ACC ~ John 7 v53 - 8 v11

OVERVIEW:

The account of the woman caught in adultery is included in many of the Greek as well as Latin copies (JEROME), although it is not included in most early manuscripts we have. One reason for the paucity of textual evidence may be that those of a weaker faith removed the text, thinking it might encourage adultery (AUGUSTINE).

It is fitting that the anointed Christ goes to the Mount of Olives, since it is olive oil that is used for anointing (AUGUSTINE). Further, the Mount suggests the height of our Lord’s benevolence and mercy, which also descends to the temple, where his faithful are present (BEDE). On encountering the Jewish leaders seeking to stone a woman caught in adultery, Jesus is confronted with the dilemma of whether or not she should be forgiven, thus putting his adherence to the law to the test (AUGUSTINE, BEDE). In his reply, Jesus maintains both justice and meekness (AUGUSTINE). Without uttering a word, Jesus’ actions condemn her accusers (AUGUSTINE, JEROME) as he writes on the dusty ground, which bears more fruit than her accusers’ hearts of stone (AUGUSTINE). They are condemned by the very law by which they accuse—a law written by the same finger of God that now writes in the dust before their eyes (BEDE, AUGUSTINE).

Jesus invites them to throw the first stone, an offer they ultimately can and must refuse. When confronted with the voice of justice (AUGUSTINE), which calls for justice to begin with oneself (GREGORY, BEDE), they are struck down without Jesus even looking at them (AUGUSTINE). They leave one by one, with perhaps the guiltiest leaving first. If only everyone would acknowledge his guilt as these men did! Jesus also makes clear, however, that there is no double standard between men and women when it comes to adultery. By the time he is finished writing on the ground, all that is left is the pitiable and the one who pitied her (AUGUSTINE). And so, just as Jesus was merciful, bishops and pastors should be merciful when dealing with sin (Didascalia). The woman’s answer to Jesus’ final question, “Who is left to condemn you” is in effect an admission of guilt that receives Jesus’ mercy, not his condemnation (AUGUSTINE).

MANY GREEK AND LATIN COPIES CONTAIN THE ACCOUNT

JEROME: In the Gospel, according to John, there is found in many of both the Greek as well as the Latin copies, the story of the adulteress who was accused before the Lord. AGAINST THE PELAGIANS 2.17. [1]

[1] FC 53:321. The account is lacking in Origen, Chrysostom, Cyril and Theodore’s commentaries. Augustine and Bede seem to be the primary patristic witness to the text, although it is also included in the Didascalia, Gregory the Great, a brief reference in Cassiodorus’s comment on Ps 56 (see ACW 52:42), Ambrosiaster Question 102.1 (CSEL 50:199) and Didymus (see NTS 34:25).

THE TEXT REMOVED BY SOME SO AS NOT TO ENCOURAGE ADULTERY

AUGUSTINE: Some men of slight faith, or, rather, some hostile to true faith, fearing, as I believe, that liberty to sin with impunity is granted their wives, remove from their scriptural texts the account of our Lord’s pardon of the adulteress, as though he who said, “From now on, sin no more,” granted permission to sin, or as though the woman should not have been cured by the divine physician by the remission of that sin in order not to offend others who are equally unclean. ON ADULTEROUS MARRIAGES 2.7.6. [1]

[1] FC 27:107-8*.

8:1 | Jesus Went to the Mount of Olives

MOUNT OF OLIVES, OIL, ANOINTING AND CHRIST

AUGUSTINE: And where ought Christ to teach, except on the Mount of Olives; on the mount of ointment, on the mount of chrism. For the name Christ is from chrism, chrism being the Greek word for unction. [1] He has anointed us for our fight with the devil. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 33.3. [2]

[1] Lat unctio.

[2] NPNF 1 7:197*.

THE HEIGHT OF THE LORD’S MERCY

BEDE: The Mount of Olives designates the height of the Lord’s benevolence and mercy, for in Greek “mercy” is called oleos, and an olive plantation is called oleon, [1] and also because anointing with oil usually soothes weary and aching limbs. But oil is preeminent in power and purity too, and it tends to make its way up and float on the top of any liquid that you choose to pour into it. This fact not inappropriately suggests the grace of heavenly mercy….

