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The Male-Dominated Bible and the Universality of Jesus’ Love
(John 7:53-8:11)
Mari Ikeda
(NOTE: It is said that this passage was not originally in the Gospel of John, but was added later. The reason is that it is detached from its context and the characteristics of the text are different from those of the Gospel of John. That is the reason why this passage is in brackets in your Bibles as well. But even with that background, this passage was inserted here early on as part of John’s Gospel as an important episode that teaches us in a nutshell what Jesus’ forgiveness of sins means. So there is nothing wrong with our reading this passage as being of equal value to the others.)
Today we return to our series on the Gospel of John, reading from 7:53-8:11. Let’s read through the whole passage quickly.
[53 Then they all went home, 1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”]
The subject of this passage is the forgiveness of sins by Jesus. But I want to focus on the fact that, as the title suggests, this passage reflects a male-dominated value system. I wondered whether I should focus on something that is not the subject matter, but I decided to talk about it.
There are several reasons, but the first is that, among the many other misogynistic passages in the Bible, this passage directly involves Jesus in a gender-related issue that actually happened. There is no other passage like that, as far as I could think. So I thought I should address it properly.
Another reason is that not one of the Bible commentaries I consulted quotes this passage as reflecting male-dominated values. I read three books in English and two in Japanese. So I wondered if my interpretation was wrong, but since all of those reference books were written by male researchers more than two generations before me (Raymond E. Brown, J. Ramsey Michaels, Leon Morris, Kikuo Matsunaga, Toshio Murase), I thought that might be the reason. Although not a commentary, I found a recent book that clearly states that this is gender discrimination, but the way it is phrased seemed to say that gender discrimination was a thing of the past. (Toshiyuki Matsumoto)
Another reason is that I work in the field of support for women. As I was reading this passage, I couldn’t help but think of the women who were arrested in a park in Shinjuku waiting for customers for prostitution. In Japan, women who sell themselves are more often policed than men who buy women. And many of the women in prostitution are destitute due to broken family relationships, and often have mental or intellectual disabilities at the same time. These women need support and should not be arrested and sanctioned. I thought that we who read the Bible must learn from today’s passage to properly communicate the love of Jesus without ever being complicit in such social distortions.
Please note that today I will only address male and female genders because I am addressing the issue of male-dominated values, but I believe that gender is not limited to men and women, and that transgenderism, homosexuality, and any gender identity or sexual orientation must be valued.
Now I would like to read the contents in detail.
A. The male-dominated Bible
1. Why is there no “man caught in adultery” here? (Leviticus 20:10, Deuteronomy 22:22)
First, regarding the religious leaders’ assertion in this scene that a woman caught in the act of adultery must be killed, there are two Old Testament passages on which to base this assertion. The first is Leviticus 20:10.
If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife —with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death. (Leviticus 20:10)
The other is Deuteronomy 22:22.
If a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel. (Deuteronomy 22:22)
As we can see, according to these two passages, those caught at the scene of adultery must be killed “both men and women”. So why are there only the women at the scene in today’s passage? And why is no one questioning it?
Also, the rule that a person caught in adultery must be stoned to death has no direct basis in the Old Testament. It is possible that several biblical passages were combined and interpreted that way, and the practice became customary.
In addition, the Old Testament states that any crime is not admissible without two or more witnesses, which raises the question of whether there were really two or more witnesses at the scene of this adultery. If there were two witnesses and the crime of adultery was officially recognized, the question deepens as to why only the woman was caught and the man was allowed to escape.
All of these questions and contradictions indicate that the religious leaders and other men of the time, while wearing the authority of the Law of Moses, were in fact interpreting and using the Law in ways that were convenient for them. That is the reason why Jesus and the religious leaders are always at odds with each other in other parts of the New Testament, but in today’s passage, I would like to focus especially on the issue of the contempt for women that was behind the conflict.
2. Society was patriarchal in both Old Testament times and Jesus’ time.
In both Old and New Testament times, society was patriarchal. All women belonged to their fathers until marriage and to their husbands after marriage. In other words, women were the property of men.
In particular, polygamy was recognized in the Old Testament, and as for the sin of adultery mentioned earlier, women were condemned if they had relations with anyone other than their husbands, while men were not charged with the crime if they had relations with unmarried women. In the continuation of Deuteronomy 22, which we just read, it also says, “If you assault an unmarried woman, take her as your wife,” which I believe is outrageous.
Monogamy seems to have been the norm in New Testament times, but women were not treated equally as subordinate to men. Even in the “Feeding of the Five Thousand” episode, it says, “there were five thousand men,” not including women and children. Also, although there must have been many women among Jesus’ disciples, most New Testament accounts are about male disciples. And Paul’s letter repeats the instruction that women should be submissive to men.
Let us return to today’s passage. The woman in today’s passage is treated as nothing more than a tool for the religious leaders to use to trap and corner Jesus. They have no concern that the law is male-dominated, reflecting the patriarchal system. They may have even thought that if they were dealing with women, there was no need to strictly observe the law. And they don’t think that Jesus would condemn them for that at all. This is because no male would care about such a thing. Their discrimination against women was unconscious, and it was even considered natural and right.
That is why I think that modern scholars who comment on this passage should also pay more attention to this unconscious discrimination. Not only discrimination against women, but discrimination is unconscious, and the biggest problem is that it is not considered discrimination. It is the same today.
