Explanation of Adam-God Doctrine

The Adam-God doctrine, as articulated by early leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, posits that Adam, the first man, is not merely a mortal progenitor but a divine, exalted being—Michael the Archangel—who holds a unique role as “our Father and our God” in relation to humanity on this earth. This teaching emerged prominently under President Brigham Young, who, as President of the Church (1847–1877), declared it a revealed truth. He taught that Adam came to the Garden of Eden with a celestial body, accompanied by Eve, one of his wives, and played a central role in organizing the earth:

“He helped to make and organize this world. He is MICHAEL, the Archangel, the ANCIENT OF DAYS!… HE is our FATHER and our GOD, and the only God with whom WE have to do.”
Journal of Discourses, Vol. 1, pp. 50–51, April 9, 1852

President Young further clarified that Adam did not originate from the dust of this earth as an adobe-like creation but was a being from another planet:

“Mankind are here because they are the offspring of parents who were first brought here from another planet.”
Journal of Discourses, Vol. 7, pp. 285–290, October 9, 1859

He emphasized that this doctrine, though met with unbelief, was divinely revealed:

“How much unbelief exists… in regard to one particular doctrine which I revealed to them, and which God revealed to me—namely that Adam is our father and God.”
Deseret News, Vol. 22, No. 308, June 8, 1873

President Young’s teachings extended to Adam’s role in the Fall, suggesting a deliberate act to enable mortality. He stated that Adam “came into the Garden with his Celestial body and brought one of his wives with him and ate of the fruit… until He could beget a Tabernacle” (Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, April 9, 1852). This transition introduced blood as a mortal element, distinct from the spirit that sustained Adam’s pre-Fall body:

“The blood he (Christ) spilled upon Mount Calvary he did not receive again into his veins… that which we now call the life of the body… will be supplanted by another element.”
Journal of Discourses, Vol. 7, p. 163, June 5, 1859

President Young also linked Adam’s divinity to Jesus Christ, asserting that “Joseph’s doctrine that Adam was God” was foundational (Minutes of Meeting, Historian’s Office, April 4, 1860).

Apostles under President Young’s leadership reinforced and debated this doctrine. Elder Wilford Woodruff recorded his teaching that “Adam was Michael the Archangel and he was the father of Jesus Christ and was our God, and Joseph taught this principle” (Journal of Wilford Woodruff, December 16, 1867). He later affirmed, “Our God was no more or less than Adam… Michael the Archangel” (Journal of Wilford Woodruff, February 19, 1854). Elder Heber C. Kimball echoed this, stating, “There is but one God that pertains to this people, and He is the God that pertains to this earth—the first man” (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 4, p. 1, June 29, 1856), and claimed divine revelation: “The Lord told me that Jesus Christ was the son of Adam” (Journal of Heber C. Kimball, March 11, 1857).

Elder Orson Pratt, however, expressed skepticism, noting:

“I have heard brother Brigham say that Adam is the Father of our spirits, and he came here with his resurrected body, to fall for his own children; and I said to him, it leads to an endless number of falls.”
Minutes of the Meeting of the Council of the Twelve, April 5, 1860

Though he later conceded he had “no confidence in it,” Elder Pratt never publicly published his dissent. His resistance highlighted the tension between prophetic authority and canonical clarity, but his was one of the few dissenting voices among the apostles of the period.

Later Presidents and Apostles continued to reflect on the doctrine’s implications. As President, Wilford Woodruff suggested Adam’s redemptive role: “Adam made this world and Suffered himself to take a body and subject himself to sin” (Waiting For the World’s End, p. 290, post-1889). President Joseph Fielding Smith implied a withheld fuller narrative: “The Lord did not give us the complete story of the creation of Adam and Eve because He knew the world would not accept it” (Journal of John A. Tvedtnes, June 30, 1961). As an Apostle, he taught that Adam’s pre-Fall body was spiritual, becoming mortal through blood: “When Adam was in the Garden of Eden, he was not subject to death… blood became the life of the body instead of spirit” (Doctrines of Salvation, Vol. 1, pp. 76–77, 1954; address, January 14, 1961).

Elder Harold B. Lee supported this framework: “Instead of spirit fluid, which had made them not subject to death, there had now come another element” (Lecture, June 23, 1954). Elder Boyd K. Packer later observed: “Somehow the ingredient blood carried with it a limit to life” (The Law and the Light, October 30, 1988). President Spencer W. Kimball affirmed Adam’s central purpose: “All that Father Adam did… was done for his posterity’s sake” (Ensign, September 1978).

In summary, the Adam-God doctrine, most explicitly taught by President Young, portrays Adam as Michael—an exalted, divine figure who organized the earth, fathered humanity’s spirits, and initiated mortality through the Fall, becoming “our Father and our God.” Apostles like Elder Woodruff reinforced this view, while others like Elder Pratt questioned it. Later leaders emphasized Adam’s role in the Fall and mortality without fully embracing the divine identity taught by President Young, suggesting a doctrinal evolution from early revelatory emphasis to later caution and clarification.