The Bible Dictionary
article on flesh and other sources list several scriptures that equate flesh
to mortality. This interpretation makes sense in most cases. Furthermore, Adam
was not the first physical creature; all the animals were created first . . .
So, Moses 3:7 likely does not mean that Adam was the first physical creature,
and therefore, Adam could really be the first mortal creature. “Flesh” as “mortal”
was the [sic] also interpretation of a committee of apostles who reviewed Elder
B. H. Roberts’ 1930’s era manuscript, The Truth, The Way, the Life,
which was not published in his lifetime, but is now available.
The committee, chaired
by George Albert Smith, also included David O. McKay, Joseph Fielding Smith,
Stephen L. Richards, and Melvin J. Ballard. They were concerned about strange
ideas in the book such as pre-Adamites, and Roberts’ understanding of the word replenish
to mean repopulate—he thought the earth had been populated before Adam, but the
population was wiped out by some cataclysm. (B. H. Roberts, The Truth, the
Way, The Life [Smith Research Associates], 332-333) Of relevance here, the
committee also expressed their view of the term flesh and of Adam being
the “first flesh”:
As we understand it
the phrase “first flesh also,” does not have a reference to Adam as being the
first living creature of the creation on the earth, but that he, through the “fall”
because the first “flesh,” or mortal soul. The term “flesh” in reference to
mortal existence is of common usage. We find it so used in the scriptures. Adam
having partaken of the fruit became mortal and subject to death, which was not
the condition until that time. We are taught in the Temple as well as in the
scriptures that man was the last creation placed upon the earth, before death
was introduced. Adam was the first to partake of the change and to become
subject to the flesh. This is the view expressed by President Joseph F. Smith
and President Anthon H. Lund.” [They then presented several scriptures in which
flesh means mortal.] (B. H. Roberts, The Truth, The
Way, The Life [Smith Research Associates], 664)
However, God’s body,
as well as our future resurrected bodies, are also described as “flesh and bone”
(Luke 24:39; D&C 129:1-2; 130:22). So not all uses of flesh mean
mortality. Flesh can mean mortal, but it can also just mean physical.
While acknowledging this, Robert J. Matthews . . . reasons that flesh in
Moses 3:7 must mean mortal because most flesh scriptures use it that
way. (Robert J. Matthews, “The Fall of Man,” in Joseph Fielding McConkie and
Robert L. Millet eds., The Man Adam, p. 48)
The context of Moses
3:5-7 is clearly Adam’s initial physical creation, contrasted with his earlier
spirit creation. Look at verse 5: “And I, the Lord God, had created all the children
of men; and not yet a man to till the ground; for in heaven created I them.” To
me, that means our pre-earth existence. Continuing, “and there was not yet
flesh upon the earth . . .” SO here flesh would mean physical bodies, as
opposed to our pre-earth existence. Furthermore, as the Lord had been talking
about the “children of men” and “man,” one might suppose that by flesh,
he means physical humans, as opposed to all life forms. The word could apply to
animals as well, but this scripture references humans. And then, in verse 7,
Adam’s physical creation is described. Whereas others have interpreted “the
first flesh upon the earth” To mean the first mortal, verse 7 doesn’t reference
the fall, but rather, Adam’s physical creation. If we keep the interpretation
of flesh in verse 7 that we saw in verse 5—physical humans—then Adam is
the first physical human, and the first man also; he is male. This
interpretation, then, says nothing about if there were other mortal animals
(or plants) on the planet. I’m not necessarily arguing that there were; I’m
only saying that this interpretation, which is reasonable and internally
consistent, does not rule them out. I agree that most of the uses of flesh in
the scriptures means mortal, but the context here may make it an exception. Context
matters.
I admit that the rain
issue in verses 5-6 is enigmatic to me. Elder McConkie argued that rain was
necessary for mortal life, and that therefore this scripture is about entering
mortality. It seems, however, that there must have been rain before any rivers
or streams existed, so perhaps these verses about rain are out of order; we’ve
already seen that the order of events in Moses and Abraham differs slightly.
(As a precedent for incorrect scriptural chronology, the story about the saints
resurrecting just after Christ’s resurrection is placed non-chronologically in
our New Testament record).
To be fair, if we
admit that some scriptures are written out of chronological order, then perhaps
calling Adam the “first flesh” in Moses 3:7 might still refer to his fall to
mortality, even though it is placed in the context of his initial physical
creation rather than his fall.
One other scripture is
used to show that Adam was the first mortal—not just the first mortal man, but
the first mortal among all of God’s creatures, both animals and plants:
And he said unto
them: Because that Adam fell, we are; and by his fall came death; and we
are made partakers of misery and woe . . . That by reason of transgression
cometh the fall, which fall bringeth death. (Moses 6:48, 59, italics
mine).
But this scripture doesn’t
specify if death means all death, or only human death, or whether it
applies to life outside of the garden. Alma 42:9, which often comes up in
discussion of the fall and its effects, applies to mankind only. (“The fall had
brought upon all mankind a spiritual death as well as a temporal.”
Italics mine.) In conclusion, a case can be made that “first flesh” means “first
mortal,” but the context may favor interpreting “first flesh” as “first
physical human.” If so, this removes the major argument against death and
reproduction before Adam’s fall. (Richard D. Gardner, “Who is the Holy Ghost? The
Adam/Michael Hypothesis Compared with the Conventional Stance,” in Who is
the Holy Ghost? [Eborn Books, 2024], 112-14)