The Woman Taken in Adultery

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

One of the more famous stories cited by Christians is from the Gospel according to John: 

John 8:3-9

³ And now the scribes and Pharisees brought to him a woman who had been found committing adultery, and made her stand there in full view; ⁴ “Master,” they said, “this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.  ⁵ Moses, in his law, prescribed that such persons should be stoned to death; what of you?  What is your sentence?”  ⁶ They said this to put him to the test, hoping to find a charge to bring against him.  But Jesus bent down, and began writing on the ground with his finger.  ⁷ When he found that they continued to question him, he looked up and said to them, “Whichever of you is free from sin shall cast the first stone at her.”  ⁸ Then he bent down again, and went on writing on the ground.  ⁹ And they began to go out one by one, beginning with the eldest, until Jesus was left alone with the woman, still standing in full view. 

³ ἄγουσιν δὲ οἱ γραμματεῖς καὶ οἱ Φαρισαῖοι γυναῖκα ἐπὶ μοιχείᾳ κατειλημμένην καὶ στήσαντες αὐτὴν ἐν μέσῳ ⁴ λέγουσιν αὐτῷ, Διδάσκαλε, αὕτη ἡ γυνὴ κατείληπται ἐπ' αὐτοφώρῳ μοιχευομένη: ⁵ ἐν δὲ τῷ νόμῳ ἡμῖν Μωϋσῆς ἐνετείλατο τὰς τοιαύτας λιθάζειν. σὺ οὖν τί λέγεις; ⁶ τοῦτο δὲ ἔλεγον πειράζοντες αὐτόν, ἵνα ἔχωσιν κατηγορεῖν αὐτοῦ. ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς κάτω κύψας τῷ δακτύλῳ κατέγραφεν εἰς τὴν γῆν.  ⁷ ὡς δὲ ἐπέμενον ἐρωτῶντες αὐτόν, ἀνέκυψεν καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς, Ὁ ἀναμάρτητος ὑμῶν πρῶτος ἐπ' αὐτὴν βαλέτω λίθον.  ⁸ καὶ πάλιν κατακύψας ἔγραφεν εἰς τὴν γῆν.  ⁹ οἱ δὲ ἀκούσαντες ἐξήρχοντο εἷς καθ' εἷς ἀρξάμενοι ἀπὸ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων καὶ κατελείφθη μόνος καὶ ἡ γυνὴ ἐν μέσῳ οὖσα. 

³ Adducunt autem scribæ et pharisæi mulierem in adulterio deprehensam: et statuerunt eam in medio, ⁴ et dixerunt ei: Magister, hæc mulier modo deprehensa est in adulterio.  ⁵ In lege autem Moyses mandavit nobis hujusmodi lapidare. Tu ergo quid dicis?  ⁶ Hoc autem dicebant tentantes eum, ut possent accusare eum. Jesus autem inclinans se deorsum, digito scribebat in terra.  ⁷ Cum ergo perseverarent interrogantes eum, erexit se, et dixit eis: Qui sine peccato est vestrum, primus in illam lapidem mittat.  ⁸ Et iterum se inclinans, scribebat in terra.  ⁹ Audientes autem unus post unum exibant, incipientes a senioribus: et remansit solus Jesus, et mulier in medio stans. 

The majority of Biblical scholars are of the opinion that this story, while powerful and meaningful, is not in the original text.  We know that the earliest, most reliable manuscripts and other ancient witnesses do not have John 7:53 to 8:11.  No surviving Greek manuscript prior to the fifth century contains this story. 

The first known citation is in the Codex Bezae, itself a discredited source, known for false narrations.  Early texts which have this story tended to have it in different places of the Gospel according to John and elsewhere.  For example, some texts have it at the very end of the Gospel according to John, and others in the margin near 7:52.  Some other texts even locate it after Luke 21:38.  Byzantine scribes had indicated on the margin beside the text that they were doubted its authenticity.  Origen Adamantius and St. John Chrysostom, Early Church Fathers, never referred to these passages in their verse-by-verse commentaries on the Gospel according to John.  That is telling.  It was either not there, or it was discounted as genuine. 

On the contrary, at the beginning of the fifth century, Bishop Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis defended its supposed authenticity, and explained away the incongruency of it being absent in many copies of the text, saying,  “Certain persons of little faith, or rather enemies of the true faith, fearing, I suppose, lest their wives should be given impunity in sinning, removed from their manuscripts the Lord’s act of forgiveness toward the adulteress, as if he who had said, ‘sin no more,’ had granted permission to sin.”  That is the basis for modern support of the authenticity of the story by the faithful. 

If we were to consider the possibility that these verses were deliberately retracted, what would be the reason?  When we consider the manuscript evidence, there is evident stylistic differences between this particular passage and the rest of the gospel.  For example, 17 percent of its words cannot be found elsewhere in the gospel.  Furthermore, there is a break in the flow of between 7:52 and 8:12, which makes this overwhelming case for inauthenticity.