“Go and sin no more”

I’ve seen this verse quoted over and over again lately in reference to the transgender phenomenon that’s being thrown in our face.  The premise of those misinterpreting the quote by Jesus is that when confronted by sin Jesus simply befriended people and gave them good advice.

If you want a more thorough explanation of what really happened when Jesus was confronted with the adulterous woman, click here.

But even without a solid understanding of the Mosaical Law that Jesus was keeping at the time, the very quote itself should be enough to give the mis-quoters pause…..Jesus told the woman to “go and sin no more”.

There are a couple of things we should all take away from that quote….

1. Jesus judged the woman.  Jesus listened to the witnesses, weighed the evidence and determined that the woman had been engaged in sin.  And if we want to follow in the example of Jesus, we’ll be willing to judge the sinful actions of the world too.
2. Jesus told the woman what to do.  He didn’t just see sin and ignore it, He told her “sin no more”.  It wasn’t just good advice from one friend to another, it was a command from the creator to the creation.  And if we want to follow in the example of Jesus, we’ll be willing to not only determine what sin is–But we’ll be willing to tell the world to stop sinning.

Now I don’t think that we need to go charging through the world, bashing everyone we meet over the head with judgment and condemnation.  After all, we’re all sinners (Romans 3:23) and we’ve been saved by the grace of God, rather than our own righteousness (Romans 3:24).  We need to preach the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15) with gracious speech (Colossians 4:6), considering how we can best reach each person with the gospel.

But all of that can be done while still making judgment calls about the latest agenda being crammed down our throats.  And we can better refute the fringe by understanding what happened with Jesus and the adulterous woman in John 8.