Let us come then with all our concentration of mind to him who has his place on the invisible Mount of Olives. God, his God, has anointed him with the oil of gladness above his companions [2] in order that he may deign to make us also companions of that anointing of his, that is, sharers of spiritual grace. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 1.25. [3]

[1] Some manuscripts spell eleos and eleon.

[2] Ps 45:7 (44:8 LXX).

[3] CS 110:245-46, 251-52.

8:2 | Teaching at the Temple

MERCY COMES TO THE TEMPLE

BEDE: Jesus made his way to the Mount of Olives to announce that the peak of mercy consists in himself. He came again at daybreak to the temple to signify that, as the radiance of the New Testament was beginning, that same mercy was to be disclosed and presented to the temple, namely, to his faithful ones….

The Lord’s sitting suggests the humility of his incarnation through which he deigned to show mercy to us…. It is good that we are told that when Jesus taught sitting down, all the people came to him. After he became a neighbor to human beings by the humility of his incarnation, his words were more readily received by many. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 1.25. [1]

[1] CS 110:246.

8:3-4 | Scribes and Pharisees Bring a Woman Caught in Adultery

THE TONGUE IS DECEITFUL

AUGUSTINE: The Jews, it says, brought a woman, possibly a prostitute, to the Lord, to test him, and they said, “Master, this woman has just now been caught in adultery. In the law of Moses it is written that any woman caught in adultery should be stoned. What do you say?” That is what the tongue said, but it did not acknowledge the Creator. These people had no inclination to pray and say, “Snatch my soul from a deceitful tongue.” [1] It was deceitfully, after all, that they had approached him.

This, you see, is what they were intending to do. The Lord had come not to destroy the law but to fulfill it and to forgive sins. So the Jews said to themselves, “If he says ‘Let her be stoned,’ we shall say to him, ‘What has become of your forgiving sins? Aren’t you the one who says “Your sins are forgiven you?” [2] But if he says, ‘Let her go,’ we shall say, ‘What has become of your coming to fulfill the law and not to destroy it?’” Notice how deceitful toward God the tongue is. SERMON 16A.4. [3]

[1] Ps 120:2 (119:2 LXX, Vg).

[2] Mk 2:5.

[3] WSA 3 1:349-50.

ANOTHER TEST FOR JESUS

BEDE: If he determined that she was to be stoned, they would scoff at him inasmuch as he had forgotten the mercy that he was always teaching. If he prohibited the stoning, they would gnash their teeth at him, and, as they saw it, rightly condemn him as a doer [1] of wicked deeds contrary to the law. But it was beyond the ability of earthly stupidity to find out what he would say and from heavenly wisdom to fail [to know] what he would answer. Far be it from blind wickedness to stand in the way of the “Sun of justice” [2] to keep him from giving light to the world. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 1.25. [3]

[1] “Doer” = factorem; var.:“promoter” = fautorem.

[2] Mal 4:2.

[3] CS 110:246-47.

8:5-6 | The Law of Moses and the Writing on the Ground

JUSTICE AND MEEKNESS BOTH MAINTAINED

AUGUSTINE: Why would they accuse him? Had they caught him committing a crime, or was that woman involved with him in some inappropriate way? What then does it mean that they tested him in order to accuse him? There was a wonderful gentleness that shone out preeminently in Jesus. They had already remarked about Jesus being overly lenient. Indeed it had been prophesied about him… “Ride on and reign because of the word of truth, of meekness and of righteousness.” [1] So as a teacher he brought truth, as a deliverer he brought gentleness, as an advocate he brought righteousness. Each of these would be part of his reign, as the prophet had foretold by the Holy Spirit. When he spoke, his truth was acknowledged. When he acted against his enemies, he used no violence. His meekness was praised. So they laid a stumbling block for him when it came to the third issue, of justice. For the law had commanded the adulterers to be stoned, and surely the law could not command what was unjust. If anyone said anything other than what the law commanded, he would be detected as an unjust person. Therefore they said among themselves… “If he decides to let her go, he will not be just. But,” they say, “in order to maintain his meekness, which has made him already so acceptable to the people, Jesus must decide to let her go.” They were hoping to find an occasion to accuse him as a transgressor of the law so that he too would be stoned with the woman…. But our Lord in his answer both maintained his justice without leaving out gentleness. They laid the snare for him, but they were the ones who were caught in it because they did not believe in the one who could pull them out of the net. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 33.4. [2]

[1] See Ps 45:3-4 (44:4-5 LXX, Vg).

