So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her — the authorities persist in demanding an answer. Jesus then responds with his famous statement: 'He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.' The shift of focus from the law's penalty to the accuser's moral standing is radical. Jesus does not deny the Law or the woman's guilt; he makes judgment conditional on the judge's sinlessness. This invokes the principle of Deuteronomy 17:7 (witnesses cast the first stone) but transforms it morally: only the sinless have the right to execute judgment.

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