Alma 5:11-15
From Feast upon the Word (http://feastupontheword.org). Copyright, Feast upon the Word.
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The Book of Mormon > Alma > Chapter 5
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Questions
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Verse 11
- Alma announces his theme, the conditions of salvation. Compare this sermon to King Benjamin’s sermon in Mosiah 4. How are they different? How the same?
- To what cause of salvation does Alma first refer? Why is that particular cause so important? What does it mean to him? to us?
- What does it mean for the words to be delivered "by the mouth of Abinadi"? Were these words read? Recited? What does it mean for them to be delivered?
- Why does Alma call Abinadi a "holy prophet" rather than just a prophet? Why the emphasis on holy?
- What is meant here by speaking the words of God?
- What does it mean that Alma believed the words of God?
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Verse 12
- Verse 11 tells us that Alma the Elder heard and believed the words of Abinadi. What does this verse describe as the result? Why does Alma II say that the mighty change was something that happened to his father, Alma I, rather than something that he did?
- What is the relationship between belief (vs 11) and faith? Is it the same? If faith is a gift from God, what does it mean for Alma to "have" faith? Is it appropriate to talk of Alma "having" faith, or is there some other way we should describe this?
- How does faith lead to "a mighty change" of heart?
- What do we have to do to get this mighty change as well?
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Verse 13
- Why is it enough to say that the people “humbled themselves and put their trust in the true and living God” and that they “were faithful until the end” to explain their salvation? Why doesn’t Alma include such things as baptism and the Gift of the Holy Ghost or keeping the commandments in his description of salvation?
- What does it mean for the change of heart to be mighty? For it to be wrought?
- What does it mean that they "humbled themselves"? Is this something that we have to do for our selves, or does God somehow make it possible?
- What does it mean that they "put their trust" in God?
- What is meant by referring to God as "true and living"?
- What does it mean that "they were faithful until the end"? What constitutes being faithful? What does "until the end" mean? Is that just to the end of their lives, or does it mean something else?
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Verse 14
- What does “receive his image in your countenances” mean? Does it have anything to do with Gen 1:27: “God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them"? If we have already been created in the image of God, how can Alma ask whether those in Zarahemla have received that image? How is Alma’s teaching related to the teaching of 1 Jn 3:2: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”
- Just how close the connection is between Hebrew and the language of the Nephites is a matter of conjecture. Normally we would expect a good deal of language change in the 500 years since Lehi’s family arrived in the New World. However, if Hebrew is the priestly language of the plates rather than the everyday language of the Nephites, it may not have changed very much. If so, we can draw some tentative conclusions about Book of Mormon language from what we know about Hebrew. Perhaps the first thing to notice is that in Hebrew the word for “face” (pannim) is plural rather than singular. What implications might that have for how Hebrews and perhaps Nephites, too, understood the face? Another important thing about the Hebrew word for face is that it often stands for the person as a whole. (See, for example, Deut 28:50, Job 29:24, Prov 7:13, and Jer 5:3.) Does that suggest anything about what Alma is saying here?
- Are the questions that Alma asks in these verses different questions or are they different ways of asking the same question?
- What does it mean to be "spiritually born of God"? Is this the same as being "born again"?
- How do we "receive" God's image in our countenance?
- What is the connection between receiving God's image in our countenance and experiencing a mighty change in our heart?
- Why does Alma refer to it as a change "in" our heart rather than a change "of" our heart?
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Verse 15
- What does it mean to "exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you"? In our modern terms, this faith in Christ or the Father?
- What is "the redemption of him who created you"? Is this just another way of saying "The Atonement"? What is meant by this phrase?
- What does it mean to "look forward with an eye of faith"? What is the "eye of faith"?
- What does looking forward to the resurrection and judgment have to do with being saved?
- What does it mean for "corruption" to be "raised in incorruption"?
- What does it mean to "stand before God"?
- How will we "be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body"?
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Lexical notes
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Exegesis
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Verses 11-13
A mighty change. These verses answer the question posed in verse 10: how can we trust that we have been saved? Alma the younger uses his father's experience as proof that salvation is real and measurable.
- First, Alma believed -- He heard the true words of a prophet of God, and was stirred to action. He exercised faith in the message.
- Second, Alma's heart changed -- As he tried the word (see Alma 32:28), he experienced God first-hand and became a different man because of it.
- Finally, Alma's message changed others -- As Alma preached what he had learned, the same mighty change took place in everyone that put faith in it.
This equation has been reduced to its basic components. The fruits of the spirit (humility, faith) are a potent indicator that the message is good (see verse 40), and those that put their trust in it have a real reason to hope for salvation.
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Related links
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Verse 14
- Image as indwelling? See User:RobertC/Image.
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