Jacob’s fifth point is what prevents the effect of the Atonement from coming upon us. He warns those who have the law given unto them and transgress the commandments of God. Without listing all of the warnings, a few observations are made below.
Verse twenty-eight and twenty-nine should be read together to get the correct concept. Learning can be one’s downfall or one’s progression towards salvation. Verse thirty seems to condemn all who are rich, but a cross reference to Jacob 2:19 will give a deeper dimension of obtaining riches. Verses thirty-one and thirty-two address the spiritually deaf and blind, not those who are physically impaired. The uncircumcised of heart refers to an unclean person, or those who have evil desires in their hearts. The heart is the equivalent of the spirit of a person. Circumcision was a law for physical cleanliness and thus is symbolic of having a clean heart or spirit.
Elder Marvin J. Ashton defined a lie (v. 34) as “any communication given to another with intent to deceive” (CR, April, 1982, 10). This certainly broadens the concept. The qualification of “the murderer who deliberately killeth, for he shall die” (v. 35) is an important consideration in the death penalty. In verse thirty-six “them who commit whoredoms” are those who are sexually immoral, but should not be limited to just those sins. There are other kinds of whoredoms that the scriptures call abominations. Abominations refer to other character destroying actions. The worshipping of idols (v. 37) may take many forms other than graven images, i.e., money, position, power, and other material possessions.
Jacob gives a summary or catch all warning to cover all other sins that he has not enumerated. Those who die in their sins, he says “shall return to God, and behold his face, and remain in their sins” (v. 38). This seems to be equating the devil and his angels with sons of perdition, as he defined earlier (v. 16). Alma taught that at death we “are taken home to that God who gave [us] life” (Alma 40:11). After quoting this, President Joseph F. Smith added; “where there is a separation, a partial judgment,” going to paradise or outer darkness, various places in the spirit world. To actually see the face of God “and remain in their sins” seems to be speaking of the long range judgment of the sons of perdition.
Jacob concludes with this admonition: “Remember, to be carnally minded is death, and to be spiritually minded is life eternal” (v. 39). Paul gives the same warning in Romans 8:6. This admonition is an eternal doctrine or principle, and therefore, it is probable that both Jacob and Paul are quoting from an earlier source that was originally in their scriptures.