Today, we look at this well-known and well-loved passage. But before we get into what is happening here, I want to take a moment to talk about the Bible. What are manuscripts? Could there have been errors in translation? How can we know that our English Bibles are accurate? How can we trust them? We’ll take a few minutes today to go a little deeper into this and learn why we know that we can trust the Bible! 

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Good morning! It’s great to be with you on this Thursday as we continue our journey through the Gospel of John. Today, we’re diving into John 7:53 through 8:11, a passage that many of us are familiar with. We’ll actually spend two days on this because today, I want to give you some background—not only on the text itself but also on the process of biblical translation. This will help us understand the passage in its full context.

Now, this is a well-known story, and there’s a lot to unpack—the themes of sin, forgiveness, and judgment are central. But before we dig into the story itself, I want to take a step back and talk about something really important: biblical translation and how we got this text.

If you’re reading from a modern translation of the Bible, such as the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), New King James Version (NKJV), New International Version (NIV), or the English Standard Version (ESV), you might notice that this passage is set off by brackets. There’s usually a note indicating that the most ancient manuscripts do not include John 7:53–8:11. Some manuscripts place this story elsewhere, like after John 7:36, at the end of John’s Gospel, or even in Luke’s Gospel.

This bracketed text can raise questions, so I want to explain what’s going on.

When we talk about biblical translation, two terms are important: autographs and manuscripts. An “autograph” refers to the original document written by the biblical author—so in this case, the original scroll that John wrote. We don’t have any of these original autographs, but we do have manuscripts, which are copies made by scribes over the centuries.

In fact, we have about 50,000 biblical manuscripts. That’s an enormous number compared to other ancient writings. For example, we have only six or seven manuscripts of Plato’s works. The sheer volume of biblical manuscripts allows scholars to cross-reference and verify the text, which is one of the reasons we can trust the accuracy of the Bible.

Modern translations, such as the NRSV, go back to these early manuscripts and translate directly from them. By contrast, older translations like the King James Version (KJV) were translated from the Latin Vulgate, which itself was a Latin translation of the Greek Septuagint (a Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament and Greek New Testament). So, while the KJV is a valid and beloved translation, it doesn’t draw directly from the original manuscripts as modern translations do.

The reason this story of the woman caught in adultery is in brackets is that it’s found in different places in various manuscripts, and some early manuscripts don’t include it at all. Most modern Bibles place it here, in John 7:53–8:11, because that’s where the majority of manuscripts include it.

Why does this matter? Because it shows the immense amount of work and care that has gone into translating the Bible. Thousands of scholars, translators, and archaeologists have devoted their lives to studying these manuscripts. This isn’t a one-person job—this is the result of a collaborative effort over centuries, guided by the Holy Spirit, to bring us the most accurate and trustworthy version of God’s Word.

When you see brackets or notes like this in your Bible, it’s not a reason to doubt the text—it’s evidence of the rigorous scholarly work that has gone into preserving and presenting the scriptures accurately. This transparency helps us trust the process even more.

So, as we study this passage today and tomorrow, I wanted to give you this background to enhance your understanding of how the Bible has come to us. Tomorrow, we’ll dive deeper into the story itself. Have a great day, and I look forward to continuing our study together!