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Friday, May 09, 2008
Andrew Tallman :: Townhall.com Columnist
Difficult Bible Passages and the Penalty of Death
by Andrew Tallman
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First, we should note that this passage is textually dubious. The best manuscripts don’t include it, and both its placement and style controvert its authenticity. Even so, the Christian community has long considered this an iconic story of Jesus’ mercy. So, to merely throw it out would be inappropriate. Besides, it may well be a legitimate story, just not one included in the John manuscript. Hence, an interpretation would be more helpful than a dismissal.

The trouble is that most people wildly misunderstand this story. The Pharisees’ only reason for bringing this woman to Jesus was to put Him in a dilemma. On the one hand, Jesus couldn’t call for her execution since Roman law prohibited anyone other than a Roman court from doing this. The Pharisees proved they knew this when they later brought Jesus to Pilate rather than killing Him themselves. On the other hand, He couldn’t oppose her execution because this would have proven He was a false prophet for contradicting God’s Law. The passage even explains this in verse 6, “… they were saying this, testing Him, in order that they might have grounds for accusing Him.”

So, the Pharisees wanted to make Jesus a heretic for opposing capital punishment, but He evaded their trap. The tremendous irony is that now, 2,000 years later, people who claim to love Jesus teach that He was precisely the heretic His enemies wanted to paint Him as. If Jesus was in fact repudiating capital punishment in this story, then He was neither the divine Son of God nor a true prophet. As I’m apparently more reluctant than others to embrace this conclusion, I can’t interpret Jesus as rejecting the Old Testament here. Had He been, His enemies would have left jubilant rather than ashamed. There are many theories on the meaning of this story, but the one thing we must not do is use it to say Jesus overturned God’s Word as His enemies intended.

What we see with the above examples is that even the difficult Bible passages don’t undermine the validity of capital punishment.

Conclusion

The religious and the secular arguments agree: capital punishment is purposeful, rational and pleasing to God. If you have read all eleven of these columns, I thank you for your persistence and your patience and trust they have been useful.
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About The Author

Andrew Tallman is host of The Andrew Tallman Show on AM 1360 KPXQ from 5-7PM weekdays in Phoenix, AZ.

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Reply # 1
Date: May 12, 2008 - 7:38 PM EST
Re: Was is written?
"In John 8:1-11, the Pharisees bring Jesus a woman caught in the act of adultery to see if He will authorize her execution."

To truely understand John 8:3-11 you must read it context. Note the actions of Jesus, the Christ, and the REACTION of woman's accusers:

"3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, 4 they said to Him, 'Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. 5 'Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?' 6 They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground. 7 But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, 'He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her. 8 Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court. 10 Straightening up, Jesus said to her, 'Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?' 11 She said, 'No one, Lord.' And Jesus said, 'I do not condemn you, either. Go from now on sin no more'."

What did Jesus write in the sand? The Scripture is silent on this, but whatever He wrote when the woman's accusers "heard it" (read it) they began to leave. I summise that what Jesus wrote, knowing what was in their hearts, was the transgressions of the accusers. This was punctuated by His declaring "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." In the end the required "two witnesses" were no longer present, hence the woman could not be convicted of adultry and sentenced according the Law. Of course He also knew the woman's heart, and thus Jesus willing to forgive her.
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Reply # 2
Date: May 12, 2008 - 6:16 AM EST
ts
"While it seems clear that he did not commit the crime for which he was executed"

That was the point.
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