John 8:7, commentary and pictures

Pressed for a decision in the trap over the guilty woman, He lifted Himself up and declared that the one free from sin among them should cast the first stone, invoking the law requiring the witnesses to begin the stoning and turning each accuser back upon his own sin. As though He did not hear them He stooped and traced in the dust the hidden guilty secrets of each accuser, legibly from eldest to youngest, then after speaking stooped and wrote again. Convicted by conscience and trembling lest their iniquity be laid open, they could not answer but went out one by one from the eldest to the last, leaving Jesus alone with the woman standing in the midst who had heard His words as a sentence of death. Only one without sin has any right to accuse, judge and condemn another, and that standard reaches beyond sharing the same sin, since those quickest to detect wrong and zealous for justice are often guiltier in their own lives than those they accuse. He gives His severest rebuke to such hypocrisy while taking the part of the oppressed and receiving, pardoning and comforting repentant sinners, so no one who himself needs mercy may with resentment and unforgiveness claim the right to cast the first stone, but must help rather than discourage those He seeks to restore.

Words and Scene

When they continued pressing for a decision, He lifted Himself up and answered that he who was without sin among them should first cast a stone at her, making each one face his own sin before condemning the woman and turning the accusation back upon their hypocrisy. The right to begin the execution was made to depend on being without sin, for He knew their hidden sins and their purpose in bringing the case, and they were convicted by their own consciences until they left one by one. Their own sins were laid open to them, and they went away guilty and condemned of greater sins than the woman they had accused, defeated in their attempt to condemn her and to trap Him. Those who would accuse another must face their own guilt and must not condemn from a stance of pretended holiness.

Without sin means free from sin, so only one free from sin may cast the first stone against another. To cast first invokes the law that the witnesses in a stoning case must cast the first stones in punishment, and the accusers could not carry out their charge while concealing their own guilt. Their accusation was unauthorized because the husband was responsible for bringing the case and the guilty parties were to be punished equally, yet He did not set aside the law given through Moses nor infringe Rome's authority. After giving no sign of hearing and stooping to write in the dust with His eyes on the ground, He rose and fixed His eyes on them and spoke, then stooped to write again. His answer defeated their plot without setting aside the Mosaic law, and as their own guilty secrets were exposed they fell silent and left, condemned before His purity.

As though He did not hear them, He stooped and traced in the sand or dust the peculiar secret sins of each accuser, legibly from eldest to youngest. He already knew both their secret past sins and their purpose to trap Him, and curiosity drew them near to see what He had written. When they pressed forward to see, they read there the record of their own guilty secrets and understood its meaning, seeing that He knew the sin thought to be hidden so deep it would never be found. He kept writing on the sand in no hurry to pronounce judgment, and as one after another came near they saw there the record of their own sins and that He knew their lives. After speaking He stooped down and wrote on the ground again, and kept tracing the peculiar secret sins of each accuser.

Aroused and convicted by their own consciences, they could not answer but went out one by one, from the eldest unto the last. With confusion of face and consciousness of guilt, and with bowed heads and downcast eyes, they left the trembling woman alone with Him, leaving Jesus alone with the woman standing in the midst. They trembled lest their hidden iniquity be laid open to the multitude, fearing He would expose their guilt to all present and expecting Him to single them out before the throng. His challenge stirred their guilty consciences and awakened them, and unable to answer they departed from the oldest to the youngest.

Spoken within her hearing, the words struck the cowering woman as a sentence of death while she awaited her doom. Cowering with fear, she dared not lift her eyes to His face, and with drooping eyes from shame she was unable to look on His holy face while she silently awaited her doom. In astonishment she saw her accusers depart speechless and confounded, convicted of crimes greater than hers. Their departure left her alone with Jesus to hear words of hope and receive mercy, delivered from her accusers to receive pardon and pity from the Sinless One rather than the world's contempt.

Plot Exposed and Defeated

The men who dragged the woman forward were plotting elders and scribes and Pharisees, rabbis and rulers and Sadducees, bringing one truly guilty, taken in adultery in violation of the seventh commandment. With vehement accusations they demanded a most cruel death for her, hoping He would pronounce judgment so they could accuse Him of taking judgment into His own hands. He knew their hidden sins and their whole plot and arrogance, their purpose both to trap Him and to condemn the woman, for men who had themselves led their victim into sin had laid a net for her to find occasion against Him. He knew all about her sin and its character, and He also knew their sins, greater than hers, and the intents and purposes of their thoughts toward Himself and His believing followers.

