Commenting on Mosiah 26:29-30, Reynolds and Sjodahl wrote the following:
VERSES 29-30. Him shall ye
forgive, and I will forgive him also. After the Lord has instructed Alma
concerning those who were worthy to be received into the Church of God, He
further commanded Alma to go his way and judge the transgressor “according to
the sins which he had committed.” As we have noted, Alma greatly desired to
judge righteously, and we may imagine that he being so disposed resolved to
regulate or adjust and settle peaceably all departures from Church regulations.
No doubt Alma determined not to judge him guilty who is only supposed to be in
error; neither, we presume, would he condemn any who were the victims of lying
tongues, nor those who were helpless and had no helper. The rich in the things
of the world and the poor were the be equal when they stood before him as their
judge.
But one condition served to
ameliorate any punishment Alma might pronounce: If the one taken in sin
“confess his sins before thee and me, and repenteth in the sincerity of his
heart, him shall ye forgive, and I will forgive him also.”
One of Satan’s most cunning ways
to lead men on in wrongdoing is craftily to make them believe in the
uselessness of repentance. “I have gone too far to repent; there is no
forgiveness for me.” That is not true. “Yea,” the Lord said to Alma, “And as
often as my people repent will I forgive them their trespass against me.” Of
course there is forgiveness for everyone, if it were not so, God’s great
purposes would fail and this we do not believe. The poor sheep may be lost in
the wood, hungry and helpless and cold, hunted by the wolf, falling over the
precipice. “But the Good Shepherd is on His way and is looking for it, and will
find it. And will take it into His arms and will carry it to the fold” and will
rejoice that the lost is found and the dead is again alive.” (George Reynolds
and Janne M. Sjodahl, Commentary on the Book of Mormon, 7 vols. [Salt
Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1976], 2:268)
