In keeping with the resurrection/new birth theme, Alma2 declares that he is “born of the Spirit” through repentance and redemption from his sins. Redemption is the critical point here. Not only does Alma2’s experience prefigure the Atoning Messiah’s death and resurrection but it confirms that mission—the very concepts that Alma2 had denied and argued against. Thus, when Alma2 awakens, his testimony is so completely the reverse of its former trend that he embodies the meaning of the Messiah’s future mission.
Redaction: This verse begins a quotation from Alma2 which continues through verse 31. While these are Alma2’s words, it is unlikely that Alma2 recorded them, since he was not yet keeping the records. The text was recorded by a scribe whose words Mormon has been editing.