Let the Bible Speak

It is good when God sheds new light on a familiar passage of scripture.  Out of His bountiful supply of wisdom there are treasures old and new.  One of the most important aspects of rightly dividing scripture is a careful observation of a text.  It is easy to fall back immediately on our prior understanding of a verse, rush to commentary in a study Bible, or limit the interpretation and application to what is familiar.  Brothers and sisters, let us allow the Bible to speak!  As interesting as conjecture might be to us, the supernatural richness of scripture is supreme without our flavouring.

Sometimes conjecture by preachers or expositors can overwhelm plain meaning of the text.  A classic example is found in the scene where the woman caught in the act of adultery is brought to Jesus in the Temple.  It was not the woman but Jesus who the Pharisees desired to put on trial.  John 8:3-6 reads, "Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, ⁴ they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. ⁵ Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?" ⁶ This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear."  The Pharisees on numerous occasions tried to put Jesus in situations so they might have an opportunity to accuse Him.  No matter how sophisticated or foolproof their designs, Jesus foiled them every time.

The scribes and Pharisees intended to trap Jesus:  either He would side with Moses and in stoning the woman would transgress Roman authority (so they could dob Him in), or He would have to oppose Moses and lose all credibility with the people.  Jesus wisely evaded the trap and simply stooped down and wrote on the ground.  What Jesus wrote has been widely wondered and subjected to great conjecture.  This could be one of the great MacGuffin moments in the Bible, where we are so intrigued by what Jesus could have been writing it distracts us from the point!  What Jesus wrote is of keen interest to the reader, though we are not told what or why Jesus wrote in the first place.  What I do know is the finger which wrote on the ground was the finger which carved the 10 Commandments into stone (Ex. 31:18), so whatever He wrote had a righteous purpose.

The scene continues in John 8:7-9:  "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." ⁸ And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. ⁹ Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst."  Again, there is no shortage of conjecture concerning what Jesus wrote.  But the text makes it clear the conviction of the accusers was not due to what Jesus wrote, but because of what Jesus said.  It says, "Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one..."  I have also heard suggestions about why the oldest would leave before the youngest.  Again, that does not seem to be a primary point.  We could guess, but in the end it would remain conjecture.  What we do know is eventually all the accusers finally left, and the woman and Jesus remained together in the midst of many witnesses.

Just in case we were thrown off by the MacGuffin moment of Jesus writing on the ground, Jesus directs each of us to key points.  John 8:10-11 reads, "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?" ¹¹ She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more."  Those who condemned the woman left, and Jesus did not condemn the woman - though He alone is without sin.  The case was closed because all charges had been dropped.  We are already condemned because of our sin, and Jesus came to deliver us from the penalty and power of sin.  Jesus said to her, "Go and sin no more."  Since the woman had been saved from death, she was not to continue living in darkness but to walk in the light.  God forbid Jesus would save us from sin and we would continue in it!

Wondering, meditating, and even conjecture have their rightful place as we observe and analyse the scriptures.  Let us ensure our own thoughts or the ideas of other men do not crowd out or infringe upon the plain text, for God knows what He has said according to His divine purposes.  Let the Bible speak!