Moroni repeated what his father Mormon had declared to the peaceable followers of Christ: unbelief is the only condition that will cause miracles through the gift of the Spirit to cease (v. 19; see Moroni 7:37). With this reminder, Moroni’s ninth requirement that may be necessary to receive a witness of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, to have faith, hope, and charity. The sequence of faith, hope, and charity is different than his father’s sequence of hope, faith, and charity. However, as Mormon said, you can’t have one without the other (see Moroni 7:40–43). Furthermore, both faith and hope are required for obtaining charity, the desired result (Moroni 10:20–21; Moroni 7:44). What Moroni seems to be saying is that just as hope and faith are required to be in the kingdom of God (Moroni 10:21), a knowledge of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon will not come without those same two principles. To extend that analogy, neither will those who reject the Book of Mormon, when given an opportunity to receive it, be saved in the kingdom of God. Moroni expands on that concept below (vv. 32–33). Wherefore, unbelief negates the requirement of faith to know the Book of Mormon is true (v. 19). Iniquity negates the requirement of hope to know the Book of Mormon is true (v. 22).
As interpreted in Moroni chapter 7, faith produces ordinances. An acceptance of the Book of Mormon brings a person to the ordinance of baptism.
Knowing the Book of Mormon is true usually causes a person to repent. “The first fruits of repentance is baptism” (Moroni 8:25). Baptism is the first saving ordinance for entrance into “the strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life” (2 Nephi 31:18). As also interpreted in Moroni chapter 7, hope produces works. Without hope there are no works, and the reader is left in despair even if he or she does not realize it (Moroni 10:22). They have not entered into the path to eternal life. President Ezra Taft Benson testified: “We must live the gospel plan in its fullness every day of our lives. Therein is safety. Therein will come a satisfaction which comes from righteous living which will enter our hearts, give us the courage and the strength that we need. There is no security in unrighteousness. The sinful always live in despair” (see Moroni 10:22). Moroni is a second witness to what his fathers—Mormon, Nephi, and those in between who were faithful—had been taught.