Mormon does not identify Korihor by name until verse 12. He comes to the land of Zarahemla, much as Sherem came to the land of Nephi (Jacob 7:1), and again without a place of origin or lineage connection. The man simply appears. It is not important where he came from. However, his religious (and, thus, political) affiliation is identified: “Anti-Christ.” This designation requires some explanation. Glenn L. Pearson and Reid E. Bankhead suggest:
By Joseph Smith’s day the idea of an antichrist had evolved into the idea of an Anti-Christ. The word antichrist is the Bible term for the false teachers in the Church who taught a false Christ instead of a true Christ. The Greek preposition anti, roughly translated, means instead of. It also carries the meaning of “face to face” or mirror image. The image in the mirror, looking back at you, is face to face with you. It looks like you. Yet it has no substance. It is a counterfeit of you, in a sense. It only appears to be you. So when John in his epistles spoke of antichrists, he was speaking of the belief of the Gnostics that God is a substanceless spirit rather than a resurrected being (1 Jn. 2:18–22, 4:1–3; 2 Jn. 1:7). Such a god is like the image in the mirror—really nothing, a counterfeit. Through the centuries thereafter, the term antichrist became Anti-Christ, and by Joseph Smith’s day it referred to those who opposed Christ.
Korihor most clearly fits the definition of one “who opposed Christ,” and this issue will be the centerpiece of the theological conflict between Korihor and Alma. Korihor does not appear to be associated with the order of the Nehors, even though he also denies the Atoning Messiah. His apostasy appears to extend even further, however, and Korihor may have rejected all Nephite traditions, including the law of Moses. I hypothesize that Korihor may have accepted one of the local religions and therefore combats the entire Nephite religio-political spectrum.