[2] NPNF 1 7:197-98**.

JESUS’ ACTIONS CONDEMN THE ACCUSERS

AUGUSTINE: He who had come as a redeemer, not as a hanging judge—he who had come to redeem what was lost—turned away from them as though unwilling to look at them. This turning away from them is not empty of meaning. Something is to be understood by this turning away. It is as though he were saying, “You bring me this sinner, you who are sinners yourselves. If you think I ought to condemn sins, I shall begin with you.” SERMON 16A.4. [1]

[1] WSA 3 1:350.

JESUS INSCRIBES THE SINS OF THE WOMAN’S ACCUSERS

JEROME: The Scribes and Pharisees kept accusing her and kept earnestly pressing the case, for they wished to stone her to death, according to the law. “But Jesus, stooping down, began to write with his finger on the ground,” the sins, to be sure, of those who were making the accusation, as well as the sins of all mortal beings according to what is written in the prophet, “Those who depart from you shall be written in the earth.” [1] AGAINST THE PELAGIANS 2.17. [2]

[1] Jer 17:13 LXX.

[2] FC 53:321-22*.

GROUND BEARS FRUIT, HEARTS OF STONE DO NOT

AUGUSTINE: He wrote with his finger on the ground, as if indicating that the names of people like these men were to be written in earth, not in heaven, which is where he told his disciples they should rejoice that their names were written. Or perhaps he meant to convey the idea of humility when he bowed his head [to write on the ground]…; or he wrote on the ground to signify that the time had now arrived when his law should be written on soil that would bear fruit and not on sterile stone, as before. HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS 4.10.17. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 6:233**.

THE SAME FINGER THAT WROTE THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

BEDE: When the Lord was about to give pardon to the sinful woman, he desired to write with his finger on the ground, in order to point out that it was he himself who once wrote the Ten Commandments of the law on stone with his finger, that is, by the action of the Holy Spirit. And it is good that the law was written upon stone, since it was given to subdue the inmost hearts of a hard-hearted and defiant people. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 1.25. [1]

[1] S 110:249.

THE FINGER OF GOD IS THE HOLY SPIRIT

AUGUSTINE: What was signified by this indulgence? Grace. What was signified by that hardness? The law given on stones. This is why the Lord was writing with his finger, but now on the ground from which he could obtain crops. But anything sown on stone does not come up, because it cannot put down roots. The finger of God wrote both then and now. It was by the finger of God that the law was written, and the finger of God [now] is the Holy Spirit. SERMON 272B.5. [1]

[1] WSA 3 7:307.

8:7 | Casting the First Stone

AN ANSWER THEY CANNOT REFUSE

AUGUSTINE: And then he who had come to forgive sins said, “Whichever of you knows himself to be without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” What a splendid answer or rather suggestion! If they had been prepared to throw a single stone at the sinner, they would have received the prompt rejoinder, “The judgment you judge with shall be pronounced on you.” [1] You have condemned; condemned you shall be.

They, however, even if they would not acknowledge their Creator, knew their own consciences. Turning one after the other, they too in their confusion unwilling to look each other in the face, from the eldest to the youngest—that is what the Evangelist said—all went out. The Holy Spirit, you see, had said, “They have all turned aside, all alike have become unprofitable; there is not one who does good, no not even one.” [2] SERMON 16A.4. [3]

[1] Mt 7:2.

[2] Ps 14:3 (13:3 LXX, Vg).

[3] WSA 3 1:350.

THE VOICE OF JUSTICE

AUGUSTINE: What answer, then, did the Lord Jesus make? How did the truth answer? How did Wisdom answer? How did that righteousness, against whom a false accusation was ready, answer? He did not say, “Do not stone her”; otherwise he would seem to speak contrary to the law. But God forbid that he should say, “Stone her,” for he came not to lose what he found, but to seek what was lost. What then did he answer? See how full of righteousness, how full of meekness and truth his answer is? “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.”… This is the voice of justice. Let the sinner be punished, but not by sinners. Let the law be carried out, but not by transgressors of the law. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 33.5. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:198**.