His challenge defeated their scheme with wisdom, stopped the execution, and left not a stone cast. He did not set aside the Mosaic law or infringe Rome's authority, and their accusation was unauthorized because the husband was responsible for bringing the case and the guilty parties were to be punished equally. By exposing the hidden secrets of their lives and pressing conviction home upon their guilty consciences, He tore away their robe of pretended holiness and left them guilty and condemned before infinite purity. This reading of the heart, discerning intents and purposes, proves His divine character.

The words were a stern, scathing sentence upon hypocrisy and spiritual blindness, hardness of heart, cherished maxims and traditions, and rejection of light. Spoken with anger and grief, He searchingly detected every phase of their hypocrisy while counting obedience to God's requirements as nothing in their eyes. Yet that stern sentence to the accusers stands joined to words of tenderest compassion addressed to the guilty woman.

Sinlessness Required to Condemn

Only the one who is without sin has any right to accuse, judge and condemn another, so that freedom from sin is the condition for casting the first stone of censure. Awareness of personal sin should restrain condemnation of another, exposing the danger of self-righteous accusation. When the challenge was spoken to angry accusers, guilty consciences were aroused and convicted, so that they could not answer but left one by one from the oldest to the youngest. It rebukes church members who closely and publicly search a brother's life in order to condemn him, and fault-finders who condemn God's servants while failing to search and condemn their own wrong, overbearing conduct, impatience and fretfulness. In giving this answer He did not set aside the Mosaic law nor take judgment into His own hands against Rome's authority.

The requirement is not limited to sharing the particular sin being judged. A person may be free of the weakness seen in another and yet have faults more grievous in God's sight. Those who are forward to accuse others, quick to detect wrong and zealous to bring offenders to justice are often guiltier in their own lives than those they accuse. In the case of the woman caught in adultery, each accuser made to face his own sin was laid open and left guilty and condemned of greater sins than the one accused. The saying therefore warns against harsh criticism and faultfinding and calls for humility and love toward erring fellow believers.

Eagerness to accuse does not prove sinlessness, for readiness to cast judgment did not make the Pharisees sinless. If the characters and lives of accusers were searched as closely and publicly as they search another, some would appear far worse than the one they represent as wrong. This applies to the public condemnation of Brother Bell, whose judges might have appeared worse if their own past and present had been examined as closely and publicly. Professed Christians who speak evil of others act with that cruel, Pharisaical spirit of stoning others while being more guilty themselves. A glance, a word or a tone full of falsehood wounds the heart like a barbed arrow, and casting doubt or reproach on one whom God would use blights his influence and destroys his usefulness, like animals tearing in pieces a wounded one of their own number, as accusers point to the faults and failures of others to divert attention from their own faults or to gain credit for great zeal for God and the church.

Those who condemn others are accountable for their own wrongdoing. Those who see themselves in their true light as they appear to God have nothing to boast and no right to accuse others. Under the law the witnesses were to cast the first stone, and Jesus permitted it only on that sinless condition, thereby exposing hypocrisy. Though the woman brought with vehement accusations demanding a most cruel death was truly guilty, He stooped and traced words in the sand as though He did not hear, and when pressing continued they saw and understood what was written. He kept tracing the peculiar secret sins of each accuser until each saw that the sin thought hidden so deep it would never be found was known, and with confusion of face and consciousness of guilt they left the trembling woman alone with Him. Those who name the name of Jesus must therefore love one another as He loved them and be doers of the word and not hearers only.

Compassion for Repentant Sinners

Jesus takes the part of the oppressed and stops sinful accusers from judging and condemning a fellow believer, requiring any who would condemn to face their own sin first and to speak with tender, genuine pity instead of censure. Withholding that word is a fearful mistake that may lose more souls than one, even when done ignorantly, for judging and condemning a saint is judging and condemning Christ Himself. He gives His severest rebuke to hypocrisy while receiving, pardoning, and comforting the worst sinners who come in sincere repentance. That pardoning compassion is set against the unrelenting, merciless spirit to whom mercy is a stranger, exposing by knowledge of hidden lives that those forward to accuse, quick to detect wrong, and zealous to bring offenders to justice are often guiltier in their own lives than those they accuse. Such exposing of hypocrisy and pressing of conviction home upon guilty consciences proves divine character.

His compassion leads the repentant sinner into peace and security and turns observers to Him as the one who brings that peace. In no hurry to pronounce judgment, He left not a stone cast and left the woman with Him to receive pardon and the charge to sin no more. That deliverance astonished her, sending away accusers convicted of crimes greater than hers and leaving her alone with Him. Melted with penitential grief into gratitude, she bowed at His feet sobbing and confessed her sins with bitter tears.

His words oppose setting the sinner aside through human judgment. They warn against harsh judgment that crowds sinners into hopeless, desperate places and denies them a chance to recover. They expose harsh judgment by those who themselves need mercy and should lead them to shame, calling instead for mercy toward those who repent and turn to the Lord.

