Was King David Fully Forgiven Of His Sin?

King David is an important Biblical figure who ruled over Israel in the Old Testament. The Bible records David’s catastrophic sin with Bathsheba—the most significant moral failure in David’s life. Scripture tells us about how the King saw a woman named Bathsheba, who was described as “very beautiful”, and sinfully slept with her. When she informed David that she was pregnant, David attempted to hide his sin by getting Bathsheba’s husband to sleep with her. When Bathsheba’s husband refused—David had him killed in battle.

Mormon leaders have claimed that David will not enter the Celestial Kingdom on account of his sin, but Christians claim that David is fully forgiven and will dwell eternally with God.

Which of these is the case? Can adulterers and murderers enter God’s Kingdom?

The LDS Church teaches that David is not forgiven and has lost his exaltation

Doctrine and Covenants 42 says,

“Thou shalt not kill; and he that kills shall not have forgiveness in this world, nor in the world to come.” (D&C 42:18). 

Later, D&C 132 clarifies David’s fate,

“David’s wives and concubines were given unto him of me, by the hand of Nathan, my servant, and others of the prophets who had the keys of this power; and in none of these things did he sin against me save in the case of Uriah and his wife; and, therefore he hath fallen from his exaltation, and received his portion; and he shall not inherit them out of the world, for I gave them unto another, saith the Lord.” (D&C 132:39).

LDS leaders have taught that David’s sin of murder is beyond the forgiveness of Christ, but is this what the Bible tells us?

David expected to be fully forgiven of his sin

David understood that he had violated a Holy God, and deserved just punishment for his wickedness. After the sin with Bathsheba, David writes

“Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.” (Psalm 51:4).

But David repented, and pleaded with God to forgive him. Psalm 51 records his request to be forgiven. He writes

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!” (Psalm 51:1–2).

David understood that God could cleanse him of his sin, and that if God forgave him it would be as though he had never sinned at all. He continues in Psalm 51,

“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” (Psalm 51:7).

After his sin, David was confronted by the prophet Nathan.

“David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ And Nathan said to David, ‘The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.’” (2 Samuel 12:13).

The King repented before God! And Nathan communicated The Lord’s response: God had “put away” (or forgiven) David’s sin! And David believed that God forgave all of sins! He wrote:

“I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.” (Psalm 32:5).

The Old Testament writers use David as the righteous standard for kings

In the midst of Israel’s idolatry, God refers to David as the one who did “what is right in my sight, and kept my statutes and my rules” (1 Kings 11:33). It would not make sense for God to hold David up as the example of a righteous king who obeyed His statutes if God had not forgiven David. But the Lord continuously refers back to David as the King who did what was right in His eyes. God even said to King Jeroboam,

“…you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me with all his heart, doing only that which was right in my eyes” (1 Kings 14:8).

The Bible says of King Josiah:

“And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in all the way of David his father, and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.” (2 Kings 22:2).

Even in the New Testament, David is called a “man after God’s own heart”:

“And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’ (Acts 13:22).

If David wasn’t forgiven by God, and had permanently lost the blessing of eternal life, these would be completely inappropriate references! But the Biblical authors understood that God forgave David, and that David’s repentant heart was the true mark of a “righteous king after God’s own heart”.

The New Testament teaches that David was fully forgiven

In the book of Romans, Paul establishes that we can only be declared righteous by our faith, and not by our works. The Apostle uses King David as an example of someone who was completely forgiven and declared righteous apart from his works. Romans 4 says

“And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. Just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” (Romans 4:6–8; quoting David in Psalm 32).

David couldn’t have earned this righteousness by his works—he murdered someone! Yet Paul uses David as an example of one who has been counted righteous apart from works. King David is completely and perfectly righteous in God’s eyes, fully forgiven, and an example of how we too can enter God’s Kingdom through faith.

David Was Fully Forgiven—And We Can Be Too

The Bible tells us that “the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23). It’s not only murderers whose works have separated them from God and His Kingdom, we have all sinned, and don’t deserve God or His Kingdom. 

This is why we can’t think of ourselves as categorically better, or more deserving people, than murderers like King David. The forgiveness that David needed is the forgiveness that we need.

The reason Mormon leaders have taught David wasn’t forgiven is because they do not understand the Biblical nature of God’s grace and mercy: even the worst of sinners can receive full forgiveness and entrance into God’s eternal Kingdom. Just as David earnestly repented and was fully pardoned, so too can we be forgiven of all our sins if we turn to Jesus in repentance and faith.

 “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,” (Ephesians 1:7).