Verses 7:53 through 8:11

  1. The evidence and reasoning for rejecting these verses as being of Johannine origin is overwhelming and logical.

  2. It is absent from the earliest and many diverse manuscripts.

  3. It first appears in Codex Bezae, which most scholars date no earlier than the 5th - 6th century. Cf. Robertson’s Word Pictures

  4. Codex Bezae was a manuscript originating in France and contained the four gospels written in Greek and Latin with a few verses of 1John and Acts written in Latin only. Cf. The Catholic Encyclopedia, copyright 1913

  5. Even in Codices A and C, which are defective in this part of John, it is considered highly improbable that either contained this story as there was not enough space on the missing leaves to include this section along with the rest of the text.

  6. Manuscripts that do include this pericope (a section or extract from a book), place this section in various locations such as after 7:36; 7:44: here as we see it; at the end of the gospel (after 21:25) and as well as after Luk.21:38, which is similar in style and character as in the introductory verses.

  7. Even many of these texts mark this passage with asterisks or obeli/daggers to indicate the uncertainty of its nature and do not agree on its true text.

  8. The various and indecisive placement of these verses reflects that their inclusion and canonicity are highly questionable.

  9. The very language used in these verses also shows vocabulary not familiar in John’s writings such as:

  1. "Early in the morning" in 8:2, twice Luke uses (21:38; 24:22), but only here appears in all of John’s writings.

  2. The phrase, "scribes and Pharisees", is common in the synoptic parallels, but the word "scribe" is never used by John.

  3. John never uses the word for "adultery/moice,uw".

  4. The phrase, "in the very act", is a hapax and old idiom not found elsewhere in the Bible and only one example in a Berlin papyrus.

  5. The phrase, "one by one" is non-Johannine, but found in Mar.14:19

  1. A careful study reveals that the language and style are not that of John’s at all.

  2. The natural flow contextually from 7:52, which left Jesus speaking at the temple on the last day, very naturally resumes in 8:12, where the Pharisees have resumed the pursuit of Jesus themselves after the seeming incompetence displayed by the temple police.

  3. All critical commentaries regard this section of narrative as disruptive to the sequence of events and regard the case against its being of Johannine authorship as conclusive.

  4. It is considered to be a piece of oral tradition that circulated in certain parts of the Western church and subsequently incorporated into various manuscripts at various places.

  5. There are at least eight textual variances within these 12 spurious verses among the manuscripts that include them.