Answer:
I do address this issue partly in this post ac3.org/n/content/QandA_with_Rick/action/viewqna/qnadent/33 which you may find helpful. There I don’t specifically deal with the stoning question, but it’s the same objection: does Jesus contradict Moses? If you look at the words of Jesus, he never actually preached against the law of Moses. For example he said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Matt 5:17-19
So Jesus never objected to the basic codes of justice outlined in the Law. The Mosaic Law wasn’t bad. The punishments for offenses are just. Even the capital punishment of stoning was meant to be humane – not a barbarism as we assume. Not a lot of people know that the method of stoning was to push a person off a dedicated “stoning cliff” first – it had to be so and so high. The effect was to render the criminal unconscious from the fall, and then death by stoning would ensue. And the prime witness who made the accusation before the Judges was to be the first one to cast a stone against the convicted criminal.
There’s lots of checks and balances in the O.T. legal system, not the least of which was it’s amazing concern for due process (no conviction without at least 2 witnesses) balance (the punishment should fit the crime) and blindness (no favoritism for rich or poor). In fact, our American justice system owes so much to Moses and the Jewish system of jurisprudence that they’ve got the 10 Commandments on the Supreme Court building!
So neither Jesus, nor his followers were ever embarrassed by the Mosaic law, nor did they want to abolish it’s principle of due process, balance and blindness. We cringe at some of the punishments – like rebellious children being put to death by stoning – but the basic idea Jesus affirmed: sin deserves death. Paul writes, Romans 6:23 – “for the wages of sin is death…”
Now, the specific punishments, for specific crimes… these are part of the civil law of the Old Testament, which are not longer followed by Christians for good reason. We are no longer a specific ethnic group living under the theocracy of the Mosaic covenant. We are instead an international community living in every country on earth, called to support and submit to the civil authorities under which we live. (Romans 13:1-7) But even there, we support the gov’ts role to bring justice and punish law breakers. So I don’t think it’s accurate to say Jesus preached against such actions… not for civil gov’ts. He doesn’t want YOU or any individual to stone their neighbor, but Jesus never preaches against punishment for crimes against the law.
HOWEVER, here’s the other side. Jesus did call us to private acts of compassion where we pursue mercy OVER justice. Jesus inaugurated this amazing era of GRACE. Grace doesn’t work against the law, it accomplishes in our hearts what the law could not accomplish. The law’s stated goal is get you to live a perfect life, right? Do all the laws demands, and you will be perfect. The law’s goal is good, but the law’s power is weak! It can’t fix us, and no amount of laws can change us on the inside. This is the radical message Jesus preached. That we all need a change on the INSIDE. (Matt 5:28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart . Matt 12:34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. Matt 15:18-19 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart , and these make a man 'unclean.')
This is where the gospel comes in. God comes to invade our hearts by grace to change us from the inside out. This power is available through the cross, for only on the cross could God’s perfect love and perfect justice both be met. Punishment for sin was meted out, and forgiveness for the law breakers was made available. Wow! Because God did this for us, we Christians, in private acts of compassion, give away mercy rather than justice all the time. In John 8:1-11 we see Jesus doesn’t allow an adulteress to be stoned. This gives us reason to reconsider the idea that everything that is IMMORAL should also be ILLEGAL.
Hence, Christian societies have been more tolerant of certain wrongs than ancient Jewish society. SO we do dismiss some of the specific legal punishments for crimes against the law of Moses (like stoning for adultery for example), however, we still retain the idea that the law’s principles is good (IE adultery is bad) and that sin = death. We also understand that if society doesn’t make criminals die for many of the sins we commit (like adultery, both physical and mental), we still die SPIRITUALLY. It’s that inevitable spiritual death that Jesus comes to save us from. In fact, we believe many criminals, on death row, will justly die for their law breaking, but yet they will live spiritually through Christ – and many law abiding citizens will live long under the law, but die spiritually without Christ.
As Christians, just because we live by and believe in grace doesn’t mean we seek to repeal all laws or to get every prisoner out of jail – that would be a disaster! We do however, seek to get every prisoner of sin, to be liberated by the grace of Jesus. So in the Bible Moses and Jesus work together and agree, but Jesus is greater, because he provides the power the law could not. John said it best: “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” John 1:17
