The following is a comment I made recently in a discussion on Adam in Latter-day Saint theology; it shows some of the ancient manuscript evidence supporting a high view of Adam (who LDS theology identifies with the archangel Michael), one shared in Latter-day Saint scriptures (e.g., D&C 78:16).
You might also like the fact that in early Jewish and Christian literature, Adam is given a *very* high place. For instance, in the Sibylline Oracles 8:442-444, God commands creation to give λατρευω (cultic worship) to Adam due to his being made in God's image (cf. Gen 1:26-27):
Behold, let us make man in a form altogether like our own, and let us give him life-sustaining breath; Him being yet mortal all things of the world will serve (λατρευω).
In The Life of Adam and Eve 12:1-16:3 (from the 1st century AD), the devil fell from heaven due to his refusal to worship Adam (a theme that would later be incorporated into the Qur'an and the fall of Iblis):
*And the devil sighed and said, “O Adam, all my enmity and envy and sorrow concern you, since because of you I am expelled and deprived of my glory which I had in the heavens in the midst of angels and because of you I was cast out unto the earth.” Adam answered, “What have I done to you, and what is my blame with you. Since you are neither harmed nor hurt by us, why do you pursue us?” The devil replied, “Adam, what are you telling me? It is because of you that I have been thrown out of there. When you were created, I was cast out from the presence of God and was sent out from the fellowship of the angels. When God blew into you the breath of life and your countenance and likeness were made in the image of God, Michael brought you and made (us) worship you in the sight of God, and the Lord God said, ‘Behold Adam! I have made you in our image and likeness.’ And Michael went out and called all the angels, saying, ‘Worship the image of the Lord God, as the Lord has instructed.’ And Michael himself worshipped first, and called me and said, ‘Worship the image of God, Yahweh.’ And I answered, ‘I do not worship Adam.’ And when Michael kept forcing me to worship, I said to him, ‘Why do you compel me? I will not worship one inferior and subsequent to me. I am prior to him in creation; before he was made, I was already made. He ought to worship me. And when they heard this, other angels who were under me refused to worship him. And Michael asserted, ‘Worship the image of God. But if now you will not worship, the Lord God will be wrathful with you.’ And I said, ‘If he be wrathful with me, I will set my throne above the stars of heaven and will be like the Most High.’ And the Lord God was angry with me and sent me with my angels out from our glory; and because of you, we were expelled into this world from our dwellings and have been cast onto the earth.
And immediately we were made to grieve, since we had been deprived of so great glory. And we were pained to see you in such bliss of delights. So with deceit I assailed your wife and made you to be expelled through her from the joys of your bliss, as I have been expelled from my glory.*
In The Testament of Adam 3:2-4 (dated variously from the 2nd to 5th centuries AD), God promises Adam that he will be deified in the future and become a "god." Adam, speaking to his son, Seth, says that:
*“He [God] spoke to me about this [the future Messiah] in Paradise after I picked some of the fruit in which death was hiding: ‘Adam, Adam, do not fear. You wanted to be a god; I will make you a god, but not right now, but after a space of many years. I am consigning you to death, and the maggot and the worm will eat your body.’ And I answered and said to him, ‘Why, my Lord?’ And he said to me, ‘Because you listened to the words of the serpent, you and your posterity will be food for the serpent. But after a short time there will be mercy on you because you were created in my image, and I will not leave you to waste away in Sheol. For your sake I will be born of the Virgin Mary. For your sake I will taste death and enter the house of the dead. For your sake I will make a new heaven, and I will be established over your posterity. And after three days, while I am in the tomb, I will raise up the body I received from you. And I will set you at the right hand of my divinity, and I will make you a god just like you wanted. And I will receive favour from God, and I will restore to you and to your posterity that which is the justice of heaven.’*
