Tag Archives: John 8-9

November 6, 2023 Bible Study — We Do Not Bring Glory to God by Condemning Sinners

Today, I am reading and commenting on  John 8-9.

Today’s passage begins with the account of the woman caught in adultery.  The oldest sources do not contain this story, which suggests that it was not in the original.  Nevertheless, I think the fact that it became ubiquitous in later versions of the Gospel of John suggests that God intends for us to learn lessons from it.  I think the most important of those comes from Jesus’ final statement to the woman.  “Neither do I condemn you.  Go now and leave your life of sin.” (or, as other translations put it, “Go, and sin no more.”)  We should not condemn those who sin, but we should call them to stop sinning (just as we should strive to stop committing whatever sins come into our lives).

This passage contains two stories I think teach us a lot about following Christ.  The first I wrote about in the first paragraph.  The second is the story of the man born blind.  Jesus’ disciples thought that the man had been born blind either because of sins he later committed, or because his parents had sinned.  That is a potentially interesting theological debate, which the disciples took to Jesus, probably because they thought that His answer would reveal a lot about His understanding of God.  And it did, but not in the way in which they expected.  His answer tells us that people do not necessarily experience what we consider suffering because of sin.  In this case, the man was born blind so that Jesus could demonstrate God’s power through him.  When we see people suffering, our question should not be about why they are suffering.  Our question should be, “How can God’s power be displayed through relieving the suffering so that people will glorify God?”  When we see people suffering we should seek ways to relieve that suffering in a manner which brings glory to God.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

November 6, 2022 Bible Study — Those Who Follow Jesus Walk In The Light

Today, I am reading and commenting on  John 8-9.

As I study today’s passage I see Jesus trying different ways to express the same idea while those listening to Him keep missing His point.  John has written about Jesus teaching about light before this, but starts today’s passage with Jesus telling those who followed Him that those who  follow Him will always walk in the light.  From there He goes on to say that if we do not believe that “I am he” we will die in our sins.  Jesus then returns to His theme, if we hold to His teachings we will know the truth and the truth will set us free.  Which led those listening to dispute that they needed to be freed.  Jesus answered them by saying that those who sin are slaves to sin.  Those to whom He was speaking were unwilling to accept this, revealing themselves to be more invested in a lie than in hearing the truth.  Finally we get to the account of the man born blind.  When the Pharisees questioned the man born blind about his healing they said, “We know this man is a sinner.”  To which the man born blind replied, “One thing I know, I was blind and now I see.”  The Pharisees heard what Jesus said and saw what He did, but refused to believe and so were made spiritually blind.  The man born blind had faith and thus was given sight, both physically and spiritually.

 

Some people say that there are many paths to God.  This is often said as a criticism/contradiction of the claim by Christians that no one can come to God except through Jesus.  I want to say that I agree that one can follow one of many different paths in order to find God…but they all lead to Jesus.  No matter what path one chooses to follow in seeking God, that path will sooner or later either lead you to Christ, or it will never lead you to God at all.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

November 6, 2021 Bible Study — One Thing I Know, Once I Was Blind But Now I See

Today, I am reading and commenting on  John 8-9.

Today’s passage begins with the account of the woman caught in adultery.  The earliest manuscripts currently known do not include this passage, which suggests it may be a later addition.  This leads me to suspect that the event recounted here did not actually happen.  However, based on my understanding of how God works in preserving the Truth contained in the Bible I believe it still communicates a message about how we should interact with people.  Jesus’ statement to those who brought the woman to him makes a great model for us to remember when we are tempted to condemn others: Let him who is without sin cast the first stone (using the most common paraphrase).  I want to point out though that does not mean passing off the sins of others as of no consequence.  After all, Jesus’ last words to the woman were “Go, and sin no more.” (using the most common translation).  We should not condemn others for their sins, but we should encourage them to give them up.

