Now the themes of salvation/damnation come together. The gospel of Christ requires conscious decisions. The infant that dies in infancy will not perish because the atonement suffices for any actions that would be sin in another. However, once the infant is older, in the category of “men”, then the choices become effective, sin is possible, and those men will “drink damnation to their own souls.” Benjamin emphasizes that while the infant is saved, the men are not automatically saved. The difference lies in their accountability. The same actions in men are sin and damnation, where to the infant they are not 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 choice can lead to damnation (earlier it was “willful rebellion”). Secondly, Benjamin poses an all-important unless.
The purpose of Benjamin’s “unless” is two fold. On one level it is a transition from the damnation to salvation themes. On the other, it is instruction in the characteristics required of men that will allow them to be saved, just as infants are. Fittingly, he has them “become as little children.” Literarily, Benjamin is reemphasizing the salvation of the infants, and extending the power that saves them (the atonement of Christ) to the men. Of course the use of “children” is extended metaphorically here, because he notes that they must be humble. Nevertheless, the image of the “blood” has returned, and possibly hints that the salvation of the men lies in the blood of Christ and not in their circumcision, just as the salvation of the infants lay also in the blood of Christ (and not in their circumcision).