Saturday, October 10, 2020

Mark E. Petersen on Adam Committing Sin, not Merely a Transgression, in Eden and God the Father Never Having Sinned

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)