toldailytopic: When Jesus said "go and sin no more", what did He mean?

[Eeset]

This all occurred in the temple in the midst of a crowd. Reading further in John 8 adds perspective. I would say His words were meant also for those who witnessed this event. Not that they could avoid further sins as he makes clear but rather that they should strive to avoid further sins. As He makes clear in John 8:15 "Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man."

 

[rainee]

Notice-"what goeth before" John 5:14 KJV:

John 5:5 KJV
5 And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.


The man had both a physical infirmity and and an infirmity of the flesh for "thirty and eight years"=the period covering the wanderings in the desert of the children of Israel, and these wanderings were the fruit of their sin. And they did sin yet more, and worse condemnation has come upon them.

And notice that it was on the Sabbath day....a sign.....the reason for the signs in the book of John...John 20:30-31 KJV.....signs..."thirty and eight years"

As it is written:


Romans 10:21 KJV
But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.

Hi John,

I don't know about others but I have no problem with your position as long as we (you and I ) agree that Word is the Living Word and it can mean more than one thing.

You see, I do agree the Word can work out just as you say. You may have a gift.
But I think you would have to tell others that it is because The Word is Living that you can do that.
An example of more than one meaning might be: Psalm 16:10 KJV

On one hand it is prophecy for the Lord as Peter reveals Acts 13:35 KJV, right?

But because The Lord will fulfill it it will also be true for David one day, yes?

 

[kmoney]

The TheologyOnline.com TOPIC OF THE DAY for February 12th, 2013 06:00 AM

toldailytopic: When Jesus said "go and sin no more", what did He mean?

He meant to sin no more.

 

[Doormat]

Simple ... Don't sin again. Ever.

I read that passage literally. No more sin. Not any sin. Ever again.

I agree. And your interpretation is consistent with numerous scriptures: 1 John 3:6-9, 1 John 5:18, 1 Peter 4:1, 1 Corinthians 15:34, and many, many more. Here's one of my favorites:

John 5:14 Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.

You may have imagined this; the problem is that many Christians have been brainwashed to believe a false doctrine when they should be questioning the doctrine. They are victims of people who had influence over them, and they were wrongly convinced to believe a false doctrine based on the twisting of scripture, but they can overcome that and see the truth.

There is no legitimate evidence against this: a person can sin no more and never sin again.

2. Did Jesus mean "Go and don't ever sin again, not the least little thing"?

Doesn't seem likely either. Or else He was setting her up to fail.

Consider that it was possible for her to be like John's parents, so he was setting her up to succeed. And by extension you will succeed by being like John's parents because you listen to Jesus, you hear his voice, and you will fulfill the law without being a legalist (Mt 7:12).

Luke 1:6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

You know that it is possible for you to be like John's parents, too, because you can live by the principle of Matthew 7:12, and you will never stumble (1Jo 2:10) because God has told you that you will never stumble.

You know that you can treat other people the way you want them to treat you, and you believe it is possible to do that. When Jesus said to "go sin no more," he meant that you can treat other people the way you want them to treat you, he meant it is possible for you live by the principle of Matthew 7:12 and fulfill the law without being a legalist.

 

[Nick M]

She was drug before Jesus because she was supposedly caught in an act that could get her stoned..

No. Read the text, all of it. The answer is provided by the gospel writers. They took her for the purpose of trying to trap him against the law versus Roman law.

It is a literal interpretation of what was is stated in the verse.

I don't think you needed it explained to you. Your answer is correct and I said the same thing. Rainee is a bit confused.

Was Jesus telling her to follow the law down to the last jot and tittle?

While that isn't the point of that story, that is the arc of the bigger picture that he constantly preaches in the "New Testament".

Matthew 7

21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Matthew 25

31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.

41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 43 I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’

And your best effort, for Israel who has a covenant, is not good enough.

 

[quip]

Use a porta-potty next time?

 

[rainee]

Nick,

What are you doing?
Why call me out?
If you were my friend in private in our living rooms I could answer one way --- just share.
But if you were a Sunday School teacher talking like this to me in public -- I would have to reason with you - and a teacher needing to be reasoned with most always feels rebuked... sigh.. must you always be such a rambo??

Posted by rainee
She was drug before Jesus because she was supposedly caught in an act that could get her stoned..

