“This Restoration Shall Come to All, Both Old and Young”

Brant Gardner

Rhetoric: Verse 44 is a functional duplication of verse 43. Each of the two verses contains two elements: first, the universality of the resurrection, and second, the resurrection’s inapplicability to redemption from sin. This duplication is an intentional repetition for emphasis.

Reference: “Bond and free” no doubt owes a debt to Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” Nevertheless, slavery (“bond”) was known in Mesoamerica, and the Ammonihahites would have understood it. (See also commentary accompanying Alma 5:49.)

Second Witness: Analytical & Contextual Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 4

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