Pericope Adulteræ

What is called the “Pericope Adulteræ” are the versus from John 7:53 to John 8:11. In this section, John recounts the story of Jesus saving an adulterous woman from stoning, telling the angry crowd, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”

(A more common version: “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”)

This passage was not present in the oldest Greek manuscripts that formed the basis for the Bible. Additionally, they appear to be written in a different form that the rest of the gospel – the vocabulary and word usage is different. Finally, it’s a bit of a random non-sequitur. Reading from John 7:52 to John 8:12 – cutting out the section entirely – makes more thematic sense.

Most Bible scholars agree that this passage was added later, likely by a scribe. Many Bibles disclaim the section.

For example, Bible Gateway notes:

The earliest manuscripts and many other ancient witnesses do not have John 7:53 – 8:11.

I found arguments both for and against its inclusion or its usage in teaching (here’s a sample; the writer argues both sides).

A lot of arguments for inclusion boiled down to: “It’s clear this passage was inserted later, but it’s still likely be true.”

The major theory is that the passage was inserted by a scribe or translator who knew of the story from oral tradition. The story may have been passed down through generations, and it was inserted at a place where the writer felt that it would fit.

Another outlying theory says that it was in the original manuscripts, but it was removed because the message of Jesus forgiving and releasing an adulterous woman was unpopular. So – this argument goes – whomever inserted it back into the text was restoring the original text of the gospel.

Other arguments were against its inclusion or teaching. Many claim that Biblical inerrancy requires adherence to a baseline, and this passage simply does not qualify.

In the end, the ultimate question is not, “was it in the original manuscripts?”, but rather, “did it actually happen?” Unfortunately, no living person can answer that.

Does this make it canonical or not?

…well, who’s to say that anything in the Bible is canonical? Our baseline is its appearance in early manuscripts, but there are many disputed books of the Bible, and this passage likely fits somewhere in with those.

Why I Looked It Up

I had known for some time that there was some type of controversy about this passage. I just got to wondering about it one day, and decided to clear it up.