Rhetoric: Although Alma’s sermon has been on redemption through the Atoning Messiah, his approach has been on the necessity of that atonement due to his listeners’ sins. We need not suppose (in v. 23) that Alma is exaggerating their seriousness. Rather, it seems likely that in his congregation are some guilty of “all manner of wickedness”; some are even “murderers.” Despite the physical strife with which some of his listeners have responded to persecution, there is no indication that such fights have included killings. Therefore, Alma may be speaking of the same type of “murders” that Alma himself committed during his apostasy: “I had murdered many of [Yahweh’s] children, or rather had them led away unto destruction” (Alma 36:14; see commentary accompanying that verse).
The contentions in Zarahemla have not occurred simply between church-men and non-church-men. Rather, contentions have arisen within the church itself, and Alma confirms such grievous behavior by declaring that there are gross sinners among them claiming to be believers. Perhaps such people have justified their actions because they were members of the church. Perhaps they transferred their concept of communal religion to the church and assumed that their membership automatically bestowed the benefits of the church. Perhaps they thought that having been baptized once somehow made them immune from sin. Alma needs to impress upon them that, while the baptism into the church begins the journey, they must thereafter behave according to gospel principles.
After labeling their sins, he pointedly asks them how they will feel, standing in those sins before Yahweh. Those sins have not been erased by baptism or continued membership. Those who commit “all manner of wickedness” and who are unrepentant must face Yahweh in that condition.
Culture: Obviously these divisions within the Zarahemla church are not simple theological differences. The passions behind the divisions had apparently run so high that Alma could justly accuse members of his congregation of at least metaphoric murder. While the anti-church forces would have been equally forceful, and perhaps even literally murderous (as Nehor had killed Gideon), the church was not without culpability. In some ways, this situation seems eerily prescient of periods of intense hostility between the early modern church and its enemies. While the enemies were culpable of sins, those inside the church were not always wholly innocent either. (See commentary accompanying Alma 1:22.)
Symbolism: The uncomfortably pointed question about appearing before Yahweh in “garments stained with blood and all manner of filthiness” (v. 22) communicates that Yahweh can see the state of one’s soul as clearly as people can see the state of one’s garments. Outer appearance becomes a symbol of the inner. The reverse of this imagery is seen in the parallel expression: “[they] were sanctified, and their garments were washed white through the blood of the Lamb” (Alma 13:11). Through the Messiah’s atonement, the inner person is cleansed from sin; hence, the soul that is visible to Yahweh (outer garment) will have no stain.