Verses 5 and 6 set up a series of conditions with verse 7 as the conclusion. Benjamin’s argument presents five conditions following by a blessing. The conditions are:
• You have come to humble yourselves (his imagery of “nothingness”).
• You have come to a knowledge of the goodness of God (and other qualities).
• You have come to a knowledge of the atonement.
• You will be diligent in keeping God’s commandments.
• You will continue to do so throughout this life.
He concluded that “this is the man” (who does all of these things) who will therefore receive salvation.
Rhetoric: Another indication that this discourse is spontaneous is the explanation Benjamin adds at the end of verse 6. A man must continue in faith “even unto the end of his life”—a correct statement, but to clarify any possible conflation of physical life (which ends at death) with spiritual life (which does not), Benjamin clarifies: “I mean the life of the mortal body.” We would not expect such clarifying asides in a written text, but rather in oral discourse (or written transcripts of oral discourse).