John 8:1-11 | What's the connection?

Admittedly, the connection and context is a little difficult to ascertain here. Bible scholars will tell you that John 7:53-8:11 is a little bit controversial, and most Bibles will tell you as much. The vast majority of Biblical scholarship actually views the section as inauthentic and a later addition. To begin, none of the early manuscripts contain the section. Language is used in this section that John does not use anywhere else in any of His writings. And it severely interrupts the flow of thought that John is making.

Let's look at this. John 7:52 says, "52 They answered and said to him, 'Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.'" As the text typically reads, everyone would go to their own homes and Jesus would go to the Mount of Olives. Coming back to the temple, Jesus has the interaction with this woman and everyone goes away. But then John 8:12 begins as though Jesus was already engaging in conversation with someone else.

12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
-John 8:12

Given the immediate context, who would the "them" be here? Everyone left but the woman and Him. Verse 11 is Jesus instructing her to go and sin no more. But then He is suddenly speaking with a plural group of people in verse 12. And who responds? The Pharisees! The very people who were said to have walked away! And what are they talking about? The same subject that was left off in John 7, Jesus' authority and witness. So John 7:53-8:11 really has a hard time fitting in to this particular section. But before we completely throw the baby out with the bathwater (what a phrase), let's look at this from a slightly different angle.

While I do not think this narrative is authentically Johannine, I do not think that automatically invalidates the narrative itself. Most scholars also are in agreement that this narrative didn't just come out of nowhere. They believe it came from oral tradition. So I believe that it is still worth examining.

One way to take this passage is to look at it thematically and see what themes line up with the broader strokes of Scripture. Here are a few themes I see:

• Jesus is Savior
• Jesus is Lord
• Jesus is sinless
• Jesus instructs to live free from sin

What themes or connections are you seeing?