But when they continued asking him, he lifted himself up and said to them, Let him that is without sin among you first cast the stone at her.
The scribes and Pharisees bring a woman caught in adultery to Jesus and demand a ruling, sure that the law has trapped Him. His answer turns the case around: instead of arguing the law, He asks who is fit to carry it out.
They built the question so that either answer would destroy Him.
The starting point is the occasion where a woman is caught in adultery. They had set the provocative question "Moses commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what do you say?" (v.5) as a trap. If He argued for anything other than the death penalty, they would at once accuse Him of encouraging others to break the law of Moses. But if He agreed with the law's deadly demands, they would ask, "How does your teaching differ? What about this grace you were going to bring?" It was a trap that left no way of escape… or so they thought.
Their handling of the case shows what they were after.
They show no holy hatred of the evil, and they certainly feel no pity for the sinner… They hoped to trap Christ and leave Him only a choice between two hard options: either a useless repeat of the law of Moses, or open opposition to the law.
His reply does not weaken Moses. It grants the law full force and then turns it on the men holding the stones.
First, the Lord maintains the authority of the law to which these men have appealed. Let it be carried out. But those who carry out the law must make sure the law does not condemn them too. "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her."
The question is no longer whether the sentence is right. It is who has the standing to carry it out.
True, the sentence was just, no one doubted the woman's guilt, and the law was clear. But who was to carry out the law? Man may easily condemn, but who has a right to carry out the sentence?… if not one of them could say, "I am without sin," then every one of them was under the same sentence as the woman. That sentence was death, for "the wages of sin is death." Here, then, was a strange situation: the accused and her accusers were alike caught in the same ruin — criminals all.
They wanted Him seated as judge. He refuses, and His reason goes back to why He came.
They were determined to have an answer, and truly He let them have one. If they were going to put Him in the judgment seat before the time, He would have to judge everyone. He could not give a partial judgment. He could not judge one and let another pass. In fact, He judged no man. The object of His blessed mission to a world of sinners was not judgment but salvation. He came not to cast a stone at a poor guilty sinner.
Grace is present in this scene. But one writer names something else as its main lesson.
This history is not so much an example of grace, though grace is here, of course. It shows Christ as the light, and the light brings conviction to the conscience.
Conviction reached these men. It did not change them.
In this case conscience is reached, but the will stays unchanged. So they "went out one by one, beginning with the older ones". The one with the most sins on his account goes out first; the others follow. They cannot endure the light that exposes their sin; they will not have the grace that could meet their sin. They leave the light of His presence to walk in the darkness of the world.
Every accuser has walked out. The woman is left in front of the one Person who could have thrown the stone.
She was standing before One who could say "without sin," and who therefore could cast the stone… She was alone with One who had the power of life and death. Everything rested on His word. What would He say? Man had not dared to cast the stone; now what would God do? "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."
- Trap — Either answer was meant to ruin Him: deny Moses, or deny the grace He taught.
- Test — He leaves the law standing at full strength and asks who is clean enough to enforce it.
- Light — His words shine light on the conscience. The accusers walk out one by one instead of standing exposed.
- Refusal — Seated as judge He would have had to judge everyone present; He came to save, not to throw stones.
- Alone — The only Person entitled to throw the first stone is the one who says, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."
And again stooping down he wrote on the ground.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
But they, having heard [that], went out one by one beginning from the elder ones until the last; and Jesus was left alone and the woman standing there.
Her accusers came holding a guilty woman and a clear law, hoping to put Jesus in an impossible position. One sentence from Him emptied the courtyard. Why did the men most sure of the law walk away without using it?
He answered with few words, then gave them time to feel them.
The first act allows the full wickedness of their aim to come out. They hoped, no doubt, it might be an impossible difficulty for Him. They kept asking. So He lifted Himself up and spoke those memorable words. Then He stooped down again, so that they might weigh them in their consciences. It was the light of God cast on their thoughts, words, and life. The words were few, simple, and self-evidencing... The effect was immediate and complete. His words penetrated to the heart. Why did not some of the witnesses rise and do the duty? What! not one?
Jesus never set the law aside. He required that the men enforcing it be clear of it themselves.
They might indeed have carried out the law about the woman's particular sin. But in the presence of Christ — the Light — they discover that the law is a sword that cuts those who use it. The very law by which they sought to condemn the woman condemns them. It proves that all are sinners, and by it every mouth is stopped. So the Lord's words reach each conscience, convict each one of being a sinner, and silence every mouth.
The verse notes who left first. Shame, not law, set the order.
Shame covered them. So the eldest went out first, hoping to hide. The greater the accusation of self-righteousness, the greater the shame when the heart is opened and the hard veil of pride comes off. The Lord's presence will soon take that veil off. They would have applied the law. But they could not stand the light of God let into their consciences, not even for a moment. It was not only this one sin. His word was, "him who is without sin." No sin is allowed or can stand in that light.
They came in as a group. They left one at a time.
"They went out," not in a crowd, but "one by one." Conscience is an individual thing. Had they stayed, they would have had to strip off their cloaks and cry out, "Just as I am without one plea." For this they were not ready. They were completely confounded and went about their business. The Light of the world was shining in the full brightness of His heavenly beams. These men, wrapped up in their cloaks, could not endure it. So they went out and left the poor sinner alone with Jesus.
Conviction reached them, but it did not turn them to God. The older translation quoted below also says they were "convicted in their own consciences" — words the ESV leaves out.
"Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her" had been like a flash of lightning. It showed them their own condition. They were "convicted in their own consciences." But a convicted conscience does not always lead to self-judgment or to God. They "went away one by one, beginning with the older ones," and left the sinner in the only safe place for a sinner — in the presence of the sinner's Saviour. Her own covering was completely gone. She had no character or respectability left to keep up, so she could stay.
Another writer calls this a flight from grace, and says people still do it.
One by one they went away from grace, because they dreaded the eye that could detect them. That is what people do still — they cannot bear conviction... What a terrible thing that is, if your only hope of comfort is to keep away from God — to keep out of His sight!
The accusers were gone. The only person with the right to throw a stone stayed.
Here "Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him"; yet it was not the hour of judgment but of grace. So the One who had the right to condemn did not use it. He was "full of grace and truth." He turned the searchlight of truth on the hypocrites, and gave grace to the sinner, with the aim of freeing her from her sin.
- Light comes in. One sentence from Jesus cast the light of God on their thoughts, words and lives, and it reached the heart at once.
- Light convicts. The law they aimed at the woman cut the hands that held it, proving all are sinners and stopping every mouth.
- Light strips pride. The eldest went first: the more self-righteousness a man carries, the more shame when the veil of pride comes off.
- Light is personal. They left one by one, because conscience is an individual thing — no one can hide inside a crowd.
- Light drives out or draws in. A convicted conscience does not always lead to God. They fled the one safe place for a sinner. The woman stayed there — alone with the One who had every right to condemn her, and would not.