SERVICES: SATURDAY 6PM | SUNDAY 9AM & 10:45AM. 

We Livestream at www.FaithFellowshipWeb.com/livestream, through the FFC App, and YouTube.

No Condemnation

No Condemnation
Words of Faith 11-3-16
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2016
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><

[The earliest and most reliable manuscripts and other ancient witnesses do not have John 7:53-8:11.]
John 8
[7:53] Then each went to his own home. But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. [2] At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. [3] The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group [4] and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. [5] In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" [6] They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. [7] When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." [8] Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
[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. [10] Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
[11] "No one, sir," she said.
"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."

If you have a modern translation of the Bible there is probably a puzzling statement like the one above just prior to this passage. The statement says that “The earliest and most reliable manuscripts and other ancient witnesses do not include John 7:53-8:11”.
Now, before you get angry at some scholar for removing your favorite Bible story, you should know that the evidence is quite strong that this passage was not part of the oldest records we have of the original Gospel of John.
Does that mean it did not happen? Not at all. It is possible that this passage was part of even older copies of the Gospel that we do not have. But most likely it was added later precisely because it came from another very reliable source of John’s testimony.
Why note this? We simply must be a little more careful here. We would not want to build doctrine upon this passage alone without the testimony of other passages. The early church was so confident that this event was historical and part of John’s report of events that they placed it into John’s Gospel. We can see that the story speaks powerfully of the grace of Jesus.
The story tells of a trap set by the religious leaders. The woman, who may have been married, was “caught in the act of adultery”. According to the Law there had to be two witnesses to confirm the guilt of a person accused of such a crime (Deut. 19:15).
The act of this sin was itself was likely contrived as a trap-- a sort of religious “sting operation”-- in order to have two witnesses. We are quick to ask “Where was the man?!” The man should have been brought in with the woman. He may have escaped, but it is just as likely that he was involved in setting the trap! There was a huge injustice here! Did the religious leaders actually create and entice an act of sin in order to trap Jesus? Religion can indeed be treacherous.
The whole point of bringing this woman before Jesus was to attempt to discredit Him as a Teacher. If He condemned her, He would lose favor with the common people. If He did not, He would be disagreeing with Moses. So now the trap was set. What would Jesus do?
He wrote in the sand.
There has been much speculation as to what Jesus wrote on the ground. Some have suggested that He wrote the sins of the accusers. How convicting it would have been to see your sins written before others! Others have proposed that He wrote the words of Exodus 23:1, “Do not be a malicious witness.” It is not possible to know. Perhaps Jesus was just letting the gravity of their own sin begin to sink in.
Finally Jesus responded, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." Jesus pointed directly to their own sinfulness and revealed that He was the only competent Judge because of His sinlessness (cf. John 8:16). Then He wrote on the ground again.
While Jesus was still stooped down, the stones started hitting the ground. One after another. It was the sound of conviction striking the sin in their hearts. Older ones left first, perhaps because they had the wisdom to recognize the sin in their hearts and lives. Then, since the witnesses and the accusers left, the legal case against the woman was dropped. The trap was foiled.
It is important to note that Jesus did not leave the sin of the woman unaddressed. “Has no one condemned you? Then neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin." The grace of the Lord is not without a call to repentance.
There is a powerful message here for any of us who have felt condemned either by people or by our own self-accusation. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. This is the Good News. How do we respond to His grace? Go and sin no more. By the power of the Spirit, we walk as a New Creation in Christ Jesus.

Lord, forgive me for the sin of condemnation. Forgive me for condemning others. Forgive me for condemning myself. I rejoice that, in You, the stones of condemnation hit the ground and not me. Thank You for Your marvelous grace. In Jesus’ name.

<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><
© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2002, 2016
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SUBSCRIPTIONS - To receive the Words of Faith devotion five days a week, send an E-mail message addressed to join-words-of-faith@hub.xc.org. To stop receiving Words of Faith, send an E-mail message addressed to unsubscribe-words-of-faith@hub.xc.org. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2010 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.