Verses 21 And 26 both declare that faith is not to have a perfect knowledge. That repetition might signal repetitive resumption. However, in repetitive resumption, the intervening material is inserted. In this case, it is not necessarily inserted, but is another approach to the same information. This is a repetition, but more a duplication for emphasis, rather than a repetitive resumption.
The emphasis is on the condition of the poor who have come to Alma. Alma has already noted that they are to be blessed for their humility, even though they were required to be humble. In this repetition, Alma comes to the important part of their humility. They desire to know what they can do. They don’t desire to know; they don’t desire to understand; they desire to do. Alma praises them for that desire, and notes that there are those who would have been sufficiently humble to come to that condition before the Lord, even if they had not been compelled to it by their separation for what they thought were their only forms of worship.
This is the reason for emphasizing that faith is not a perfect knowledge. They are willing to act without knowing exactly what to act upon. They have a faith that is motivating them to improve, and to desire to know what to do. They admit that they do not know.