I have been preaching through the Gospel of John at my church, and on Sunday I reached John 7:53-8:11–the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery. Without question, this is one of the most beloved passages in all of Scripture, but it is also one of the most poorly attested in the Greek New Testament. No version of the story appears in any copy of John’s Gospel until the 5th century–about 400 years after the Gospel was written. Also the language and style of the Greek stands apart from the rest of the Gospel. Linguistically, it’s like a whole different world than the rest of John’s account.
The evidence is overwhelming that this story was not originally a part of John’s Gospel. That is why a near consensus of New Testament scholars do not recognize it as authentic and why nearly every modern English translation alerts readers that the earliest and best manuscripts do not contain these verses. That’s the translators’ way of informing readers that the apostle John didn’t write 7:53-8:11. Someone else wrote it and inserted it into John’s Gospel centuries after the fact.
I agree with Jim Hamilton that editors should relegate this paragraph to a footnote, but that is not what they have done. English translators are loathe to remove this story from the main text because of its long tenure in English translations and because it is so beloved. It would be upsetting to many readers if they opened their Bible and it were no longer in the main text. So it’s still there, even though it probably shouldn’t be.
Those are the cold, hard facts about this passage. But that still raises the question of how the preacher should handle this text when he comes to it. In the weeks leading up to my message this past Sunday, I listened to three different preachers and how they handled this passage in their exposition of John’s Gospel. Jim Hamilton gave a brief explanation of the text-critical problem and then moved on to preach the next passage with no exposition of 7:53-8:11. John Piper also explained the text-critical problem, but then explained the meaning of the passage as an illustration of biblical truth. Kevin DeYoung passed over this text in his exposition, but then set aside a Sunday evening to explain to the congregation why he skipped it in the Sunday morning series. All three pastors informed their congregations that the passage doesn’t belong in John’s Gospel, but they all approached it differently.
Five years ago, Timothy Miller wrote a helpful little article in Themelios asking the question “Should One Preach about the Woman Caught in Adultery?” Miller lays out the different ways that commentators and pastors have approached the passage. For those like me who do not regard the passage as canonical, he sets forth four possible ways for a preacher to deal with this passage:
1. Skip the Text without Consideration.
2. Speak about Text-Criticism.
3. It Is True and Historical, So Preach It.
4. It Is a “Benign Expansion,” So It Can Be Used Illustratively.
I wound up doing something close to number 4, which is very similar to what John Piper did in his message on it. I explained why this passage should not be regarded as a part of John’s Gospel, but I also explained why I think it is okay for us to remember this story as an illustration of precious biblical truths. I told the congregation that I would not ask them to regard this story as authoritative and biblical. On the contrary, I called them to believe the truths of Romans 8:1-4 and to view John 7:53-8:11 as a non-Johannine illustration of those truths–an illustration that was believed and cherished by some of Jesus’ earliest followers.
[The Spotify and Apple podcast versions of my message are below.]
