Alliance Christian Church
March 1 2026

      • 2 Corinthians 9:7GS-NETBIBLE

      • 1 Corinthians 15:50–58GS-NETBIBLE

  • Blessed Be Your Name
  • Great is the Lord
  • There Is Power in the Blood

  • Cast the First Stone

    John 7:53–8:11 “[[And each one departed to his own house. But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came to the temple courts again. All the people came to him, and he sat down and began to teach them. The experts in the law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught committing adultery. They made her stand in front of them and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. In the law Moses commanded us to stone to death such women. What then do you say?” (Now they were asking this in an attempt to trap him, so that they could bring charges against him.) Jesus bent down and wrote on the ground with his finger. When they persisted in asking him, he stood up straight and replied, “Whoever among you is guiltless may be the first to throw a stone at her.” Then he bent over again and wrote on the ground. Now when they heard this, they began to drift away one at a time, starting with the older ones, until Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up straight and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” She replied, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you either. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.””
    INTRODUCTION
    One More Story in the book of John. John 7:53- 8:11. Very end of Chapter 7, so if you’re looking for it in your bible it’s easiest just to turn to John 8, and go back one verse.
    This encounter that Jesus has with a woman caught in Adultery.
    Elephant in the Room: Warning in the Text that it is not part of the original
    Handwaving: Not going to hand wave it.
    How We Got the New Testament
    -Apostles after the Resurrection immediately began communicating about Jesus.
    Orally
    Acts 2:42 NET 2nd ed.
    They were devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
    1 Corinthians 15:1 NET 2nd ed.
    Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel that I preached to you, that you received and on which you stand,
    Written Communication:
    -Letters, Gospels, Historical Accounts
    Both the Oral and the written communication was viewed as Authoritative and Divinely inspired, because it was coming from Apostles of Jesus.
    2 Peter 3:15–16 NET 2nd ed.
    And regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as also our dear brother Paul wrote to you, according to the wisdom given to him speaking of these things in all his letters. Some things in these letters are hard to understand, things the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they also do to the rest of the scriptures.
    At the Same time, the Early Church was using and distributing writings that were not authoritative.
    Still good and useful. They weren’t bad by any means. But they weren’t considered authoritative.
    e.g. C.S. Lewis books
    1 Corinthians 7:25 NET 2nd ed.
    With regard to the question about people who have never married, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my opinion as one shown mercy by the Lord to be trustworthy.
    Paul seemed to want to be very clear and distinguish that normally, his words were authoritative and binding. In this instance, he tells them, this is just a judgement.
    The early Church knew what was authoritative and what wasn’t. It wasn’t difficult for them.
    Eventually, though, it became necessary to confirm, and make official what writings were authoritative and binding and inspired, and which ones were just good and useful, but not inspired.
    They did not “decide” which books were in and out. They confirmed which books were already considered inspired, and made it official.
    Transmission: Hand written copies (no printing press), and distribution. Manuscripts.
    Middle ages, 1500s, there became a need to translate these Manuscripts into English so that people could read them. They went into the archives and got the best manuscripts they had available to them, and translated from Greek to English.
    In the Modern Era, Archeaologists have been blessed to be able to dig up even older versions of manuscripts than what they had available in the middle ages.
    Older = Closer to the source = more reliable.
    As you compare the manuscripts they had during the middle ages to the Older ones we have available to us today, Bible translators have gone back and made corrections, based on those older manuscripts.
    99% are so minor that you or I barely notice it. Spelling and grammar, word order, a verse here or there is slightly different.
    Cosmetic changes, and none of them change the underlying meaning behind the text.
    Very rarely, you have a passage like this one, where there’s a major difference. It’s worth looking into.
    When you get to this passage, something fascinating happens. In those older manuscripts, it’s missing from some but not all of them.
    If it was missing from all of them, it would be an open and shut case. But it’s not. It’s only missing from some but not all of the older manuscritps.
    And, in a lot of the places where it’s not missing, it shows up in different places.
    Some old Bible manuscripts have the story, but it’s in a different location in the book of John, A lot of them have it all by itself at the very end.
