“Sing the Song of Redeeming Love”

Alan C. Miner

The phrase "sing . . . redeeming love" is found three times in the Book of Mormon, all of which occur in the book of Alma:

Alma 5:9: And again I ask, were the bands of death broken, and the chains of hell which encircled them about, were they loosed? I say unto you, Yea, they were loosed, and their souls did expand, and they did sing redeeming love. And I say unto you that they are saved.

Alma 5:26: And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?

Alma 26:13: Behold, how many thousands of our brethren has he loosed from the pains of hell; and they are brought to sing redeeming love, and this because of the power of his word which is in us, therefore have we not great reason to rejoice?

It is interesting that just preceding Alma 5:9 and Alma 5:26, Mormon says, "And these are the words which he [Alma] spake to the people in the church which was established in the city of Zarahemla, according to his own record" (Alma 5:2). In the same interesting circumstances, just preceding the quote in Alma 26:13 Mormon says, "And now, these are the words of Ammon to his brethren" (Alma 26:1). Thus we might say that the phrase "sing . . . redeeming love" has a special niche in not only the vocabulary of Alma and Ammon, but in the message of that time. That message and that vocabulary might stem from the same unique experience which Alma and Ammon shared, the visitation by an angel of God and the gift of his redeeming love (see Mosiah 27 and Alma 36). [Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes]

Step by Step Through the Book of Mormon: A Cultural Commentary

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