Skip to content

Who Will Throw The First Stone?

The story is told in John 8:1-12 of the adulterous woman whom the pharisees brought to Jesus to test Him on whether they should enforce the law in stoning her to death.

However, Jesus did not come to earth to condemn sinners, but to save them.

So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.”(John 8:7).

When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”

She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” (John 8:10-12)

Some interesting facts about the story is that it was the leaders in the church (pharisees and scribes) who brought the woman to the Jesus.

They were also in the temple when Jesus taught them about love, forgiveness and repentance.

These leaders felt that their knowledge in the laws of God set them above the rest of the people who they called publicans and sinners.

The Pharisees and Scribes believed that their obedience to the laws made them righteous and they had no sin.

The real sin in their eyes was adultery and for this you must be punished. There is no mercy for this type of sin.

This story is an example of how some Christians try to compartmentalize sin.

Some sin such as homosexuality, fornication, murder, and adultery are greater than others and should be severely punished.

However, the Bible states that we were all born in sin and shaped in iniquity.

Therefore, even if you grew up in a “sanctified bubble” and you have never done anything wrong in your entire life, you were born with the sin nature.

Hence, when Jesus told the religious leaders to throw the first stone if they had no sin, they could not do it because they looked within themselves and saw the hatred, bitterness, spite and unforgiveness in their hearts and recognized that they were more corrupt than the woman who laid helplessly at the feet of Jesus.

The shame was more than they could bear and they crept silently away leaving the woman behind.

None of us has the right to condemn anyone. We do not even have the right to condemn ourselves.

Yet, many Christians backbite, gossip and throw their fellow brethren in hell without a fair trial.

It does not matter which side of the fence we see ourselves whether we are part of the religious leaders or the adulterous woman, the Lord sees us all as sinners in need of His mercy and grace.

God is always ready and waiting to forgive and make us whole. He will not condemn us so neither should we condemn others.

Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

13 Comments »

  1. Amen….great post. And I was also thinking that how Jesus is willing to forgive us right away, but it’s us who tend to be harder on ourselves, not wanting to forgive ourselves, and as a result all sorts of negativity can set in.

    Liked by 2 people

  2. This was grace driven and I like your point: “even if you grew up in a “sanctified bubble” and you have never done anything wrong in your entire life, you were born with the sin nature.”

    Liked by 1 person

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.