The Spirit of Truth from a God of Compassion

“But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth.” John 16:13

I love the story of the woman caught in adultery. It’s not your typical flannel-gram Sunday school lesson, but it shows the love of Christ during this woman’s most shameful moment. In John 8 the Pharisees brought in a woman who was caught in adultery. Now the Pharisees were infamous for being Jesus’s nemesis and this poor woman was a pawn in another one of their wicked schemes. However, she had committed this sin and was “conveniently” caught doing it and brought before the crowd in all her guilt.

John describes the woman as standing throughout the ordeal. As a novelist, I want more details. Is her head held high in stubborn pride, not wanting the crowd to see her deep pain? Or is it slumped down in overwhelming shame?

Instead of taking the Pharisees’ bait, Jesus bent to the ground and wrote in the dirt. When He straightened, He said, “If any of you are without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Then He wrote on the ground again. Whether He wrote general sins or the crowd’s personal sins or something entirely different the effect was monumental as they left, one-by-one. I can hear the thud of their stones hitting the dirt in a puff of dust as they abandoned their witch hunt.

Here it is, my favorite part. Jesus, in all His love and compassion, turns to the woman “still standing there” and asks (perhaps with a twinkle in his eyes), “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, sir.”

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

What! No lecture on how awful her actions were? No rehashing her sin? She was just allowed to leave with no consequences? Where is the justice in that?

Our God is a God of justice, but also a God of compassion. What purpose would a guilt trip have on this woman? Does guilt keep us from sinning or does it only make us feel icky, and inferior to others? Believing and remembering our forgiveness is what keeps us from sinning again.

In Acts 1:7, Jesus tells the crowd that “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses…to the ends of the earth.” The Spirit is our counselor and He came to “convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgement” and to “guide [us] into all truth.” (John 16:8, 13). Romans 8:1-2 says, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.”

What does all that mean? Basically, that God’s Spirit, who abides in all Christians, teaches us the truth so that we can obey our Father. The Spirit does not use guilt or shame to make us obey, but convicts us in truth. However, the enemy uses guilt and shame to paralyze us from obedience to the Spirit. So the next time the stones of shame are being hurdled at you, catch them, drop them to the ground in a puff of dust, and remind yourself that you are forgiven and that there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus.