Review of Alma 5, Part I

Alma 5 contains one of the most powerful sermons in the Book of Mormon. Alma(2) has a serious problem.  Wickedness is invading the church.  Members are turning away from gospel principles and enjoying their riches.  Religion is less important to them.

In this sermon, Alma(2) begins with a tribute to his father.  He challenges the people.  He confronts them, asking them to reflect on their lives and the eternal consequences of their decisions. 

Who was this Alma(2)?  Why is he preaching to us?  You can almost hear the people questioning him.  Alma(2) makes it clear.  He is the high priest, “having been consecrated by my father, Alma, to be a high priest over the church of God, he having power and authority from God to do these things” (verse 3).  He clearly has authority to represent the Lord and preach his word. 

There were probably people in his audience had either been freed, or had a family member who was delivered from King Noah and the Lamanite bondage.  They were delivered, standing there, through the power of God.

Alma(2) begins to question the people.  He wants them to think about and realize just what happened.  He asks, “have you sufficiently retained in remembrance the captivity of your fathers?” (verse 6). 

He continues.  “[H]ave you sufficiently retained in remembrance the captivity of your fathers?  Yea, and have you sufficiently retained in remembrance his mercy and long-suffering towards them?  And moreover, have ye sufficiently retained in remembrance that he has delivered their souls from hell?” (verse 6). 

Then Alma(2) tells them that, not only had they been freed from physical captivity, the Lord had delivered their “souls from hell.”  They were spiritually captive to the devil.  Through Alma(1)’s teachings, and the people accepting his teachings, they were released from their spiritual captivity and their souls were delivered from hell.

This was done because “their souls were illuminated by the light of the everlasting word” (verse 7).  They had been “encircled about by the bonds of death and the chains of hell and everlasting destruction awaited them” (verse 7).  Were they destroyed?  No!  The “bands of death [were] broken and the chains of hell” were loosed (verse 9). 

Their souls “expand[ed] and they did sing redeeming love.  And I say unto you there were saved” (verse 9).  Alma(2) goes on, asking,  “on what conditions are they saved … [on] what grounds had they to hope for salvation?  What is the cause of their being loosed form the bonds of death, yea, and also the chains of hell?” (verse 10).  The answer is in verse 11.[1]

A Did not my father Alma believe in the words which were delivered by … Abinadi?

     B Was he not a holy prophet?

     B Did he not speak the words of God,

A and my father Alma believe them?

There was a “mighty change” in Alma(1)’s heart.  He preached the word of God “unto your fathers.”  Through his preaching, Alma(2) explained,  your fathers had a mighty change of heart.  They “put their trust in the true and living God … they were faithful until the end, therefore they were saved” (verse 13).

Verse 1-13 consists of Alma(2)’s great tribute to his father.  Alma(1), as a priest of Noah, was most likely a wicked man.  Fortunately, the Lord touched his heart.  He repented and became a great leader and prophet.  As hard as it was to see his son’s wickedness, I can’t help but believe Alma(1) understood.  He knew something had to happen to wrought a mighty change of heart in his son.  He prayed, trusted in the Lord, and received a powerful answer from the Lord.

Alma(2) understands that, what he is today, he owes to his father.  He is reminding the people that his father was a great man and they all (himself included) owed him much.

In the next post, we’ll continue reviewing Alma(2)’s sermon.

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[1] Verse 11 is a chiasmus.  I have written it in a format the will show the structure of the verse.. 

Alma 5:1-4

We are beginning an important chapter in the Book of Mormon.  First, Marilyn Arnold reminds us that verses 1-13 are a tribute to Alma(1).

