Is the Story ​of ​the Woman Caught ​in Adultery ​in John 8 Spurious?

[Posted July 26, 2023]

Hi Mike,

It’s been said by some scholars that the story of the woman caught in adultery in John 7 and 8 does not appear in many of the original Greek manuscripts and is therefore completely spurious.

Is there any truth behind this claim?

Thank you always for your help, guidance and counsel,

your thankful brother,
C____

Hi C​____,

Thank you for your question.

You ask if the story of the woman caught in adultery in John 8 is spurious as some allege.

Christ said ‘My sheep know My voice’, and I for one hear the voice of Christ in that story, especially when He says:

Joh 8:11  [b] Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

Joh 10:4  And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.

Here is a cut and paste from Gill’s Commentary on this question:

“This history of the woman taken in adultery, is wanting in the Alexandrian copy, and in other ancient copies; nor is it in Nonnus, Chrysostom, and Theophylact; nor in any of the editions of the Syriac version, until it was restored by De Dieu, from a copy of Archbishop Usher’s; but was in the Arabic and Ethiopic versions, and in the Harmonies of Tatian and Ammonius; the former of which lived about the year 160, and so within 60 years, or thereabouts, of the death of the Evangelist John, and the other about the year 230; it was also in Stephens’s sixteen ancient Greek copies, and in all Beza’s seventeen, excepting one; nor need the authenticness of it be doubted of;… nor should its authority be called in question.” (End Quote, Emphasis Mine)

I hope this helps you to see that this story of Christ forgiving a woman, who the established church condemned, is very much a part of the Word of God. It is such a powerful story of the forgiving spirit of God that some early ‘church fathers’, not to be confused with the apostles themselves, did not want it in the scriptures, but the Lord has preserved His Word and those who ‘know His voice’ can discern His voice in this story.

YbiChrist, Mike