Alma 32:21-25
From Feast upon the Word (http://feastupontheword.org). Copyright, Feast upon the Word.
The Book of Mormon > Alma > Chapter 32
| Previous (Alma 32:16-20) | Next (Alma 32:26-30) |
Contents |
Questions
Verse 21
- "Perfect knowledge of things." Is it ever possible to have a perfect knowledge without qualification? Will there ever be a time that we will not need to have faith anymore? (In the Lectures on Faith, God is described as working by faith—does this have any bearing on how we should understand this verse?)
Verse 25
- "[T]hat ye all of you have": What purpose does the "ye" serve in this verse?
Lexical notes
Verse 21
- Perfect knowledge. The word-pair "perfect knowledge" only occurs in a few other instances in LDS scripture. Two occurrences seem particularly relevant to Alma's sermon here: Jacob 4:12 where Jacob is describing the atonement of Christ, and Ether 3:20 where the Brother of Jared's theophany is described. The interplay between the terms faith and knowledge in Ether 3 seems rather complex and should be considered carefully in order to understand better what Alma is getting at here (it seems likely that Alma would have been familiar with Jacob's words and the Brother of Jared's theophany; whether or not the Zoramite poor would have been familiar with these records is more speculative).
Verse 22
- His word. Up to this point in this chapter, the word word has occurred with the definite article the modifying it (vv. 1, 6, 14, 16). However, here, just before Alma begins a discussion of how the word of God is delivered unto man ("by angels" in v. 23), Alma adds the possessive modifier his to the word word describing God's word as "his word." This possessive modifier of God's word ("his word") seems to mark a change in Alma's discussion of the word of God, a change which seems to set up a contrast with the phrase "my words" in verses 26-27. This seems to be a step on Alma's part toward a discussion about what ultimately amounts to bridging the gap between man (the Zoramite poor in particular) and God's word. Despite Alma's explanation, Alma 33:1 indicates that the Zoramite poor did not fully understand how Alma's words apply to the bridging this distance between them and God's word (cf. "how they should plant the seed . . . or in what manner they should begin to exercise their faith").
Verse 23
- His word by angels. Compare the discussion in 2 Ne 32:3 where angels "speak the words of Christ." If Alma was familiar with Nephi's writings, this might have bearing on how we read Alma's words here. Here it seems that Alma is functioning as a de facto angel by delivering God's word to the Zoramite poor. On the other hand, Alma's conversion seems to have been effected by a being that was a angelic in the sense of being different from ordinary mortals (at least this seems the common reading of Alma's conversion experience).
Exegesis
Verse 21: Faith, hope, and perfect knowledge
The phrase "if ye have faith ye hope" could be read as implying that hope is a necessary ingredient of faith. That is, if I am predisposed not to believe in something (i.e. I have no hope that something is true), then I will not be able to develop faith. The contrapostive logic for this reading is as follows: If F implies H, then not H implies not F.
Another way to read the phrase "if ye have faith ye hope" suggests something quite different. It could be that Alma is suggesting that hope follows faith: If I have faith, then hope follows. On this view, faith effectively precedes hope (rather than hope preceding faith as suggested above). See also Alma 25:16 where hope is spoken of as being retained "through faith."
In context, however, the term hope seems to be used to elaborate on the previous phrase that faith is not to have a perfect knowledge. Thus, regardless of whether hope is viewed as a prerequirement or a consequence of faith, the important thing is that faith entails only hope, not a perfect knowledge. Although hope is being contrasted here with perfect knowledge, note that Ether 12:4 discusses the "sure and steadfast" effects of hope. In fact, the contrast between hope and perfect knowledge being used here seems to presuppose a relationship between hope and knowledge that makes a contrasting comparison possible and meaningful. That is, comparing hope (or, indirectly, faith) and perfect knowledge should not be viewed as comparing apples and oranges, but perhaps more like comparing small apples to big apples in the sense that hope is something that points toward or can grow into perfect knowledge.
Verse 21: Which are true
In verse 21 Alma tells us that when we have faith we "hope for things which are not seen, which are true." What should we make of this last phrase "which are true"?
There are different ways that we could make sense of this.
1) Alma may be referring to what we might otherwise call true faith. It may be that he is distinguishing this concept of faith from what we might call misplaced faith. Under this interpretation the fact that Alma doesn't feel it necessary to call this "true faith," the fact that he simply calls this "faith" suggests that in Alma's view "misplaced faith" isn't properly faith at all. If we follow that thought to it's logical conclusion then someone who professes faith in something they honestly believe is true only has faith if they are right. Note that this is different than we typically use the word in English today. In the way the word is used in English today, someone might say "I grew up with faith in the religion my parents had taught me. It wasn't until I went to college that I realized that many of the things I had had faith in were wrong."
2) Alma may be simply saying that when someone has faith they hope that something they don't see is true. The distinguishing feature between this interpretation and the first is that in the first interpretation "which are true" is taken as a universal claim about what is the case whereas in this second interpretation it is a statement simply about what the person who has hope believes. Under this second interpretation the point of the phrase "which are true" is simply to distinguish a hope in a belief--which is to say a hope that something is true--from other types of hope.
Those who would argue in favor of this second interpretation point out that interpreting "which are true" in the context of the person with hope is no different than the way we all interpret "which are not seen." If we all interpretted "which are not seen" as a universal claim about what is the case it would suggest Alma is telling us that someone cannot have faith in something that someone else has seen. But that leads us to the clearly false conclusion that I cannot have faith in Jesus Christ because Joseph Smith saw him. This interpretation suggests that both phrases "which are not seen" and "which are true" have to be understood relative to the person with hope.
Related links
Verse 21
- See User:Chickenpig's comments on hope as they relate to verse 21.
- See this comment, the post in general, at the BCC blog for a discussion of hope preceding faith.
| Previous (Alma 32:16-20) | Next (Alma 32:26-30) |
