<P> Early textual critics familiar with the use and meaning of these marks in classical Greek works like Homer, interpreted the signs to mean that the section (John 7: 53--8: 11) was an interpolation and not an original part of the Gospel . </P> <P> During the 16th century, Western European scholars--both Catholic and Protestant--sought to recover the most correct Greek text of the New Testament, rather than relying on the Vulgate Latin translation . At this time, it was noticed that a number of early manuscripts containing John's Gospel lacked John 7: 53--8: 11 inclusive; and also that some manuscripts containing the verses marked them with critical signs, usually a lemniscus or asterisk . It was also noted that, in the lectionary of the Greek church, the Gospel - reading for Pentecost runs from John 7: 37 to 8: 12, but skips over the twelve verses of this pericope . </P> <P> Beginning with Lachmann (in Germany, 1840), reservations about the pericope became more strongly argued in the modern period, and these opinions were carried into the English world by Samuel Davidson (1848--51), Tregelles (1862), and others; the argument against the verses being given body and final expression in Hort (1886). Those opposing the authenticity of the verses as part of John are represented in the 20th century by men like Cadbury (1917), Colwell (1935), and Metzger (1971). </P> <P> According to 19th - century text critics Henry Alford and F.H.A. Scrivener the passage was added by John in a second edition of the Gospel along with 5: 3.4 and the 21st chapter . </P>

The one who has no sin cast the first stone