ACC ~ John 8 v9

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**.