No. Read the text, all of it. The answer is provided by the gospel writers. They took her for the purpose of trying to trap him against the law versus Roman law.

Although I have not reread all of the text and probably should later - why should I now? Your words are all I need to appeal to you.

Posted by Rusha
It is a literal interpretation of what was is stated in the verse.

I don't think you needed it explained to you. Your answer is correct and I said the same thing. Rainee is a bit confused.

about somethings yes, other things not so much.

Posted by resurrected
Was Jesus telling her to follow the law down to the last jot and tittle?

While that isn't the point of that story, that is the arc of the bigger picture that he constantly preaches in the "New Testament".

Matthew 7

21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Matthew 25

31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.

41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 43 I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’

According to your quoting of Scripture to Res, you prove The inspired Writers, The Apostles, The Lord Jesus, and The Jews - all could not care less about Roman Law.
It was a non-issue sir according to the verses you posted.
The people were all wrapped up in Jewish Law and the Lord into spiritual principles.

That is what i would remind you of if you were my teacher.

But as my friend- please consider - we do have some testimony that this section may not be as secure as other parts. I still trust it is inspired...

Ps 82 wrote once that He bent down and wrote until the accusers went away - not just in dirt - but in the dust and sand on a rock floor.

And God wrote on stone long ago the very Law those bad men wanted to use to trap Jesus into condemning the woman.

What imagery.

Weren't those men corrupt? Please Nick admit it - they were wicked.
And they wanted to use God's Law to make the Lord - who healed on Sabbath days - have to condemn a woman to death.

But then the Lord bent down and with His finger wrote...

That just blows me away. I hope it blows you away too. Hug.

 

[resurrected]

He meant to sin no more.

Is that possible?

 

[Ps82]

1. Did Jesus mean "Go, and don't do that one particular thing that you were caught doing, but it's OK to sin in any other way you like"?

Doesn't seem likely


2. Did Jesus mean "Go and don't ever sin again, not the least little thing"?

Doesn't seem likely either. Or else He was setting her up to fail.


Either way, what if she didn't follow his words? What if she deliberately sinned again, fell back into her adulterous ways?

Some say that He would forgive her "seven times seventy" times, which would render an interpretation of "Go and sin no more" that reads more like "Go and sin no more, but if you do, don't worry about it"

Again, doesn't seem likely.

Imagine the awesome force of that directive, coming directly from the Son of God Himself - Go and sin no more.

Who would want to test that?

Hi resurrected and everyone,

I have to look at the life of David to try to see "repentance from sin" from the Lord's perspective.

David deliberately murdered an innocent man - but then he repented and did not do such a thing again. Yet, God held him accountable for this murder and told David of the consequences that would come within the world, but it did not affect his eternal salvation.

David committed adultery - but repented and did not do such a thing again. God held him accountable for this sin and told David of the consequences that would come within the world, but it did not affect his eternal salvation.

I would say that this woman committed adultery - and that Jesus told her to "go and sin no more (repent of adultery)." I figure that there were probably some consequences that happened naturally within this world in her life after this (public shame, broken relationships, even loss of financial security). We are just not told about them. But obviously, if she repented of her sin (and committed that sin no more), then it would not affect her salvation.

Tell me if I am wrong - John the Baptist came before Jesus proclaiming a message. His message encompassed:
Repent (stop your sinning)
Be baptized in water: as a sign of commitment to the Lord
And he proclaimed the arrival of the Savior who would forgive sin ... and secure individual salvation.

It seems to me that Jesus was just re-enforcing that message.
Repent from sins ... IOW, show some outward signs of commitment unto the Savior (himself).

In I Samuel 2:27-36 the LORD explains his attitude unto the established priesthood. The LORD said that he only planned to honor people who honor him... no longer to honor people due to the appointed positions they hold.

Now, I'm not a "works" believer, because I don't think we can do anything to save ourselves... only a creator can save what he has created... but I am one who believes that honoring the LORD God is important to our becoming among the "elect group."

David sinned ... but he had a "heart after God's own heart." To me that means that through human weaknesses he sinned, but that he sincerely (stopped that sin) every time he confessed his sin and repented.

To go back into the same sin does not show a heart that holds any repentance ... or respect ... or any commitment to our Lord and savior.

