We are given a glimpse into a history that has not been given. Alma first indicates that the preaching of the Atoning Messiah is the purpose of the mission assignment that Corianton received. This is the essential message he was to preach to the Zoramites, for they had ceased belief in the Atoning Messiah. It would appear that while boasting of his own strength (as we noted above) Corianton found himself influenced by the Zoramite disbelief. He apparently found questions for which he had no answers, and he allowed those questions to fester into his apostasy.
Alma begins to deal with Corianton’s faulty understanding. He notes that he “will ease your mind somewhat on this subject.” This tells us that the information that follows will be a response to some of the issues that generated Corianton’s apostasy. Coriantion has been unsure of something, and the answer will not come. While we don’t get the question itself, we do get the way in which Alma couches his response, and that tells us what the issue must have been.
Alma says: “is not a soul at this time as precious unto God as a soul will be at the time of his coming?” One of the important issues in the Nephite record to this time has been the belief in a future Atoning Messiah. The role of this Atoning Messiah was known, but it was also known that the mission was in the future. Thus many non-believers could ridicule Nephite belief because it was based on a distant future event rather than something that had already happened. For a people who lived in a culture that would be steeped in tradition (not the number of times there are references to the fathers) this reliance upon future rather than past would appear very odd indeed. Cultures such as that in which the Lehite peoples participated are frequently termed “traditional cultures” because of the tremendous focus on the power of the past to influence and dictate the present.
Alma’s statement has to do with the disjunction between the nature of the mission of the Atoning Messiah and the future timing of that event. The question that has troubled Corianton might be stated: “how can this Atoning Messiah be just or loving if he abandons people now without atonement, only to offer it to others in the future?” This is an issue that is absolutely pertinent to the time before Christ’s earthly mission, but one that we seldom conceive precisely because we accept that the even has already happened.
Alma attempts to deal with this issue of disjunction by accepting the problem of the future, but focusing on the justice and love of the Lord. Alma does not deny that the fulfillment comes in the future, but he does deny that the future promise means any less concern for the current people. Thus “is not a soul at this time as precious unto God as a soul will be at the time of his coming?”