Our Lord knew the hearts of the malicious questioners before Him, and dealt with them with perfect wisdom, as He had done in the case of the "tribute-money." ( Matthew 22:17.) He refused to be "a judge" and lawgiver among them, and specially in a case which their own law had already decided. They fancied perhaps that He who preached pardon and salvation to "publicans and harlots" might be induced to say something which would either contradict the law of Moses, or His own words. We are distinctly told that they asked the question, "tempting Him." They hoped to entrap Him into saying something for which they might accuse Him. Our Lord’s enemies brought before Him a woman guilty of adultery, and asked him to say what punishment she deserved. Let us calmly weigh the matter, and examine the contents of the passage. There is not a sentence in it to warrant our saying anything of the kind. There is nothing in the passage to justify such an assertion.
To suppose, as some have thought, that the narrative before us palliates the sin of adultery, and exhibits our Lord as making light of the seventh commandment, is surely a great mistake. But the justice of such scruples is a point that cannot easily be proved.
In every age some scrupulous minds have stumbled at the passage, and have doubted whether it was ever written by John at all.
There is nothing quite like it in the whole range of the four Gospels. THE narrative which begins the eighth chapter of John’s Gospel is of a rather peculiar character.