JUDGE YOURSELF FIRST

GREGORY THE GREAT: For whoever does not judge himself first cannot know how to judge correctly in the case of another. For even though he knows what the offense is because he was told what it is, he cannot judge what another deserves when, supposing himself innocent, he will not apply the rule of justice to himself. MORALS ON THE BOOK OF JOB 14.29.34. [1]

[1] LF 21:138**.

8:8 | Bending Down, Again Jesus Writes

A HUMBLE EXAMINATION

BEDE: In line with our usual human way of doing things, we can understand that the reason why the Lord might wish to bend before his unprincipled tempters and to write on the ground was that by directing his look elsewhere he might give them the freedom to go away. He foresaw that as they had been astounded by his answer, they would be more inclined to depart quickly than to ask him more questions….

Figuratively speaking, the fact that both before and after he gave his opinion he bent and wrote on the ground admonishes us that both before we rebuke a sinning neighbor and after we have rendered to him the ministry of due correction, we should subject ourselves to a suitably humble examination, lest perhaps we be entangled in the same things that we censure in [our neighbors] or in any other sort of misdeeds. For it often comes about, for example, that people who publicly judge a murderer to be a sinner may not perceive the worse evil of the hatred with which they themselves despoil someone in secret. People who bring an accusation against a fornicator may ignore the plague of the pride with which they congratulate themselves for their own chastity. People who condemn a drunkard may not see the venom of envy with which they themselves are eaten away. In dangers of this sort, what saving remedy is left for us except that, when we look at some other sinner, we immediately bend down—that is, we humbly observe how we would be cast down by our frail condition if divine benevolence did not keep us from falling? Let us write with a finger on the ground—that is, let us meticulously ponder with discrimination whether we can say with blessed Job, “For our heart does not censure us in all our life,” [1] and let us painstakingly remember that if our heart censures us, God is greater than our heart and he knows all things. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 1.25. [2]

[1] Job 27:6.

[2] CS 110:248-49*.

HE DOES NOT EVEN LOOK AT THEM

AUGUSTINE: Having pierced them through with the dart of justice, he chose not even to look on the fallen but averted his eyes. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 33.5. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:198-99*.

8:9 | They Left One by One

STRUCK DOWN WITH THE VOICE OF JUSTICE

AUGUSTINE: Struck down with the voice of justice as if by a dart, they examine themselves, find themselves guilty and one by one withdraw. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 33.5. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:198*.

THE MORE GUILTY LEAVE FIRST

ANONYMOUS: The more guilty of them, perhaps, or those who were more conscious of their faults leaving first. GLOSS ON JOHN 8.9. [1]

[1] ACA 6:283.

IF ONLY EVERYONE WOULD ACKNOWLEDGE GUILT AS THEY DID

AUGUSTINE: The ones whom that act of the Lord displeases are themselves shameless. It is not chastity that makes them stern. They belong, rather, to those men of whom the Lord says, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to cast a stone at her.” But the men [of the text], terrified by their consciences, departed. And they stopped putting Christ on trial and vilifying the adultress. These men, [1] on the contrary, sick as they are, censure the physician and although they themselves are adulterers, they rage at the adulteress. ON ADULTEROUS MARRIAGES 2.7.6. [2]

[1] Against whom Augustine is writing.

[2] FC 27:108*.

NO DOUBLE STANDARD BETWEEN WOMEN AND MEN

AUGUSTINE: When we speak to these men in this way, they not only are not willing to detract at all from their severity but also become enraged at the truth. They say in answer: We are men; will the dignity of our sex sustain this affront, so that we become like women in paying the penalty for our sins if we have relations with women other than our own wives? As if for this very reason, that they are men, they ought not all the more to bridle their sinful desires, as becomes men…. And yet, they become indignant if they should hear that men, guilty of adultery, pay the same penalty as adulterous women, although they should be punished as much more severely as it befits them to surpass the virtue of their wives and to govern them by their examples…. There are some who are not pleased at the fact that, in the matter of chastity, there is a single norm for both husband and wife. In this matter, particularly, they would rather be subject to the standard of the world than the law of Christ, because civil law does not seem to restrict men with the same bonds of chastity as it does women. ON ADULTEROUS MARRIAGES 2.8.7. [1]

[1] FC 27:108-9*.

