Imagine standing in the lobby at a very large church. Worshippers are wandering all around catching up on weekend relationships, children rushing by, and deacons tending to crowd control. Suddenly, several church elders walk up and proclaim in a loud voice, “Answer this question well and we’ll let you live, answer badly, and we’ll see to it that you are killed.”
John 8:1-11 tells the story about Jesus being confronted by a trap at the hands of the temple officers. Now, it must be understood that this passage of Scripture is suspect, at least it probably was not an original part of the inspired Gospel of John. Yet, the encounter itself may actually have occurred and was written down by some observer other than John, and much later the story was incorporated into a copy of the gospel by a copyist. For the purposes of this discussion, we will assume the trap took place as recorded.
Essentially, the trap was meant to be a no-win contest for Jesus. The Pharisees came up with the situation and provided to Him the two answers from which He was to choose. Either answer He chose was guaranteed to lead to death for Himself.
A quick background to the trap must be established. Israel had been conquered by the Romans, who imposed their rule and law over top of the Jews, the Mosaic Law, and its theocratic government. One of the many laws the Romans imposed was that the Jews could not execute any person without a Roman court trial (John 18:31). Pilate, being the Roman governor in Jerusalem at the time, would have been the proper authorizing official.
If a Jew were to execute someone in the name of, and in compliance with, the Mosaic Law without getting the Roman governor to sign the order, that Jew would have been guilty of murder in the eyes of Rome. Rome did not treat murders pleasantly. Like it or not, Israel, the Jews, and the Pharisees were under Roman law.
The Pharisees found a woman in the act of committing adultery. Mosaic Law required execution by stoning (or strangulation for some types of adultery). Yet, if the Pharisees or Jesus pursued the Mosaic Law’s penalty against the adulterous woman, they would be guilty of murder, and would themselves be executed by Rome. On the other hand, if Jesus declined to endorse the Mosaic Law by stating that the Roman law forbade executions of this kind, then Jesus would have been charged with heresy by the Pharisees, and they would have actively prosecuted Him, perhaps all the way to Roman court, so as to execute Him. Either answer Jesus would have given would have resulted in His potential death.
Jesus chose neither of the two answers. Essentially, the Pharisees had improperly promoted Jesus to be a judge of the people and the Law. Jesus shrewdly recognized the trap, the faulty list of answers He was given to choose from, and that He was being placed in the judge’s chair. Jesus was not an elder (governing authority) in either Rome or Israel. Jesus had no earthly authority to judge lawsuits or to condemn men to death.
He responded, “Let those righteous ones among us be first to begin the execution of this woman, but only if they can do so without incurring on themselves the guilt and sin of murder by the very act of throwing the stones.” Jesus knew that throwing the stones would make one guilty of murder under Roman law, and they would be innocent no more. By this wise answer, Jesus upheld the Law of Moses, acquiesced to the authority of Roman law (detestable as it was), and removed Himself from the judge’s seat.
Jesus did not answer in the manner that He did so as to bring an end to capital punishment for sinful actions, for Paul would later state (with the authority of the Christ) that the government’s use of deadly force is a legitimate exercise of God’s design in governmental rule. Nor was He accusing the Mosaic Law of being too harsh, for He was Himself its very author. Jesus did not come to overthrow the Romans, or to incite others to disobey secular law. He was certainly not born to dismantle the Mosaic Law (it would only become obsolete when He had resurrected and thus fulfilled the Law). He did not walk among men to act as judge over them for He held no official office.
As Messiah (God on Earth), Jesus came to save men from their sins. He came to teach, to call men to repentance, to proclaim the spiritual aspect of the Kingdom of God, to die as a sacrifice for the sin of mankind, to rise from the grave, and to fulfill the very Law of Moses.
Make no mistake about it. Now that Jesus has fulfilled His earthly mission and ascended to sit again with God, He has seated Himself in the judgment seat. All will bend the knee before Him someday. All will answer for their sins before Him someday. And He will exercise His mercy, proclaiming Himself to be our advocate as well as our judge, as the elect stand before Him on that day. We will not be judged for our sins, but be ushered into God’s eternal presence. The unrepentant sinners, the unbelievers, He will cast into Hell.
Then, one more time, He will act as judge over the elect, not for sins they committed, not for whether they have faith, but for the motives, actions, decisions, and thoughts they utilized as children of God on Earth. Our impure works will be burned, like straw on a raging inferno, and our pure works will emerge from which (metaphorically speaking) are forged crowns of praise to Christ. These crowns we will joyously set before the feet of Jesus, the author of our faith.
What lesson do we learn from the story of the Pharisees and the adulterous woman? While we live on Earth, we are subject to the laws of men (Romans 13:1-7) and the commandments of Christ (John 15:10). We must abide by both. If Jesus, the author of the Mosaic Law and the Law of Grace, was not above obedience to human institutions or God’s ordinances, then neither are we. When possible, we obey both.
At the end of the story, the Jewish officials realize that if they stone the woman (as the Mosaic Law requires), they will become murderers under Roman law, so they sheepishly and quietly slip away. No one is left to condemn the woman to death-by-stoning, except Jesus. Interestingly, we are not told that Jesus forgave her of her adultery. Of course, she did not confess her sins either. Yet, just as His earthly father had done with His mother, Mary (Matthew 1:19), Jesus looks at the unrepentant sinner and states, “I also am not going to condemn you to death,” for He was not a valid judge of the land, but He was a valid savior of it.
Perhaps there is one additional abiding lesson here. Though not acting as judge (before His due time), He did act as prophet and evangelist. Jesus told the woman who was caught in sin, “Go, and sin no more.” This imperative we must obey, and His example we must imitate.
