John 8:4Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

They set the stumbling block for Him in the third element, righteousness. The Law prescribed stoning for adulterers, and clearly the Law could not suppose anything unjust. Anyone who said something against the Law had to be regarded as unrighteous.

Therefore they said among themselves: "If He decides that she may go, He will not be righteous." Yet, in their view, in order to remain good, for which so many people had already accepted Him, Jesus had to decide to let her go.

They hoped to find occasion to accuse Him as a transgressor of the Law, so that they might stone Him together with the woman. But our Lord, in His answer, preserved His righteousness and did not diminish His meekness. They set a snare for Him and fell into it themselves, because they did not believe in Him Who could save them from the snares.

We shall see, brethren, what wondrous meekness was manifested in the Lord. They had noticed that He was very gentle and very meek. Of this, of course, it had been foretold: "Gird Your sword upon Your thigh, O Mighty One, in Your glory and Your beauty. And in Your majesty ride forth prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness," cf. Ps 44:4-5.

Thus, as Teacher He brought truth; as Deliverer, meekness; as Examiner, righteousness. In both the psalm and Augustine's text the word is iustitia, meaning righteousness or justice. Augustine also calls Christ cognitor, a term that can mean advocate or examiner.

That He would reign for this reason was foretold by the prophet in the Holy Spirit, see Is 11. When He spoke, truth was revealed. When He was not provoked by His enemies, His meekness was glorified.

Because of these two principles, His truth and His meekness, His enemies were filled with envy and malice. Concerning the third, righteousness, they wished to test Him. How so? The Law commanded that adulterers be stoned, and of course the Law could not command what is unjust.

If someone says something contrary to the Law, he will be convicted as unjust. So they said among themselves: "He is considered a herald of truth and seems meek. We must seek accusations concerning His justice.

Let us bring before Him a woman caught in adultery and say what the Law prescribes concerning her. If He confirms that she should be stoned, He will cease to possess meekness. If He advises that she be released, He will depart from justice.

And so, they said, lest He lose the meekness by which He has already gained love among the people, He will undoubtedly say that she should be released. Here we shall find occasion to reproach Him and accuse Him as a violator of the Law.

We shall say to Him: 'You are an enemy of the Law. You answer contrary to Moses, indeed contrary to Him Who gave the Law through Moses. You deserve death. You should be stoned together with that woman.'"

Such words and thoughts could inflame hatred, produce an accusation, and bring about condemnation. But what was set against what? Perversity was against uprightness, falsehood against truth, a crooked heart against a right heart, foolishness against wisdom.

When could they ever set snares without first falling into them themselves? See how the Lord in His answer both preserves justice and does not depart from meekness. He Who was being caught was not caught. Rather, those who were catching Him were caught, for they did not believe in Him Who could draw them out of the snares of deceit.

At that time the Jews did not possess self-government, but depended on the Romans. Roman criminal laws did not impose death for the sin of adultery.

Therefore, if Jesus Christ had answered their question affirmatively, He would have spoken against the Roman government. If He had answered negatively, He would have rejected the Mosaic law.

At first Jesus Christ answered nothing to those questioning Him. Stooping low, He wrote with His finger on the ground, as though paying them no attention.

But then, when they continued to ask Him, He raised Himself and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, that is, against the seventh commandment, let him first cast a stone at her."

Having said this, Jesus Christ again bent down and began to write on the ground.

But each of the accusers was conscious of sin against the seventh commandment. Each also feared another, who might expose him before public opinion in this sin, if he attempted to show himself sinless and cast the first stone at the sinful woman.

Therefore they all began to withdraw one after another from Jesus and from the accused woman.

Only the dishonored woman remained near Him, with a tormenting sense of shame and fear, repentance, and prayer for mercy.

Turning to her, Jesus said to her, "Has no one condemned you?" "No one, Lord," she answered. And the Lord said to her, "Neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more."

If He said, "Stone her, as Moses commanded you," He could be accused before the Roman governor of Judea. Roman criminal laws, in force throughout the lands subject to the Roman Empire, did not allow capital punishment for adultery.

Even the pronouncing of death sentences had been taken away from the local Jewish courts and from the Sanhedrin.

But if He said, "Release her," He could be accused of violating the law of Moses. In a word, they were asking, "Whom must one obey: the Roman emperor or Moses?"

In essence, it was not their place to accuse her, but her husband's. Moreover, she could not be subjected to legal punishment beyond divorce, if he himself was not a man of pure life.

In difficult cases, however, the Jews had the custom of consulting some famous teacher. They wished to hide their treacherous design precisely under cover of this custom.

They thought that if Jesus condemned her and insisted that she be stoned according to the law (Lev 20:10; Deut 22:24), this would harm Him in the eyes of the people.

That law had long ceased to be enforced because the crime itself had become so widespread.

If, on the other hand, He released her, they could accuse Him of trampling upon the law, since formally it still remained binding.

Moreover, for Him to condemn her to death would be an infringement upon a right belonging exclusively to the Roman governor.

In any case, they thought they would place Him in an inescapable position. Insolently dragging to Him the wretched, disheveled harlot, they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman was taken in adultery.

"Now Moses commanded us in the law to stone such women. What do You say?"

Since the scribes and Pharisees directly cite the law of Moses, which commands such persons to be stoned, and since the Lord does not point out any misapplication of the law here, we must suppose that the offender was of precisely this kind.

That is, she was a maiden betrothed to another, yet had fallen voluntarily.

They were already celebrating victory over Christ in advance. They thought Christ would certainly answer the question posed to Him. Any answer would give grounds to accuse Him either of inciting the crowd to lynch the woman, or of disrespect for the law of Moses.

If Christ Jesus began to speak to them of leniency toward the guilty woman, they would denounce Him before the Sanhedrin as an enemy of the law of Moses.

But if He said, "Carry out what the law prescribes," they would accuse Him of cruelty before the people. Among a people corrupted by vices and evil teachers, the strict prescriptions of the law had already lost their force.

Moreover, they would not fail to accuse Him before the Roman authority, which had reserved to itself the right to pronounce death sentences on criminals, taking that right away from the Sanhedrin.

They would have done so even under the danger of Roman vengeance, since the Romans did not allow anyone to be put to death without the procurator's consent.

It is true that the Romans treated such cases with great indifference. This is clear from the martyrdom of St. Stephen, when the person killed had no special importance for the Romans.

Therefore the Lord did not answer the accusers. Indeed, paying no attention to them, He stooped down and "wrote with His finger on the ground."

This action of the Lord could have been described only by an eyewitness of the event. He vividly presents to us, in a real image, a touching scene from the Lord's life.

On the one side stand men embittered and thirsting for blood, with a trembling woman before the Lord. On the other side stands the merciful Lord in human form.

He desires to save both the body and the soul of the unfortunate woman. As He knows, she was brought not so much for her offense, very common among the Jews, as the prophets had said.

Rather, she was brought in order to satisfy the Jews' malice against the Lord. And the Lord first saves the woman's life by His silence, and after this by the power of a word of mercy and highest justice.