The story of the woman taken in adultery — or in scholarly circles, the Pericope Adulterae — is among the best-known Bible passages. As related in the Gospel according to John, it is:
Everyone went to his home. But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees *brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, they *said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?” They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground. But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court. Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.” (Jn 7:53-8:11)
This story is so well known that it’s made the phrase “to cast the first stone” a common English idiom. But as famous as this passage is, it may surprise many to discover it might not have been original to the gospel of John. In fact, it’s almost certain to have been a later interpolation (or insertion).
The oldest Greek manuscripts of John do not contain this passage. The earliest Greek manuscript of John which has it, is contained in the Codex Bezae, written around the turn of the 5th century. Older manuscripts of John — such as Papyrus 66, Papyrus 75, and the Sinaiticus and Vaticanus codices — don’t contain it. To be fair, papyruses 66 and 75 aren’t complete (for instance, P75 ends at verse 15:8) but they do contain the text immediately before and immediately after, so it would seem meaningful that it’s not included in either.
Some Church Fathers quoted it, including St Ambrose of Milan and St Hilary of Poitiers in the mid- to late 4th century. However, all of them are part of the western Christian milieux and wrote in Latin. In line with this, it’s included in Latin manuscripts from the early 4th century. Of note, St Jerome included the Pericope Adulterae in his Latin Vulgate. Jerome himself confirmed he found it in most of the Greek and Latin manuscripts available to him (in the late 4th century).
It would seem, therefore, the 4th century is as far back as we can go with any recorded citation of this passage. Going any father back in time requires delving into hearsay; and in this case, it can get convoluted.
Eusebius of Caesarea mentions a reference, by Papias of Hieropolis, to a similar tale that Papias had stated was found in a now-long-lost document known as the Gospel of the Hebrews. A medieval scholar stated Papias had included it in his own commentary on the Gospel of John.
Given these are the only two references known concerning Papias — whose own writings unfortunately haven’t survived — it’s hard to know what to make of them.
A parallel to the story told in the Pericope Adulterae is found in a mid-2nd century “apocryphal” document, called the Infancy Gospel of James (also known as the Protevangelion of James, or simply the Gospel of James).
Chapters 13 through 16 tell the story of how Joseph and Mary had been accused of nefarious acts with regard to her turning up pregnant while he’d been away. Both ended up passing the trial of bitter water. At the end, they are told by a priest, “If the Lord God has not made manifest your sins, neither do I judge you.” In the original Greek this final clause is ουδε εγω κρινω υμας (oude egō krinō umas; “nor do I judge you” or “I don’t judge you”) which is identical to the wording found in the Greek manuscripts that contain the Pericope Adulterae.
The Infancy Gospel of James being a source for the Pericope Adulterae might appear to make sense, but thinking about it only for a short time is enough to stir up a number of questions.
Consider that Pericope Adulterae’s inclusion in John is first attested in the western Empire, and in Latin. But the Infancy Gospel of James was originally in Greek, was mostly attested in the east, and is centered on Jewish religious practices (i.e. the trial of bitter water, as described in the Old Testament book of Numbers). Western Christians like Ambrose and Hilary would not likely have been familiar with this book. In fact, in the west among those who did know of it (such as Jerome) the Infancy Gospel of James was not viewed as valid scripture.
This leads to a conclusion that the evidence doesn’t otherwise directly support, which is that the Pericope Adulterae was the result of a third-party document that’s now lost. Either it was a source for the story in the Infancy Gospel of James, and thus predated it, yet it survived and drifted into the western Empire and became a source for the Pericope’s insertion into John; or there’s an intermediate document which contained some version of the tale inspired by the Infancy Gospel of James, which subsequently inspired insertion of the passage into John.
If this document is a source for the Infancy Gospel, it would have to date no later than the early 2nd century, and might be older than that. If it’s an intermediate document, it’d almost have to be dated sometime in the 3rd century.
The former option steers us back to the aforementioned Papias and the Gospel of the Hebrews. Based on what we know of this document from Church Fathers’ quotations of it, it may well have been old enough to have inspired the tale recorded in the Infancy Gospel. We also know that Jerome, at least, had access to it, so it existed in the 4th century and may well have been available in the west.
So the “hearsay” mentioned previously about Papias might actually carry some weight — based on what we do know. As for Papias having quoted it as included in the gospel of John, that would seem less supportable.
The Pericope twice states that Jesus wrote on the ground. This has frequently been taken to suggest that Jesus had been literate, unlike the majority of Jews in his time. But the word used in the original Greek, γραφω (grafō), can mean “draw” in addition to “write.” So he might have been drawing a diagram, or something other than letters.
As for what it was, exactly, that Jesus wrote or drew on the ground, that’s an open question. Nothing in the gospel of John — in that passage, or anywhere else — explains what it may have been. Conjectures have been proposed since Jerome and St Augustine. The former claimed this was a fulfillment of Jeremiah 17:13. The latter stated Jesus had drawn on the ground, in the same dirt or dust humans had originally been fashioned from (in Genesis 2:7), in opposition to the stone the Law of Moses had originally been carved into (in Exodus 31:18).
Many other ideas have been proposed: That Jesus had been writing out the sins of the scribes and Pharisees; that the woman was naked and that was his way of averting his gaze; that he was providing additional, secret instruction to his apostles; that he was trying to make his disinterest in what the scribes and Pharisees had to say more apparent; and many more notions.
Much of what’s discussed above is conjecture, all predicated on a negative premise — i.e. the lack of the text of the Pericope Adulterae in the oldest-available copies of John along with a lack of any clear explanation for what it was that Jesus wrote or drew on the ground.
What is virtually certain, though, is that the Pericope was not included in the original John or in any of its oldest copies. It’s not found in them, and it’s not quoted by the earliest Church Fathers who had an opportunity to do so.
Quotation from the Gospel of John taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation.
The Infancy Gospel of James is described at the Early Christian Writings Web site.
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