I did not mean to spend that much space on that, because the meat of this passage for me is the account of the man born blind.  First, the primary point of the story: the man was not born blind as punishment for sin, neither his nor his parents.  Not all suffering comes as punishment for sin.  However, my Dad pointed out to me a message in this account which now strikes a strong chord within me.  When the Pharisees questioned the man about how he received his sight, they told him that they knew that Jesus was a sinner.  To which the man replied “I don’t really know about that. All I know is that I was blind and now I see.” (paraphrasing)  The man born blind refused to get into a debate about fine theological points.  When they pushed him harder on this the man stuck to his point, “He opened my eyes.”  The man born blind allowed Jesus to open his eyes, while the Pharisees intentionally closed their own eyes.  Will you allow Jesus to open your eyes? Or will you close them to avoid seeing the Truth?

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

November 6, 2020 Bible Study The Truth Will Set You Free

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on John 8-9

Jesus says, “you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”  He continues by saying that those who sin are slaves to sin, but that the Son can set them free.  All too often, we lie to ourselves about our sin, just as Jesus’ listeners were lying to themselves about their sin.  They refused to acknowledge that they were enslaved by their sins and, as a result, were unable to accept being freed from those sins.  The devil and those who serve him hate the truth because it reveals their sins.  Indirectly then, lies are the root of all sin.  All of this fits in with what Jesus said earlier in today’s passage when He said that He was the light of the world.  Light and truth both reveal what was hidden by darkness and lies.  Those who wish to be freed from slavery to sin will seek both light and truth so that their sins may be revealed.  Those who wish to continue in their sins avoid light and truth so as to avoid acknowledging the hurt and suffering which their sin creates, both in themselves and others.

November 6, 2019 Bible Study — Go And Sin No More…I Was Blind, But Now I See

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on John 8-9

The story of the woman caught in adultery is not in the oldest manuscripts which we have of the Gospel of John, which suggests that it was not in the original.  However, it has been in the Bible since the Fourth Century, which leads me to believe that the Holy Spirit approves of the lessons we can learn from it.  So, what lessons can we learn.  First, only those who are free from sin may condemn others for sin.  This does not mean that I cannot point out that something is a sin, but I cannot claim to be any better than the person to whom I am pointing it out.  Instead of condemning them we should help them overcome the consequences of their sin.  Which brings us to the second lesson.  When we have helped the sinner back up our message to them is, “Go, and sin no more.”  When people are in need we help them, even if their need is the result of their own actions.  However, once we have helped them we should show them how they can avoid returning to the same bad place.

I love the story of Jesus healing the man born blind.  My initial love for this story comes from a point my Dad made about it.  When the Pharisees were questioning the man they told him that Jesus was a sinner.  The man born blind responded (paraphrasing), “I don’t know about your complex theology. But I do know that I was blind and now I see.”  When faced with questions regarding complex issues our faith should boil down to that one statement.  At some point you will face (or have already faced) a point where you have to choose whether or not you believe Christ.  I can tell you from experience that if you choose to believe Christ ever after you will face things which you do not understand saying, “One thing I know, I was blind, but now I see.”

I also love this story for what it tells us about suffering, a message which is important to remember in light of the messages we learn from the story of the woman caught in adultery.  People do not necessarily suffer because of their own sin, or even the sins of others.  Sometimes people suffer in order to give us an opportunity to demonstrate God’s love.  In fact, when we see someone suffering we should not see it as an opportunity to provide someone else with an object lesson on the danger of sinning.  Instead we should view it as an opportunity to bring glory to God by demonstrating His love.

November 6, 2018 Bible Study — Contrast Between Jesus’ Approach To ‘Sinners’ and His Approach To the ‘Righteous”

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on John 8-9.

    The story of the woman caught in adultery is not in the earliest, most reliable manuscripts of the Gospel of John, which means that it was unlikely to have been in the original. However, since God allowed it to remain in the Bible for as long as He did before this was discovered I believe that it provides material we can learn from. At the end, when all of her accusers had left, Jesus told the woman that He would not condemn her either and she should go and sin no more. Thus the passage provides us with a model for dealing with sinners. It is not our place to condemn them for their sins, but we should encourage them to stop sinning.

    In the next section Jesus’ interactions with people remind me of a friend of mine who is sometimes a jerk. Reading this it seems to me as if Jesus is intentionally antagonizing his audience. It is worth noting that John introduces the exchange by saying that Jesus told those who believed in Him that the truth would set them free and that they responded by saying that they had never been slaves. From there, Jesus starts a process where He says that they are not the children of Abraham, but are rather the children of the devil. He antagonizes them to the point where they want to stone Him. My point here is that there are times when it is appropriate to antagonize those who think they are righteous by attacking their assumptions about themselves.

