What did Jesus mean when He said "He who is without sin can cast the first stone" in John 8:7?

Bringing a woman whom they say has been caught in the act of adultery, they want Him to pronounce either His agreement or disagreement with the law of Moses (vv. 3-5). In either case they were prepared to accuse Him. But since they were the rulers, why did they not judge the case themselves without reference to Him? Moreover the law had said that not only the woman, but the man also was to be put to death for such sin (Deut. 22:22). Where was the man? In such cases men considered that the woman's guilt was greater than the man's and the Pharisees were willing to forget him!

All of this the Lord does not mention, but stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground (v. 6). Of all present, only He would humble Himself at the thought of sin in another. Yet it is the same finger that wrote the ten commandments, and it seems clear that the Lord's finger confirmed the pure justice of the law. Christ had not come to destroy the law. Yet neither had he come to condemn sinners, but to save sinners. In ignorance they continue to press Him for an answer. When He, standing erect, speaks for the first time, it is with words for which they were totally unprepared, and which cut like a knife into their hardened hearts: “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first” (v. 7). Of course He was not speaking as a judge, for He had not come as a judge, nor was the place a court of law. He spoke in grace and truth, He who deals with the needs of souls in matchless grace, yet in no degree sacrificing righteousness.

For the second time He stooped down and wrote on the ground (v. 8). Does this not teach us that, if the sentence of law was against her, it was also against them, for the law did not condemn only exposed cases of adultery, but sin of every kind. Where then did they stand? Yet, even in writing the sentence against them the blessed Lord of glory humbled Himself!

They had no standing whatever. Convicted in their consciences, they silently leave, beginning with the eldest. How revealing and how shaming to every one of them, but specially those older, who ought to have had more sense. Only One could stand there with a perfect right to condemn the woman, He who was without sin. He asks her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” (v. 10). Her answer is, “No one, sir” (JND Trans.). There is no indication at all of her heart having been reached: the Lord assures her only that He does not condemn her, and tells her to sin no more. She was evidently not prepared for anything more than this. There was no awakened sense of need in her heart, as with the woman at the well (John 4), who did not need to be told to sin no more, for she was born again. Who knows however whether the Lord's manner and His few words might have been the beginning of exercising her conscience and heart, and whether eventually her sinfulness might have driven her to the Lord?

The temptation is obvious, and they had much reason to expect success. Had He not in His sermon on the mount contrasted His own sayings with those of the ancients? And perhaps they had already heard such a saying as that "the law and the prophets were until John." Such things, doubtless exaggerated and multiplied by common rumor, would encourage them in their hope, as they came forward with their appeal to the Teacher for His judgment. Their surprise must have been great when, instead of answering them, "Jesus, stooping down, wrote with His finger on the ground." The common version adds: "As though He heard them not;" and others have given a similar interpretation. But He could not have repeated such an action with such a meaning. On the contrary, though we have nothing of any words which might be written, it is plainly the sentence itself which they are to find in the ground. But they do not understand Him, and as they continue asking, He lifts Himself up at last, and faces them.

No: He does not reverse Moses' sentence; let it be carried out: only let there be spotless hands to execute it. "Let him that is without sin among you cast the first stone at her." The sentence of the law is right: yes! but on whom really is the sentence of the law? who shall escape it, if it be strictly applied? Manifestly, it is as a teacher, not a judge, that He is answering. They might say, Is law and order to come to a stand-still, because there are no spotless hands to execute it? Plainly not: nor, if the Lord were speaking as a judge, would it seem to have been in place to require any such thing. The judge in a given case has to do with the accused, and not with the executioner. But the Lord distinctly refuses to take such a place in Israel: "Man," He says to one who would have put Him in it, "who made Me a judge or a divider over you?" But if, as here, He is appealed to as a teacher, He will answer as a teacher; and then very differently. In this character, it is with the appellants that He has first of all to do, and not directly with the accused; and this is accordingly His course at this time. They would exhibit Him as one in opposition to Moses; He makes them realize that He alone it is who understands Moses, and uses the law with them for the purpose for which it was given, making them feel the sharp edge of its universal condemnation, in order that they may realize their need of that grace at which they cavil, and which He had come to declare and minister to men. "He that was without sin" was indeed the man the law was seeking. For the lack of finding one, the death it threatened brooded over all; and none could see the face of God and live. Here was the first thing they needed to realize, in order to know the joy of that open face of God, which revealed in grace in the Person of the Son, brought life instead of death — eternal life.

