Love and the Law

John 8:2-11

2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” 6 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. 7 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.” 8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 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. 10 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

Here, we have an interesting and beautiful story regarding the Law of God. While Jesus was teaching people in the temple, the scribes and Pharisees brought before Him a woman that had been caught in the act of adultery. Obviously, they want to trap Jesus in saying the wrong thing; either telling them to stone her and losing favor with the people (which they were doing quite well of themselves) or dismiss the penalty and disregard the law of Moses.

His answer was for the one without sin to be the first to throw the stone - after that it could have been no holds barred! Problem was that there were none without sin, so they went away.

However, Christ was without sin, so He could have thrown the first stone. But He did not condemn her. So, did Jesus let the sin go and disregard the law?

No. First, He told her to go and 'sin no more'. This meant to repent of her sins. So He acknowledged that what she had done was sin. So what about the punishment?

The punishment was carried out...completely.

2 Corinthians 5:21

For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.


Christ bore her sins and the sins of the world to fulfill the law and provide forgiveness and reconciliation.

Praise be to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the Son who was faithful!

*Most scholars agree that this passage was not part of John's gospel. However I believe that the Scriptures teach that what can be gleaned from this story is Truth.