The first eleven verses in chapter 8 are usually grouped with a previous verse, John 7:53, to form a passage known as the Pericope adulterae or the section on the adulteress. Despite scholarly debates, the passage is considered to be canonical by the Church and, so, divinely-inspired, though not found in some of the more authoritative Greek manuscripts of the New Testament. A footnote in the New American Bible: Revised Edition (NABRE) states, “The Catholic Church accepts this passage as canonical Scripture.”
This passage is mainly attested to in Vetus Latina texts. Those Latin translations are very ancient, hand-written copies of the earliest Latin translations of the Greek of the Old Testament known as the Septuagint or Greek into Latin translations of the New Testament. These Old Latin texts even predate Saint Jerome’s Latin Vulgate. The pericope is not found in any surviving manuscripts before Codex Bezae, which dates to the fifth century AD. Text critics theorize that it is a later insertion. While it is found at the beginning of Chapter 8 of Saint John’s Gospel, other manuscripts find the passage inserted after John 7:36, at the end of the Fourth Gospel, even after chapter 21 in Saint Luke’s Gospel (Lk 21:38) or at that Gospel’s end, too. Most manuscripts that contain the passage attest to it being after Jn 7:52. Thus, the eleven verses (Jn 8:1-11) are usually grouped together with the previous verse in chapter 7 (Jn 7:53).
Why such a variety of placements for the pericope? Adultery was regarded as a particularly heinous sin, and some early Christians believed that a person could be sacramentally forgiven of it only once after baptism. Others believed that it required a very lengthy period of penance before reconciliation. And some thought that it could not be forgiven at all. Given the early stage of doctrinal development, the Pericope Adulterae—in which Jesus simply says to the adulteress, “Has no one condemned you?…Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again”—could seem shocking and in conflict with what was believed to be true in regard to canonical penance— believed about forgiving adultery. The early form of Penance known as canonical penance noted that three capital sins – murder, apostasy, and adultery could only be forgiven once in a lifetime.
Emperor Decius (reign 249-251) concluded that many people under Roman rule were neglecting not only sincere worship of the Roman gods but the divinity of the emperor. He believed this was contributing to the empire’s widespread problems. Among the scapegoats Decius sought, Christians were easy targets. According to the emperor, even natural disasters were caused by Christians who focused on one God and refused to worship the many pagan gods of the Romans. Those who had committed apostasy during the period of intense persecution and, then, returned to the Church when Christians were no longer being persecuted. The question at stake was whether the apostates should be accepted again into the church. The Christians who chose to deny Christ in the face of persecution would become known as the lapsed, or lapsi — that is, they allowed their faith to lapse, fallen away. Emperor Decius was killed during a military campaign in 251, and the persecutions soon ended.
Numerous of the lapsed now wanted to renew their relationship with the Christian faith. This led to a dilemma in the Church: Could these people, these lapsi, be accepted back? Could they be forgiven for the grave sin of denying Christ and, if so, under what conditions? The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains, “There is no offense, however serious, that the Church cannot forgive. There is no one, however wicked and guilty, who may not confidently hope for forgiveness, provided his repentance is honest. Christ who died for all men desires that in his Church the gates of forgiveness should always be open to anyone who turns away from sin” (CCC, n. 982).
Nature and dignity 