Hello Maarten, thanks for responding.
You said:
“The principle expressed as “The one without sin among you should be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7) would make all criminal law impossible. If it would be put into practice (heaven forbid), crime would be rampant.”
The key words are “among you” and “at her.”
This is not a universal principle. Jesus is looking at this specific situation.
And in this specific situation, Jesus is rightly identifying that the mob are guilty of sin in this specific situation.
The Law requires that both the man and the woman be taken for judgment and punishment:
“If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman” (Deuteronomy 22:22 ESV).
The mob brought the woman, but not the man. This means the mob themselves were not following the Law, which would have required both the man and woman. Given that it would be hard to catch the woman in adultery without the man there with her, it seems they intentionally let the man go. (A darker view suggests that one of the men in the mob had baited her into adultery in order to trap Jesus, but this doesn’t really affect the situation much).
Thus, when Jesus tells the mob, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone,” He isn’t referring to random sins. Jesus almost certainly has this specific law in mind — a law everyone in the Torah-trained mob knew, as well. When Jesus said these words, the mob realized they were breaking the Law, as well as the woman. They left, from the oldest to the youngest, as they realized that they had proven themselves to be law-breakers by bringing only the woman and demanding punishment without bringing the man.
After the mob left, there were no witnesses left to condemn the woman. Consider this verse:
“You must not convict anyone of a crime on the testimony of only one witness. The facts of the case must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses” (Deuteronomy 19:15, NLT)
Jesus could not condemn her, because He lacked two or three witnesses whose testimony agreed.
Jesus isn’t making a universal declaration that you have to be sinless to pronounce punishment on someone.
Jesus is observing that in this specific situation, the mob was just as guilty of sin as she was, and if they pressed Jesus to punish her for breaking the Law, He could have them punished for breaking the Law.
You said:
“The core of the problem is the extremely strict nature of all punishments in the Torah ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draco_(lawgiver) ). In dozens of cases (e.g. Exodus 12:15.19, 21:12.14–17.29, 22:18–20, 30:20.38, 31:14f, 35:2; Leviticus 17:3f.7.9f.14, 15:31, 18:29, 19:20, 20:2.6.9–18.20f.27, 21:9, 22:3, 23:29, 24:10–23; etc.) the Torah imposes capital punishment. Often for minor offences, e.g. Deuteronomy 17:12 (one who does not obey the priest’s judgment), 19:19 (one who bears false witness), 20 :13 (all male prisoners of war to be murdered), 20:16f (non-Israelites, everything that breathes), 21:18–21 (stubborn disobedient son, drunkard), 22:20–22 (anyone who is not a virgin), 22:23f ( premarital sex), 24:7 (thief who steals from Israelite) …. That being the case, we should expect strong procedural protections in the penal process, like 1) a requirement of proof beyond reasonable doubt, 2) right of the suspect to legal assistance, 3) right of convicted to appeal. But the Torah offers nothing of that sort.”
Have you read the Torah?
The Torah focused on forgiveness and atonement.
Why are there so many passages about sacrifice? Why does it go on and on about which sacrifice is appropriate for which offense? Why does it mandate so carefully how the priests are to handle these sacrifices? Why is there a Day of Atonement at all?
The whole point is the sin is serious but God is forgiving.
The mandated sacrifices drive the point home that your sin is not a light matter. Sin is serious. It requires serious bloodshed to atone for it.
Yet God makes a way for forgiveness, even for the worst offenses. That’s why the sacrificial system exists. That’s why cities of refuge exist — places you can flee to if you have committed the worst offenses.
Ultimately, it all points to the Cross, where Jesus pays the ultimate price for sin, to atone for all of it.
Do you seriously think Israel was constantly putting people to death?
No.
The guilty were bringing sacrifices to the Tabernacle/Temple and leaving forgiven — no longer guilty.
That’s the whole point.
You said:
“The situation is reminiscent of the way to work around the very harsh punishment (stoning, too) of the same offence (adultery) in Islamic theory. The punishment is avoided by excessive requirements with respect to the evidence (four witnesses), which so far in Islamic history has never been obtained.”
There’s no similarity between the Bible’s emphasis on forgiveness and atonement and the Quran’s harsh punishment.
You said:
“Adultery is not the same as harmless masturbation. It takes two to tango. But Jesus does not take the male partner of the woman to account.”
The mob is the one who ignored the man.
Jesus rightly pointed out that they were breaking the Law by bringing only the woman and demanding punishment for her while letting the man go free.
You said:
“The story does not state that the scribes and Pharisees already had stones at hand, and that the woman was in danger of her life. At that time, judging by the end of Jesus’ earthly existence (he has been glorified), convictions for capital crimes were in Roman hands.”
Mob justice still occurred for offenses. Consider the mob stoning Stephen to death, or the mobs that tried to stone Paul multiple times.
This particular mob was trying to trap Jesus. The woman was only a prop in their play.
If Jesus said “Go ahead and kill her,” they can accuse Jesus of being just like them. This would destroy Jesus’ constant emphasis that the Pharisees and scribes had lost their way. It would also put blood on Jesus’ hands, something that had not yet been done throughout His entire life and ministry.
Yet if Jesus said “Let her go,” they can accuse Jesus of breaking the Law.
Jesus avoided their trap by pointing out their own law-breaking ways.