 

[Ps82]

You realize I don't want to argue with men but I can argue with you?

A literal interpretation is great. Just get the most literal you can then.

She was just drug into traffic court for hit and run. It is a very bad charge.
Are we worried the Judge is thinking about speeding tickets?

This was a sin unto death and that was a court situation, kinda, in a corrupt kinda way, I think. Even the men will agree with me on that I think..

But I will give up now after this, thanks for letting me do this

I think what Jesus did and said in regards to the woman had more to do with revealing to her "accusers" their sins... their hypocrisy ... the evil within their hearts. The old "take the log out of your own eye before you talk about the splinter in another person's eye."

Who knows what he wrote with his finger, but it was obviously something that related personally to the accusers and probably had something to do with being guilty of sin.

Since no men were left to accuse her ... then our Lord was willing to forgive her ... if she showed some outward signs of wanting to be forgiven. Repentance is an outward sign of someone wanting forgiveness and wanting to honor their savior.

 

[Ps82]

Notice-"what goeth before" John 5:14 KJV:

John 5:5 KJV
5 And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.


The man had both a physical infirmity and and an infirmity of the flesh for "thirty and eight years"=the period covering the wanderings in the desert of the children of Israel, and these wanderings were the fruit of their sin. And they did sin yet more, and worse condemnation has come upon them.

And notice that it was on the Sabbath day....a sign.....the reason for the signs in the book of John...John 20:30-31 KJV.....signs..."thirty and eight years"

As it is written:


Romans 10:21 KJV
But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.

Nice points.
I'm no authority and am enjoying the perspective of many of you, but I figure that:
Yes, sin in this world has consequences within this world ... and sincerely repenting from them is important. I think that stopping a sin shows one's sincerity.

It also seems that sin affects our (the elect's) rewards in the kingdom... for we are each to be judged according to the things we have done in this life and rewarded accordingly. I figure that sins that were committed and then repented will be "covered" by the mercy of our savior ... but persistent sins may be a different matter.

Eternal salvation is a decision of our Savior ... and once we are secure in Christ ... we are blessed with our salvation ... but I think that in some instances there will be repercussions for un-repentence. Scripture says that some believers will make it into the kingdom, but their clothes will be smoking when they pass through God's refining fire. If our sins are not covered by Christ ... then we'll make it there "smoking."

I can't remember the exact scripture where I got the "smoking idea," but one place was in an OT vision regarding Joshua ... and there was another place in the NT about one being like a "brand that was plucked from the fire."

 

[Ps82]

Hi Rainee and Nick,

Rainee mentioned something that I had shared a long time ago:

Ps 82 wrote once that He bent down and wrote until the accusers went away - not just in dirt - but in the dust and sand on a rock floor.

And God wrote on stone long ago the very Law those bad men wanted to use to trap Jesus into condemning the woman.

What imagery.

Here are my thoughts ... of course... since scripture is not specific, this is only a theory of mine based on other things I've discovered.

I have studied models and pictures of the temple area. I have also questioned people that are suppose to know about such things. In every model the flooring of the temple area was paved with stone. The spokespersons I've questioned considered that there would have been stone flooring in the inside area - especially where the treasury room might have been.

Christ was inside the temple area - near the treasury room - when he was teaching the people, and when the woman (who committed adultery) was brought to him ... and where the Pharisees in attendance continued to question him even after the woman and her accusers had left (John 8:20).

If the models and experts are correct, then that means that Jesus was in an area where there was paved stone flooring. I ventured to suggest that "what he wrote upon the flooring" was just one part of the story ... while the fact that he was able to write with his finger upon stone blocks was another.

In the OT, God took his own finger and wrote the "10 commandments" upon stone tablets/stone blocks. Could this feat done by Jesus have been yet another miraculous sign that he was the LORD God come as the Savior? Might he have been writing down the names and sins of these men upon stone blocks with just his finger?

Also I also found it interesting that what he wrote affected the men in chronological order. You know this sort of demonstration was also done by Joseph in regards to his beginning to reveal his identity unto his brothers. They were shocked as they realized that they had been seated in the order of their age... and questions began to be in their minds.

Therefore, could it be that part of the miracle, which Jesus had performed that day, have matched known foreshadows found in the OT?