The Lord does not directly answer the question of these wicked men. He stoops down and writes on the ground as if in disregard of their question. Time is thus given them to weigh their question and motives. Heedless of the warning delay (if this be the significance of the Lord's action) they continue questioning Him, with the result that the Lord, refusing to be the Judge, maintains His place as the Teacher (verse 2), and acts as the Light of the world by which man is exposed and God is revealed.

John 8:7-9. First, the Lord maintains the authority of the law to which these men have appealed. Let it be carried out; only let those who execute the law see that they themselves are not condemned by the law. "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." Again the Lord stoops down and writes upon the ground. His action may indicate that He would record His words in writing, that those who hear Him may have the testimony of the written word as well as the spoken word.

True the sentence was just, the proof of the woman's guilt was undoubted, and the law was clear; but who was to execute the law? Man may easily condemn, but who has a right to execute? "He that is without sin, let him first cast a stone at her." Who could say "Without sin?" and if not one of them could say, "I am without sin;" there was not one of them but was under the same sentence as the woman - that is, death, for "the wages of sin is death." Here, then, was a strange situation, - the accused and her accusers alike involved in the same ruin - criminals all. Not now "such should be stoned," but all should be stoned. From the eldest to the last, all convicted sinners.

“So, when they continued asking Him, He lifted up Himself and said to them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” They were determined to have an answer, and truly He let them have one. If they would place Him, before the time, in the judgment seat, He must judge all. He could not give a partial judgment. He could not judge one and let another pass. In point of 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. They could never get Him to engage in such work, blessed forever be His glorious name. How could a divine Savior cast the stone of judgment at a lost convicted sinner? Impossible. If there was a sinless one among them, let him proceed to do the work of judgment. No doubt the sinner was guilty and the sentence of Moses was as distinct as possible, but where was the executioner? This was the puzzling question. Who would dare to lift the first stone?

What a complete turning of the tables! What becomes of all the cleverness! What an intensely interesting moment! What principle was at stake? There is the sinner; there is the law; there too is the Lawgiver; but who will presume in His presence to execute the sentence? This is the point. “And again He stopped down and wrote on the ground.” Does this remind us of the writing of the second set of tables that were enclosed in the ark and covered with the mercy seat? Is there anything significant, anything suggestive in these two writings on the ground? One thing is clear — conscience was set to work. “They which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, to the last: and Jesus was left alone and the woman standing in the midst.”

Again in the Temple. — Returning from the Mount of Olives early in the morning, the Lord was found again in the Temple, and teaching. On another and a later occasion (Luke 21:38), He was occupied in the same way, and in the same place. And now the Pharisees, disappointed in their hopes of apprehending Him (their officers failing in their mission), would try in a new way to entrap Him, that they might accuse Him. A woman taken in adultery was brought to Him. Setting her in the midst, they said to Him, "Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest Thou?" (John 8:4-5). An insidious question. If the law demanded her death, how could the Lord have decided differently? The law was from God. He certainly upheld its authority (Matt. 19:17-19, 22:37-40, 23:2, 3: Mark 1:44; Luke 10:26). Were they really in doubt as to the mind of God in this case? The Evangelist tells us, "This they said, tempting Him, that they might have to accuse Him" (John 8:6). The Lord at first returned them no answer; but, stooping down, wrote with His finger on the ground. Why such an act on His part? He had not come to judge, as He told the aggrieved brother in Luke 12:13-14. He refused, therefore, to fill that position at the request of those people. Pressed for an answer, and that it seems repeatedly, He said, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." Solomon had said, "There is no man which sins not" (2 Chron. 6:36). Very likely they might all have echoed that as a general proposition. But when that unwelcome truth is brought home to a person in power, it is a different matter. The Lord said no more. His deliverance was surely unexpected. He was the Light of the world. His word shed a light in the conscience of them all; and one by one, silenced by His answer, they left Him, desirous to get out of His presence. The eldest led the way, till all had gone out. All the accusers departed; not one remained behind. The light turned in on their consciences was too much for them. Which of them had not sinned? Who, then, would take on himself to carry out the law in this case?

