Contentions come from the evil spirit (v. 32). The Savior said the devil is “the father of contention” (3 Nephi 11:29). Those who obey the evil spirit and die in their sins will receive an everlasting punishment (Mosiah 2:33). The reason for such punishment gives us an excellent definition of sin: “having transgressed the law of God contrary to his own knowledge” (v. 33). The apostle John wrote, “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth the law: for sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4). However, a broken law without knowledge may not always be a sin. The natural effects of the broken law will still follow, but the punishment of God may be withheld and the Atonement will pay for the demands of justice through the mercy of Christ. The Prophet Ezekiel said: “Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die” (Ezekiel 18:27–28).
The children of Israel, under the law of Moses, differed in their sacrifices brought unto the Lord for a person with knowledge who sinned (see Leviticus 5:1–6), and for those who did “sin through ignorance, in the holy things of the Lord” (Leviticus 5:15; see also 4:2). While the difference is sometimes hard to determine, the Lord knows who sins and who transgresses, and judges accordingly.
King Benjamin warns that all of his people who break the commandments of God will be sinning because they have all been taught from the records brought out of Jerusalem and by the Nephite prophets. The only exception is the little children (Mosiah 2:34–35). As stated before, the blessings the people receive from God for keeping the commandments leaves them “eternally indebted to [their] heavenly Father” (v. 34).