Jesus also said something interesting in John 8:12; John 8:15,16 about the reason for his decision.
He responded to the religious leaders questioning him that he came into the world to judge no man ... but that judgement came from TWO witnesses.
John 8:16, 17.

The two witnesses regarding unforgiven sin ... seem to be the Father and the Son... I'll add that it is the Father's will that all glory and honor be given unto the Son for how he willingly suffered and died for our sins; therefore, not repenting from a sin ... is an outward sign that a person is not honoring the Son as their Lord. Therefore, Jesus said: Neither do I condemn you ... but to honor me ... go and sin no more.

Wow ... what a ramble!

 

[rainee]

Wow, that is going to be hard to follow.
Thanks Ps82, it has been long time and I did need to remember it better, it really stirs me to think about it. You know you are the only one I knew who ever really looked into it and took it on - to really contemplate that moment in time. And zowie it is rich.

 

[Ps82]

Hi Rainee,
If you think about it ... Christ did not condemn anyone of sin while he walked in human flesh. He even washed Judas's feet along with the other disciples' (which had something to do with the forgiveness of sins). He forgave those who accused him and condemned him to death and even those who crucified him. He came to establish the way to forgiveness and our being made righteous and glorified eternally; however, he did come to defeat Satan. Let me know if I have missed an example of where he condemned someone while he was working as the Messiah.

I don't think that the adulterous woman was necessarily on her way to the kingdom at the time of this event. I'm not sure she had yet accepted Christ as her Lord and Savior. I don't know if the Father had called her unto salvation or not... after all, it was a group of men that brought her unwillingly to Christ.

It is my hope that she did repent and honor the Lord as her savior with her choice to accept him as the Messiah and with her future behaviors. Jesus certainly offered that opportunity to her.

We just can't see what was "in her heart," but our Lord probably knew.

 

[Ps82]

Hi Rainee,
Well, as usual, I arrived too late on a thread. All have gone else where.

 

[Lighthouse]

I think what Jesus did and said in regards to the woman had more to do with revealing to her "accusers" their sins... their hypocrisy ... the evil within their hearts. The old "take the log out of your own eye before you talk about the splinter in another person's eye."

Who knows what he wrote with his finger, but it was obviously something that related personally to the accusers and probably had something to do with being guilty of sin.

Since no men were left to accuse her ... then our Lord was willing to forgive her ... if she showed some outward signs of wanting to be forgiven. Repentance is an outward sign of someone wanting forgiveness and wanting to honor their savior.

You must also remember that according to the Law Jesus could not condemn her, even if there had been witnesses; but in the absence of witnesses no one could.

 

[Totton Linnet]

After I rode my bike down a steep gravel hill, Hell bent for election! and wiped out leaving about 1/3 of my hide in the dirt, my Dad cleaned up my wounds as I screamed in pain.
He said "I guess you won't do that again".:hammer:

I can go better, when I scooted down a hill as a kid [whee what fun] but when it was too late I saw the HUGE clump of stingers ahead. Cah I ended right plumb in the middle, up to my waist.

There I was in the middle...now do you walk out gingerly and get stung to death slowly? or make a dash and get stung twice as quick?

What an unhappy child. My legs were green for days with dock weeds.

I think Jesus meant "go and be a sinner no more" and she wasn't.

 

[Totton Linnet]

Maybe He was writing the dates when each of her accusers had committed adultery with her...she was pretty well known I reckon...probably the guy who she committed adultery with was right there in the crowd.

Honey trap

 

[john w]

Nice points.

Thanks!

... then we'll make it there "smoking."

I can't remember the exact scripture where I got the "smoking idea," but one place was in an OT vision regarding Joshua ... and there was another place in the NT about one being like a "brand that was plucked from the fire."

Smoking is not that bad-Rebekah smoked Camel cigarrettes:

Genesis 24:64 KJV
And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel.

 

[john w]

Maybe He was writing the dates when each of her accusers had committed adultery with her...she was pretty well known I reckon...probably the guy who she committed adultery with was right there in the crowd.

Honey trap

Jer. 17 KJV
13 O Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.

John 7 KJV

37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.

38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water


Next chapter...


John 8:11 KJV
She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.