Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                 Chapter Eight

                                                                                                                                               Verses 1-11

The scribes and Pharisees who brought the woman taken in adultery to Jesus misquoted God's law. They proclaimed that Moses commanded that the woman be stoned to death, but the law required that the man also must be stoned to death. They had not brought the man to Jesus even though they had caught her in the act. Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 22:22.

This action by Jesus' enemies demonstrated that they did not care about enforcing the law as written. They only cared about using the law in order to get a charge against Jesus. They knew that Jesus had demonstrated compassion toward sinners, and they hoped that Jesus would deny the law so that they could get a charge against Him. Instead, Jesus probably wrote the Ten Commandments on the ground so that they could see what He was writing. He then challenged them all who had not sinned to cast the first stone at her. Jesus used the power of the Holy Spirit to bring conviction to every one of them that they too had sinned. Some of them had also probably committed adultery, and they knew in their hearts that they also deserved to be stoned to death. Being in the grip of God's power to awaken their consciences, they all dropped their stones and walked away. They did not repent or believe in Jesus, and they also did not ask themselves what had caused them to walk away. But unknown to their conscious minds, they had just witnessed the power and compassion of God who can bring overwhelming conviction to the hearts of men and who can pardon the penalty of sin without breaking the law.

Jesus then raised Himself from being stooped to write on the ground, and He asked the woman if any man had condemned her. She replied that no man had condemned her. She was relieved that Jesus had saved her from certain death. Jesus told her that He also did not condemn her. Jesus demonstrated that He had forgiven her even though she had not asked Him for forgiveness. This woman could not have been saved by grace because she demonstrated no repentance or faith in Jesus as her Savior. She was simply relieved that she had not been stoned. Yet, Jesus forgave her sin. By doing this, Jesus demonstrated that eventually God will pardon and forgive all sinners, not just those saved by grace.

In the end of the world, God will cause all living souls and spirits that He has created in His image and whom He loves and whom He had to confine to one of the regions of death to repent and believe in Him as the Lamb of God so that He can save them with a lesser form of salvation and raise them from the dead for Him to recreate to live on His new earth. God will use His fiery wrath against evil to dissolve all their systems in order to separate their living natures that He will save from their dead and evil natures that He will cast into the lake of fire. I Corinthians 3:11-15; Revelation 5:11-14; Numbers 31:23; Psalm 75:3; II Peter 3:9-13; Luke 3:16-17; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 20:11-15; Luke 20:38; I Corinthians 15:22.

Jesus also told this woman to "go, and sin no more." Jesus could not have meant just adultery because He told her not to sin at all. But Jesus knew that she could not keep His commandment just as He knew the Israelites, and the rest of humanity, could not keep His Ten Commandments. Jesus meant that she should repent of her sins and strive to live a clean life. Jesus also meant that when she inevitably did sin, she should trust in God's pardon and forgiveness just as the Israelites had trusted in the sin offering and the burnt offering for the pardon and forgiveness of their sins. God's provision for forgiveness happens to be as much of a part of His law as are the Ten Commandments.

This woman did not understand that Jesus had given her an eternal forgiveness, but the next time she sinned she definitely remembered what Jesus had said and that He had rescued her from being stoned. This story illustrates the fact that eventually God will cause all living humans whom He creates and loves to repent of their sins caused by their evil natures and become saved forever either by His grace or by His appearance to them in the end of the world. John 5:24; Revelation 5:11-14. God's creations can never cease to exist, and God's Love can never fail. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Psalm 111:7-8; I Corinthians 13:8.

The Old Testament provides examples of a form of lesser salvation that cannot be by grace. Certain scriptures indicate that God will provide an eternal salvation on the earth for all who fear Him and keep His commandments. This form of salvation cannot be by grace because God gives His grace solely apart from any good works, and God gives humans saved by His grace an eternal home in Heaven, not on the earth. The righteousness that these scriptures speak about can only be the image of God that He puts into all humans. God will preserve His entire creations, including His righteousness that He has put into every human. God will eventually cause all humans to fear Him and obey His commandments which include repentance and faith in Him as their Savior. Psalm 50:23; Psalm 25:12-13; Psalm 37:29; Proverbs 28:18; Proverbs 10:12; Psalm 36:6; Psalm 107:9-15; Psalm 68:18; Psalm 86:9; Isaiah 45:20-25. There are many others.