Jesus was calling us salt of the earth

JESUS WAS CALLING US SALT OF THE EARTH
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Matthew 5:13 13"Youare the salt of the earth. But if
the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty
again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be
thrown out and trampled underfoot.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Salt And Light
Matthew 5:13, 14
W.F. Adeney
Christ regards his people as the salt of the earth and as the light of the world.
In both characters they have a mission to others. The Church exists for the
sake ofthe world. She has a large vocation; the whole earth is the field of her
work, and there she is to labour not for her own ends, but to benefit mankind.
How grievous is the perversion of those who exactlyreverse the position of
Christ, and behave as though the world only existed for the benefit of the
Church!
I. THE SALT.
1. Its function. The saltis to preserve that on which it is sprinkled from
corrupting.

(1) The world is in danger of sinking into corruption. Societyis threatened
with disintegration by the mutual opposition of conflicting classes. Domestic
life is corrodedby immorality and intemperance. "Naturalism" defiles art.
Frivolous amusements tend to become unwholesome. Therefore a preserving
and purifying agentis needed.
(2) The world is worth preserving. Otherwise why salt it? Christ does not
desire the destruction of civilization, but its preservation. Christianity is not
nihilism. Politics, commerce, art, literature, are all worth keeping from
corruption.
2. Its action. Salt is antiseptic. The Church is expectedto be of the same
character;not merely to be pure, but to purify. This is not confined to definite
crusades againstevil. The mere presence of goodmen and women in the world
tends to keepit sound and healthy, by the silent influence of example. The old
heathen world was rotting in vice when the Christians appeared and infused a
new life of purity into society. We cannotcalculate the advantage to the whole
world of the presence in it to-day of pure-minded, earnest, unselfish, good
men and women. A few such, like a little salt, have an immense influence in
preserving a great mass of society.
3. Its failure. The salt may lose its savour. It may not have become corrupt.
Yet as a negative thing it is then useless, andonly fit to be castawayas so
much dust. If the grace ofGod, if the spirit of' Christ, if the Divine life, vanish
from the Church, the corporationmay still exist, but its mission will have
ceased. Forthe sake of the world the spiritual vigour of the Church must be
preserved. It will not do to be too conciliatoryto society. The Church is salt,
not sugar.

II. LIGHT.
1. Its nature. Light banishes night. It reveals our danger, shows our path,
cheers our hearts, and refreshes our health. All these things are expectedof
Christian influence on the world.
2. Its position. A city on a hill; a lamp on its stand. Christians are not to be
ashamedof their confession. It is the duty of the Church to be prominent, not
for her own sake - for her own prestige - but to spreadlight on others.
3. Its radiance. The light streams out by means of goodworks. The world
cares little for our words, but it has a sharp eye for our works. We want a new
gospelfor the presentage, one written on the lives of Christians, that the
world may see the reality of what we preach.
4. Its object, The glory of God. If this last point had not been added, it might
have seemedas though the self-glorificationwere allowable. But our works
are not to our own credit, because, if they are good, all the goodnessin them
comes from the grace ofGod. Therefore we glorify God in bearing fruit, by so
living that his life shines out through our conduct. - W.F.A.

Biblical Illustrator
Salt of the earth.
Matthew 5:13
The electof God
J. G. Greenhough, M. A.
I. Here is Christ's sublime DEFINITION OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE, and of
those who compose His Church. The Church exists for the world's sake more
than for its own. Christ's disciples are to be saviours of others.
II. Is not this the DOCTRINE OF ELECTION as ourSaviour understood it?
God's people are chosen, notfor their own comfort, but to show men the
beauty of the Divine life, and to raise them to the same level.
III. IT IS QUALITY MORE THAN QUANTITY that does God's work in the
world. All history and progress are at bottom the life-story of the chosenfew.
IV. It should be one greatobjectof our prayer and effort to KEEP UP THE
MORAL AND SPIRITUAL STANDARD OF THE ELECT FEW.
(J. G. Greenhough, M. A.)
The purification of society

G. W. McCree.
1. The disciples of Jesus Christ should seek to prevent the corruption of
literature.
2. They should seek to prevent the corruption of public amusements.
3. They should seek to prevent the corruption of parochialand political. life.
4. They should seek to prevent the corruption of commerciallife.
(G. W. McCree.)
The greatcalling of the disciples of Christ
T. Christlieb, D. D.
1. Saltis intended to nourish: it is an article of food. The godly must nourish
the earth spiritually.
2. Saltis intended to preserve.
3. Salthas also a consuming power. There is something sharp, biting, and
aggressive in it. Laid on a wound it is painful. The Christian often pains men
to heal them.
(T. Christlieb, D. D.)
Salt without savour

