John 8:7

So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. SO WHEN THEY CONTINUED ASKING HIM, HE LIFTED UP HIMSELF, AND SAID UNTO THEM, HE THAT IS WITHOUT SIN - not meaning 'sinless altogether;' nor yet 'guiltless of a literal breach of the Seventh Commandment;' but probably, 'He whose conscience acquits him of any such sin,' LET HIM FIRST CAST A STONE, [ ton (G3588) lithon (G3037)] - rather, 'the stone,' referred to in the Mosaic statute, Deuteronomy 17:11....

7._He who is without sin among you. _He said this according to the custom of the Law; for God commanded that the witnesses should, with their own hands, put malefactors to death, according to the sentence which had been pronounced on them; that greater caution might be used in bearing testimony, (Deuteronomy 17:7.) There are many who proceed rashly to overwhelm their brother by perjury, because they do not think that they inflict a deadly wound by their tongue. And this very argument, had weight with those slanderers, desperate as they were; for no sooner do they obtain a sight of it, than they lay aside those fierce passions with which they were swelled when they came. Yet there is this difference between the injunction of the Law and the words of Christ, that in the Law God merely enjoined that they should not condemn a man with the tongue, unless they were permitted to put him to d

1-11 Christ neither found fault with the law, nor excused the prisoner's guilt; nor did he countenance the pretended zeal of the Pharisees. Those are self-condemned who judge others, and yet do the same thing. All who are any way called to blame the faults of others, are especially concerned to look to themselves, and keep themselves pure. In this matter Christ attended to the great work about which he came into the world, that was, to bring sinners to repentance; not to destroy, but to save. He aimed to bring, not only the accused to repentance, by showing her his mercy, but the prosecutors also, by showing them their sins; they thought to insnare him, he sought to convince and convert them. He declined to meddle with the magistrate's office. Many crimes merit far more severe punishment than they meet with; but we should not leave our own work, to take that upon ourselves to which we a...

Verse John 8:7. _HE THAT IS WITHOUT SIN_] αναμαρτητος, meaning the same kind of sin, adultery, fornication, c. Kypke has largely proved that the verb αμαρτανειν is used in this sense by the best Greek writers. _LET HIM FIRST CAST A STONE AT HER._] Or, _upon her_, επ αυτη. The Jewish method of stoning, according to the rabbins, was as follows: The culprit, half naked, the hands tied behind the back, was placed on a scaffold, ten or twelve feet high the witnesses, who stood with her, pushed her off with great force: if she was killed by the fall there was nothing farther done; but, if she was not, one of the witnesses took up a very large stone, and dashed it upon her breast, which generally was the _coup de grace_, or finishing stroke. This mode of punishment seems referred to,...

THEY CONTINUED ASKING HIM - They pressed the question upon him. They were determined to extort an answer from him, and showed a perseverance in evil which has been unhappily often imitated. IS WITHOUT SIN - That is, without this particular sin; he who has not himself been guilty of this very crime - for in this place the connection evidently demands this meaning. LET HIM FIRST CAST A STONE AT HER - In the punishment by death, one of the witnesses threw the culprit from the scaffold, and the other threw the first stone, or rolled down a stone to crush him. See Deuteronomy 17:6. This was in order that the witness might feel his responsibility in giving evidence, as he was also to be the executioner. Jesus therefore put them to the test. Without pronouncing on her case,

EXPOSITION Verses 7:53-8:11 (8) _The pericope adulterae. _(A)_ Excursus on the genuineness of _John 7:53-43__John 7:53-43. It is our duty to examine the various grounds on which this passage has been almost universally concluded to have formed no portion of the original Fourth Gospel; and then the internal grounds on which it has been rejected, and some of the speculations as to its origin and value. Doubts have beset the authenticity of the passage from the fourth and fifth centuries in the Eastern Church, both on external and internal grounds. The authority and practice of Augustine, Ambrose, and Jerome gave it a secure resting place till the criticism of Erasmus re-awakened doubt. Calvin expressed a more favourable opinion con

SO WHEN THEY CONTINUED ASKING HIM,.... For observing that he put himself in such a posture, they concluded that they had puzzled and perplexed him, and that he knew not what to say; and therefore they were more urgent for a speedy answer, hoping they should get an advantage of him; and that they should be able to expose him, and that his confusion would appear to all the people: HE LIFT UP HIMSELF AND SAID UNTO THEM; having raised up himself, he looked wistly at them, and returned them this wise answer to, their confusion: HE THAT IS WITHOUT SIN AMONG YOU; meaning, not that was entirely free from sin, in heart, in lip, and life; for there is no such person; the most holy man in life is not, in such sense, free from sin; but that was without any notorious sin, or was not guilty of some scandalous sin, and particularly this of adultery; which was in this age a prevailing sin, and even am...

John 7:53. _And every man went unto his own house_. John 8:1. _Jesus went unto the mount of Olives._ That is, as every man went to his own house to rest, so Jesus found rest in secret prayer on the Mount of Olives. There is a very striking contrast here; it is a pity to have brought the dividing saw right through the middle of such charming consecutive sentences. John 8:2. _And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them._ That is always the posture in the East; the teachers sit, and the hearers stand. We may have to try that plan one of these days; it might be better for me, and also for you. There might be less dro

SIN SIN (_ See Scofield) - (Romans 3:23). _...

JOHN 8:7 auvto,n … auvtoi/j {A} A few witnesses omit auvto,n as superfluous, while others replace auvtoi/j with the prepositional phrase pro.j auvtou,j. Neither reading commended itself to the Committee....