3. This is a problem that still continues today.
The shelter where I work on weekdays is located in a residential area, and there is a street in the neighborhood with a sign like this one that bothers me every time I see it. It is a sign that reads, “Warning: Molesters suddenly appear here.” It is posted by the local police department. You may see them in your area as well. It is the role of the police to inform people that there are many cases of molesters in a particular area, and I don’t think it is wrong. But what I think is a problem is the way to call for attention. It is the molesters that the police should be warning to, not to the women who may be victimized. Why should women be warned? If a woman is attacked on that street, does that mean that she was not careful enough? So I would want these signs to be written like, even if it’s not true, “This area is under intensified molestation control” or “Molesters are watched.”
Some may think that we should not be so concerned about such a small sign, but I sense a deep-rooted male chauvinism in the fact that many people do not question the wording on this sign. I feel angry that the police use this wording on their signs as a matter of course.
It is said that many of those who have been sexually victimized in Japan are often blamed, not only by the police but also by those close to them, for how they were dressed or how they were walking alone at such a time. It is inevitable for women to be careful about what they wear and when they go out in order to protect themselves, as long as men can be a danger to women. But no matter what a woman wears or how she walks down an empty night street, it is the person who chooses to attack her when he could have chosen not to that should be held accountable. Yet, the reason why there is a strong tendency to blame the victim in Japanese society is because it is accepted, to our surprise, that it is inevitable that men sometimes want to attack women. Perhaps that is why molesters are regarded as if they were bears in the forest, with the sign saying they may appear suddenly. I believe this would be very disrespectful to many well-meaning men.
I really wanted to talk here about the Anti-Prostitution Law and also about the “Difficult Women Support Law (a law concerning support for women with difficult problems)” that went into effect last April, but it has already gotten quite long, so I will talk about it another time.
What I wanted to tell you is that both in Jesus’ time and today, male dominationism is embedded in the structure of society and has entered into our daily lives. Its values are so commonplace and so considered right that we may not even question them. But as a result, vulnerable women suffer.
I myself used to blame victims of sexual assault and have a prejudice against women who engage in prostitution. I think I was a pawn in male dominationism until I realized that this was a mistake. Men are not solely responsible for the male-dominated society. Injustice will not cease unless women and men alike realize that it is wrong. So I don’t think we should overlook male dominance in the Bible either.
Let us finally consider the main topic of today’s passage, Jesus’ love.
B. The universality of Jesus’ love
1. Jesus knows that all people are sinners.
When Jesus was asked by the religious leaders, “What do you think about this woman who is to be stoned to death?” he did not answer, but sat down and began to write something on the ground. No one knows what he was writing. More importantly, why did Jesus shut up instead of answering their questions right away? I think it was because there were too many mistakes they were making and at the same time they believed they were right, so Jesus knew that no matter how He answered them, He would not reach them.
So when they persistently asked and Jesus finally answered, He actually asked them a question rather than answering them, “Have you never sinned?” This is a question that turns their attention from the sins of others to their own sins.
And when they were all gone, Jesus said to this woman, “Neither will I condemn you. You shall sin no more.” This is a declaration, saying, “It is true that you have sinned, but I forgive you of your sins.” Jesus did not abandon the woman as a stranger to be condemned, but welcomed her as one of those who should be forgiven and loved.
We are all sinners. Whether we are strong or weak in society, we have all sinned before God. We have all hurt others because we thought we were right, and we have all justified hurting someone else for our own gain. The fact that this woman committed adultery is no different.
But Jesus wanted us to be free from sin. Neither the sins we commit in our personal relationships nor our sins embedded in the structures of society are hidden before Jesus. Jesus just wants us to be aware of them and not repeat them. That is why Jesus had to go to the cross, and He did it for us.
2. He wants us to forgive and love each other.
I think we all need to start by hearing Jesus say this. “Neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin.”
Our biggest problem is that we don’t see our mistakes as mistakes. But when we realize that we are breaking relationships with others or hurting someone else because of it, that is where our new walk begins. We forgive each other for our mistakes, just as Jesus forgives us for our own mistakes. It is not to pretend that the mistake did not happen, but to recognize the mistake as a mistake and then cooperate with each other so that the same mistake will not be repeated.
Can we become aware of the human sins embedded in the family environment in which we were raised and the education we received? It is not just male dominance. Can we free each other from the curse of our sin? Can we respect each other so that each can live as one of God’s beloved children? This is the mission that Jesus entrusted to us.
(Prayer) Let us pray. Lord Jesus, please change us so that we can admit our mistakes and allow You to guide us in the right direction. Help us to recognize the mistakes that are hard to see in our society. Help us to seek the help of Your Spirit and not rely on our own strength so that Your mercy and love can be realized in this world. Lord Jesus, we pray in your name. Amen.
Summary
The Bible strongly reflects the patriarchal and male-dominated values held by the people of biblical times. Also, biblical scholars were almost exclusively male until more recent times. We must keep this in mind when we read the Bible. But at the same time, as we read the Bible, we can see Jesus respected and loved each person’s individuality without regard to gender, race, disability, or status, in a way that is revolutionary even today. All Jesus wants is that we create a society in which we love each other by sharing a mutual forgiveness, just as He forgave us all of our sin.
For Discussion
- How do you interpret the Bible’s male-dominated descriptions?
- Does Jesus tell us to forgive any discrimination? How can we really forgive each other in the relationship between the discriminator and the discriminated against?