Adultery Was the Least of Her Problems!

You've read the New Testament story of the woman who was caught in the act of adultery as outlined in John 7:53 through 8:11.  You know how the story goes – the scribes and the Pharisees brought before Jesus a woman who was caught in a compromising position with someone who was not her husband. It is a story of mercy, forgiveness, and genius. But guess what? John did not write it.

Actually, there are many problems with the Gospel of John, including the likelihood that it was not actually written by John the Apostle and the further likelihood that it was not even written by anyone who had actually met Jesus. But besides these problems, the story of the woman caught in adultery was actually not part of the original gospel – it was added by a later scribe. In other words, it was a forgery.

You see, as it happens, the original hand-written manuscripts of the New Testament no longer exist and have not existed for centuries. And while all available evidence suggests that the gospel was originally written in 90-100 CE (up to 70 years after Jesus’ death!) these original handwritten manuscripts no longer exist. Therefore, it is impossible to know what they originally said. But here is where it gets interesting. The oldest copies of the gospel that DO exist – from the 3^rd and 4^th centuries – do not contain the story of the adulterous woman. It is missing which leads experts to rightly conclude that it was added later by some busy-body scribe. In fact, the earliest manuscript which contains this story is the Latin/Greek diglot Codex Bezae of the late 4th or early 5th century.*

Now I am going to bet that your pastor or priest has never told you this. I am going to bet you have never been told that this story - which contains some of the most quoted Biblical lines of all time – was not written by the author of John, and is therefore, a forgery. It is understandable because, after all, it might just open a theological can of worms. On the other hand, perhaps your minister does not even know this truth about this story. But don’t fret – I got your back. This story was added by a later scribe who, for whatever reason, added words to the text that were not written by the original author.


Stan Monroe