According to Andrew Skinner, an "image" is not just an outward visual impression but also a vivid representation, a graphic display, or a total likeness of something. It is a person or thing very much like another, a copy or counterpart. Likewise, countenance does not simply mean a facial expression or visual appearance. The word comes from an old French term originally denoting "behavior," "demeanor," or "conduct." In earlier times the word countenance was used with these meanings in mind.
Therefore, to receive Christ's image in one's countenance (Alma 5:14) means to acquire the Savior's likeness in behavior, to be a copy or reflection of the Master's life. [Andrew C. Skinner, "Alma's 'Pure Testimony,'" in Studies in Scripture: Book of Mormon, Part 1, p. 301]
“Have Ye Received His Image in Your Countenances”
Ann Madsen notes that Alma the Elder had a profound encounter with Abinadi which was to influence his own conversion and thus the conversion of many others. More than 60 years later, Alma the Younger testified of this conversion account of his father:
Did not my father Alma believe in the words which were delivered by the mouth of Abinadi? And was he [Abinadi] not a holy prophet? Did he not speak the words of God, and my father Alma believe them? And according to his faith there was a mighty change wrought in his heart. (Alma 5:11-12; emphasis added)
Thus Alma the Younger points to the transformation of his father as he himself pleads for the mighty spiritual change to come into the hearts of his own people:
I ask of you my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts? (Alma 5:14)
Where did Alma the Younger get this imagery and these words? The Lord's image in one's countenance? Being spiritually born of God? A mighty change?
1. Have ye been spiritually born of God?:
While the words "spiritually born of God" (Alma 5:14) are found in the conversion story of Alma the Younger (see Mosiah 27:10-29; Alma 36:5-27), they are not found in the conversion story of Alma the Elder. However, they are alluded to in the story of the people Alma is preaching to--the people of the city of Zarahemla, whose parents and grandparents had been present at the speech of king Benjamin:
And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters. (Mosiah 5:7)
2. Have ye experienced this mighty change?:
While Alma describes his father's conversion as "a mighty change" (Alma 5:12), that phrase is not found in either his father's conversion story or his own. Once again, however, it is found in the heritage of the people Alma is preaching to at the city of Zarahemla, whose parents and grandparents were present at the speech of king Benjamin:
And they all cried with one voice, saying: Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually. (Mosiah 5:2).
3. Have ye received his image in your countenance?:
While Alma the Younger talks about receiving God's image in one's countenance, such an occurrence is not specifically mentioned as a personal transformation in his own conversion, yet we do find some allusions in the other stories. In king Benjamin's speech to the people of Zarahemla: "ye . . . have become his sons and his daughters" (Mosiah 5:7). Moreover, Alma refers to the fact that his father, Alma the Elder, had believed in a courageous prophet who was willing to suffer in the pattern of his Redeemer to the last moments of his life (see Alma 5:11). It is from that scriptural story that we find the following:
Now it came to pass after Abinadi had spoken these words that the people of king Noah durst not lay their hands on him, for the Spirit of the Lord was upon him; and his face shone with exceeding luster, even as Moses' did while in the mount of Sinai, while speaking with the Lord. (Mosiah 13:5; emphasis added)
So we have an interesting correlation of phrases and imagery in the heritage of conversion stories of all the individuals involved here. Such subtle historical and textual correlations would be more than one could expect had Joseph Smith made all this up. [Alan C. Miner, adapted from Ann Madsen, "'What Meaneth the Words That Are Written?': Abinadi Interprets Isaiah," in Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, vol. 10, Num. 1, 2001, p. 14]