The woman taken in adultery

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fhkjds

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Something has always bothered me about the story about the woman taken in adultery. Jesus shows up and saves the day and stops the woman from being stoned. But the reason why the woman was going to be stoned was because of the Jewish law that God gave to the Israelites.
  1. So how is God saving the day by stopping the woman from being stoned when his law was the reason she was going to be stoned in the first place?
  2. Why did God give that law, to stone women taken in adultery, later just to show up as Jesus and tell people not to do it?
----fhkjds
 
fhkjds said:
Something has always bothered me about the story about the woman taken in adultery. Jesus shows up and saves the day and stops the woman from being stoned. But the reason why the woman was going to be stoned was because of the Jewish law that God gave to the Israelites.
  1. So how is God saving the day by stopping the woman from being stoned when his law was the reason she was going to be stoned in the first place?
  2. Why did God give that law, to stone women taken in adultery, later just to show up as Jesus and tell people not to do it?
----fhkjds
Click to expand...
Jesus did not tell anyone not to stone the woman. People stopped out of their own free will.
 
fhkjds said:
Something has always bothered me about the story about the woman taken in adultery. Jesus shows up and saves the day and stops the woman from being stoned. But the reason why the woman was going to be stoned was because of the Jewish law that God gave to the Israelites.
  1. So how is God saving the day by stopping the woman from being stoned when his law was the reason she was going to be stoned in the first place?
  2. Why did God give that law, to stone women taken in adultery, later just to show up as Jesus and tell people not to do it?
----fhkjds
Click to expand...
Jesus told the crowd, that the one who is without fault should be the first one to throw the stone. Obviously, since no one was without sin, nobody threw the first stone. And they dispersed.
 
The woman was taken to Jesus to tempt Him, and to get an accuse against him at the Roman authority.

John 8:6 And this they said tempting him, that they might accuse him.

Above that Jesus is not only the Lord of the Sabbath

Matthew 12:8 For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath.

but also the Lord of the Law. The Law was for Him, to prepare His coming.
 
pablope said:
Jesus told the crowd, that the one who is without fault should be the first one to throw the stone. Obviously, since no one was without sin, nobody threw the first stone. And they dispersed.
Click to expand...
I guess the woman was lucky Mary wasn’t there :D:D:D
 
fhkjds said:
Something has always bothered me about the story about the woman taken in adultery. Jesus shows up and saves the day and stops the woman from being stoned. But the reason why the woman was going to be stoned was because of the Jewish law that God gave to the Israelites.
  1. So how is God saving the day by stopping the woman from being stoned when his law was the reason she was going to be stoned in the first place?
  2. Why did God give that law, to stone women taken in adultery, later just to show up as Jesus and tell people not to do it?
----fhkjds
Click to expand...
The reason that the Law existed was to convict us in our sin. The Pharisees were relying on the Law to say, essentially, “A-ha! This woman is a sinner and deserves to die!” And they were right, Christ implicitly agrees with this in what He says to the woman. But the Pharisees were missing the point, in focusing on her sinfulness. They, too, were sinners who deserved to die according to the Law, as we all are (Romans 3:23; James 2:10; Psalm 37:38). Christ is our only hope: He bears the death the Law tells us sin deserves. Christ is fulfilling the Law, not abolishing it. So the woman doesn’t have to die because Christ is going to die for her, in her stead.
 
This is an awesome thread, good answers! Yes, it is important to note that under Jesus’ Reign the Law is not relaxed but in fact more stringent, but the dynamics of spiritual warfare change because salvation is now much more freely and swiftly given whereas punishment is much more slowly and deliberately given. Under the Old Law it made perfect sense to sack heathen cities and stone convicted sinners. Under the New Law we fight not against flesh and blood but only against powers and principalities, against the rulers of this present darkness. In other words, like Jesus, the Church’s mission is to cast the demons from the people, not to kill the people with the demons, and to forgive sins, not kill the sinners. There is no question as to whether this is a radically different approach, yet this radically different approach is because the dynamics of salvation have radically changed. God is now with us (Emmanuel), and not only were we created in his perfect Image and Likeness but now He has taken upon himself our fallen image and likeness in order to restore what is fallen to its rightful nature, grace and glory. Some people are scandalized by the Old Law as Moses delivered it and he and the Israelites executed it; some people are scandalized by the New Law as Jesus taught it and He and his followers executed it. The simple truth is, the Old Law was appropriate under the circumstances of the Old Covenant whereas under the New Covenant the Old Law becomes an abomination. The New Law would have probably been an abomination under the Old Covenant, though we know the New is hidden in the Old and the Old is revealed in the New. There are hints toward Jesus, toward a Man-God in the firey furnace for instance, and the Psalms speak of God as “Savior.” What Jesus did certainly seemed inappropriate to the Pharisees who specialized in the Old Law, yet to the poor, simple and humble who had eyes to see what God was doing it was wonderful! This has, in one sense, been the case in all times and places, but in the life of Jesus it is seen most dramatically. Certainly in our day, though, there are Bible scholars who would be scared out of their skin if they saw a miracle or would write off a man speaking in tongues as a lunatic. Similarly if the Pharisees had really paid attention to who Abraham and Moses were and what they had to say, recognizing Jesus would have been automatic and emphatic, and instead of those short-lived Hosannahs of Palm Sunday Jerusalem and the world would have been in perpetual feast from Jesus’ day to ours! But, alas, we see in the Gospels (and every place it is ever preached and lived) the full extent of human blindness in those who reject Him.
 
