In Alma 40:22, Alma introduced the theme of “restoration.” This doctrine connects activities in this life to their counterpart in the next, again stressing that what happens in this life directly influences the next life. In this life there is a body. After death it will be restored.
Alma expands this simple correlation beyond the physical resurrection. Just as this life’s body is restored, this life’s qualities are restored. The essential message is embodied in a couplet (vv. 3–4): “If their works were good in this life, and the desires of their hearts were good… they should… at that last day, be restored unto that which is good. And if their works are evil they shall be restored unto them for evil.” Alma’s “restoration” covers not only the physical resurrection, but the judgment that determines the quality of the resurrection.
Alma suggests that Corianton has also been “worried” about this doctrine. (See commentary accompanying Alma 40:1.) This “worry” is not a believer’s confusion, but rather a reason that Corianton had used to justify his apostasy. Alma patiently teaches the correct principle to Corianton so that he can not only repent of his apostasy but also be converted to gospel truth. The Nephites, in a typical apostasy (King Noah, Nehorism, and Korihor), espouse a belief in the brass-plate scriptures but deny the Atoning Messiah. (See “Excursus: Religion of the Nehors,” following Alma 1.) The argument that has “troubled” Corianton had eliminated the Atoning Messiah and his role. He has been influenced by apostates who have “wrested the scriptures” (meaning the brass plates) to retain the concept of the resurrection but deny its dependence on the Atoning Messiah.
Alma does not seem to refer to the Zoramites on this doctrine, suggesting instead an internal Nephite faction. Often apostasy is not a total rejection of religious beliefs but its realignment with more appealing competing ideas. Apostates justify departing from the truth by reinterpreting the deviant idea as part of the tradition. Religion is not a philosophy; it is a definition of how the world works. The Nephites in Mesoamerica would have had to drastically alter their worldview to adopt Lamanite culture wholesale. Such changes are tremendously difficult. For the people of Ammon, accepting the gospel was “all they could do” (Alma 24:11).
Reference: The corruption/incorruption vocabulary echoes 1 Corinthians 15:42: “So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption.” “Corruption” refers to the mortal body’s inevitable decay after death. “Incorruption” refers to the resurrected body, which is no longer subject to death and decay.