Ask for forgiveness, and sin no more

Before leaving the story of the woman caught in the very act of adultery, we must consider one final thing, and that is the relationship between her and her savior, Jesus Christ.

As we have said before, it is impossible to know to what extent she knew Jesus before this little impromptu meeting courtesy of the scribes and Pharisees, but I think it likely she had never met him before. Regardless if they had ever met before or not, what we can plainly see is that the relationship between them on this day was a merciful one.

We see this in verses 10 and 11: “When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, ‘Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee?’ She said, ‘No man, Lord.’ And Jesus said unto her, ‘Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.’”

Now, let’s talk about this merciful relationship for a moment. In order for a merciful relationship to exist, there must be two parties present. On the one hand, there has to be an offending party, here in our story represented by the adulterous woman. Nowhere in our text will you ever find it questioned as to her guilt or innocence. It is more than even assumed that she was guilty; it is accepted as fact.

Guilty according to whom or what? This is a good question for the day in which we live. The average defense today is to attempt changing God’s definition of sin, especially when it comes to sexual sins, like adultery here, and fornication and the like. But I am sorry, friend, you and I don’t get to mess with the definitions. What is wrong is wrong because God, who does not change, says it is wrong.

Yes, there must be an offending party.

But in addition to an offending party, there must be one present who has authority to grant pardon. Have you ever heard someone say, “I beg your pardon?” This is the essence of mercy. Someone endued with power to forgive. And here we see Jesus.

While John 3:16 may be the most famous verse in the entire Bible, verse 17 says: “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”

God thus declares that Jesus alone is his agent of mercy. His very purpose of coming to this world more than 2,000 years ago was to extend mercy to fallen man. In Titus we find, “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us …”

Yes, it is Jesus alone who can extend mercy.

Now, while we see this merciful relationship here, may I suggest that left to herself this woman never would have come to Jesus on her own?

What am I saying? I am saying that left to herself, she would have finished her adultery and went about the rest of her day as if she had done nothing wrong.

I don’t know the circumstances of her affair, if it happened in her house or in that of the other, but she would have gotten up, got dressed and proceeded with the rest of her day and life as she had always done. Just like all the rest of us.

Had it not been for those scribes and Pharisees who had brought her condemned to Jesus, she would have continued in her sin, missed this day of mercy and wound up in hell at the end of her life.

Folks, what we need to understand here is that unless there is an accuser, the offending party will not be brought to terms with the consequences of their sin. You know, the Bible does say “the wages of sin is death.”

Interestingly enough, the Bible also says that “the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ.” The law here, represented by the scribes and Pharisees, brought this sinful, adulterous woman unto Christ.

What an act of mercy! Though the scribes and Pharisees intended evil, God extended great mercy by them in bringing her to the only one who could grant her pardon.

But one more thing; notice what Jesus did not say. Notice that he did not say, “Go, and commit adultery again.” What this means is that if you have ever been to Christ to receive mercy, the last thing he wants from you is to return to the lifestyle from which he set you free.

Ron Hamman is pastor of Independent Baptist Church of Wasilla; contact him at 357-4229 or ron.hamman@gci.net.

Opinions expressed on the Faith page are the author’s and are not necessarily those of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, its staff or its parent company, Wick Communications Co. To submit a column or other news for the Faith page, send e-mail to news@frontiersman.com, or call 352-2268.