Quote:
Originally Posted by dinahtzedek
So then shouldn't that woman have been stoned? Why did Jesus save her? How is she different form anybody else?
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Well, let's look at the passage.
Jn 8:3-6a
3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him.
The Scribes and Pharisees bring a woman in caught in adultery,
in the very act (this is important), as a test to see whether Jesus will oppose the Law of Moses.
Jn 8:6b-8
6b. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
When Jesus says, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her," He is referring to Deuteronomy 17:6-7.
6 At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.
7 The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you.
These verses state that to stone someone legally, witnesses had to be present and actually be the first to initiate the death sentence. The law was very specific with regard to adultery in that it stated that both the man and the woman had to die.
Deut 22:22 If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.
It doesn't take much processing power then to see what Jesus was saying: "He who is not guilty of adultery be the first to cast a stone at her." And if indeed the woman was caught "in the very act" of adultery, then where was the man? In their earnestness to discredit Jesus, they didn't even bother to keep the law they boasted so much about.
Jn 8:9-11
9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
So the law couldn't be carried out - not because Jesus opposed killing - but because the law could not be carried out properly. Jesus was the only one who kept the law perfectly.
The idea that Jesus was saying, "He who is not guilty of any sin at all cast a stone at her first" makes no sense because, in that case, no one could have ever carried out the law since all have sinned (1 Ki 8:46; Ecc 7:20; Rom 3:23).