Alma 5:11-15

Alma(2) has told the people how important it is to remember the time his father’s group was delivered from King Noah’s armies through the intervention of the Lord.  He reminded them of the time they were in Lamanite captivity but were miraculously delivered by the Lord.

He has likened sin to captivity.  Those that sin and do not repent are in captivity to the devil; they are wrapped in the chains of hell.

¹¹ Behold, I can tell you—did not my father Alma believe in the words which were delivered by the mouth of Abinadi?  And was he not a holy prophet?  Did he not speak the words of God, and my father Alma believe them? ¹² And according to his faith there was a mighty change wrought in his heart.  Behold I say unto you that this is all true.  ¹³ And behold, he preached the word unto your fathers, and a mighty change was also wrought in their hearts, and they humbled themselves and put their trust in the true and living God.  And behold, they were faithful until the end; therefore they were saved.

Alma 5:11-13 (Emphasis mine)

Alma(2) questions the people about his father.  Didn’t Alma(1) believe in the words which were delivered by Abinadi?  Wasn’t he a prophet?  Didn’t he speak the word of God and “my father” believe in them?  This was the beginnings of the church.  Mormon wrote “there was one among them whose name was Alma … he believed the words which Abinadi had spoken” (Mosiah 17:2).  Alma(1) pleaded with the king to spare Abinadi.  He was willing to put his life on the line to save Abinadi.  He was able to flee and, through him, we have Abinadi’s words.

Not only did his father believe, but “a mighty change was also wrought in [his] heart.”  According Noel Reynolds “[t]he gospel message tells the person who has just learned the truth of Christ how he can respond to receive God's grace. If he will repent and covenant not to sin further, and then be baptized of water, he is promised that he will receive the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, which brings ‘a mighty change’ of heart…” [1]

Corbin Volluz expands on the concept of “a might change” of heart.

“We also learn from Alma₂ that his father, Alma₁, after being converted by the words of Abinadi in King Noah's court, had a mighty change wrought in his heart (Alma 5:11–12). Alma₁ then began preaching the gospel of Abinadi to others and established a church in the wilderness, and ‘a mighty change was also wrought in their hearts’ (Alma 5:7, 13).

“From this, we may conclude that not only were Alma₁ and the church he organized by the waters of Mormon redeemed, but so was Abinadi himself who taught the message in the first place. It would be strange for Abinadi to teach the message of redemption if he had not himself experienced the ‘mighty change of heart.’ “ [2] (Emphasis mine)

Alma(1) preached the gospel to “your fathers” and the experienced this mighty change.  They put their trust “in the true and living God.”

Almost half a millennia later, as Moroni(2) was writing his first farewell comments, he told us to “[b]e wise in the days of your probation; strip yourselves of all uncleanness; ask not, that ye may consume it on your lusts, but ask with a firmness unshaken, that ye will yield to no temptation, but that ye will serve the true and living God” (Mormon 9:28).

Corbin Volluz sums up this part of Alma(2)’s message.

“Alma(1) taught the redemptive message of Abinadi to his followers. ‘According to [Alma(1)'s] faith there was a mighty change wrought in his heart’ (Alma 5:12). Similarly, Alma(1)'s followers ‘humbled themselves and put their trust [faith] in the true and living God’ (Alma 5:13). Abinadi's words themselves contain the injunction to ‘repent of your sins’ (Mosiah 16:13). Alma₁ at the waters of Mormon did ‘teach [his followers], and did preach unto them repentance, and redemption, and faith on the Lord’ (Mosiah 18:7).” [3] (Emphasis mine)

The people were saved because they were “faithful until the end.”  Alma(2) was repeating the words of Nephi.  “And I heard a voice from the Father, saying: Yea, the words of my Beloved are true and faithful.  He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved” (2 Nephi 31:15).

The first part of his sermon was a wonderful tribute to his father and all his work.  Marilyn Arnold words are a great way to end this part of Alma(2)’s sermon.  She wrote, “[w]hat a powerful testifier the first Alma was! We have many more of his son's words, but that son's ability to reach hearts with the inspired spoken word could not have been any greater than his father's.” [4]

Alma(2) turns to the topic at hand – how to be a true follower of Christ. 

¹⁴ And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God?  Have ye received his image in your countenances?  Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts? ¹⁵ Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you?  Do you look forward with an eye of faith, and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this corruption raised in incorruption, to stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?

Alma 5:14-15 (Emphasis mine)

Alma(2) begins by asking questions – have you been born of God?  Have you “received his image in your countenances?  Have you experienced a “mighty change in your hearts?” Do you exercise faith in God?  Do you look forward to the day you will be judged according to what you have “done in the mortal body?”  He is asking the people to look at themselves and their lives.

Ann Madsen wrote “[t]he Lord's image in one's countenance? Alma had seen it (see Alma 36:5—27, especially v. 22). He knew his father had seen it on a courageous prophet who was willing to suffer in the pattern of his Redeemer to the last moments of his life.”

The concept of becoming a new person is common way of describing someone a person who follows truth.  The Lord told Jeremiah “I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart” (Jeremiah 24:7).  Through Ezekiel, the Lord said “I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:” (Ezekiel 11:19). 

Christ told Nicodemus “[v]erily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old?  can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again” (John 3:3-7). 

Paul wrote “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (2 Corinthians 5:17),  We have King Benjamin’s powerful words, “the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father” (Mosiah 3:19).

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[1] The True Points of My Doctrine, Noel B. Reynolds, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed March 4, 2012.

[2] Cry Redemption: The Plan of Redemption as Taught in the Book of Mormon, Corbin T. Volluz, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed March 4, 2012.

[3] Ibid.

[4] The Book of Mormon: Passport to Discipleship, Marilyn Arnold, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed March 4, 2012.