How Did ALL People Become Condemned?
Does this verse attribute condemnation to God?
Does Jesus condemn people?
Not according to Jesus..."I haven't come to destroy men, but to save them!"
The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, making her stand in the center. “Teacher,” they said to Him, “this woman was caught in the act of committing adultery. In the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do You say? ” They asked this to trap Him, in order that they might have evidence to accuse Him. Jesus stooped down and started writing on the ground with His finger. (John 8:3-6)
Here this woman is who was caught in the “act of adultery,” so they had actually witnessed her in the middle of her crime, and subsequently drug her out to face the masses in the middle of the temple complex, ready to stone her dead, via public execution.
She is caught red-handed; the law requires death, there were witnesses, and everyone is now aware of her crime.
What more to be done now, than to cower in fear, and shame? However, this particular day, Jesus was in the house. The Pharisees thought this would be a great opportunity to trap Him, so they put this to Him as some sort of test. What were they hoping He would say?
Consequently, the next verse is so DRAMATIC and such a shock to those hearing it, it takes a moment for them to register what is actually happening.
When they persisted in questioning Him, He stood up and said to them, “The one without sin among you should be the first to throw a stone at her.” Then He stooped down again and continued writing on the ground. (John 8:7-8)
What He wrote I don't know but it threw a monkey wrench into their condemnation of the woman.
Maybe after reading what He wrote they thought...Who are you to make this our problem and not hers by throwing it back in our face? This isn’t about us, this is about her; her sin, her crime! Not ours. But, after they thought about it more that may have asked: how can I throw a stone at this woman? Have I not lied, cheated, and stolen, manipulated, gossiped, and have I not been proud? Maybe that is they all left.
When they heard this, they left one by one, starting with the older men. Only He was left, with the woman in the center. (John 8:9)
They couldn’t do it. Not one of them could throw the first stone.
When Jesus stood up, He said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? ” “No one, Lord,” she answered. “Neither do I condemn you,” said Jesus. “Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.” (John 8:10-11)
Jesus was the only one with the right to condemn her, and yet He did not. He showered His love, mercy and grace upon her; like a fresh spring, it refreshed her soul. He loved her. He loved people. He loves ALL people today, no matter what our sin or failure.
Neither do I condemn you.
Jesus is the breath of fresh air to condemned people. He gives grace. mercy and love to ALL!.
Let me asked...What right do you or I have to judge another human being and tell them they are condemned to hell? None. Even Jesus saw past the guilt and shame that was hers; He went so far as to defend her in public. He protected her, saved her life, He, the one who had the right to condemn, DID NOT CONDEMN HER!
He forgave her. He forgive me. He forgave you. He FORGAVE ALL PEOPLE!
No matter who your are, no matter your station in life, no matter if you are deemed by people as sinner or saint, you are NOT on probation, you no longer will receive punishment for sin. Yes, we were all on probation upon myself...BUT...Jesus, released ALL of us from probation because he became our prohibition and the sins of ALL people was dealt the death blow, freeing us from condemnation.
There isn’t anything for me to pay for my sins because Jesus took care of the sin issue once and for all, for ALL!
People are not going to hell for committing sin...I wonder...why do so many people believe that being condemned, means people are going to suffer in hell for eternity? That does not mean that sin has no consequences...the consequences of sin are drastic and are all around us. But hell is not a consequence of sin!
Hell condemners are forget-ers of a key passage in 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 that says: Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things have become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation, to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the Word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were beseeching you by us: we pray you on Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For He hath made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. God is no longer counting our sins against us because He dealt with all past, present and future, sin on the Cross.
All this talk about sin and going to hell is manipulating people to control their religious living, instead of recognizing that there is no longer a sin problem as far as God is concerned, instead we have a people turning to God problem...because they have not yet heard the true Grace Gospel Message.
People are looked upon by the God "as though they had never sinned" because of the finished work of Jesus…people just need to know that their sins are already forgiven, all they need to do is "repent", this does not mean they need to repeat some "sinner's prayer) it just means they need to turn around and follow Jesus, who has forgiven them of their sin...that is the essence of the gospel. To bring people's sin to remembrance and condemn them to hell for their sin is not the Gospel.
YES” God DOES love you, YES God DOES completely forgive AND forget, and YES God really IS for you and never, every against you and He will never assign you to an eternal hell. Jesus came not to destroy you but to draw you to Himself, and what JESUS CAME to DO...He WILL DO!
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