John Calvin Commentary John 8:7

"But 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." — John 8:7 (ASV)

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.