He Who is Without Sin, Cast The First Stone

John 8:1-11

"Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”



The clip doesn't zero in on it much, but the written text does. So, what exactly was Jesus writing when He bent down twice and wrote in the sand?? Their names! He was writing the names of the pharisees!

Jeremiah 17:13 "LORD, you are the hope of Israel; all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the LORD, the spring of living water."


Their names were not written in the Book of Life in heaven, their names were written in the dust of the earth. Pretty telling.


I'd like to also point out that I see this verse "he who is without sin cast the first stone" thrown around alot in the wrong context. Explaining to someone what the bible says sin is, is not "casting the first stone". Casting the first stone would be to condemn that person, which we are NOT supposed to do. Explaining what sin is, is not the same as condemning a person.

Example. Stealing is a sin, and telling people that stealing is a sin is NOT the same as condemning a person, this is not "judging" a person, or "casting stones" at a person. This is telling them that what they are doing is wrong, educating them. What they do with that information from that point forward is between them and God, not any of us.

Jesus taught people and He sent out his disciples to teach people. It is right to teach people what is right, when done in love and kindness.

It is wrong to teach people when done in hate, condemnation and cursing.

I hope this helps someone.