No one who depends on a sin-forgiving Saviour and needs God's mercy and forgiveness himself can justly claim the right to cast the first stone. That claim is forbidden with resentment, revenge, severity, harshness, and unforgiveness toward an erring brother while God is showing mercy and forgiving one's own great debt. God deals with people according to the spirit they show toward their erring brethren, not their own opinion of themselves. Those who have received Christ's mercy must therefore help rather than discourage those Christ seeks to restore, showing the compassion and forgiveness God has shown.

Correcting Others in Church

The saying rebukes criticizing fellow workers for their mistakes and adding censure to the burdens of those already struggling with difficulties, calling instead for humility, self-examination and love rather than hard-hearted faultfinding. Those who question and criticize workers should ask whether they themselves would have done better, more wisely or more sacrificially under the same circumstances, recognizing that they too are capable of error and are not free from fault. Each accuser is made to face his own sin before condemning another, for only one free from sin may cast the first stone.

Leaders must not condemn a worker's errors without considering their own sin, for no one is fit to cast the first stone while overlooking his own faults. Another's failures are never grounds to deny him respect or confidence, and people must not be excluded over trivial faults while patience, gentleness, self-denial, forbearance, temper and self-control are imperfect in those who judge. Such exclusion without sufficient cause is unwise.

The principle applied to Brother Kilgore and others judging Brother Bahler means they should have taken the oppressed man's part rather than condemn him, since their own faults were greater. Applied to criticism of Brother Bell for harshness or poor judgment, it warns that those eager to blame and search his life may themselves be guilty of comparable or worse faults if their own past and present were examined as closely and publicly. Readiness to cast judgment does not prove sinlessness, and calls for restraint and humility rather than eager faultfinding and public condemnation.

Applied to Brother Faulkhead after his mistake, no one should bar his way or bar him from a position, but all should recognize, humble themselves and confess their own sins and defects. Christ looks beneath the surface, where pride and discord may also be found. Applied to those who treated Elder Rogers as a prowling wolf, those who accused him must examine their own standing, for they were not without sin or guiltless before God. Applied to Brother Rousseau, his critics should first examine themselves and ask whether they are without sin, considering his heavy burdens and the pressure under which he worked before judging his imperfections or the choices he made.

The same rebuke falls on a family that watched others for mistakes, stored them up and used them to undermine reputation, and on one who magnifies a perceived slight or fault in a brother while failing to examine himself. Those who accuse must not ignore their own faults but must consider their own sin. It applies to fault-finders who condemn God's servants while failing to search and condemn their own wrong, overbearing conduct, impatience and fretfulness. It also stops those who ridicule, blacken and batter down an erring brother to discouragement and despair while themselves engaged in abominable practices and warfare against lust without overcoming power, for only those without sin have any right to condemn.

A man's action made monstrous by men may not be marked by God as sin, while the hidden defilement of accusers, if continued, will leave them weighed and found wanting outside the city. Before judging a neighbor while displaying his sins in an aggravated light, a person must face the record of daily sins and the gap between profession and practice, which should bring humility rather than readiness to cast the first stone. Applied to men of years of experience in religious life who have themselves done things grievous to God yet condemn a young fatherless boy who erred, only one with no sin has right to condemn first. They must not push the youth out where temptation will destroy him, but forgive as they hope to be forgiven, take him back and give him a place if he repents even though young and liable to err again, encourage and love him as a son, and work for him with Christlike pity to soften, subdue and save him, for God bears patiently and Christians must show mercy and forbearance especially to inexperienced youth.

The saying means to look at one's own defects and the sin in one's own heart instead of another's defects by criticism and condemnation, and taking this correct position brings order so God can do great things for His people. Those who name Jesus must love one another as He loved them and be doers of the word and not hearers only. Christ speaks to take the part of the oppressed and stop sinful accusers from judging and condemning a fellow believer with censure instead of tender, genuine pity. Withholding this word is a fearful mistake that may lose more souls than one even ignorantly, for judging and condemning a saint is judging and condemning Christ Himself, who gives His severest rebuke to hypocrisy while receiving, pardoning and comforting the worst sinners who come in sincere repentance.

The verse warns those who search for faults, sit in judgment on another's experience, scrutinize point by point, pursue him and expose his faults, calling them to examine their own lives and mistakes instead. Awareness of personal failings should keep them from being first to condemn, for one scrutinized point by point may prove to have serious defects of character. Followers must treat sinners with the love and mercy He showed, helping rather than discouraging those Christ seeks to restore. Unforgiving severity that shows no mercy while failing to see one's own sin discourages those Christ is seeking to restore, and those who have received His mercy must help the erring rather than mercilessly judge and condemn them.