Devastated by his sin, Alma remembers what he has heard his father teach about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who would atone for the sins of the world. Alma’s desperate prayer for salvation through Christ is the heart of this entire chiasm and is beautifully similar in simplicity to the Jesus Prayer that has sustained Eastern Orthodox Christians for centuries:
“Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
The heart of the gospel, for Mormons and other Christians, is humble repentance and total trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
One interesting aspect of verse 17 is that Alma recalls the truthful teaching of his own father when trying to impart spiritual wisdom to his son. Presumably, Alma wished that he had listened to his father much earlier and more attentively than he had before his conversion—and that his son Helaman would also attend to him. (It’s no accident that the first words of this chapter are, “My son, give ear to my words.”)