Changes: Condemnation and Forgiveness

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.

God inspired people through their personalities and abilities to tell the story.

Original languages…original record… inspired by God.

These records were meticulously copied

But the copies were not inspired… nor the translations… not our English translation of a Greek copy of a Hebrew account. The originals yes…that’s why we spend so much time trying to understand the original text.

Problems with this passage…inconsistent with John language and form… Not present in early manuscripts… not referred to by early church fathers

But it does fit with the synoptic Gospels. Is it possible… or likely that this happened? Yes. It fits very well with many of the accounts of Jesus. It is very likely part of the oral tradition of Jesus’s disciples…it just …probably wasn’t written by John.

What do we do with it? Because it is consistent with the teaching of Jesus, and it provides us a vivid picture of how Jesus changes our understanding of Judgement.

That’s the sort of change that is happening in the passage we have today. Jesus is taking an old problem and showing us a better way … actually God’s way of handling it.

Jesus is showing us that the way we normally handle problems… legalistically doesn’t actually solve the problem, in fact it actually causes the problem to grow. Jesus came to put an end to the problem, to defeat it, to kill it, and for us to understand it, we have to see how he does it.

This story in John shows us how Jesus defeats sin, all our sin, even our condemnation.

John 7:53–8:11 NLT

53 Then the meeting broke up, and everybody went home. 1 Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, 2 but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. 3 As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd. 4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?” 6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. 7 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” 8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust. 9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. 10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” 11 “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”

Natural morality....legalistic

What we see in the legalistic morality of the synagogue leaders:

Legalism is Impersonal

…they wanted to use the woman as a trap for Jesus… she meant nothing to them

-Divine morality is focused on individuals

Matthew 18:12 NIV

12 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?

Jesus loves you!

Grace is personal…

Legalism is Selective

… they brought the woman, but where was the man? Jesus

-Divine Morality is all inclusive:

Romans 3:23 NIV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Not just all people… but all sin

Matt 5:21-7:6 Lust=adultery; anger=murder; enemies=love; needy=give;

Jesus won’t leave you alone

Because Jesus judges with divine authority and is motivated by divine love, we are desperate for a savior; because there is simply no way we can live a holy life without God’s help.

Legalism is focused on Punishment

The Law was a good and holy expression of righteousness. Adultery is wrong, and we are to care about doing right. But the Pharisees were not concerned with encouraging right action in Israel or with the reform of the woman. Their motives were not righteous, but vengeful.

It’s the trap of scapegoating....we all want one.

Because we can’t fight the real enemy, we seek someone to blame

-Divine Morality focuses on righteousness

Did Jesus say she did nothing wrong? no But he also put a light on the accusers motives which were not righteous, but vengeful.

Jesus came to show us grace and truth. Everything Jesus did was righteous, and was designed to produce righteousness! Jesus affirmed the Law’s penalty for sin, but demanded sinlessness from anyone who would execute it! Christ Himself judged the sin wrong, but rather than condemn the sinner, Jesus withheld the penalty so that she might go and sin no more!

Jesus wants to save us, we must say yes

This is just the beginning!

Grace inspires and the Spirit empowers

Grace inspires and the spirit empowers us to leave sin behind.

And empowered us to live free from the bondage to sin and scapegoating others

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