A. Maclaren, D. D., Dr. O. Winslow.
These words must have seemedridiculously presumptuous when they were
first spoken.
I. THE HIGH TASK OF CHRIST'S DISCIPLES AS HERE SET FORTH.
This metaphor involves two things: a grave judgment as to the actualstate of
society, and a lofty claim as to what Christ's followers cando for it. It is
corrupt; you do not salt a living thing. It is the powerand obligationof the
goodto arrest corruption by their own purity. The example of Christian men
is not only repressive, it ought to tempt forth all that is purest in the people
with whom they come into contact. Saltdoes its work by being brought into
close contactwith the thing which it is to work upon. It does its work silently,
inconspicuously, gradually.
II. THE GRAVE POSSIBILITYOF THE SALT LOSING ITS SAVOUR. It is
evident that there is the obliteration of the distinction betweenthe saltand the
mass into which it is inserted. Is there any difference betweenyour ideal of
happiness and the irreligious one?
III. The solemn question, Is THERE A POSSIBILITYOF RESALTING THE
SALTLESS SALT, OF RESTORING THE LOST SAVOUR? These words
not to be pushed to the extreme.
IV. THE CERTAIN END OF THE SALTLESS SALT. YOU cannot put it
upon the soil; there is no fertilizing virtue in it. You cannot even fling it into
the rubbish heap; it will do mischief there. Pitch it out into the road; it will
stop a cranny somewhere betweenthe stones when once it is well trodden
down by men's heels. That is all it is fit for. God has no use for it; man has no
use for it.

(A. Maclaren, D. D.)
I. The world as constituting the particular sphere of the Christian's influence.
Moralstate of the world at large, and that portion in particular where our
influence is most felt. How insensible are we of it, etc.
II. Illustrate and apply this interesting and important truth. Explain the
metaphor. All true believers in Jesus are denominated the " saltof the earth,"
because allthat is Divine and holy and precious exists in them, and in them
only. The moral influence of the Christian, as it is exerted, applies to the
Church in its collective capacity.
III. The decayof the inner life, as manifested in the impaired vigour of
Christian influence, figuratively set forth by the "saltthat hath lostits
savour," and its consequentunprofitableness. The saltmay again be salted —
the inner life may be revived.
(Dr. O. Winslow.)
Christians calledsalt
P. S. . Davis., J. E. Good.
The ideal of an active and efficient Christian character. It is like salt. How?
I. In its CONSTITUENTELEMENTS.As salt is made up of chlorine and
sodium chemically united, so a Christian characteris composedof faith and
works in union.(a) As chlorine gas is a deadly poison by itself, so faith without
works killeth.(b) As the metal sodium is destitute alone of the saving quality of
salt, so works without faith are destitute of merit to save the soul.(c)As the
chemicalunion of the two elements forms a third substance, with a new and

useful quality, so faith and works, whenunited, give life and efficiencyto
Christian character.
II. In its EFFECTS.(a)As salt prevents corruption and decayin animal and
vegetable matter, so Christian characteris the antidote of vice in the
individual and in society.(b)As salt promotes digestion, and thus prevents
deadly disease,so Christian characterenables the soul to digestand profit by
the various dispensations of Providence.(c)As salt renders palatable otherwise
distasteful food, so a Christian charactersweetens life's disappointments, and
changes its crossesinto crowns.
(P. S. . Davis.)There are three ideas suggestedby the representationin the
text.
I. The first is INSIPIDITY, OR TASTELESSNESS.
(1)This is the case, truly, where THE SAVOUR OF THE GOSPELDOES not
prevail.
(2)There you will find no
(3)moral beauty, no
(4)fruits of benevolence and mercy.

(5)How insipid the dear delights even of the family, the sanctuary, and the
sequesteredrecessesofthe closet, if there be no manifestations of His love, or
indications of His presence, to the spiritual and regenerate heart.
II. The secondidea is FOLLY AND IGNORANCE,
1. True religion is wisdom.
2. Wickednessis folly.
3. Wickedmen are as unwise as they are offensive to God.
4. True piety is an evidence of a well-seasonedand enlightened mind.
III. The third idea is TENDENCYTO DECAY.
(1)Mortality is the law of nature.
(2)All hasten to corruption. The figure denotes
(3)moral corruption.
(4)When health has left the physical frame, we say it is diseased;

(5)when life has fled, we say it is dead.
(6)We use the same figure and language to describe the dreadful disorders of
the immortal soul.
(7)When the principle of love to God does not governall its faculties, we say
they are under a moral distemper.
(8)If the Divine Spirit breathes not the "breath, of life" into it, we say it is
"deadin trespasses andsins."
(J. E. Good.)
Salt used in the baptismal service
Dr. D. Fraser.
The Latin Church, m its materialistic fashion, employs actualsalt in the
baptismal service. The priest puts it into the mouth of the person, adult or
infant, who is baptized. It is an unauthorized ceremony; but it is a sortof
traditional witness to the obligation lying on all Christians to have in
themselves that which salt might symbolize.
(Dr. D. Fraser.)
Salt and sunlight
J. G. Greenhough, M. A.

