Let him who is without sin cast the first stone

The well-known episode of the adulteress, as recounted in John 8:7, is a clear indication that, under Roman dominion, Judea no longer held the authority to issue or execute capital sentences. The fact that many Church Fathers did not engage with this passage, or that it is absent from numerous ancient manuscripts, does not necessarily imply ignorance of its existence or canonical status. It is highly plausible that early Christianity, given its moral rigidity concerning certain grave sins such as adultery, deliberately downplayed the epi-sode so as to avoid acknowledging the Nazarene’s willingness to remit such transgressions. Nonetheless, aside from the ethical implications - which are only marginally relevant in this context—adultery, along with other capital offences (includ-ing those leading to the execution of Jesus of Nazareth), ceased to fall under the jurisdiction of the Jerusalem Sanhedrin following the establishment of Roman rule, as capital jurisdiction had become the exclusive prerogative of the Roman authorities.