Was Adam mortal before he partook of the tree of knowledge of good and evil? Was Adam mortal before he partook of the tree of knowledge of good and evil? Has this matter been considered in Christianity? I believe there could be only two possible options here: "Yes, he was" and "No, he wasn't". But what main supporting points have been put forth for either of these doctrines?
First, we must understand that only God is inherently immortal. The apostle Paulos states that God &quot;alone has immortality&quot; (ὁ μόνος ἔχων ἀθανασίαν) (1 Tim. 6:16), for He alone is uncreated. Everything else that is not God is a creature, and thus, not inherently immortal. Now, although many creatures are not inherently immortal, God gives them immortality as He wills. This includes angels and Christians (John 10:28). (However, just as He gives immortality, He could also (potentially) take it away.)
As for Adam, we know for a fact that he was not inherently immortal, since only God is. Thus, the question we must ask is whether God ever gave immortality to Adam, before or after his transgression.
When Yahveh breathed into Adam's nostrils the &quot;breath of life&quot; (נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים), &quot;Adam became a living creature&quot; (וַיְהִי הָאָדָם לְנֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה) (Gen. 2:7). However, we do not know whether Adam was immortal or mortal at this point. Some time thereafter, Adam partook of the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 3:6). Afterwards, Yahveh declared (Gen. 3:22), &quot;Behold, Adam became like one of us, to know good and evil, and now, lest he put forth his hand and also take of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever.&quot;
To &quot;live forever&quot; is undoubtedly synonymous with &quot;be immortal.&quot; But, the scripture is clear that Adam would only live forever (be immortal) if he partook from the tree of life. The logical consequence is that Adam was not immortal - at least not after the fall - because he never partook from the tree of life. Yahveh obstructed Adam's access to the tree of life and banished him from Paradise (Gen. 3:24). Again, this only proves that Adam was not immortal after the fall.
However, there is a possibility, as Brilliant noted, that Adam was immortal prior to his fall, being made so by Yahveh. Then, by partaking of the fruit, he lost this immortality, and Yahveh prohibited Adam from regaining this immortality by impeding access to the tree of life.
But, we should note that, in his original state, Yahveh made trees in the garden that were &quot;good for food&quot; (טוֹב לְמַאֲכָל) (Gen. 2:9). While one may argue that the trees could have provided food for animals rather than Adam, Yahveh indeed informed Adam that he could eat from the trees (Gen. 2:16). Now, Jesus himself ate food after his resurrection (Luke 24:30; 24:43) despite having an incorruptible and immortal body. Therefore, the argument could be made that such trees in the garden, despite being &quot;good for food,&quot; do not necessarily indicate that Adam required sustinence from the trees, just as Jesus did not necessarily require sustinence from the food he ate after his resurrection in his incorruptible and immortal body.
All that being said, I believe the apostle Paulos provides a definite answer in his first epistle to the Corinthians. In discussing the resurrection of the dead, he wrote,

1 Cor. 15:44-45


44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 45 Likewise it is written, the first man &quot;Adam became a living creature&quot; (*or soul). The last Adam [became] a life-giving spirit.
44 σπείρεται σῶμα ψυχικόν ἐγείρεται σῶμα πνευματικόν ἔστιν σῶμα ψυχικόν καὶ ἔστιν σῶμα πνευματικόν 45 οὕτως καὶ γέγραπται Ἐγένετο ὁ πρῶτος ἄνθρωπος Ἀδὰμ εἰς ψυχὴν ζῶσαν ὁ ἔσχατος Ἀδὰμ εἰς πνεῦμα ζῳοποιοῦν

Now, it is important to note that in v. 44, the apostle Paulos is contrasting two bodies: the &quot;natural body&quot; (lit. &quot;soulish body&quot;: σῶμα ψυχικόν) and the &quot;spiritual body&quot; (σῶμα πνευματικόν). Then in the very next verse, saying &quot;likewise it is written,&quot; he establishes the proof of these two bodies, using as examples &quot;the first man Adam&quot; who &quot;became a living soul&quot; and &quot;the last Adam,&quot; Jesus Christ, who became &quot;a life-giving spirit.&quot;
By this, we can establish that Adam possessed the &quot;natural body&quot; (σῶμα ψυχικόν) at the very moment he &quot;became a living soul.&quot; Since he became a living soul (Gen. 2:7) prior to his transgression and fall, then we could ascribe all the properties the apostle Paulos attributes to the &quot;natural body&quot; in 1 Cor. 15 to Adam himself prior to his fall. These would include:

corruption (φθορά) (1 Cor. 15:42)
dishonor (ἀτιμία) (1 Cor. 15:43)
weakness (ἀσθένεια) (1 Cor. 15:43)

More importantly, it would include mortality and corruptibility (1 Cor. 15:53-54). On the other hand, Jesus who became a life-giving spirit possessed the spiritual body with the attributes of immortality and incorruptibility.