This verse reports a doctrinal position on salvation. Its most important phrase is: “for the Lord had created all men, and had also redeemed all men.” Yahweh creates all men. The members of the church to whom Nehor is speaking would agree that creation is the task of Yahweh, the God of Israel (and also of the Nephites). A useful parallel is Abinadi’s sermon before Noah’s priests:
And now ye have said that salvation cometh by the law of Moses. I say unto you that it is expedient that ye should keep the law of Moses as yet; but I say unto you, that the time shall come when it shall no more be expedient to keep the law of Moses.
And moreover, I say unto you, that salvation doth not come by the law alone; and were it not for the atonement, which God himself shall make for the sins and iniquities of his people, that they must unavoidably perish, notwithstanding the law of Moses. (Mosiah 13:27–28)
Abinadi was testifying to men who were denying the need for an Atoning Messiah. This Messiah was yet to come, and his mission was to be the source of redemption and salvation. Nehor claims that Yahweh (the Lord who has created everything) has already redeemed humankind and that salvation is already available to all. This point is a crucial contrast to Abinadi who preached that salvation lay in the future Atoning Messiah, the “God himself” who would come down and atone for sin (Mosiah 13:28, 13:34, 15:1).
Another important aspect of Abinadi’s preaching was a narrower application of salvation; not all would be saved:
Behold I say unto you, that whosoever has heard the words of the prophets, yea, all the holy prophets who have prophesied concerning the coming of the Lord—I say unto you, that all those who have hearkened unto their words, and believed that the Lord would redeem his people, and have looked forward to that day for a remission of their sins, I say unto you, that these are his seed, or they are the heirs of the kingdom of God.
For these are they whose sins he has borne; these are they for whom he has died, to redeem them from their transgressions. And now, are they not his seed? (Mosiah 15:11–12)
Nehor’s contradiction of Abinadi’s preaching shows that he is importing into Zarahemla some of the heresies of Noah’s priests. How ironic that, so soon after Alma1’s death, the very heresies he had preached before Abinadi converted him would enter Zarahemla.
History: Where did Nehor come from? Ether 7:4, 8, identifies “Nehor” as the main city in the land of Nehor. Thus, Nehor is a Jaredite name. It seems probable that he was a mature man, named before Mosiah2 translated Ether’s record (Mosiah 28:11–18), and therefore was given his name before the translation might have introduced new possibilities of naming children.
Although the name does not, by itself, prove an affiliation, it seems likely that Nehor’s religious beliefs have something to do with culture in the Jaredite region. The Jaredites had likely lived in the Olmec culture region; but at this point, Olmec influence had waned. Nevertheless, the northern Jaredite/Olmec cultural remnants had been pushed south into the Sidon River Valley (the Grijalva River Valley) and the southern Maya culture had pushed north to meet in the same region. Along their shared borders were known cultural interactions. Zarahemla was in one of these border zones where such influence would be possible. (See Ether, Part 1: Context, Chapter 1, “Historical Background of the Book of Ether” and Chapter 3, “Implications of Epi-Olmec Hieroglyphs for the Book of Mormon.”) I hypothesize that Nehor’s family had been influenced by Jaredite/Olmec culture, most likely through the Mulekite experience. The religion of Zarahemla before Mosiah1 was not Nephite, and the beliefs of Zarahemlaite priests (and certainly those of Jaredite/Olmec priests) were closer to the professional class that Nehor advocated.