"He Who Is Without Sin Among You"

After looking at some women making accusations of President Trump and Judge Roy Moore's alleged sexual improprieties, this writer immediately thought of the woman caught in adultery, recorded in John 8.

The major difference in the above two men and the woman described in John 8, is that there could be no denial of the woman's guilt (there was no alleging to it!), for she was caught "in the very act" of committing adultery (vs. 4). The penalty for such an act under the law of Moses was that she be put to death (Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 22:22).

However, knowing the thoughts and intents of their heart (vs. 6; cf. Matthew 9:4; Luke 11:17), Jesus told the self-righteous scribes and Pharisees, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first" (vs. 7). While Jesus was not condoning the woman's sin of adultery (vs. 10-11), He was also not condoning the self-righteous, hypocritical attitude of the scribes and the Pharisees, for they too were not sinless (vs. 9; cf. Romans 3:9-12; 23).

Beloved, before we are quick to condemn the alleged sins of others, we need to honestly look inwardly at our own selves (and into God's mirror), not only considering the unrepentant sin that may be in our life (see here), but also considering the statement Jesus made in Matthew 5:20: "For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."

In order to accomplish what Jesus stated in the above verse, we must be willing to (1) "confess our sins" (1 John 1:5-10), and (2)  change our way of thinking (2 Corinthians 10:3-5) to the point of not desiring to sin in the first place (Romans 2:17-29).

The question is, are we willing to change our way of thinking?

---Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets