The Woman Taken In Adultery (John 7:53 to John 8:11).
This passage is in fact omitted by almost all the most ancient manuscripts (it is only in D), and by the oldest versions (Syriac, Coptic and some of the old latin), and is not mentioned by the earliest fathers, with the exception of Papias (early 2nd century) who is said to have commented on it. In this regard it is connected with the Gospel according to the Hebrews. Many later manuscripts mark it in such a way as to show that there was doubt about its position. Of the manuscripts that do contain it some place it here in John's Gospel, others after Luke 21:38, one places it after John 7:36, and another after John 21:24. It was well known among the early fathers in the 4th century AD.
It would seem probable therefore that it was not part of John's original Gospel, although some have argued that it was deliberately taken out of the original Gospel in days when asceticism was seen as important because of its content. By its very nature such an argument cannot be disproved, although there are aspects in the account itself which militate against Johannine authorship. That being said its very content, and the constancy with which it was later accepted, suggest that it is a piece of authentic tradition, which was finally considered to be worthy of a place in Scripture, although its text has not been preserved with quite such purity as the remainder of John's Gospel. We intend therefore to treat it on its own as a piece of separate tradition.