John 8 - Every Man's Bible

8:1-11  The Pharisees brought to Jesus a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. Jewish law required that she be stoned to death (Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 22:22). In asking Jesus to judge the situation, the Pharisees hoped to trap him. If Jesus had told them to stone her, they could have brought Jesus before the Roman authorities. The Romans did not allow the Jews to implement their own death sentences. Yet, if Jesus had granted this woman a pardon, the Pharisees could have claimed he was a false prophet for ignoring God’s law. Jesus wisely escaped the trap by showing the Pharisees that they had no grounds for judging since they, too, were sinful. Then, Jesus told the woman to go and sin no more. Jesus did not ignore this woman’s sin, but he forgave her and gave her a new start in life. Jesus does the same for us when we turn to him.

8:12  As the light of the world, Jesus exposes what has been hidden and guides us down the path of life. To live in the light is to be honest and vulnerable with others and in fellowship with God (see 1 John 1:5-7). As we express our needs and feelings, our sins and struggles, with the people we trust, light will fall on our failures and strengths. This will give us the direction we need to make significant spiritual progress. (See also John 1:4-9; 3:19-21; 12:35, 46.)

8:31-36  To be “set free” is to know the truth—the truth about ourselves and the truth about Jesus our Liberator. The truth is this: We are all slaves to our sinful nature. With God’s truth as the standard for our moral conduct, we can recognize and confess our struggles and our sins. As we confess these, we share the truth about our lives. Seeing the truth and speaking the truth in this way frees us. And when we turn our broken lives over to God, who alone can make us whole, we are again acknowledging the truth.