Why Men Must Repent

At some point after leaving the garden, Adam received this invitation from the Lord: “If thou wilt turn unto me, and hearken unto my voice, and believe, and repent of all thy transgressions, and be baptized, even in water, in the name of mine Only Begotten Son… ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”  Adam then asked the Lord this simple, basic question about these first principles of the gospel: “Why is it that men must repent and be baptized in water?”  The Savior did not answer his question directly, but He first addressed Adam’s concern he apparently was feeling: “Behold, I have forgiven thee thy transgression in the Garden of Eden.”  Adam may have thought that the need for repentance and baptism was somehow his fault because of what he did in Eden, but the Lord assured him that this was not a burden he needed to carry.  The Lord took care of Adam’s transgression, for “the Son of God hath atoned for original guilt.”  The need for repentance and baptism therefore is not because of Adam, but because for each of us “sin conceiveth in [our] hearts, and [we] taste the bitter” through our choices and experiences in life (Moses 6:52-55).  In other words, we become impure through the sin that conceives in all our hearts in this mortal journey. 

               Adam’s question about the need for repentance and baptism was answered more fully by the Lord in the subsequent verses.  He gave this directive to Adam about repentance: “Wherefore teach it unto your children, that all men, everywhere, must repent.”  And why must all men repent?  Because if they don’t “they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God, for no unclean thing can dwell there, or dwell in his presence; for, in the language of Adam, Man of Holiness is his name” (Moses 6:57).  We must repent because no unholy thing can dwell in the presence of God, for God is holy; in fact, the Father’s very name is “Man of Holiness,” and for us to return to His presence we must be made holy like Him.  And repentance is the only way, through the power of His Son, that we can become clean in order to dwell in His presence.  But repentance is only part of the process: “Ye must be born again into the kingdom of heaven, of water, and of the Spirit, and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten; that ye might be sanctified from all sin, and enjoy the words of eternal life in this world, and eternal life in the world to come, even immortal glory” (Moses 6:59).  Through baptism—of water and of the spirit—we become sanctified from sin, allowing us to gain “eternal life in the world to come.”  The answer to Adam’s question, the Lord seemed to be saying, is that we must repent and be baptized in order to be clean, made holy, sanctified, and prepared to enter the presence of He who is the Man of Holiness.