Pastor Dave Ginter
 
Question:
Should This Passage Be Included In The Bible? (John 8, The Woman Caught In Adultery)

Response:
Commentators and other scholars tell us that the earliest manuscripts of John’s gospel do not include the story of the adulterous woman. It does not appear in any Greek manuscript until the fifth century, and no Greek church father comments on the passage prior to the twelfth century. Even then, the comments state that the accurate manuscripts do not contain this story. When it was inserted in later manuscripts, the story of the adulterous woman appeared in different places: after John 7:52, after Luke 21:38, at the end of John; and when it does appear it is often marked off by asterisks to signal doubt about where it belongs. The story is part of an oral tradition that was circulated in the Western church, eventually finding its way into the Latin Vulgate, and from there into later Greek manuscripts.

For many who hold a high view of the reliability and total accuracy of Scripture in the original manuscripts, , the evidence against John having included this particular story in his gospel is conclusive. Many scholars point out that the vocabulary used in this passage does not match the rest of John. Therefore, it seems this story was not originally part of this section of John. However, even if the passage was not written by John. it still may be regarded as a true story. The actions and words of Jesus are consistent with what we know of him from the rest of the Gospels. There is no new or unusual information in the passage that adds evidence against its inclusion. The encounter appears as an added snapshot of Jesus in John’s collection, though we can tell that someone else probably took the picture.

But I believe Ken Bailey's landmark book Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes offers a fascinating, and most culturally plausible theory as to why the woman caught in adultery does not appear in some manuscripts:
For centuries traditional Middle Eastern culture has understood the honor of the family to be attached to the sexual behavior of its women. Thereby in conservative traditional village life, women who violate the sexual code are sometimes killed by their families.

Added to this is the fact that in the days of hand-copied manuscripts, the person who wanted a copy of anything usually acquired it by hiring a copyist. This was a private business arrangement. Since printing began, official committees of churches have determined the text of any Bible selected for publication. But in the early centuries of the life of the church it would have been very easy for the head of a household to take a copy of the Gospel of John to a professional copyist and say

"I want a copy of this document. Please leave out the story of this adulterous woman. I don’t want my daughters committing adultery and telling me, ‘Jesus forgave this woman and therefore you should forgive me!’"

The copyist would naturally oblige his customer. Other Christians were brave enough to preserve the story even though it violated deeply rooted cultural attitudes. The end result is that this story appears in some ancient texts and is missing from others. If this view is accepted…the story is authentic to Jesus. Raymond Brown writes, “There is nothing in the story itself or its language that would forbid us to think of it as an early story concerning Jesus.” Brown also notes, “Its succinct expression of the mercy of Jesus is as delicate as anything in Luke; its portrayal of Jesus as the serene judge has all the majesty that we would expect of John." With Metzger and Brown, I am convinced that it is a historical account.

For me, I adore this, my favorite of all accounts of Jesus’ life-changing grace. But I cannot cling to the passage and consider it Scripture just because “I like it”. There are some parts of Scripture that I quite frankly, do not appreciate nearly so much. Does that make them less authoritative? Are they less Scripture? Of course not! Scripture is reliable because its origin is from God.  I hold to Doctor Bailey’s consensus that the Woman caught in adultery is, indeed, Scripture. I teach it as such and I have no qualms encouraging you to rely on its authenticity as well.
 


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