The Woman Caught in Adultery – John 7:53-8:11

The Woman Caught in Adultery — John 7:53-8:11

The Problem with this Passage

The and most reliable manuscripts do not have John 7:53-8:11

There is a question about where this story should be (earlier or later in John — perhaps in Luke?).

D.A. Carson: “The Diversity of placement confirmed the inauthenticity of the verses here.”

The expressions and constructions in these verses do not with the gospel of John (D.A. Carson)

The Early Church Fathers do not on these verses until after the 10th century 

Question: Did this story (or something close to it) actually happen, or was it just made up?

There is evidence that something like this happened, and it was passed down and added to some manuscripts later. 

Question: If this passage found its way into our Bibles, what else is in our Bibles that shouldn’t be?

    The question is related to the of our Bibles 

Fact: The Trustworthiness of Scripture doesn’t hang on the questionable portions — These portions serve as great illustrations of the trustworthiness of the Scriptures we have!

What is a manuscript?  A manuscript is a of the original (simply put).

Certain people would make these copies of the Bible, and they are called . 

The originals of the Bible are called “Autographes,” and we have any of those.

Textual Criticism: The method used to study the manuscript evidence to determine what the original autographs of the Bible said. 

The New Testament manuscripts number over 25,000, and almost 6,000 of them are dated from 30 to 150 years after the original. 

We do not need a view of the Bible (like King James Onlyism) to protect it and give it credibility. We can be intellectually honest and be certain that our copies are highly copies of the original divinely inspired document. 

We have so much information that we know where the places in are. 

Question: Are their mistakes in the Bible?

Textual variants are not meant to fool anyone (they are not techniques to smuggle false doctrine in).

The vast majority of variants are very insignificant and have no bearing on the text whatsoever. 

The more one honestly studies the scriptures, the more sure they will be of their accuracy and reliability. 

Question: What about inspiration? 

Are the scriptures that I hold in my hand inspired? Inspiration refers only to the process by which the original autographs were composed.

The 1689 London Baptist Confession Chapter 1: Paragraph 1

Only Sufficient (The only adequate thing) 

Only Certain 

Only Infallible rule 

Of Saving knowledge, Faith, and Obedience 

Question: So what happened after inspiration?

The Bibles that we have been incredibly throughout the centuries by God

The Story Itself

Two important facts: 

a. This trap involves a woman’s life (she is being)

b. She was caught in (she is guilty without a doubt)

Matthew 15:19  Matthew 5:28

Jesus didn’t just care about the of the woman but he cared about her heart

Deuteronomy 22:22

Leviticus 18:24-28

The Trap: If Jesus wanted her condemned, that would be harsh — if he were to let the woman go, he would be serious sin

Jesus didn’t set the law aside but the woman. 

We deal with others how Jesus has dealt with us: With both justice and mercy!