Many people struggle with the punishments prescribed in the law (Leviticus 20:10). A death penalty for murder is one thing, but the same for adultery? Adultery was seen as a crime that threatened the basic building block of community life: the family. That is why it was taken so seriously. But the real thing that people are concerned about when they read the prescribed punishments in the law is: What does this say about God? Does God really want people to be stoned to death? It just seems so brutal. The answer to this is, no, God didn’t and doesn’t want anyone to be stoned to death. He doesn’t delight in the death of anyone, however evil they might be. The punishments of the law were a ‘necessary evil’ to protect people and enable a peaceful community. When you begin with a terrible situation you have to use terrible measures. These measures reflect the harshness of those times more than God’s character. Of course, the laws themselves reflect God’s justice, but this is not the aspect of his character that he trumpets most loudly in Scripture. It is his love and grace that God puts forward as his crowning attributes. If you want to see God’s character reflected, look to Jesus and specifically his response to the adulterous woman here in John 8. Jesus is the ultimate revelation of God. Jesus shows us that God does not delight in seeing wicked people punished. As John says elsewhere: “God is love” (1 John 4:16). He is slow to anger and abounding in love and forgiveness.
Know that God wants to forgive you and love you whatever you have done. Receive his love and forgiveness today with thanks.
Read John 8:1-11
