John Calvin Commentary John 8

And the scribes and Pharisees bring to him. It is sufficiently clear that this passage was unknown in ancient times to the Greek Churches; and some speculate that it has been brought from some other place and inserted here. But as it has always been received by the Latin Churches, and is found in many old Greek manuscripts, and contains nothing unworthy of an Apostolic Spirit, there is no reason why we should refuse to apply it to our advantage.

When the Evangelist says that the scribes brought to him a woman, he means that it was done by an agreement among them, in order to lay traps for Christ. He expressly mentions the Pharisees, because they were the chief persons in the rank of scribes. In adopting this pretense for slander, they display enormous wickedness, and even their own lips accuse them; for they do not disguise that they have a clear commandment of the Law, and therefore it follows that they act maliciously in putting a question as if it were a doubtful matter.

But their intention was to constrain Christ to depart from his office of preaching grace, so that he might appear to be fickle and unsteady. They expressly state that adulteresses are condemned by Moses (Leviticus 20:10), so that they may hold Christ bound by the sentence already given by the Law, for it was not lawful to acquit those whom the Law condemned. On the other hand, if he had consented to the Law, he might be thought to be somewhat unlike himself.

And Jesus stooping down. By this attitude he intended to show that he despised them. Those who conjecture that he wrote this or the other thing, in my opinion, do not understand his meaning. Nor do I approve of the ingenuity of Augustine, who thinks that in this manner the distinction between the Law and the Gospel is pointed out, because Christ did not write on tables of stone (Exodus 31:18), but on man, who is dust and earth.

For Christ rather intended, by doing nothing, to show how unworthy they were of being heard; just as if any person, while another was speaking to him, were to draw lines on the wall, or to turn his back, or to show, by any other sign, that he was not attending to what was said. Thus, in the present day, when Satan attempts, by various methods, to draw us aside from the right way of teaching, we ought disdainfully to pass by many things which he holds out to us. The Papists tease us, to the utmost of their power, by many trifling objections, as if they were throwing clouds into the air. If godly teachers are laboriously employed in examining each of those objections, they will begin to weave Penelope’s web; and therefore, delays of this sort, which do nothing but hinder the progress of the Gospel, are wisely disregarded.

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 wrongdoers to death according to the sentence pronounced on them, so 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 with their tongue. And this very argument had weight with those slanderers, desperate as they were; for no sooner do they perceive it, than they lay aside those fierce passions with which they were swelled when they came.

Yet there is this difference between the command of the Law and the words of Christ: in the Law, God merely instructed that they should not condemn a man with their tongue unless they were also to put him to death with their own hands. But here Christ demands perfect innocence from the witnesses, so that no one ought to accuse another of a crime unless he is pure and free from every fault.

Now what He said at that time to a few people, we ought to view as spoken to all: whoever accuses another ought to impose on himself a law of innocence. Otherwise, we are not pursuing wicked actions but are rather hostile to people themselves.

In this way, however, Christ appears to remove from the world all judicial decisions, so that no one dares to say that he has a right to punish crimes. For will a single judge be found who is not conscious of having something wrong? Will a single witness be produced who is not chargeable with some fault?

He appears, therefore, to forbid all witnesses from giving public testimony and all judges from occupying the judgment-seat.

I reply: this is not an absolute and unlimited prohibition by which Christ forbids sinners from doing their duty in correcting the sins of others; but by this word, He only reproves hypocrites, who mildly flatter themselves and their vices but are excessively severe, and even act the part of felons, in censuring others.

No one, therefore, will be prevented by his own sins from correcting the sins of others, and even from punishing them when it may be found necessary, provided that he hates in himself and in others what ought to be condemned. In addition to all this, everyone ought to begin by examining his own conscience and by acting as both witness and judge against himself before he comes to others. In this manner, without hating people, we will make war with sins.

And being reproved by their conscience. Here we perceive how great the power of an evil conscience is. Though those wicked hypocrites intended to entrap Christ with their frivolous objections, yet as soon as He pierces their consciences with a single word, shame puts them to flight.

