This Is What Jesus Wrote In The Sand

(Source: Wikipedia)

Allow me to bury the lede while I tell you a bit about myself.

Myself recently signed a book deal for my second book.

“What’s it about?” you ask. Well, I’m glad you asked. Thank you for that.

It’s about the Bible, what it means for it to be “god-breathed,” how it’s been used over the centuries for good and ill, and why it’s not perfect, never has been, and that’s ok.

As I explained in my recent announcement, the purpose of the book is to deconstruct how the tragedy of biblical idolatry came about - you know all that bashing people over the head and damning them to hell because of that one verse somebody found in Romans. But it won’t be just a history lesson, as riveting as a history of Biblical inerrancy might be to historical theology nerds like me. I want to work on rebuilding the Church’s relationship with the Bible from a new, healthier, and more intellectually honest foundation that will offer folks a practical and easily accessible approach to reading and understanding the Bible that doesn’t require a PhD in biblical languages.

I don’t have a secret formula for resolving all of the problems, contradictions, and inconsistencies in scripture. Instead, I’m hoping to offer a radically different understanding of divine inspiration that doesn't simply live with the tension of biblical imperfection, but finds in that imperfection the path towards a healthier, hopeful, and more dynamic relationship between the Church and scripture, one that will give you back your God-given permission to ask questions, doubt, criticize, or even pushback against the Bible in ways you may never have felt free to do before.

So what does all of that have do to do with Jesus writing in the sand?

Again, thank you for your question.

A good thing to do when writing a non-fiction book is to read other books on the topic you aim to write about. The technical term is “research” and, you may want to sit down for this, that research involves more than a quick google search or rundown of the memes on Reddit.

As part of my research I’ve been reading a book called A History of the Bible by John Barton who has a fancy professor title at some school called the University of Oxford. So yeah, huge nerd.

Anyway, unless you hold a lifetime membership at the Creation Museum, you’re probably aware that the Bible didn’t miraculously drop down from heaven one day in its current, finished form. It was written and rewritten and edited and transcribed over many generations and in countless contexts with some things being added and other things removed.

I know that idea might be causing some folks heart palpitations right now, so let’s get to the click bait.

As Prof. Barton explains, one of the various versions of the gospels that we have is a 10th century Armenian copy of the gospel of John. What makes this particular copy so interesting is it answers a question lifelong Sunday Schoolers like me have long wondered about: what exactly did Jesus write in the sand when he stood between the “woman caught in adultery” and her accusers who were hellbent on stoning here?

Even if you haven’t been to Sunday Schoo in years, you know this story. It’s where we get the famous line “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” But the version of John you and I have collecting dust on our shelves doesn’t tell us what he wrote in the sand that day.

Thanks to an Armenian scribe a thousand years ago, we may finally have an answer. Here’s the 10th century Armenian version of John’s story…

A certain woman was taken in sins, against whom al bore witness that she was deserving of death. They brought her to Jesus (to see) what he would command, in order that they might malign him. Jesus made answer and said, “Come ye, who are without sin, cast stones and stone her to death.” But he himself, bowing his head was writing with his finger on the earth, to declare their sins; and they were seeing their several sins on the stones. And filled with shame they departed, and no one remains, buy only the woman. Saith Jesus, “Go in peace, and present the offering for sins, as in their law is written.”

So there you have it.

Jesus was writing a list of her accusers own sins in the sand. When they saw it, they felt ashamed and dropped their stones.

“But wait!” you ask. Always with the questions, you. “Isn’t this story only a thousand years old and therefore a thousand years away from the actual events? Why don't any early manuscripts have that part?”

Excellent questions. You’re right. Our earliest copies of John don’t tell us what Jesus wrote in the sand. Perhaps this bit was injected by a bold and imaginative Armenian scribe who was just as tired as the rest of us at not having an answer to the mystery. Or maybe the scribe was including an ancient oral tradition that had been handed down for generations that was either lost or not included in other traditions for some reason. Or maybe there are older manuscripts that have this bit and we just haven’t found them yet.

Welcome to the wonderful, complicated, sometimes crazy, but always enlightening world of biblical studies.

Turns out reading and understanding the Bible isn’t as simple as cutting and pasting your favorite context-free verse onto a bumper stick or t-shirt. It takes work, intentionality, and maybe most of all intellectual integrity.

But you don’t have to be the the Oriel and Laing Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture at the University of Oxford to read and have a basic understanding of the Bible in a healthy and life giving way that draws you towards loving others rather than towards mutilating scripture with a pile of proof-texts to the point that it becomes nothing more than a sanctified weapon of mass destruction.

That’s what I’m hoping to explore in my new book and I would love you for to come along for the journey.

So whether the story of the Bible is something that interests you or you’re just sick and tired of having the phony baloney ahistorical nonsense that is Biblical inerrancy shoved down your throat or you just want to enjoy the show when The Gospel Coalition discovers I’ve written a book claiming the Bible isn’t perfect and it’s all God’s fault, please subscribe to my Substack. It’s totally free and it’s the best place to get any and all updates as I write the book, find out when pre-orders start, and learn how you can join me in my quest to fundamentally rewrite biblical interpretation. Should be fun. I hope you’ll join me.