Now the themes of salvation/damnation come together. The gospel of Christ requires conscious decisions. The child who dies in infancy will not perish spiritually because the atonement suffices for any actions that would otherwise be sin in one capable of responsible choice. However, for adults who make their own choices, sin is possible, and those men will “drink damnation to their own souls.” Benjamin emphasizes that, while the infant is saved automatically, men are not. The difference lies in their accountability. While the same actions in men spell sin and damnation, the infant is free from sin because of the atoning power of the future Messiah.
The damnation of the men is significant for two reasons. First, it mildly refers to the “old men, young men” that we saw in Mosiah 2:40. Once again, Benjamin is noting that their willful choices (“willful rebellion”) can lead to damnation. Second, Benjamin dangles before them an all-important “unless,” which serves two rhetorical purposes.
On one level, it forms a transition between the themes of damnation and salvation. On the other, it instructs his hearers in the characteristics required for salvation. Fittingly, he stresses the automatic salvation of infants by telling his audience that they must “become as little children.” He reemphasizes the salvation of the infants and extends the power that saves them (the Messianic atonement) to the men, adding to the image the humility of children. Nevertheless, this mention of “blood” may hint that the salvation of the men lies in the Messiah’s blood and not in their circumcision, just as the salvation of the infants lay also in the Messiah’s blood (and not in their circumcision).