THE PITIFUL AND PITY

AUGUSTINE: The two were left alone, the pitiful and Pity…. They left the woman with her great sin in the keeping of him who was without sin. And because she had heard, “He that is without sin, let him cast the first stone at her,” she most likely expected to be punished by one in whom no sin could be found. But he who had repelled her adversaries with the voice of justice lifted on her the eyes of mercy. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 33.5-6. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:198-99**.

8:10 | Where Are Those Who Condemn You?

BISHOPS ARE TO BE AS MERCIFUL AS JESUS WAS

DIDASCALIA: If you [the bishop] are not merciful to the penitent, you sin against the Lord God because you have not been persuaded, nor have you believed our Savior and God by doing what he did for that sinful woman whom the elders set before him and went away, leaving him to pass sentence. But he who searches the hearts asked her, “‘Have the elders condemned you, my daughter?’ She answered him, ‘No, Lord.’ Then he said to her, ‘Go your way. I also do not condemn you.’” This is where our Savior, King and God must be a pattern for you bishops. DIDASCALIA 7. [1]

[1] DA 76**. See also the Apostolic Constitutions 2.4.24 (ANF 7:408).

HER ANSWER CONFESSES HER SIN

AUGUSTINE: He was granting pardon, but while he was granting it he raised his face to her and said, “Has no one stoned you?” And she did not say, “Why? What have I done, Lord? I’m not guilty, am I? That is not what she said. What she said was, “No one, Lord.” She accused herself. They had been unable to prove it against her and had withdrawn. But she confessed, because her Lord was not unaware of her guilt but was nonetheless seeking her faith and her confession. “Has no one stoned you?” “No one, Lord.” “No one”—that is confession of sins. “Lord”—that is pardon of what she deserved. “No one, Lord. I acknowledge both things. I know who you are; I know who I am. It is to you I am confessing. You see, I have heard the words, ‘Confess to the Lord, for he is good.’ [1] I know my confession, I know your mercy.” SERMON 16A.5. [2]

[1] Ps 106:1 (105:1 LXX, Vg).

[2] WSA 3 1:350-51.

8:11 | Go and Sin No More

GOD IS BOTH MERCIFUL AND JUST

AUGUSTINE: “Neither will I condemn you.” What is this, O Lord? Do you therefore favor sins? Not so, evidently. Mark what follows: “Go and sin no more.” Therefore the Lord did also condemn, but condemned sins, not the sinner. For if he was a patron of sin, he would say, Neither will I condemn you; go, live as you will; be secure in my deliverance, however much you will to sin. I will deliver you from all punishment even of hell, and from the tormentors of the infernal world. He did not say this. Let them pay attention, then, who love his gentleness in the Lord, and let them fear his truth. For “the Lord is sweet and right.” [1] You love him because he is sweet; fear him because he is right. As the meek one he said, “I held my peace,” but as the just one he said, “Shall I always be silent?” [2] “The Lord is merciful and pitiful.” He certainly is. He is also “long suffering” “and very full of pity.” But most fearful is what comes last, “He is true.” [3] For those whom he now bears with as sinners, he will judge as despisers: “Or do you despise the riches of his long suffering and gentleness; not knowing that the forbearance of God leads you to repentance? But you, after your hardness and impenitent heart, treasure up for yourself wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God who will render to every man according to his deeds.” [4] The Lord is gentle, the Lord is long suffering, the Lord is full of pity; but the Lord is also just, the Lord is also true. [5] He bestows on you an interval for correction, but you love the delay of judgment more than the amendment of your ways. Were you a bad person yesterday? Today be a good person. Have you gone on in your wickedness today? At any rate, change tomorrow. You always expect and make exceedingly great promises to yourself, [presuming on] the mercy of God. It is as if he, who has promised you pardon through repentance, promised you also a longer life. How do you know what tomorrow may bring? Rightly you say in your heart: When I shall have corrected my ways, God will put all my sins away…. God has promised pardon to anyone who amends his life. But show me where God has promised you a long life. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 33.6-7. [6]

[1] Ps 25:8 (24:8 LXX, Vg).

[2] Is 42:14.

[3] Ps 86:15 (85:15 LXX, Vg).

[4] Rom 2:4-6.

[5] See also Bede on this point, Homilies on the Gospels 1.25 (CS 110:250).

[6] NPNF 1 7:199*.