Last message we introduced the paradoxical truth that the Bible calls Christians both to judge one another within the church and to judge not. We studied 1 Corinthians 5 which describes how Paul responded to a difficult scenario that was playing out within the Corinthian church by calling that church to confront a man’s unrepentant embrace of sin in order, “that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.” The question we were trying to answer last week was when is it appropriate for Christians do that and what guidance does Paul’s example provide that might instruct us how to go about it. 

This Sunday, we want to study the other side of the paradox, which is the command to judge not. In John 8, we find the account of a time when the scribes and pharisees bring a woman to Jesus who had been caught in the very act of adultery. This account famously ends with this exchange between Jesus and the woman, “Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” Why, we might wonder, is this scenario different from the one we studied last week in 1 Corinthians 5?  Why was the command there to judge, but here to judge not?