In the book of John, we find a very interesting story about a woman who was caught “in the very act” of adultery. While I’m well aware that this story isn’t in the most accurate early manuscripts of the book of John, I also see the themes I’m about to talk about elsewhere in Scripture, so I’m comfortable using the story as the basis of this post.
Here’s the general story from John 8:
Jesus is in the temple, teaching the people. Right in the middle of his teachings, the scholarly experts of the law and the Pharisees run up with the woman who they (or someone else) had caught in the very act of adultery. They say to Jesus, “This lady has sinned greatly! According to the Law of Moses, she should be killed! Do you agree with the law, or are you going to break the law?”
In effect, they’re asking Jesus to pass judgment on her and then condemn her. You can’t condemn someone without judging them, first. You can, in some instances, judge actions without judging a person, but as soon as you condemn a person, you’ve judged them.
It comes back to accusation vs. correction, which I’ve talked about before: Correction says, “You did something wrong; let’s fix it.” Accusation says, “You are wrong at your very core; you’ll have to change the entirety of you (which is likely impossible) to get it right.” For example, someone in my life (who is still working on security in who he is) likes to tell me I’m a bad cook. That’s an accusation; “At your core, you’re a bad cook, and there’s nothing you can do about it, or at least, you can only get better with a lot of very hard work.” A correction would look more like, “You know, Anne, when you make those ground beef meals, they just don’t go over very well. Let’s try making something with chicken, instead.” (BTW – I’m actually a good cook; he just doesn’t like everything I make… and since I don’t like everything I make, I can’t blame him.)
In this case, the experts in the law passed judgment not only on the woman’s action, but they went on to condemn the woman herself. They were ready to bring severe punishment for her sin – which was what the Law of God required.
Jesus didn’t condemn her (John 8:11). However, He also didn’t run to her, pick her up in his arms, and tell her she was just fine; everything would be all right. He never told her adultery was permissible. He recognized her sin, considered it a sin, and refused to condemn her for it (which I would guess has to do with her heart-stance, and that she was able to “be free from a life of sin” (John 8:11)).
As churchpeople, we tend toward accusation when we see a sin. We note someone lies, and we think, “They are a liar! They deserve to be judged by God!” When we do this, we forget two things: 1) just because someone lied doesn’t mean they are either irredeemable or are liars at their core, and 2) like the Pharisees, we’ve been tempted to sin, as well (John 8: 7,9). A better response (if we’re in the position for such things) is to gently correct (2 Timothy 2:25) the lying person. At this point, it’s an action, not the core of their being. Now, time may go on, and you may find that the person doesn’t want to stop lying; it’s part of who they are and how they operate, and they have no intention of stopping. At that point, we still don’t have the right to condemn, but we still should recognize the problem for what it is.
With Christians falling left and right into sin around us, I believe this accusation vs. recognition is a good truth to heed. When we hear of another (and yet another!) leader who has fallen, our choice is to condemn (accuse) them, to write off their sin as fine/make excuses for them, or to recognize the sin for what it is – sin, and sometimes very serious, habitual, unrepentant sin. The first two options are both sin for us, ourselves; Jesus told us not to judge (condemn) others (Matthew 7:1-2), and making excuses for others’ sin is pretty close to participating with them in those sins (you are actually passing judgment again, because you’re judging their sins as not enough serious enough to worry about). But recognizing sin for what it is, correcting when possible/necessary, and asking God to help you not fall into those sins, yourself (Galatians 6:1) – that’s not only humility, it’s also a more Biblical way to deal with the sins of another person.