“One measure of the first Alma's great faith and strength as a prophet is in his ultimate influence on his rebellious son and namesake. When the converted younger Alma leaves the judgeship and dedicates himself solely to teaching the word of God throughout the land, he launches what would become his principal sermon with a lengthy tribute to his father. He tells who his father was and what he achieved as a devoted emissary of God. We cannot overstate the importance of the first thirteen verses of Alma 5, as they reveal the forthright, unwavering character of the first Alma. How grateful I am that this son recognized his father's accomplishments, but perhaps more than that, the kind of man he was. It is only too bad that this son wasted his early years in foolish denial of his father's holy calling, exceptional leadership, and capacity for love.” [1] (Emphasis mine) 

Kent Jackson, writing about what it means to be a Christian tells us “I believe that most other thoughtful evangelicals would use similar words to describe what it means to be a real Christian. Significantly, but not surprisingly, those definitions are also consistent with the teachings of the Book of Mormon (see, for example, Mosiah 4:1–5:15; Alma 5:2–62; 7:14–16).” [2]  

Please keep these important points in mind as we study Alma(2)’s sermon to the people of Zarahemla.

The words which Alma, the High Priest according to the holy order of God, delivered to the people in their cities and villages throughout the land.

Comprising chapter 5.

Chapter 5

To gain salvation, men must repent and keep the commandments, be born again, cleanse their garments through the blood of Christ, be humble and strip themselves from pride and envy, and do the works of righteousness—The Good Shepherd calleth his people—Those who do evil works are children of the devil—Alma testifies of the truth of his doctrine and commands men to repent—Names of the righteous shall be written in the book of life. About 83 B.C.

¹ NOW it came to pass that Alma began to deliver the word of God unto the people, first in the land of Zarahemla, and from thence throughout all the land [About 83 B.C.]. ² And these are the words which he spake to the people in the church which was established in the city of Zarahemla, according to his own record, saying:

³ I, Alma, having been consecrated by my father, Alma, to be a high priest over the church of God, he having power and authority from God to do these things, behold, I say unto you that he began to establish a church in the land which was in the borders of Nephi; yea, the land which was called the land of Mormon; yea, and he did baptize his brethren in the waters of Mormon. ⁴ And behold, I say unto you, they were delivered out of the hands of the people of king Noah, by the mercy and power of God.

Alma 5:1-4 (Emphasis mine)

We are going to be studying a sermon delivered by Alma(2) as he began his mission to the church.  The words we are about to are “according to his own record.”  Mormon felt this was such an important sermon that he did want to abridge this part of the record.

Alma(2) begins by stating his authority.  Authority is all-important when it comes to religion.  We read, “all Israel from Dan even to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the LORD” (1 Samuel 3:20).  The people knew that when dealing with Samuel they were dealing with the Lord’s authorized prophet.

Christ taught the importance of having the proper authority as well.  Talking to His disciples, he told them “[y]e have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain…” (John 15:16). 

Paul began his epistle to the Galatians by stating his authority.  “PAUL, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)” (Galatians 1:1).  In Hebrews we are informed, “no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron” (Hebrews 5:4).

Nephi “consecrate[d] Jacob and Joseph, that they should be priests and teachers over the land of my people (2 Nephi 5:26).  When Alma(2)’s father baptized at the waters of Mormon, he began his prayer by saying “I baptize thee, having authority from the Almighty God…” (Mosiah 18:13). 

The Book of Mormon makes it clear that only those who have authority given them in the proper and proscribed manner may act as a representative of the Lord.

Then he reminds how his father and his followers “were delivered out of the hands of the people of king Noah, by the mercy and power of God.”  When the armies of King Noah were approaching, “Alma, having been warned of the Lord that the armies of king Noah would come upon them, and having made it known to his people, therefore they gathered together their flocks, and took of their grain, and departed into the wilderness before the armies of king Noah” (Mosiah 23:1). 

As we studied the book of Mosiah, we read about the Lord delivering two peoples out of bondage.  This was done through their faith and trust in the Lord.

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[1] The Book of Mormon: Passport to Discipleship, Marilyn Arnold, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed March 2, 2012.

[2] Am I a Christian?, Kent P. Jackson, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed March 2, 2012.