Neither Do I Condemn Thee

The development of DNA testing and the ability to use the science of the body’s cells to solve crimes has made significant changes in the criminal justice field.

Forensic is a wonderful thing, only God knows how many ennocent men who have died for something they did not do.

But I want to show you in the scriptures what happens to a woman who is guilty of something and she is released.

However, she is not released due to forensics!!!

The religious leaders bring to Jesus a woman caught in adultery—which was a capital offense.

Let’s begin with...

I. THESE RELIGIOUS LEADERS

Look at the teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in the very act of adultery.

We read in John 8:3-5 And the scribes and the Pharisees bring a woman taken in adultery; and having set her in the midst, they say unto him, Teacher, this woman hath been taken in adultery, in the very act. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such: what then sayest thou of her?

How did they catch her in the “act of adultery?”

Again, we can’t be sure, but something fishy seems to have been going on.

The rabbinic law was very specific on this point. Since adultery was technically a capital offense, the law demanded that any accusation be a literal eyewitness testimony.

• It would not be enough to say, “I saw them entering the bedroom and then I saw them leave.”

• Hearsay testimony would not be accepted for a charge like this.

So how did these men “happen” to catch her “in the act?” We don’t know.

That leads to a crucial question. Where is the man?

Adultery by definition requires two people.

It is not likely the man somehow escaped, but the woman didn’t.

Perhaps it was a set-up. Perhaps they talked the man into seducing the woman so they could catch her in the act. By prearrangement they then let the man go free.

One final question. Why did they expose her publicly? There was no need to do that. And there was no need to bring her to Jesus. Clearly, they weren’t simply seeking to punish her. Something much more sinister is at work here.

We see two things in these verses:

1) She was guilty of adultery. The Bible says she was caught in the very act of Adultery.

2) They were quoting the law correctly. The law states she should be stoned to death.

They were correct, this was a capital crime calling for the death penalty.

"Leviticus 20:10 “And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. "

But notice, these men who brought this woman to the Lord stating they caught her in the very act was stating the truth.

They came quoting scriptures, they had their “T’s” cross and their “I’s” dotted.

You might say they came loaded for bear!!!

YOU KNOW WHAT I SEE HERE SOMETHING WE ALL WOULD HAVE SEEN IF WE HAD BEEN THERE?

We would have seen a bunch of RELIGIOUS SNOBS that had no compassion for this woman. NONE!!!

I imagine she stood trembling, embarrassed, crying but they did not care a thing about this woman that they charged with adultery. NOT A THING!!!

It is amazing how some folks use the scriptures for the wrong purpose.

We have those today who mis-use the scriptures also, such as:

(1)Some have already decided what the Bible teaches on a particular topic and then searches the Scriptures for verses that seem to back up their belief.

They do not study the Bible to find spiritual food, they study to find some scripture they can take out of context and use it to back up their argument.

When a person has gathered enough verses that appear to back up their position, they stop searching.

(2) Some use the Word of God twisting the Scriptures.

For example, in I Cor. 5:13 Paul had written to the Corinthians and told them not to associate with immoral persons and it seems that some had taken this and twisted it to make it mean that he forbade contact with any immoral person. Paul then shows that such a belief was ridiculous because it would mean that one would have to leave the world. The true meaning was that they were not to keep company with an immoral brother or sister.

(3) Some Misquote the Scriptures.

There are many Scriptures that people quote that are either misquotations or not actually in the Bible at all! Doing so misleads and deceives people.

a. "Money is the root of all evil." This is a misquotation of 1 Timothy 6:10 that actually says, "For the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil…"