John 8:7
The context
The scene is the temple courts, where teachers of the law bring a woman caught in adultery and set her before Jesus as a test. He writes on the ground while they press the question. His answer turns the case back on the accusers, who leave one by one, oldest first.
What it establishes
It establishes that the accusers' own standing is relevant to their fitness to execute judgment, and that the punishment is halted without the offense being denied. Jesus' final word to the woman is neither acquittal nor approval.
What it does not establish
Its textual status is disputed. The passage is absent from the earliest manuscripts of John and appears in different places in others, and most critical editions mark it as a later addition. It may preserve a genuine tradition, but it cannot be treated as straightforwardly part of the original gospel.
Short note, first pass, October 2026. Corrections welcome.
Cited in these answers
Part of Scripture, Opened — the exegetical layer behind every citation on this site. Scripture quotations are from the ESV.