The first commandment given to Adam and Eve was, "Be fruitful and multiply." (Moses 2:28; Gen. 1:28; see also Abr. 4:28.)
"When Adam and Eve received that commandment, they were in a transitional state, no longer in the spirit world but with physical bodies not yet subject to death and not yet capable of procreation," said Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve at the October 1993 general conference."They could not fulfill the Father's first commandment without transgressing the barrier between the bliss of the Garden of Eden and the terrible trials and wonderful opportunities of mortal life.
"For reasons that have not been revealed, this transition, or `fall,' could not happen without a transgression - an exercise of moral agency amounting to a willful breaking of a law." (See Moses 6:59.)
Elder Oaks said that it was Eve "who first transgressed the limits of Eden in order to initiate the conditions of mortality. Her act, whatever its nature, was formally a transgression but eternally a glorious necessity to open the doorway toward eternal life. Adam showed his wisdom by doing the same. And thus Eve and `Adam fell that men might be.' (See 2 Ne. 2:25.)
"Some Christians condemn Eve for her act, concluding that she and her daughters are somehow flawed by it. Not the Latter-day Saints! Informed by revelation, we celebrate Eve's act and honor her wisdom and courage in the great episode called the Fall. Joseph Smith taught that it was not a sin' because God had decreed it. (See The Words of Joseph Smith, ed. Andrew F. Ehat and Lyndon W. Cook [Provo: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1980], p. 63.) Brigham Young declared,We should never blame Mother Eve, not the least.' (Journal of Discourses, 13:145.) Elder Joseph Fielding Smith said: `I never speak of the part Eve took in this fall as a sin, nor do I accuse Adam of a sin. . . . This was a transgression of the law, but not a sin . . . for it was something that Adam and Eve had to do!' " (Doctrines of Salvation, comp. Bruce R. McConkie, 3 vols. [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1954-56], 1:114-15.)
