The potential consequence of the spiritual fall could, of course, be even more devastating than the first death. For both consequences of the fall, however, Yahweh had an answer: the plan of redemption. Both the temporal and spiritual deaths would be resolved by the Atoning Messiah’s mission. However, while the temporal death was automatically resolved, redemption from the effects of agency required a continued exercise of agency.
Yahweh gave Adam and Eve commandments, “that they should not do evil.” In other words, after the Fall’s conditions became operational, Yahweh taught Adam and Eve what they needed to do to be redeemed. Once they knew the difference between good and evil, Yahweh made sure they knew what he wanted them to do—good, not evil.
It is too easy to assume that Adam and Eve would automatically know that they should do good and shun evil. Shouldn’t they immediately understand that good was, well, good? What the knowledge of the Gods (knowing good from evil) did was to institute the ability to discern difference. But knowing which of two different things is good is not inherent in the ability to choose. God’s commandments tell us which is right.
For example, is it good to steal? It is quite possible to say yes, reasoning that you end up with something that you wanted, and you get it for free. Surely getting something you want for free is good? Isn’t stealing like getting a gift? In both cases, you get something for free.
The difference is that God tells us that stealing is evil. Therefore, when we are faced with the decision, we know which option is good and which is evil. Even though we might see some good things coming from the theft, we know that it is evil. Nevertheless, the importance of identifying theft as evil and choosing not to steal is something that we must learn. The fact that so many people do choose to steal tells us that the choice between good and evil is not necessarily obvious and, furthermore, that making the right choice is not necessarily easy.
When we see a power saw, our powers of visualization help us quickly realize that sticking our hand into it so that our fingers are cut off is not a good thing. Nevertheless, most of the ways in which we exercise our agency are not nearly so well defined. Most of them really do have ways in which both sides of the issue can seem “good.” In those cases, it is God who provides the ultimate definition. He did this from the beginning through the commandments.
Rhetoric: Alma concludes this part of the argument by spelling out that doing evil acts is the second death. Unrepentant sinners will stand before God in their sins. Justice will require their separation from God. At this point, Alma is not yet stressing redemption from sin. Rather, he is clarifying the dimensions of the problem first. He adopts this particular mode of persuasion because his listeners do not accept this part of the Messiah’s redeeming mission. Thus, he must make sure that his unbelieving audience understands why they need redemption from sin.