Zahl: Imperatives Become Indicatives

'Neither do I condemn you; go, from now on sin no more.' --John 8:11

This is the one-way love of grace in the life of Christ. . . . 'Go on your way, and from now on do not sin again,' is not an imperative. It is a descriptive. Few who have ever been forgiven a crime possess the inward desire to offend again. It was obvious that she would not sin again. And if she did, she would be forgiven again; and the chances of her offending again would be reduced by half.

Under grace, imperatives become indicatives.

--Paul Zahl, Grace in Practice: A Theology of Everyday Life (Eerdmans 2007), 40