The Lord's treatment of the woman taken in adultery illustrates another feature in Christianity (vss. 2-11). Under the Law such an offender was to die "without mercy" under the penalty of stoning (Heb. 10:28), but under the new dispensation in Christianity, there was mercy in the way of "space" given for repentance (Rev. 2:21). In not condemning the woman at that time, the Lord was not indicating that He was indifferent to her sin, but that he was giving her an opportunity to repent and to "sin no more." This is another feature in the Dispensation of the Grace of God; there is now such a thing as the "longsuffering" mercy of God toward all, that "all should come to repentance" and be blessed through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:9; Acts 20:21).