Adultery. The verses from John 7:53b-8:11 were added to the New Testament in the fifth century and teach a valuable lesson, which is that we are not to be quick to condemn others, but each of us must know and do what is right. The textual scholars determined that these verses were added by examining ancient manuscripts rather than by criticizing content, but here the content too tells us the person who wrote these verses was not familiar with Jewish Scripture and practice. If you catch someone in adultery, you have to catch two because one person cannot commit adultery: Yet only the woman was brought to be stoned. That was the practice of the societies of the ancient world, except for Judaism. In all the other societies, except for a few that were matriarchal, the wife was a chattel, a possession of the husband, so if she was caught in adultery it was a crime against her husband and he could punish her any way he wished. She was just like any other possession, to be treated like furniture or a slave. Adultery to those societies was not sin. It was a crime against the husband. Only in Judaism was adultery a sin against God.  Because it was a sin against God both participants were to be stoned -- it was not a lesser sin for one than for the other. Leviticus 20:10 and Deuteronomy 22:22 say “If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man who lay with the woman, and the woman; so shall you put away evil from Israel.”

Although the verses, John 7:53b-8:11, were added long after the Scriptures were written, we need to keep the basic message of the addition, that we are to love the sinner, but hate the sin. It is more important for each of us to focus on his own shortcomings rather than on the shortcomings of others.