Alma 8:23 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
I am Alma and am the high priest over the [churches 1|church ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] of God throughout the land

The 1830 typesetter replaced the plural churches with the singular church, undoubtedly because he expected the singular “church of God”. But elsewhere in the text there are ten occurrences of the plural churches that refer to different congregations all belonging to the same organization (indeed to the true church, not different sects, as explained in Mosiah 25:22, cited below):

Note, in particular, that Mosiah 25:23 has the phrase “the churches of God”, just like originally in Alma 8:23. The use of church with the meaning ‘congregation’ is also found in the New Testament, as in Romans 16:16 (“the churches of Christ salute you”) and 1 Corinthians 11:16 (“we have no such custom neither the churches of God”).

Summary: Restore the plural “churches of God” in Alma 8:23, the reading of the printer’s manuscript (the earliest extant source); the text frequently refers to the individual congregations as churches.

Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon, Part. 3

References