NOTES for Joh 8:1-11
Christianity is sometimes seen as a religion of universal forgiveness. In support of this view, people point to John's account of the woman “caught in adultery,” whom Christ, as the story is often interpreted, forgives unconditionally. Yet His forgiveness is by no means unconditional: “Go, and sin no more.” That is a substantial condition. But what actually happened? And why does Jesus let the woman go? From a formal standpoint, everything is simple and clear: precisely because there is no formal accusation. Nor are there any formal accusers.
The Torah requires an accusation of a crime punishable by death to be proved by at least two witnesses, and their testimony must be given in a specifically and strictly formal manner. That is why Jesus calls for witnesses from the crowd: “everyone saw it” is not an argument in procedural terms, at least when judicial proceedings conform to the Torah's standards. Moreover, under the Torah's rules, when a criminal sentenced to death was stoned, the witness for the prosecution had to cast the first stone himself, in person.
Evidently, no witnesses came forward. This was also, of course, because Jesus had said: let the one without sin cast the first stone. The assembled crowd consisted of religious people who took their religion quite seriously. They were not, of course, thinking of all their sins, and certainly not of original sin: Judaism simply has no such concept. In Judaism, sin is always a specific violation of a specific rule of the Torah, not an abstract “sinfulness.”
And “without sin” in this case meant committing no wrong as a witness. That meant having seen everything in person. Oneself. Having been present at the adultery; otherwise, it would be a matter of slander. Evidently, no such witnesses were found. The woman, of course, knows all about herself. And the crowd gathered to stone her knows too. In general terms. From hearsay. But nothing specific.
So what then: leave sin unpunished? From the Torah's standpoint, yes: an unproved crime is not a crime; one cannot punish on the basis of rumors and suspicions, even if the rumors have spread widely and the suspicions are very substantial. Yet Jesus' judgment is not an ordinary human judgment. And He says: are there no accusers? Then neither do I accuse you. Only do not sin again. What is this—forgiveness? Yes, of course. But on condition that she refrain from sin in the future.
At least from voluntary and conscious sin, as adultery usually is. A kind of suspended sentence, deferred until the day of the final Judgment. And therefore a new chance: a suspended sentence may never actually be carried out. One can live in the Kingdom in this way too, under a suspended sentence. That is how we all live in it, for each of us has our own sin. But there is a chance that the sentence will remain suspended—provided, of course, that our faithfulness to Christ and the Kingdom proves unconditional.