Jacob’s argument can be outlined thus:
• Death has come to all men, preventing us from being with Yahweh.
• This is not the outcome Yahweh desires.
• The resurrection is provided to overcome death.
• The need for the resurrection came by a single man as a result of the fall.
• The fall also introduces sin which also separates us from Yahweh.
2 Nephi 9:7
7 Wherefore, it must needs be an infinite atonement—save it should be an infinite atonement this corruption could not put on incorruption. Wherefore, the first judgment which came upon man must needs have remained to an endless duration. And if so, this flesh must have laid down to rot and to crumble to its mother earth, to rise no more.
Jacob now focuses on his conclusion, dealing with the problem of physical death:
• An infinite atonement is required (in this case specifically mentioning death).
• Without an infinite atonement, there is no resurrection (“corruption could not put on incorruption”).
• Without the resurrection, death would have been a permanent condition, and our body and spirit would not have been capable of remaining together.
This verse communicates in many more words the same meaning as Paul’s more succinct statement: “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22).
Reference: The corruption/incorruption vocabulary echoes 1 Corinthians 15:42: “So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption.”
“Corruption” refers to the mortal body’s inevitable decay after death. “Incorruption” refers to the resurrected body, which is no longer subject to death and decay.