Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?" This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."
Compare:
A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established.
If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel. (Emphasis added.)
Those who brought the woman to Jesus were breaking the Law. Though they claimed she was caught in the act, no witnesses were brought forward, nor was the man with whom she had had sex. She was not brought before the judges (in this case that would be the Sanhedrin). Jesus' writing in the dust was more than likely His way of bringing to mind the "trial by ordeal" of Numbers 5. As they realized He was calling them out on their lawlessness, they left. As He was left alone with the woman, He, in His manhood, acknowledged that He could not condemn her under the Law.
Far from being the relaxing of the Law or an illustration against judging, this scene in the Gospel is an example of the perfect obedience of Christ to His own Law.
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Those who say that what was going on here was Jesus teaching that we're all sinful and therefore can't "throw stones" get into a whole weird area, given that the Son, Himself, commanded that the stones be thrown on Sinai. Is He double-minded? Further, if this represents a relaxation of the Law with His Advent, then why would He go on to the Cross?
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