The Meaning of αναμαρτητος
The "sinless one"
The Secularization of Jesus"Let the sinless one among you be first upon her, the stone to cast."
  "ο αναμαρτητος υμων πρωτος επ' αυτην τον λιθον βαλετω."
(John 8:7b)
Even most Christians remain as shocked at the profound scandal of Jesus' words here as whenever they first heard about them.
The attention which they command and the difficulty they generate simply never goes away. They are foolishness to this world, and yet strike as deep and true concerning justice as any words can.
Men have tried to wrestle these words down and make them conform to a normal statement ever since they were uttered. But the scandal remains.
As long as we translate the words as actually spoken and written, we are instantly struck by the fact that Jesus is NOT quoting O.T. Law, in any form or paraphrase whatsoever. Jesus is NOT affirming "the Law of Two Witnesses", or the basis of Priestly or secular authority. Jesus is NOT merely requiring honest witnesses, judges, or executioners to be present.
Jesus' demand is wholly unreasonable, and unfulfillable. The proof is that it goes unfulfilled.
The proof that Jesus intends the woman to go free is in the very fact that she actually does go free, and that this is clearly meant to indicate a
victory for Jesus over His tempters and her accusers. Only a blind man could miss this clinching observation. And if Jesus intended the woman to go free then He intended that this requirement never be fulfilled.
In these simple observations the meaning of His pronouncement is made utterly clear and vouchsafed for all time.
If there were any other man in the crowd who could fulfill Jesus' requirement of being a "sinless one", he would be compelled to come forward and cast the official first stone. Jesus demands this one come forward first and show himself.
It is utterly inescapable that Jesus does
not order the eyewitness(es) to come forward, as the Law requires. Jesus does
not order the husband to come forward with a claim he was wronged without cause. Jesus does
not order a full inquiry to punish false witnesses, as would be required were false testimony suspected. Jesus does
not demand an account of her accomplice's whereabouts as surely demanded by the circumstances. Jesus does
not order the woman held until the truth be established.
Jesus
DOES accept the suspect testimony of the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus
DOES ignore the call to the standard of the Law of Moses (v. 8:6b, 8:8). Jesus
DOES find the woman guilty without witnesses (v. 8:11). Jesus
DOES release the woman on the flimsiest basis (v. 8:10). Jesus
DOES does override the penalty called for by the testimony (8:4, 11). Jesus
DOES follow after a crowd to do evil. (8:7, Exod. 23:1-3).
And all of these flagrant breaches of the Law of Moses completely shout down and utterly squash any attempt at a "Nomist interpretation" of John 8:1-11. Jesus here does just what He pleases. He is above the Law.
Nor does the context of John's Gospel allow any other interpretation than Jesus' complete superiority and authority over the Law of Moses. From the very first chapter we are warned that Jesus is as far above and beyond the Law of Moses as is heaven from earth, as is West from East, as is Light from Darkness. (Jn 3:13, 8:23)
John 1:17 gives us the first loud warning: Moses offered "the Law". but Jesus gives TRUTH and MERCY. And this contrasting theme is accelerated and amplified: Jesus commands the cripple to get up and carry his bed, causing the man to risk the death penalty for breaching the Sabbath, yet in the same breath commands him to "sin no more", implying that breaching Moses' Law is not a sin! Jesus accuses the religious authorities and all the Jews (Judeans) of utter Lawlessness even by Moses' standards (Jn 7:19).
Finally the conflict between Jesus and Moses climaxes in the incident of the Woman Taken in Adultery, which typifies fallen Israel herself. Jesus pardons the woman by His own fiat: He simply chooses to free her and let her go. His power over those imposing the Law of Moses is ABSOLUTE: The Gospel deals the Law of Moses one final death blow in the giving of sight to the blind man:
"We are Moses' disciples!" shout the Pharisees (Jn 9:28).
The blind man responds:
"You don't know where He's from! - yet He opened my eyes!" (Jn 9:30).
Jesus adds, "If you were blind, you would have no sin.
Since you say 'we see', your sin remains." (Jn 9:41)
Nomists can only avoid the stunning impact of John 8:1-11 by completely divorcing it from its legitimate context embedded in the Gospel of John.
This is why Protestants and others who support earthly secular authority as against
the heavenly authority given to the Church of Christ wish to literally tear the passage right out of the Gospel of John, and give it some other conjectural source, like "oral tradition".