Who Wants To Throw The First Stone?

As noted previously, the Old Testament has a wide variety of crimes that may be punishable by the death penalty. To some modern thinkers many of those laws seem grossly extreme and harsh. Therefore they reject and condemn them as the self-centered and narrow-minded ideas of heartless rulers. For instance, how could a rational person in 21st century America support the idea of the death sentence for a rebellious son who is a glutton and a drunkard (cf. Deut. 21:18-21)? The same thinking applies to that woman caught in adultery in the story found in John 8.

Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women (Lev. 20:10). So what do you say?" - Jhn 8:2-5 ESV

Of course the whole thing was a trap by the scribes and Pharisees. They wanted to discredit this so-called Rabbi-Teacher who talked so much about the love and mercy of God. So what do you say? What does any follower of Jesus say about such laws? No doubt we need to do some sorting. Let's start by reviewing some basic assumptions about God's revelation of Himself and His will in Holy Scripture.

1. All Scripture is either the Law of God or the Gospel, as John's Gospel teaches:"For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."- John 1:17 ESV
2. In the Law God commands all men to obey Him in thought, word and deed. So the first and basic commandment is that you "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." The second great commandment flows from the first: "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Mark 12:28-32; Deut. 6:5, 10:12; Lev. 19:18). 
3. Fallen, sinful men do not and often will not accept these commands of God. Driven by their passions and self-centered desires they do whatever they want rather than submit to the will and plan of God for their lives (1 Tim. 1:8-10). 
4. To curb and control such sinful outbursts God has given us governments and rulers who make and enforce laws. These governments—when they do their work properly—are God's good gift to us all. They protect us from the chaos of sinful men and promote peace and harmony in the land. So we have the duty to support them and obey the laws that they set up (Rom. 13:1-7). 
5. Such rulers "do not bear the sword for nothing" (Rom. 13:4). Ultimately they have the God-given authority to enforce their laws by the punishment of death! 

Back then to the adulterous woman. Note that Jesus does not attempt to discredit the law that condemned adultery. Instead he turned the law back on those who were gathering stones with which to kill her. Note also that nothing is said in that story about the man with whom she had committed her crime, despite the fact that the law said both the adulteress and the adulterer were to die (Lev. 20:10). There were obviously some very self-righteous men standing there with stones in their hands.

This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. - Jhn 8:6-9 ESV

This is a vital lesson we all must learn as we prepare to condemn sinners in our midst, whether they are guilty of adultery or any of a hundred other things.

More next time on Jesus' comments to the woman left alone with him.