The Lord said not a word in opposition to the law. His answer in no degree relaxed the bonds of morality. No one of His opponents could find in His reply any ground of accusation against Him. They were completely baffled. In the place of judgment going forth against the woman, conviction of sin each one felt in Himself. Yet no one was accused of sins committed, nor were any actions of their past lives exposed. Light, however, shone clearly within, and no one of them needed an accuser to convict him. All were convicted. All were silenced. All departed. How easily can God deal with a person's conscience! No excuses were offered on this occasion; no denials of having sinned were heard. A Pharisee might at another time boast of his fasts, and his tithes; but, if God lets light shine within, the man's true moral condition becomes apparent to himself. Silence, then, became those people as to any justification of themselves. Silence, therefore, became them as to demanding judgment on the woman. What a sight it must have been for the disciples and for the people who witnessed it! That exodus took place in single file. They could not stand the light. Thus light, shining on the soul, without grace known, must drive the individual, if possible, away from it. Light without grace is awful, and the result irresistible. Conviction is assured, and the desire to get out of the light is the natural effort of the individual. "Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst." Asking her where were her accusers, and if no man had condemned her, she answered, "No man, Lord." At once came the words from His mouth, "Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more" (8:11). He did not palliate her guilt; He spoke of it. She knew that He knew it. He came, however, not to judge the world, but to save the world (12:47). His mission in humiliation, as He told Nicodemus, was, "not to judge the world, but that the world through Him might be saved" (3:17). In accordance with that He acted on this occasion. The accusers, convicted of their own consciences, had gone away. The woman left Him uncondemned, but with the consciousness that He knew what she had done, and yet she fled not from His presence.

This is just what the Lord does. Therefore, when the charge was brought thus heartlessly against outward evil, He simply stoops down, and with His finger writes on the ground. He allowed them to think of the circumstances, of themselves, and of Him. As they still continued asking, He lifted up Himself, and said unto them, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast the stone at her." And again, stooping down, He writes on the round. (Verses 6-8) The first act allows the full iniquity of their aim to be realized. They hoped, no doubt, it might be an insuperable difficulty to Him. They had time to weigh what they had said and were seeking. When they continued to ask, and He lifted Himself up and spoke to them those memorable words, He again stoops, 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. "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast the stone at her." The effect was immediate and complete. His words penetrated to the heart. Why did not some of the witnesses rise and do the office? What! not one? "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." (v. 9) The law had never done this. They had learnt and trifled with the law up to this time; they had freely used it, as men do still, to convict other people. But here was the light of God shining full on their sinful condition, as well as on the law. It was the light of God that reserved all its rights to the law, but itself shone with such spiritual force as had never reached their consciences before, and drove out the faithless hearts which desired not the knowledge of God and His ways. And this a waif tossed haphazard on the broken coast of our gospel! Nay, brethren, your eyes are at fault; it is a ray of light from Christ, and shines just where it should.

It was not exactly, as Augustine says, "Relicti sunt duo, misera, et misericordia" (In Jo. Evang. Tr., xxxiii. 5); for here the Lord is acting as light. Therefore, instead of saying, Thy sins are forgiven, He asks, "Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more."* It is not pardon, nor mercy, but light. "Go, and sin no more" (not, "Thy faith hath saved thee: go in peace"). Man invented such a story as this! Who since the world began, had he set to work to imagine an incident to illustrate the chapter, could or would have framed such an one as this? Where is there anything like it, that poet, philosopher, historian ever wrote, ever conceived? Produce the Protevangelion, the gospel of Nicodemus, or any other such early writing. These, indeed, are the genuine productions of man; but what a difference from that before us! Yet is it in the truest sense original, entirely distinct from any other fact, either in the Bible, or anywhere else, not, of course, excepting John himself. Nevertheless, its air, scope, and character can be proved, I think, to suit John, and no other; and this particular context in John, and no other. No theory is less reasonable than that this can be either a mere floating tradition stuck in here by some chance, or the work of a forger's mind. I do not think it harsh, but charitable to speak thus plainly; for the course of incredulity is now running strong, and Christians can hardly avoid hearing of these questions. I therefore do not refuse this opportunity of leading any simple souls to see how truly divine the whole bearing of this portion is — how exactly apposite to that which the Lord insists on throughout the chapter. For, immediately after, we have doctrine unfolded which, no doubt, goes farther, but is intimately connected, as no other chapter is, with the story.†

