Go and Sin No More
A Sermon by Rev . Grant H . Odhner
Lessons : Ezekiel 33:7-20 ; John 8.1-11 ; Arcana Coelestia 4997
One of the wonderful things about the story of the woman taken in adultery is that there are so many lessons we could find in it . There are lessons about human mercy and forgiveness , lessons about judging others ; we learn something about the Lord ’ s approach to people in disorder ; we see how He wisely leads us to realizations in a way that causes us to judge ourselves .
The story opens up the subject of marriage and adultery . It also opens up the subject of the Word : how we are to see the Old Testament law ( here about adultery ) in relation to the New Testament spirit . Further , there is the subject of the Lord ’ s enemies and their real intent in bringing the woman to Him : clearly they were not concerned with her adultery ; their purpose was to undermine the Lord ’ s authority and to make His word seem unjust , weak or arbitrary .
We could spend time reflecting on that negative spirit and how it subtly comes to us like the Scribes and Pharisees came to the Lord , and affects us , and seeks to weaken the Lord ’ s Word in us .
But today we are going to focus mostly on the aspect of forgiveness and the Lord ’ s mercy . The woman was guilty . There was no question there . The penalty was clearly dictated in the law . Yet the Lord said : “ Neither do I condemn you . Go and sin no more .”
Was the Lord contradicting the Old Testament law ? Not really . The Old Testament law did not generally take into account the spirit or intention of the sinner . We ’ re told in the Heavenly Doctrine that the purpose of that law was to create an external church where no internal church was possible . This external church , apart from any true spirit of religion , nevertheless created a symbolic picture of genuine religion – a picture that could attract the attention of simple good spirits and preserve a connection with heaven and with the Lord until He could make His advent . 1
1 Arcana Coelestia 8588.6 , 4311.2 , 4208.3 , 4281.5 , 10500.2-3 ; Heavenly Doctrine 248
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