendered...

"For I say through the grace that is given to me to every man among you do not think more highly of yourselves than you ought but think clearly according to the thought that God has dealt the measure of faith to every man."

In other words do not compete with each other about the amount of faith that you have but rather remember that all faith comes from God and therefore should never be the subject of boasting.

Which oddly enough is exactly the opposite of what the Good News Translation and the ESV rendered this verse to be saying.

Food for thought.