Even though it's not what I had in mind with this post, this is another example of internal consistency. Alma sums up the teachings of Abinadi. Verse 2 is a repetition of Abinadi's main themes. One could argue that these are pretty common all throughout the Book of Mormon. But "redemption of the people" is an Abinadi trademark. Another interesting one is "ascension into heaven". This is a more peculiar point to bring up but it is indeed a reference to Abinadi's teachings.1 And now, it came to pass that Alma, who had fled from the servants of king Noah, of his sins and iniquities, and went about privately among the people, and began to teach the words of Abinadi—2 Yea, concerning that which was to come, and also concerning the resurrection of the dead, and the of the people, which was to be brought to pass through the power, and sufferings, and of Christ, and his resurrection and ascension into heaven.
When I read the first quote in Mosiah 18:1-2 recently, I read it as follows: "began to teach the words of Abinadi- yea, concerning:8 And thus God breaketh the of death, having gained the over death; giving the Son power to make for the children of men—9 Having ascended into heaven, having the bowels of mercy; being filled with compassion towards the children of men; standing betwixt them and justice; having broken the bands of death, taken upon their iniquity and their transgressions, having redeemed them, and the demands of justice. (Mosiah 15)
- that which was to come
- the resurrection of the dead
- the redemption of the people, which was to be brought to pass through:
- the power
- sufferings and
- death of Christ,
- his resurrection and
- ascension into heaven"
Does it really say that redemption comes through his ascension into heaven? At least, that is one way of reading it. Is there any redemptive power in the ascension? It's not standard Church teaching, so I'm a bit hesitant to make the claim, even though it does appear to be there in Mosiah 18:2 and perhaps also in the verse it is referring to, Mosiah 15:9.
The alternative reading is "began to teach the words of Abinadi-, yea, concerning:
- that which was to come
- the resurrection of the dead
- the redemption of the people, which was to be brought to pass through the power, and sufferings, and death of Christ
- his resurrection and ascension into heaven"
Then we avoid the weird notion of Christ redeeming us through his ascension. But to be honest, I think the first reading makes more sense linguistically. In any case, I find the possibility intriguing. Even if we read it the other way, why did Alma teach the people of Christ's ascension? My speculative thoughts are related to the observation that the atonement of Christ is frequently described as preparing the way. Christ broke the bands of death by resurrecting. This "way" was unavailable to man, but has become available because Christ walked it and thereby prepared it for us. Similarly, perhaps ascending to the Celestial Kingdom after the resurrection is also a "way" that had to be prepared and was prepared by Christ through His ascension? Or perhaps it was a necessary completory step of the mission of He who had "descended below all things"(D&C 88:6)?