Adventist Teaching: Yes
Biblical Teaching: Yes (nuanced)
The Adventist Church believes that God’s 10 Commandments were in effect from the beginning of creation, including in the Garden of Eden. They do, however, take this a step further to say the 10 Commandments are part of an eternal covenant with all of creation (called “The Covenant of Life”)—spanning back even before earth and humanity had been created. The Bible says nothing of the sort.
From the start, man clearly had an internal moral compass in his conscience. Paul describes this in Romans 1 and 2. Man can sear this conscience and no longer feel convicted over wrongdoing because of it. We see that Cain murdered Abel in Genesis 4:8, long before the giving of the 10 Commandments, and God held him accountable for it (Genesis 4:9-12). But this doesn’t mean that the 10 Commandments, the words of the Mosaic Covenant (Exodus 34:28) were given to Adam and Eve in Eden. It means that God has put a moral compass within mankind that convicts or excuses them when they do wrong. And that extends to beyond just the words found in the 10 Commandments.