    A few have it all by itself at the very beginning of John, or at the very end of luke. Almost like it was a stand-alone story.
    What do we do with this information?
    My opinion
    I don’t believe that this was originally part of John’s Gospel
    I do believe that this was originally part of those authoritative writings that were considered inspired.
    The fact that it shows up in some of those early manuscripts tells me this was obviously something the early church thought was worth putting in the New Testament.
    I think (opinion) that as they were compiling and preserving the New Testament, they were left with this really awkward standalone story.
    It wasn’t part of a gospel, but it was just kind of there. Where do you put it? Do you turn it into it’s own book?
    The issue for them was like: We know this is scripture, but we don’t really have a good place to put it that makes sense. That’s why you see it in all these different places. I think that’s how it got inserted here ino John chapter 8.
    Again, that’s my opinion, there are a lot of other people who think differently.
    Takeaway
    What you believe about this passage, and whether or not it belongs here or in the bible or not in the bible is not a salvation issue.
    You can be of the belief that this is all hooey, and that if the King James calls it the Bible, that’s what I believe. Great, not a problem.
    You can believe, “I’ve looked at the evidence, and I’m convinced it was a later addition, and I’m going to file it away as “Useful but not inspired” That’s a perfectly legitimate belief.
    The Passage
    John 7:53–8:6 NET 2nd ed.
    [[And each one departed to his own house. But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came to the temple courts again. All the people came to him, and he sat down and began to teach them. The experts in the law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught committing adultery. They made her stand in front of them and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. In the law Moses commanded us to stone to death such women. What then do you say?” (Now they were asking this in an attempt to trap him, so that they could bring charges against him.) Jesus bent down and wrote on the ground with his finger.
    The pharisees have no regard for this woman, or the truth and justice of God’s law.
    They’re trying to catch Jesus in a Darned if you do Darned if you don’t question.
    Leviticus 20:10 NET 2nd ed.
    If a man commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.
    Notice how the pharisees say nothing about the other person that she commited adultery with. They’re not even following the law.
    At the time the pharisees are saying this, they don’t have the authority to put anyone to death.
    Their hope is, whatever Jesus says, they’re going to be able to criticize him.
    If he upholds the law, they’ll say “What a cruel person. Upholding this old law, and stoning a woman to death. How could you.
    Usurping romes authority, this is basically treason.
    But, if Jesus says “don’t stone her” They plan to say “Look at Jesus, he doesn’t believe in the Bible, he doesn’t believe in upholding the law.
    John 8:7–8 NET 2nd ed.
    When they persisted in asking him, he stood up straight and replied, “Whoever among you is guiltless may be the first to throw a stone at her.” Then he bent over again and wrote on the ground.
    The pharisees have nothing here.
    John 8:9 NET 2nd ed.
    Now when they heard this, they began to drift away one at a time, starting with the older ones, until Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.
    There is no out-manuvering Jesus when it comes to God’s word.
    Because he is the word. He was there when it was written.
    Verse 11 is the hinge of this section:
    John 8:10–11 NET 2nd ed.
    Jesus stood up straight and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” She replied, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you either. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”
    Half of people want to read the first half, half only want to read the second half.
    Neither approach works.
    Jesus reaches out his hand and extends his mercy and grace to us, and he forgives us. Wipes our sin clean. Remembers it no more.
    There is no sin so great that Jesus can not forgive it.
    And then, the story isn’t over, Jesus doesn’t reach out his hand and say “Stay where you are” Because where you is a place full of sin and death.
    He says “follow me” Give up the sin that was entangling you
    Hebrews 12:1–3 NET 2nd ed.
    Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set out for us, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. Think of him who endured such opposition against himself by sinners, so that you may not grow weary in your souls and give up.

      • Acts 2:42NIV2011

      • 1 Corinthians 15:1NIV2011

      • 2 Peter 3:15–16NIV2011

      • 1 Corinthians 7:25NIV2011

      • John 7:53–8:6NIV2011

      • Leviticus 20:10NIV2011

      • John 8:7–8NIV2011

      • John 8:9NIV2011

      • John 8:10–11NIV2011

      • Hebrews 12:1–3NIV2011

  • Jesus Paid It All
  • How Great Is Our God
  • He Is Lord
Alliance Christian Church
churchinalliance@gmail.com
9707657196
https://www.alliancechristian.church
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