This is the hammer with which we must break the pride of hypocrites. They must be summoned to the judgment seat of God.

Though it is possible that the shame with which they were struck before men had greater influence over them than the fear of God, it is still a great matter that, of their own accord, they acknowledge themselves to be guilty when they fly away in this manner as if they were confounded. It is immediately added,

Beginning from the eldest even to the last. Our attention is drawn to this circumstance: that, in proportion as each of them surpassed the others in honorable rank, he was more quickly moved by his condemnation. And would that our scribes, who in the present day sell their labors to the Pope to make war with Christ, had at least as much modesty as those men; but they are so destitute of shame that, while they have made themselves infamous through every detestable crime, they glory in being allowed to be as abominable as they choose, without being punished.

We ought also to observe how widely this conviction of sin, by which the scribes were affected, differs from true repentance. For we ought to be affected by the judgment of God in such a manner that we should not seek a place of concealment to avoid the Judge's presence, but rather should go directly to Him to implore His forgiveness.

Jesus was left alone. This was brought about by the Spirit of wisdom, so that those wicked men, having gained nothing by tempting Christ, went away.

Nor is there any reason to doubt that we will succeed in defeating all the contrivances of our enemies, provided that we allow ourselves to be governed by the same Spirit.

But it frequently happens that they gain an advantage over us because, not paying attention to their snares, we are not careful to take advice, or rather, trusting to our own wisdom, we do not consider how much we need the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

He says that Christ remained alone; not that the people whom He was formerly teaching had left Him, but because all the scribes who had brought the adulteress gave Him no further annoyance.

When it is said that the woman remained with Christ, let us learn by this example that there is nothing better for us than to be brought, as guilty, to His tribunal, provided that we surrender ourselves mildly and submissively to His authority.

Neither do I condemn thee. We are not told that Christ absolutely acquitted the woman, but that he allowed her to go at liberty. Nor is this surprising, for he did not wish to undertake anything that did not belong to his office. He had been sent by the Father to gather the lost sheep (Matthew 10:6), and, therefore, mindful of his calling, he exhorts the woman to repentance, and comforts her by a promise of grace.

Those who infer from this that adultery should not be punished with death, must, for the same reason, admit that inheritances should not be divided, because Christ refused to arbitrate in that matter between two brothers (Luke 12:13). Indeed, there will be no crime whatever that will not be exempted from the penalties of the law, if adultery is not punished; for then the door will be thrown open for any kind of treachery, and for poisoning, and murder, and robbery.

Besides, the adulteress, when she bears an unlawful child, not only robs the name of the family, but violently takes away the right of inheritance from the lawful offspring, and conveys it to strangers. But what is worst of all, the wife not only dishonors the husband to whom she had been united, but prostitutes herself to shameful wickedness, and likewise violates the sacred covenant of God, without which no holiness can continue to exist in the world.

Yet the Popish theology is that in this passage Christ has brought to us the Law of grace, by which adulterers are freed from punishment. And though they endeavor, by every method, to erase from people's minds the grace of God—such grace as is everywhere declared to us by the doctrine of the Gospel—yet in this passage alone they preach aloud the Law of grace.

Why is this, if not that they may pollute, with unbridled lust, almost every marriage-bed, and may escape unpunished? Truly, this is the fine fruit that we have reaped from the diabolical system of celibacy: that those who are not permitted to marry a lawful wife can commit fornication without restraint.

But let us remember that, while Christ forgives the sins of people, he does not overturn political order or reverse the sentences and punishments appointed by the laws.

Go, and sin no more. From this we infer what the purpose of Christ's grace is. It is that the sinner, being reconciled to God, may honor the Author of his salvation by a good and holy life. In short, by the same word of God, when forgiveness is offered to us, we are likewise called to repentance. Besides, though this exhortation looks to the future, it still humbles sinners by bringing their past life to remembrance.