Adam is named as the first man and, with Eve, one of the “first parents” of mankind (1 Nephi 5:11). The five books of Moses, recovered on the brass plates, were said to give the account of the creation and of Adam and Eve (1 Nephi 5:11), and Nephite preachers such as Ammon and Aaron taught the Lamanites beginning from the creation of Adam and the fall of man (Alma 18:36; Alma 22:12-13).
Lehi taught that Adam’s transgression in the garden of Eden was a necessary step rather than a defeat: had Adam not transgressed he would have remained in Eden, having no children and remaining in a state of innocence “having no joy, for they knew no misery” (2 Nephi 2:22-25). In the same discourse Lehi identified the forbidden fruit and the tree of life as paired oppositions — “the forbidden fruit in opposition to the tree of life; the one being sweet and the other bitter” (2 Nephi 2:15) — framing Adam’s situation between two trees whose contrast made the fall a generative rather than merely catastrophic event. From this Lehi drew the statement, “Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy” (2 Nephi 2:25). After partaking of the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve were driven out of the garden to till the earth (2 Nephi 2:19).
By Adam’s fall all mankind became “a lost and fallen people,” and his being kept from the tree of life preserved a space for death and repentance (Alma 12:21-23). The fall of Adam is named as the origin of the redemption brought by Jesus Christ, whose blood atones for those who have fallen by the transgression of Adam (Mosiah 3:11; Alma 12:22-23; Mormon 9:12).