Question 137. What is the seventh commandment?

 

Question 137. What is the seventh commandment?

Answer. The seventh commandment is, “You shall not commit adultery.”

John 8:7-9 『And as they continued to ask him, he lifted up his face and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him first throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground with his finger. When they heard this, convicted by their own consciences, they went out one by one, beginning with the oldest, even to the last; and Jesus was left alone, with the woman standing in the midst.』

This is a debate about the punishment of an adulteress. The scribes and Pharisees did not really want to find an answer to the question of the woman’s adultery, but rather asked a question with the intention of finding fault with Jesus’ answer. If Jesus had taken pity on the woman who had been captured and told her to let her go, they would have criticized Jesus for saying that he was the Son of God and did not follow the law. On the other hand, if Jesus had told her to stone her according to the law, then since Israel was under the rule of the Roman Empire at the time, this would have violated Roman law, which prohibited any nationality from imposing death sentences on themselves. This answer would have also provided an excuse for Jesus to be attacked.

In the eyes of the Jewish leaders, this woman caught in adultery was a good bait to catch Jesus, a woman who had committed sins and was unclean. However, by saying, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her,” Jesus made the people’s eyes look not at the woman but at the Pharisees and scribes who were doing this, and at the people who were there. After a while, starting with the elders, everyone left the place one by one.

When they saw the woman's sin, they thought that she should be stoned to death as the law said, but when they heard Jesus' words and saw their own sins, no one dared to say that they were righteous for their sins, so they had no choice but to leave. Jesus wrote on the ground so that the word of God would resonate in their hearts.

Jesus writing something on the ground was knocking on the door of their hearts. If there are people today who believe in another Jesus, this is spiritual adultery. Another Jesus is a group of people who use the name of Jesus to do business, and people who worship Jesus who died on the cross as God. Jesus is knocking on the door of the hearts of believers.

John 8:10 When Jesus had lifted up his head and seen no one but the woman, he said to her, “Woman, where are those your accusers? Has no one condemned you?” This means that those who listen to the voice of God do not judge others. Jesus did not come to the world to condemn, but to save humanity from sin. Therefore, Jesus tells the saved people not to fall into sin.

The world condemned the adulterous woman as a sinner, but Jesus did not ask for the price of her sin, but forgave her sin. The adulterous woman was caught at the scene of the crime. However, when he said, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone,” everyone left the place. Although they had not yet been caught at the scene of the crime, they were sinners no different from the adulterous woman. Likewise, all people in this world are judging the sins of others, but they are all sinners before God.