Can Adultery Be Forgiven?
1) Direct Answer
Yes. Adultery can be forgiven. But forgiveness is never permission to continue in it. True forgiveness comes with confession, repentance, and forsaking the sin.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- The Bible says the woman taken in adultery heard, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more” (John 8:11). Mercy given—sin stopped.
- It also says, “Such were some of you… but ye are washed” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Adulterers can be cleansed and changed.
- “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).
- David fell, confessed, and God put away his sin (2 Samuel 12:13; Psalm 51). Yet there were consequences. Forgiveness is real; consequences can remain.
- God warns, “Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge” (Hebrews 13:4). So grace does not excuse continuing in the act.
- Jesus defined it plainly: to marry another while a living covenant remains is adultery (Mark 10:11-12; Luke 16:18; Romans 7:2-3). The command to those who separate is clear: “remain unmarried, or be reconciled” (1 Corinthians 7:10-11).
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- You see, the same Lord who forgives also says, “sin no more.” That’s the proof of repentance.
- Real repentance means: confess to God, cut off the adulterous relationship completely, make things right as far as possible, and walk clean. You cannot claim forgiveness while continuing the same sin.
- If you broke your marriage vows, repentance aims at reconciliation where Scripture allows, or remaining single rather than living in ongoing adultery (1 Corinthians 7:10-11).
- Forgiveness washes the guilt; it may not erase every earthly result. A clean life afterward is the fruit of mercy received.
4) Reinforcing Statement
The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses the repentant sinner. Mercy is sure to the one who confesses and forsakes; judgment remains for the one who hardens his heart. Now notice—grace lifts you out, not leaves you in. Go, and sin no more.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
We would see Jesus
57-0516 §24
Then, the Orthodox standing around, the church members, they said, "This man is Beelzebub. For He's the chief of the fortunetellers." That's what Beelzebub was: the chief of the devils. They thought it was a telepathy of some sort. And Jesus said, "You speak that word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven you. But when the Holy Ghost is come, and you speak a word against His work, it will never be forgiven you, neither in this world or the world that is to come." Did you get that, church? "It shall never be...
The invisible union of the Bride of Christ
65-1125 §36
...e is not a creature on earth like a woman. There is no female dog, there is no female of any kind, entrusted with the character that a woman is. A woman was not even in the beginning of the creation, because God knew that she would fall. All other females could not commit adultery. She is the only one that can commit adultery. If she had been made like the original, that would have been discomplementary to God's great wisdom. See, she was made a by-product of a man; but because she was cast over in that side, she h...
Show us the Father and it will satisfy us
60-0731 §56
...it, and confessed his sins. They cut its throat, broke the blood cell; the lamb died. Now, he went right away with the same condition he did when he come in. His sins were forgiven, but what he went with, the same desire. If he'd stole, shot, committed adultery, whatever it was, he went back with the same desire. But if a man ever puts his hands upon the head of the Son of God... Why didn't he go---did he go away like he would if he put his hands on the Son of God? The blood cell from that lamb had animal life in...
Questions and Answers (God being misunderstood)
61-0723E §43
QUESTION: "Deuteronomy, the twenty third chapter, the second verse, doesn't it teach that a person whom out of wedlock cannot be saved? It says that God will visit the iniquity of the parents upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. Explain what this means." All right. Adultery was such a horrible thing in the time of the Bible until even if a man had a child by a woman that wasn't his wife, that child, its children's children's children, for four genera-tions, four hundred and something years, could...
Questions and Answers, Part 2
64-0823E §45
...t's right. You're supposed to confess that. Now, this person, if she's the one that's guilty, she has did it; she went to her husband. Now, you've cleared yourself, Sister, because between... You committed adultery against your husband. You went to your husband and cleared yourself to your husband, then you went to the man and the husband and cleared yourself there. You are clear. If your husband continues to want to live with you, that's up to him. He don't have to do it now, but he---but if he wants to live with...