Comparative Theology · Additions & Interpolations
The Woman Caught in Adultery (John 7:53-8:11)
Handle with care. Never use this card to imply the story is immoral or invented to deceive. Many scholars think the tradition is old; the issue is its place in John.
In short
- 1.Missing from every early Greek manuscript of John
- 2.In later manuscripts it wanders: after John 7:36, at the end of John, even into Luke
- 3.Its Greek style is closer to Luke than to John
The claim being examined
One of the best-loved passages in the Gospels — 'let him who is without sin cast the first stone' — is absent from the earliest manuscripts of John.
The Islamic position
Islam affirms the mercy of God and does not object to the sentiment of the story. The point is textual: a passage universally cited as the words of Jesus (PBUH) is a later insertion.
Analysis
The passage is unknown to the earliest witnesses of John and is not commented on by the Greek Fathers who worked verse by verse through the Gospel. When it does appear, copyists were unsure where it belonged, placing it at four different points across the manuscript tradition — a classic marker of a floating oral tradition later fixed in writing. Its Greek style sits closer to Luke than to John, which is why scholars class it as an (wording a later copyist added), while still regarding the story itself as ancient and possibly authentic as a tradition. Modern Bibles set it off with brackets and a footnote.
Side by side
| Earliest Greek MSS | P66, P75, Sinaiticus, Vaticanus | Passage absent. |
|---|---|---|
| Later MSS (variant placement) | after John 7:36 / end of John / after Luke 21:38 | Present, but at four different locations. |
| Modern Bibles | NIV, ESV, NRSV | Printed with brackets and a footnote noting the earliest manuscripts lack it. |
From the Qur'an
وَأَنزَلْنَآ إِلَيْكَ ٱلْكِتَـٰبَ بِٱلْحَقِّ مُصَدِّقًۭا لِّمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ مِنَ ٱلْكِتَـٰبِ وَمُهَيْمِنًا عَلَيْهِ ۖ فَٱحْكُم بَيْنَهُم بِمَآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ ۖ وَلَا تَتَّبِعْ أَهْوَآءَهُمْ عَمَّا جَآءَكَ مِنَ ٱلْحَقِّ ۚ لِكُلٍّۢ جَعَلْنَا مِنكُمْ شِرْعَةًۭ وَمِنْهَاجًۭا ۚ وَلَوْ شَآءَ ٱللَّهُ لَجَعَلَكُمْ أُمَّةًۭ وَٰحِدَةًۭ وَلَـٰكِن لِّيَبْلُوَكُمْ فِى مَآ ءَاتَىٰكُمْ ۖ فَٱسْتَبِقُوا۟ ٱلْخَيْرَٰتِ ۚ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ مَرْجِعُكُمْ جَمِيعًۭا فَيُنَبِّئُكُم بِمَا كُنتُمْ فِيهِ تَخْتَلِفُونَ
wa-anzalnā ilayka l-kitāba bil-ḥaqi muṣaddiqan limā bayna yadayhi mina l-kitābi wamuhayminan ʿalayhi fa-uḥ'kum baynahum bimā anzala l-lahu walā tattabiʿ ahwāahum ʿammā jāaka mina l-ḥaqi likullin jaʿalnā minkum shir'ʿatan wamin'hājan walaw shāa l-lahu lajaʿalakum ummatan wāḥidatan walākin liyabluwakum fī mā ātākum fa-is'tabiqū l-khayrāti ilā l-lahi marjiʿukum jamīʿan fayunabbi-ukum bimā kuntum fīhi takhtalifūna
We revealed to you the Book in truth, confirming what came before it and as a guardian over it.
From the Bible
ὁ ἀναμάρτητος ὑμῶν πρῶτος ἐπ' αὐτὴν βαλέτω λίθον
Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.
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