In chapter 8 the Pharisees bring to Him a woman taken in adultery. What was He to do? Condemn her and deny the grace in which He approached the sinner? Justify her, and show His disrespect for the law of Moses? Stone her? They could do that themselves, so they might think; but could they? But Jesus stooped down, and with His finger wrote on the ground, as though He heard them not. The finger of God had written the demand of God on two tables of stone, but He was here tracing upon the dust of this earth, in His walk and in His ways with sinners, unfathomable grace. This He indicates by His writing on the ground. “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. And again He stooped down, and wrote on the ground.” He was not to be interrupted in His work of grace by their wicked hypocrisy. But can their self-righteousness bear the test that He applies to it? No. The oldest must first go, but the youngest cannot remain. The only One who could have thrown the stone at her had come to call sinners to repentance. He does not condemn her, but tells her to sin no more.

Having brought the woman taken in sin the scribes and Pharisees set her in the midst, and said to Jesus, “Master…Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?” The answer of Jesus was to stoop down and “with His finger” write on the ground. The finger that once wrote on the tables of stone the words of the law was now writing something else, something of a very different character in this world, for with the finger of a Man the Son of God was writing before the eyes of men the wonders of the rich, heavenly grace of God.

As the scribes and Pharisees continued asking, Jesus stopped in His writing, and lifting Himself up He said, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” God’s Son had not come to be the executor of the law of Moses, but would allow them to fill that office if they had the qualification to do so. Was there one of them without sin? If so, he would be fit to carry out the judgment of the law. The truth in Jesus not only revealed the goodness of God, but it exposed what man is, for “being convicted by their own conscience,” they “went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last.” The proud accusers who had quoted from the law of Moses, not so much to condemn the woman, but to entangle the Son of God, were thoroughly exposed as sinners by the words of the Son of God.

Having exposed the evil in the hearts of the scribes and Pharisees, the Son of God again stooped down and wrote on the ground, surely indicating that He would not allow the evil of man to hinder His work of grace for the Father, and for the blessing of men. Rising again, the Son of God, in grace, said to the woman, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” The Lord Jesus had not come to judge men, but to bless, yet does not condone the sins of men. Twice the God of Israel had written on the tables of stone the demands of the law, and twice the Son of God wrote on the ground the story of the love of God, the two stoops indicating too the stoop into Manhood from Godhead glory, and the stoop as Man to the death of the cross.

When the scribes and Pharisees brought to the Lord the woman that had been taken in sin they asked Him a hard question, thinking He would be in a dilemma. They asked, “Master…Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest Thou?” (John 8:4-5). Had He answered, Let her be stoned, they would have said, Where is your grace? but if He had answered, Do not stone her, they would have accused Him of not upholding the law. They thought there was no escape for the Lord: they could accuse Him whichever way He answered. His first answer was to write on the ground, but they could not understand His writing. They could not discern that the Son of God was writing on the dust of this world with the finger of a Man the story of the grace of God. He had not come to administer the law that, of old, He had written with His divine finger the ten commandments on tables of stone.

As they continued to ask their question, no doubt feeling they had trapped Jesus, He arose, and said to them, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her” (verse 7). This shaft of divine light for their consciences exposed them as sinners, altogether unfit to execute the law they professed to uphold and the only One who was without sin had not come to execute the penalties of the law, either on the woman, or on them, but to write indelibly before them that His grace was available for all.