Submissive: Submissiveness is the conceptual companion to humility. It is another word for the attitude we should have toward God. We submit our will to God’s laws, and we do not resist following his way.
Gentle: Gentleness in our relationships with others does not preclude the righteous fury of Jesus overturning the money tables in the temple; but it does describe the interpersonal relationships that he demonstrated with those who were around him. In a similar way, we may have times when action and forcefulness are required; but as a general description of our attitude toward our brethren, we should be gentle.
Easy to be entreated: Alma provides another synonym for the concepts of humility and submissiveness. Who entreats us? God. As believers, we should be easily entreated to follow the Lord’s way.
Full of patience and long-suffering: Alma’s use of these basically synonymous terms underscores the need to eliminate impatience, self-centeredness, and angry responses from our repertoire of behaviors toward others. “Long-suffering” does not mean the ability to endure physical pain, although we must frequently be patient with mortal conditions such as hunger, thirst, and illness. In the New Testament, “long-suffering” is the English translation of the Greek makrothumia. This word combines the prefix “long” (makro, transliterated in English as macro-) and thumia which describes emotions such as anger. In short, “long-suffering” does not mean to suffer for a long time but to be controlled in our emotional responses. We should be slow to anger.
Temperate in all things: This value is extremely important in societies that emphasize the community. Temperance indicates a similarity to others, as opposed to extreme differences among individuals, especially when extreme divergence can cause dissonance with the community.
Diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times: This suggestion is self-explanatory but is interesting in the context of “long-suffering.” Our struggle to diligently live God’s commandments and approach Christ-like living is not an overnight change, but rather one to be achieved and re-achieved throughout our lifetime.
Asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, Always returning thanks unto God: These two qualities are a paired set. They both deal with prayer and form two of its important aspects: that we ask for our needs, but that we never forget to give thanks for what we do have. This paired admonition allows prayer to remain humble. If we were to continually ask without returning thanks, we might slip into the arrogant belief that God owes us blessings for our righteousness. Humility does not bargain with God, but rather reminds us of our submissiveness to his will. The gratitude we should carry in our hearts is a defense against that small manifestation of pride.
Faith, hope, charity: Clearly this triplet owes its particular wording and construction to Paul (1 Cor. 13:13; see commentary on Moroni 7, which is Mormon’s discourse on faith, hope, and charity).
Literature: In this set of attributes, notice how many of them are actually conceptual repetitions of other attributes in the same paragraph. This technique of using multiple similar, yet different, words to “triangulate” on meaning is a literary technique known to both the Maya and later to the Aztec. Of course, there is no way to know if there is an organic connection between Alma’s discourse and that later Mesoamerican literary tradition, but it is worth noting that the parallel exists.