Mark E. Petersen, commenting on Moses 6:64-68 in his book, Adam: Who is He? (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1976), noted the following:
Here is an important
point. Note these words, "This is the record of the Father, and the Son,
from henceforth and forever." The Father and the Son here bore record that
Adam, who was a third party and who in the preexistence was
Michael, but now in mortality was Adam, was baptized for the remission of the
sin he committed in the Garden of Eden. Verse 53 of that chapter
specifically says that in baptism Adam received a remission of his sin:
"And our father
Adam spake unto the Lord, and said: Why is it that men must repent and be
baptized in water? And the Lord said unto Adam: Behold I have forgiven
thee thy transgression in the Garden of Eden." (Italics added.)
This is a remarkable
statement. Baptism now gave to Adam freedom from blame for the fall. But it did
not remove the penalty of his sin, which was mortality and eventual
death. The resurrection of the Savior was provided to overcome death and turn
mortality into immortality. Baptism does not do that. But it was baptism that
cleansed Adam of guilt, so that again he could commune freely with the Lord.
This leads us to some
serious questions: Some say that Adam was God the Eternal Father. Yet Adam
sinned. Does God sin? Would our God and Father require baptism to free him
from sin? Shall we say that God the Father could—or did—sin?
If God were to sin, would he not cease to be God?
This is important for two reasons:
(1) Petersen refers to Adam’s actions in
the Garden of Eden as a sin, not merely a transgression.
(2) Petersen refutes the view that God the
Father ever committed sin (cf. Travis
Anderson on God the Father Never Having Sinned and Never Having Been a Salvific
Saviour Figure)
