Adam and Eve, having partaken of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, were cast out of the Garden of Eden and became mortal. They were in a fallen state and this was all according to the wisdom of God (see 2 Nephi 2:24). In their fallen state, they were exposed to the disposition of being carnal, sensual, and devilish (see Mosiah 16:1–4; Alma 42:10; D&C 20:20). At the same time, they were in a state of knowing good from evil, being able to choose. In this probationary state, we become subject to the temptations of the devil (see Mosiah 16:3; D&C 29:39) and can choose to remain a natural man (an enemy to God, unrepentant, carnal, sensual, and devilish) or to become born again (see Mosiah 3:19; 27:25).
This is an ongoing battle of mortality—whether we listen to the enticings of the Holy Spirit and become a Saint through the Atonement of Christ (see Mosiah 3:19), or whether we come to love Satan more than God and become carnal, sensual, and devilish (see Moses 5:13). Remember that mortality—our fallen state, this flesh and blood that houses our spirit—does not make us sin. We choose to sin because we do not yield to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, which leads us to do good (see D&C 11:12). In the premortal realm we did not have a body of flesh and blood, yet many of our brothers and sisters sinned by yielding to the enticings of Lucifer and were thus denied the opportunity of proving themselves worthy of returning to our Father’s presence (see Abraham 3:25; Alma 12:24; 34:32–35).
Repentance is the redeeming and cleansing process of being spiritually born again. This process brings joy to the person who repents (see Alma 36:20), to those who help others repent and come unto Christ (see Alma 29:9–10; 36:24; D&C 15:6; 18:15–16), and to the Savior Himself, who rejoices over the soul that repents (see D&C 18:13). The natural man—the fallen man who is an enemy to God—is one who does not repent (see Mosiah 2:38). When man was cast out of the presence of God, it was made clear to our fathers that man must repent and be baptized (see Moses 6:50–52). To be forgiven of his transgression, Father Adam had to be baptized and be born again as well (see Moses 6:53). All this is possible because of the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, which makes possible the forgiveness of sins for those who repent and come unto Him (see 2 Nephi 1:15; Mosiah 3:16; 4:2; 26:29; Alma 34:8; Helaman 5:9; 3 Nephi 11:14). We are free to choose liberty and eternal life through Christ our Savior or captivity and death according to the power of the devil (see 2 Nephi 2:27). Man, the divine offspring of God, has the potential to become like Him—a perfect, glorified, exalted Being (see Romans 8:17; 3 Nephi 27:27; D&C 88:29). (Ed J. Pinegar)