John 7:53-8:11--Pericope de Adulterae

John 7:53-8:11

• This passage did not appear in any Greek manuscripts until ca. AD 900, although it was known to 4th and 5th century Latin Church Fathers such as Jerome, Ambrose and Augustine.
  a. Some manuscripts place this narrative after Luke 21:38.
  b. This is the only account of scribes and elders being mentioned in John’s narrative.
  c. Some apocryphal gospels contain narratives that are similar to this story (e.g., Gospel of the Hebrews).
  d. Eusebius (H.E., 3.39) states that a story similar to this one is recorded in the writings of Papias (d. ca. AD 125), although it is not certain “that Papias knew this story in precisely this form, inasmuch as it now appears that at least two independent stories about Jesus and a sinful woman circulated among Christians in the first two centuries of the church” (Holmes, p. 304).

• Bruce Metzger is adamant that this passage could not be original with John based on the following reasons:
  1. It is absent from many early manuscripts.
  2. The style and vocabulary are noticeably different from the remainder of the Gospel.
  3. It interrupts the flow of events from 7:52 to 8:12.
  4. There appears to be several “amplified” statements in this passage (p. 187-190).

• Zane Hodges states that this passage was part of the original narrative based on some of the same reasons:
  1. The style of the passage is similar to that of the narrative as a whole.
  2. The details of the encounter fit well into the surrounding context.
  3. The appearance of the passage in a majority of manuscripts, if not the oldest ones, proves that it is an authentic passage (p. 318-332).

• 8:6—This sounds very Synoptic because the Pharisees already have blasphemy and stirring up the crowd on Jesus.
  a. The Greek term katagrapho means “to write” or “to draw characters.” Is there any meaning in this reference?
  b. 8:8—What was Jesus writing? Their names? Their sins? Some manuscripts add in the statement “the sins of every one of them” (Metzger, p. 190).

John 7:53-8:11--Jesus' Postures

1. Sitting (8:2)—Taught

2. Standing (8:3)—Accusation

3. Bending Down (8:6)—Servant

4. Standing (8:7)—Advocate

5. Bending Down (8:8)—Servant

6. Standing (8:10)—Encouragement

References

Zane C. Hodges, “Problem Passages in the Gospel of John Part 8: The Woman taken in Adultery (John 7:53-8:11) : The Text,” Biblica Sacra 136 (1979): 318-332.

Michael W. Holmes, The Apostolic Fathers in English (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006).

Bruce Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, 2nd ed. (Stuttgart, Germany: German Bible Society, 1994).