What does it mean to be “created of the dust of the earth”?

Thomas R. Valletta

In November 1909, the First Presidency (Joseph F. Smith, John R. Winder, and Anthon H. Lund) issued an official statement on the origin of man, which included the following: “Adam, the first of all men, was formed from the ‘dust of the ground’ (Genesis 2:7). … All mankind … are born into mortality ‘by water, and blood, and the spirit,’ and so become ‘of dust’ living souls (see Moses 6:59). That is … ‘all who have inhabited the earth since Adam have taken bodies and become souls in like manner’” (in Clark, Messages of the First Presidency, 4:205; italics added).

“We were born of the dust of the earth in the same manner that our first earthly father was born of dust. Our bodies … were formed from the elements of this earth” (McConkie and Millet, Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon, 2:140).

The Book of Mormon Study Guide: Start to Finish

References