These verses embody the doctrine that “salvation is free,” or, in Paul’s language, what we have come to know as “ salvation by grace.” What is the value that we place on life? How does one repay his parents for the privilege of drawing breath and knowing something, however small it may be, of this mortal existence? We are all indebted beyond our ability to pay. Even in the granting of life to others we cannot repay those who have granted this matchless privilege to us.
What then is the greater debt that we owe to God, as the Father of our spirits and author of the plan of salvation? We can repay through obedience and faithful service, we might reason, but, as King Benjamin reminds us, such is hardly so; obedience and service is immediately rewarded with the knowledge and blessings of heaven, and we are endlessly the more indebted. In our relationship with God we are at best unprofitable servants.