John 8:3-9 English Standard Version

3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” 6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.

There are two kinds of sin, public and private.

The religiously pious have no problem in doing a public shaming of others. Do they really think that their private sins go unnoticed?

When Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart was asked to describe his test for obscenity in 1964, he responded: “I know it when I see it.”

Potter Stewart was appointed as an associate judge to the Supreme Court because of a long history of rulings that were deemed to be accurate in relationship to the law.

What qualifies us to judge?

If we think we are qualified because we have studied the law and know it well, then why are so many Supreme Court decisions 5 to 4? Why don’t they all agree? Perhaps because their laws were written by men not God.

So we study God’s Word and we know the law. The pious said that clearly the law said death and were proud to point it out. On the matter of the accusation, Jesus said nothing, but wrote in the dirt the private sins of each man there. I find it interesting that the oldest left first.

Was that because Jesus was showing them He knew their sins? Maybe they left because He hadn’t gotten around to writing down some of their worst sins yet.

Those men were religious leaders who knew the law and knew that they could not keep it. Yes, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. If we are not to judge because we are unjust, what are we to do about our secret sins?

The Spirit of Truth will write them in the sands of time and our time is coming when He will write them in the sand and we must walk away from those sins.

John 3:17 English Standard Version (ESV) For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

1 John 1:8 English Standard Version (ESV) If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

Do we call ourselves sinners?

In a recent bible study I heard someone quote the bible accurately and share some substantial truths but include “I am the greatest sinner”. That bothered me, first because it is not true and secondly because that person might not have defined sinner correctly.

The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia defines a sinner as “one dedicated to sin” while Vine’s refers to it as “one who has missed the mark” but references the overt use of the term by the religiously pious. 

John tells us not to deny we have sin, it exists in our lives, but that does not mean we are willing participants.

The presence of sin does not mean we give in to it. We might find ourselves caught unawares and realize we sinned after the fact. Acknowledge, repent, accept forgiveness and get on with life.

We might have sins that we are not even aware of until the Holy Spirit convicts us of a behavior. Some things we never considered sin until we are made aware that this behavior will no longer be tolerated. No harm, no foul is no excuse to continue in sins that we have been called up on the carpet for doing. That loose tongue for example.

That does not make us willing participants in sinning. Knowing a thing to be a sin and choosing to sin rather than obey our Lord makes us a sinner. We can expect that attitude and those actions to be corrected. He chastises those He loves. Fail to repent and a slap on the hand will be replaced with a belt across the backside. Sin will always have consequences.

I would encourage us all to understand the difference between presence of sin and willful indulgence in sin.

It is easy enough to get tripped up in this walk of faith. The enemy likes nothing more than to trip up a servant of Christ.

Considering ourselves as sinners to begin with just makes it that much easier for the enemy.

We are children of God and betrothed to Christ. Remember that.