fhkjds said:
Something has always bothered me about the story about the woman taken in adultery. Jesus shows up and saves the day and stops the woman from being stoned. But the reason why the woman was going to be stoned was because of the Jewish law that God gave to the Israelites.
  1. So how is God saving the day by stopping the woman from being stoned when his law was the reason she was going to be stoned in the first place?
  2. Why did God give that law, to stone women taken in adultery, later just to show up as Jesus and tell people not to do it?
----fhkjds
Click to expand...
The other comments have been good, but I’d also like to point out the fact that the punishment for adultery was stoning for both the man and the woman:

Deuteronomy 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.

These men “caught” the woman in adultery, but failed to bring the man. I think implicit in the story, at least with my fertile imagination, is that some of the men present knew the woman was an adulteress and engaged in this sin with her. What other reason would they have for NOT bringing the man with whom she was “caught” in adultery?
 
Good point, ckempston, we’re almost certainly dealing with a good old boys’ club here.
 
ckempston said:
The other comments have been good, but I’d also like to point out the fact that the punishment for adultery was stoning for both the man and the woman:

Deuteronomy 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.

These men “caught” the woman in adultery, but failed to bring the man. I think implicit in the story, at least with my fertile imagination, is that some of the men present knew the woman was an adulteress and engaged in this sin with her. What other reason would they have for NOT bringing the man with whom she was “caught” in adultery?
Click to expand...
It said another man’s wife. What if this adultress woman was single?
 
ckempston said:
The other comments have been good, but I’d also like to point out the fact that the punishment for adultery was stoning for both the man and the woman:

Deuteronomy 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.

These men “caught” the woman in adultery, but failed to bring the man. I think implicit in the story, at least with my fertile imagination, is that some of the men present knew the woman was an adulteress and engaged in this sin with her. What other reason would they have for NOT bringing the man with whom she was “caught” in adultery?
Click to expand...
Yes. Very astute: look at Daniel 13:1-63, where we see the religious authorities actually using this threat of stoning as blackmail in the most devious of ways.
 
Belloc_Fan said:
The reason that the Law existed was to convict us in our sin. The Pharisees were relying on the Law to say, essentially, “A-ha! This woman is a sinner and deserves to die!” And they were right, Christ implicitly agrees with this in what He says to the woman. But the Pharisees were missing the point, in focusing on her sinfulness. They, too, were sinners who deserved to die according to the Law, as we all are (Romans 3:23; James 2:10; Psalm 37:38). Christ is our only hope: He bears the death the Law tells us sin deserves. Christ is fulfilling the Law, not abolishing it. So the woman doesn’t have to die because Christ is going to die for her, in her stead.
Click to expand...
Great post! 👍
 
ConstantineTG said:
It said another man’s wife. What if this adultress woman was single?
Click to expand...
In that case the man would be more guilty as he is cheating on his wife, whereas the single woman is commiting fornication which is a lesser offense.
 
pablope said:
Jesus told the crowd, that the one who is without fault should be the first one to throw the stone. Obviously, since no one was without sin, nobody threw the first stone. And they dispersed.
Click to expand...
It is a little deeper than that. Note that the Pharisees were attempting to trap Jesus by presenting Him this case.

The Law of Moses said that the woman could be stoned, but Roman Law prevented the Jews from actually stoning her.

They figured Christ could do one of two things.
  1. Deny the Law of Moses - In which case, they could use that against Him with the people. After all, how could the Messiah deny the Law of Moses.
  2. Say to Stone the Woman - In which case, they could then take the case to the Roman authorities claiming that the Nazarene advocated violating Roman Law.
Christ was more subtle than that. He told the Pharisees they COULD go ahead and stone her!!

The Pharisees viewed sin and either conforming or violating the prescripts of the Law, since they rigourously followed the Law, they were sinless (as they and the Jews percieved sin)

But He said it in a way that would be laughted out of Roman court.

So the Pharisees had no case, Christ neither denied the Law of Moses, so they could not claim that to the people, and they could not bring him to court under Roman Law.

That is why the elders, the wisest of them, left first. They saw how Christ escaped their trap.

As far as stoning her, they could not do so under Roman law, at least not without risking Roman reprisials. They might be able to get away with it for a disturper of the peace (such as Stephen), but for a simple adulteress, the Romans would see that as an affront to their authority.

So they were not going to stone her at all, just use her as bait for the trap.
 
Interesting. Another catch-22 like with Caesar’s coin and John the Baptist’s baptism. I’m pretty sure that it takes two to commit adultery assuming the woman knew the man was married. It is not simply fornication on the part of the one who is unmarried.
 
Maria Valtorta is certainly not forbidden now. Fact is, Pope Pius XII as well as a bishop friend of mine, V. Rev. Roman Danylak, are quite the fans of her revelations. Yay Valtorta!
 
If her book is forbidden than all the books in the world should be forbidden!

I read almost all of her books; not even one sentence against the Church teachings, or morals!

Her books are now approved!
 
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