2 Nephi chapter 9, Part II

Continuing on with our discussion of 2 Nephi chapter 9, let us now go to verses 10-13, where Jacob lays out very clearly the purpose and nature of the atonement, an explanation that forms the foundation for later Book of Mormon teachings regarding the atonement. Here Jacob explores the need for and effects of the atonement of Christ.

The first key to these verses is Jacob's distinction between physical and spiritual death, what he refers to as "the death of the body, and also the death of the spirit." This serves as a useful model for what Jacob goes on to teach about the atonement, and I think this is the earliest reference in the Book of Mormon to this important distinction.

But what I find really powerful in this passage is how Jacob's explanation of the atonement mirrors what Nephi says in what I have previously referred to as the thesis statement of the Book of Mormon. Looking back at 1 Nephi 1:20, we see the emphasis on God delivering the chosen because of their faith, the idea that we are promised freedom as we exercise faith in Christ.

This concept is repeated throughout these verses, where we find these words: escape, deliverance, deliver, and captive. Building on Nephi's discussion of his own deliverance from death and the liberation of the children of Israel from Egypt, Jacob here gives us the most important freedom of all--freedom from our own mortality and frailty.

Knowing that the resurrection will repair all the inequities and pains of mortal life gives us the perspective to focus on eternal things. And knowing that we can be forgiven for our sins through the atonement gives us hope enough to overcome the sorrows of our own mistakes.

This dual redemption is crucial to LDS theology, and this multi-layered conceptualization of salvation is, to me at least, the most plain and precious of the truths restored through the Book of Mormon.