Understanding the Story of Jesus and the Woman Caught in Adultery

The Feast of Tabernacles lasts for seven days. Each morning during this Feast, a priest goes to the Pool of Siloam to fill a golden vessel with water. A happy crowd then carries the water back through the Temple’s Water Gate while music plays and trumpets sound. The priest takes the water to the altar and pours it out as an offering to God.

Isaiah says:

“With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” (Isaiah 12:3, NKJV).

Did Jesus Ever Say He is God?
Yes, He did on several occasions. During one Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus showed up unexpectedly. On the last day of the Feast, He stood up and shouted:

“If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:37-38, NKJV).

Those who knew the Scriptures realized that Jesus was claiming to be divine. This is because, according to Jeremiah, God is the “Fountain of Living Waters” (Jeremiah 17:13).
In other words, Jesus was saying, “Come to Me and receive what only God can give.”
So, many in the crowd said, “This must truly be the Prophet.” Others claimed, “He is the Christ,” another term for the Messiah. But some disagreed, saying the Messiah could not come from Nazareth but must come from Bethlehem.

The religious leaders were angry about Jesus’ growing popularity, so they sent soldiers to arrest Him. But instead of arresting Him, the soldiers came back with glowing reports about Jesus’ amazing ministry.

The chief priests and Pharisees asked them:

“Why have you not brought Him?” The officers replied, “No man ever spoke like this Man!” (John 7:45-46, NKJV).

The leaders were furious. “What nonsense! Did we approve of Him? Did we give Him permission?”
So they came up with a new plan against Jesus.
The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery. They placed her in front of everyone and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?”
In this story, John shows us the important parts of the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ.

Is John 8 Part of the Original Bible?
There has been much debate about whether this story is in the original copies of John’s Gospel. It is missing from the Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus. These were some of the earliest fourth-century manuscripts of the New Testament, more than a thousand years before the King James Bible was printed.
But this story surely belongs in the Gospel, especially because it is one of the most powerful examples of Jesus’ amazing salvation in the Bible. The hand of God is all over it.

The Trap Against Jesus
The scribes and Pharisees thought they had Jesus trapped. They thought they could catch Him off guard by bringing the woman caught in adultery. Her guilt was clear. They then asked Jesus if she should be stoned according to the Law of Moses.

They knew Jesus was a friend of sinners. He even had lunch with Zaccheus, a hated tax collector. One of His disciples was Matthew, another tax collector. Jesus always spent time with people seen as sinners by the religious leaders.

So they expected Jesus to say that the woman caught in adultery should not be stoned. If He did, He would be publicly accused of breaking the holy Law of Moses.
But if Jesus told them to stone her, they could accuse Him of denying the message of God’s grace, mercy, and forgiveness that He preached. They would also report Him to the Roman authorities because, under Roman rule, Jews had no right to execute anyone.

That is why they later took Jesus to a reluctant Pilate.
“Pilate said to them, ‘You take Him and judge Him according to your law.’ Therefore the Jews said to him, ‘It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death'” (John 18:31, NKJV).

Even though they broke this Roman rule during their uprisings. For instance, they stoned Stephen to death. But they feared the public outcry over Jesus. There would have been chaos because many would have defended Him.

So, if Jesus agreed that the adulterous woman should be stoned, or if He disagreed, He would be trapped. Heads, He loses, and tails, He loses. If it was heads, Jesus would be seen as an enemy of Roman law. If it was tails, He would be labeled a sinner for going against Moses.

Setting Up the Accusers
But we should understand what these accusers did not. They came to trap Jesus, but Jesus was in control of the situation. This is because Jesus is the Beginning and the End of all things. Without a doubt, Jesus set up the whole scene to show His gospel of God’s grace.

But God also says about people like the woman’s accusers:

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me” (Hosea 4:6, NKJV).

Jesus is God. He knows everything. He is the God who

“works all things according to the counsel of His will” (Ephesians 1:11, NKJV).

He says in Isaiah:

“Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish” (Isaiah 46:10, NLT).

Also, Jesus is the God who

“frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot carry out their plans. He catches the wise in their own craftiness, and the counsel of the cunning comes quickly upon them” (Job 5:12-13, NKJV).

Haman’s Downfall
Haman built gallows to hang Mordecai, but he ended up being hanged on those same gallows. Similarly, these scribes and Pharisees would be caught in their own trap.

They were messengers of Satan. They were accusers of the brethren, which is the devil’s role. Unless they repented, they would face judgment and end up in

“the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41, NKJV).

The devil is not original. He repeats the same tricks. He is fake and a copycat. He is not a lion, but just one who “walks about like a roaring lion” (1 Peter 5:8).

He thought he trapped God when he made man sin through Adam. He knew God is holy and cannot be with sinners. So, when he tempted Adam, he thought God was trapped. He believed God would be heartbroken forever, watching His children suffer in sin.

God is the Master
But God is a master tactician. The psalmist acknowledges God’s cleverness:

“With the pure You will show Yourself pure; and with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd” (Psalm 18:26, NKJV).

With the devil, God turned the tables. He made sure the devil’s plans backfired.

The devil never expected that God would become a man to save us from sin by taking the penalty for us.

Paul calls this divine turnaround “the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Corinthians 2:7-8, NKJV).

Not Knowing God’s Love
The woman’s accusers lacked knowledge. They were ignorant in many ways. They did not understand God’s love.

We should not be like them. We must know this:

“Love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:8, NKJV).

Scripture also says:

“Many waters cannot quench love, nor can the floods drown it” (Song of Solomon 8:7, NKJV).

Furthermore, we are assured that “The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning” (Lam. 3:22-23, NLT).

Nothing Can Separate Us from God’s Love
As Scripture says, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31, KJV).

Only a fool.