JESUS, THE DEATH PENALTY, AND THE ADULTERESS - VALDEMIR MOTA DE MENEZES

John 8:2-11

Common English Bible (CEB)

² Early in the morning he returned to the temple. All the people gathered around him, and he sat down and taught them. 

³ The legal experts and Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery. Placing her in the center of the group, 

⁴ they said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of committing adultery. 

⁵ In the Law, Moses commanded us to stone women like this. What do you say?” 

⁶ They said this to test him, because they wanted a reason to bring an accusation against him. Jesus bent down and wrote on the ground with his finger.

⁷ They continued to question him, so he stood up and replied, “Whoever hasn’t sinned should throw the first stone.”

⁸ Bending down again, he wrote on the ground. 

⁹ Those who heard him went away, one by one, beginning with the elders. Finally, only Jesus and the woman were left in the middle of the crowd.

¹⁰ Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Is there no one to condemn you?”

¹¹ She said, “No one, sir.”

Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on, don’t sin anymore.”

^{JESUS, THE DEATH PENALTY, AND THE ADULTERESS}

^{Some passages have a good argument in favor of capital punishment (death). For example, Romans 13:4 says, "because there is no reason that it [a government official] brings the sword: for he is the minister of God, an avenger for wrath upon him that doeth evil." In John 8, a woman is caught in adultery, which was cause for stoning, according to the Mosaic law. However, Jesus did not act to cause her to die, but forgave her sin. Hence one can conclude that Jesus rejected capital punishment?}

 ^SOLUTION

       

        ^{First, the authority in Romans 13 is the Roman government, and the authorities in John 8 are Jewish. The point is that the Jews had to act according to Roman law. For example, if they really were going to stone the woman, why they had to seek help from cruficificação Pilate in Jesus? For the Jews in John 18:31 Pilate answered, saying, "we are not lawful for us to kill anyone." But in the case of the adulterous woman, they were ready to stone her.}

        ^{Second, they have not acted in accordance with the law itself. The law said that both the man and the woman would have to be brought before the people (Deut. 22:22-24). Since this woman was caught in the act (v. 4), that the man was not brought along with her to be stoned? The scribes and Pharisees who were citizens supposed guardians of the law failed a key point of his own law.}

        ^{Third, the reasons that those scribes and Pharisees had were wrong. They were using this opportunity to try to catch Jesus in some way, so that they had a reason to accuse him (v. 6). The crime of adultery does not seem to be important to them. Before, it seemed more important to them to find a reason to accuse Jesus.}

        ^{This passage, then, is not a good text for those who wish to propose that Jesus was opposed to the death penalty. In fact, other passages of Scripture seem to support this idea (see Gen. 9:6 and Matthew 26:52)}