November 6, 2017 Bible Study — All I Know Is That I Was Blind But Now I See

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on John 8-9.

    The story of the woman caught in adultery is not in the earliest manuscripts we have of the Gospel of John, so it likely was a later addition. Nevertheless it is consistent with the other things written about Jesus’ teaching and can teach us some useful lessons. Really the two prime lessons are closely linked. On the one hand, he tells the woman’s accusers that they are only qualified to punish her if they are not guilty of something similar. I like to imagine that after He told them this Jesus wrote in the dust various sins and as each person realized that they had done things which by the letter of the Law would justify them being where the woman was they dropped their stones and walked away. On the other hand, Jesus did not tell the woman, “Well your accusers are gone, go back to what you were doing.” No, He told her, “Go and sin no more.” The love and tolerance which Jesus calls us to have for sinners does not include telling them that it is OK to sin.

    When Jesus tells the crowd, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free,” the crowds denies ever being anything but free. However, Jesus points out to them that when you sin you become a slave to sin. This is a basic truth which we all struggle with. When we sin we become addicted to sinning. The only way to overcome that addiction is to allow the power of the Holy Spirit into our lives where it will direct our behaviors away from that addiction. The Holy Spirit will fill our lives with good behaviors which will displace the sin. As we allow ourselves to become “addicted” to doing good we will have less and less time in our lives to be tempted.

    I cannot leave today’s passage without writing about the story of Jesus healing the man born blind. In particular the contrast between the way the religious leaders reacted to his healing and his reaction. I know I have talked about this before, often, but it is one of those lessons about the Bible which my father taught me which still greatly influences my thoughts about God. The religious leaders questioned the man in an attempt to find something in his story which they could use to diminish Jesus’ role in his healing. Finally, they right out told the man that Jesus should not get credit for the healing because they knew that Jesus was a sinner (notice, they did not give any specific examples of what sins Jesus had committed, just declared that He was a sinner). The man’s response was, “Well, I don’t know anything about that. All I know is, I was blind and now I see!” When the man insisted that Jesus must be from God, the religious leaders dismissed his judgment since the fact that he was born blind indicates that he “must be a terrible sinner”. They never considered that the same logic which said the man must have been born blind because he was a sinner suggests that he was given sight because he had become righteous (I do not agree with the logic here, but the second follows the first). The religious leaders were so caught up in their own belief about how God acts that they were blinded to God acting in their midst. Let us ask God to open our eyes to what He is doing in the world around us.

November 6, 2016 Bible Study — The Woman Caught In Adultery and the Truth Will Set You Free

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on John 8-9.

    When Jesus spoke to the woman caught in adultery, He told her to go and sin no more. Many people note that He refused to condemn her, and that He got those who had accused her to back down. That is true and important, but they often fail to note that in doing so He did not accept her sin. He did not tell her to go an return to her sin. He did mot ignore the fact that she had sinned. No, He told her to go and sin no more. That should be our response to sinners as well, not condemnation, but the admonition to go and sin no more.

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    One of Jesus’ statements which has struck a chord with people throughout history is, “the truth will set you free.” Most people are content to use just that phrase, a phrase which is true. In many ways this is like the way a lot of people use the story of the woman caught in adultery. They take the main point and strip it of the context which gives it meaning. In the case of the woman caught in adultery, if you strip away Jesus’ acknowledgement of her sin and His admonishment to leave that sin behind, His failure to condemn her His refusal to condemn her loses its meaning.
    In the same way, if we do not pay attention to what Jesus says before He says that the truth will set us free, we lose something very important, because Jesus tells us that we WILL know the truth. And the most important part of this teaching is that He tells us HOW we will come to know the truth. The key to that entire statement is that He tells us that we will know the truth if we remain faithful to His teachings. It is by remaining faithful to His teachings that we learn the truth, that we learn to distinguish the truth from the many falsehoods and deceptions in the world around us. It does us no good to know that the truth will set us free if we do not know how to learn and recognize the truth.