Jesus and the woman taken in adultery
The Pericope Adulterae (Latin pronunciation [peˈri.ko.pe aˈdul.te.raɪ]; English pronunciation [pəˈɹɪ.kə.pi əˈdʌl.tə.ɹi] - or Pericope de Adultera; Latin for "the pericope (passage) of the adulterous woman") is the name traditionally given to verses 7:53–8:11 of the Gospel of John, which describe a confrontation between Jesus and the Scribes and Pharisees; over whether a woman accused of adultery ought to be stoned. In English, the passage is usually referred to as "the woman taken in adultery".
The passage
1 Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. 2 And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them. 3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, 4 They said unto him, Teacher, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what say you? 6 This they said, testing him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. 7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted himself up, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. 8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. 9 And they who heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing before him. 10 When Jesus had lifted himself up, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those your accusers? has no man condemned you? 11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn you: go, and sin no more.
Textual history
The pericope is not found in any of the earliest surviving Gospel manuscripts; neither in the two 3rd century papyrus witnesses to John - P66 and P75; nor in the 4th century Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus. The first surviving Greek manuscript witness to the pericope is the Latin/Greek diglot Codex Bezae of the fifth century.
Until recently, it was not thought that any Greek Church Father had taken note of the passage before the 12th Century; but in 1941 a large collection of the writings of Didymus the Blind (c313- 398) was discovered in Egypt, including a reference to the Pericope Adulterae; and it is now considered established that this passage was present in its canonical place in a minority of Greek manuscripts known in Alexandria from the 4th Century onwards. In support of this it is noted that the 4th century Codex Vaticanus, which was written in Egypt, marks the end of John chapter 7 with an "umlaut", indicating that an alternative reading was known at this point.
History of textual criticism on John 7:53-8:11
During the 16th Century, Western European scholars - both Catholic and Protestant - sought to recover the original Greek text of the New Testament, rather than relying on the Vulgate Latin translation. At this time, it was noticed that a number of early manuscripts containing John's Gospel lacked John 7:53-8:11 inclusive; and also that some manuscripts containing the verses marked them with critical signs, usually a lemniscus or asterisk.
The first to systematically apply the critical marks of the Alexandrian critics was Origen:
"In the Septuagint column [Origen] used the system of diacritical marks which was in use with the Alexandrian critics of Homer, especially Aristarchus, marking with an obelus under different forms, as "./.", called lemniscus, and "/.", called a hypolemniscus, those passages of the Septuagint which had nothing to correspond to in Hebrew, and inserting, chiefly from Theodotion under an asterisk (*), those which were missing in the Septuagint; in both cases a metobelus (Y) marked the end of the notation."
(Schaff-Herzog Encycl. of Religious Knowl. Vol II: Bascilica - Chambers, I. Greek Vers. 1. LXX, ~ 4, Hexapla of Origen, http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/encyc02.bible_versions.html )
Early textual critics, familiar with the use and meaning of these marks in classical Greek works like Homer, mistakenly interpreted the signs to mean that the section (John 7:53-8:11) was an interpolation, was not an original part of the Gospel.
Beginning with Lachmann (in Germany, 1840), reservations about the pericope became more strongly argued in the modern period, and
these opinions were carried into the English world by Samuel Davidson (1848-1851),
Tregelles (1862), and others; the argument against the verses being given body
and final expression in Hort (1886). Those opposing the authenticity of the
verses as part of John are represented in the 20th century by men like Cadbury (1917), Colwell (1935), and Metzger (1971).
On the other hand, many scholars strongly defended the Johannine authorship of these verses, and presented opposing arguments and counter-analysis. This group of critics is typified by such scholars as Nolan (1865), and Burgon (1886); and find modern counterparts and apologists in Hoskier (1920), O.T. Fuller (1978), Pickering (1980), Hodges & Farstad (1985), Pierpont, and Robinson (2005).
Almost all modern translations now include the Pericope de Adultera at John 7:53-8:11; but some enclose it in brackets, and/or add a note concerning the oldest and most reliable witnesses.
Authorship
Arguments against Johannine authorship
Bishop J.B. Lightfoot defended the bracketing of the passage this way:
"The passages which touch Christian sentiment, or history, or morals, and which are affected by textual differences, though less rare than the former, are still very few. Of these, the pericope of the woman taken in adultery holds the first place of importance. In this case a deference to the most ancient authorities, as well as a consideration of internal evidence, might seem to involve immediate loss. The best solution would probably be to place the passage in brackets, for the purpose of showing, not, indeed, that it contains an untrue narrative (for, whencesoever it comes, it seems to bear on its face the highest credentials of authentic history), but that evidence external and internal is against its being regarded as an integral portion of the original Gospel of St. John."
Exerpted from: J.B. Lightfoot, R.C. Trench, C.J. Ellicott, The Revision of the English Version of the NT, intro. P. Schaff, (Harper & Bro. NY, 1873) Online at CCEL (Christian Classic Ethereal Library)
Arguments for Johannine authorship
On the other hand, Zane C. Hodges and Arthur L. Farstad, in the introduction to their edition of the Majority Text (a version of the New Testament based primarily on the number of witnesses to a reading, rather than automatically or critically assuming the oldest texts are the most accurate), argue for Johannine authorship of the pericope. They point to the phrasing at 8:6, which follows a similar grammatical structure to 6:6, 7:39, 11:51, 12:6, 12:33, and 21:19, verses regarded as particularly Johannine by most critics. Further, the use of the vocative γύναι (woman) is a very typical Johannine usage. The phrase "sin no more" in 8:11 occurs only one other time in the New Testament, at John 5:14.
Hodges and Farstad also argue that the pericope is particularly suited to the point in the Gospel where it occurs in the majority of the 1,863 copies that contain it. The Feast of Tabernacles is being celebrated (John 7:14), so there would be a large number of pilgrims in the city, making it more likely that strangers would be thrown together. The pericope thus occurs naturally at this point. The confrontation would had to have taken place in the Court of the Women, and indeed John 8:20 indicates that that is where Jesus was. Hodges and Farstad conclude, "If it is not an original part of the Fourth Gospel, its writer would have to be viewed as a skilled Johannine imitator, and its placement in this context as the shrewdest piece of interpolation in literary history!"
Defenders of Johannine authorship argue that the earliest witnesses to the location of the passage within the canonical gospels point unambiguously to John 7:53 - 8:11, both in the Vulgate text and in the critical markings of the Codex Vaticanus; all other supposed locations being clearly singular and later. They point out that there is no other known example of a substantial passage being first incorporated into the canonical tradition as late as the 3rd or 4th century; and so they argue that a minority tradition of manuscripts of John must always have contained the passage, even though those early manuscripts that survive do not.
See also
External links
The text:
- John 7:53-8:11 (NIV)
- John 7:53-8:11 (KJV)
- The Pericope de Adultera Homepage Links to a wide range of scholarly published material about all aspects of this text, dozens of new articles here.
- The Pericope de Adultera Homepage Alternate link to mirror site.
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