Neither Do I Condemn You

“’ Then neither do I condemn you,’ Jesus declared. ‘Go now and leave your life of sin.’” John 8:11

The story of an adulterous woman in John 8 shows Jesus’ view of grace and truth. By Jewish law, a woman caught in adultery was to be put to death. She was caught and there was no getting out of the punishment for her sin. Jesus’ answer to the question of whether she should be killed was full of grace and truth. “When they kept on questioning Him, He straightened up and said to them, ‘Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.” John 8:7-9

Picture this scene. She is guilty. He is guiltless. She was caught red-handed. Every time He is caught He is clean-handed. She has broken God’s law and is standing before the God that wrote it. The ones that were unqualified to condemn her couldn’t. The One who was qualified to condemn her didn’t. What this woman thought was going to be the worst and perhaps the last day of her life was about to turn into the best day of her life.

Notice the woman’s sin is forgiven, but it is not excused. Jesus is not just winking at this sin, pretending that He doesn’t see the sin, and sticking His head in the sand. The story doesn’t teach that we cannot call wrong, “wrong.” It does not teach that we cannot judge the sinful actions of others. Jesus was not saying only sinless people can judge the actions of other people. The truth is we not only have the right to condemn whatever God and His Word condemn, but we also have the responsibility to do so.

When Jesus offers grace, it is always with truth, “Neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin.” The biblical word for doing that is called “repentance.” When you turn to God and receive His offer of grace you have to turn away from sin as you receive the judgment of truth. We are living in a culture today that tells us it is wrong to say something is wrong. But if you refuse to condemn what God condemns that is neither loving nor graceful. It is cowardly.  He gave us a voice to speak grace and truth.

God, thank You for the example of grace and truth found in the story of the adulterous woman. Help me to live in a way that calls out sin, but at the same time, not to be the one to cast the first stone. Remind me that I am forgiven, and with that forgiveness is the admonition to “go and sin no more.” In Jesus’ name, Amen.