A Roman proverb couples sunlight and salttogetheras the two things which
keepthe world alive and sweet. Homercalls it Divine; the substance clearto
the gods;spoke ofit as the emblem of righteousness, andour common
phraseology, following the Greek and Latin writers, has chosenit as the
symbol of wit and wisdom, of all that gives grace to speech, refinement to
thought, pungency to writing, and individuality to character. The idea, then,
which the metaphor on the Saviour's lips suggests is that His disciples are the
noble and indispensable element in the world; they sweeten, purify, and
enrich its work, its thoughts, its socialintercourse, its joys, its laws and
literature. They save it from corruption, decomposition, and moral death. The
greatsea of life, like the sea which washes our shores, wouldbecome putrid
without it.
(J. G. Greenhough, M. A.)
Influence working from the few to the many
Do you remember Arnold of Rugby's famous sixth form? He brought the boys
who composedthat first class into closerintercourse with himself, and gave
them his choicestteachings, thathe might make them models of honour,
purity, sobriety, and godliness;strong with the sense of duty, dignified by the
thought of their responsibility, so that they might give a healthy tone to the
whole school, and that from them might flow a continual stream of purifying,
elevating influence. "If I have confidence in my sixth form," said Arnold, "I
would not exchange my place for the loftiest position in the world." They were
the saltof the school, as Christ's disciples are to be the salt of the earth.
Saltless salt
W. M. Thomson, D. D.
Maundrell, who visited the lake at Jebbful, tells us that he found saltthere
which had entirely "losthis savour," and the same abounds among the debris
at Usdum, and in other localities ofrock-saltat the south end of the:Dead Sea.
It is a well-knownfact that the salt of this country, if left long in contactwith
the ground, does become insipid and tasteless.Fromthe manner in which it is

gathered, much earth and other impurities are necessarilycollectedwith it.
Not a little of it is so impure that it cannot be used at all, and such Bali soon
efflorescesandturns to dust — not to fruitful soil, however. It is not only "
goodfor nothing," but it actually destroys all fertility wherever it is thrown;
and this is the reasonwhy it is castinto the street, to be " trodden under the
foot of men."
(W. M. Thomson, D. D.)
Common salt
Globe Encyclopaedia.
Common salt, the chloride of sodium, is an extremely abundant substance in
nature. It is found in almost inexhaustible deposits as rock-saltin various
parts of the world: from such deposits arise brine springs, which are strongly
impregnated with salt; and the waterof the ocean, aa wellas that of various
inland seas,hold it in solution in inconceivable amount. From these various
sources saltis prepared for use as an indispensable condiment in human food,
and as a raw material in severalmost important and extensive chemical
manufactures. In the United Kingdom greatdeposits of rock-saltoccurin the
new red sandstone strata in Cheshire and Worcester.... The total amount of
salt produced in the United Kingdom, during 1876, was 2,273,256tons, of
which 154,538tons were in the form of rock-salt. In the same year, 854,538
tons, of a value of £529,547, were exported;British India, the United States,
and Russia, being the countries to which it was sent.
(Globe Encyclopaedia.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(13) Ye are the salt of the earth.—The words are spokento the disciples in
their ideal character, as the germ of a new Israel, called to a prophetic work,
preserving the earth from moral putrescence and decay. The general
reference to this antiseptic actionof salt is (as in Colossians 4:6, and possibly
in the symbolic act of Elisha, 2Kings 2:21) enough to give an adequate
meaning to the words, but the specialreference to the sacrificialuse of salt in
Mark 9:49 (see Note there) makes it probable enough that there was some
allusion to that thought also here.
If the salthave lost his savour.—The saltcommonly used by the Jews ofold,
as now, came from Jebel-Usdum, on the shores of the Dead Sea, and was
known as the Salt of Sodom. Maundrell, the Easterntraveller (circ. A.D.
1690), reports that he found lumps of rock-saltthere which had become
partially flavourless, but I am not aware that this has been confirmed by
recenttravellers. Common salt, as is wellknown, will melt if exposedto
moisture, but does not lose its saltness. The question is more curious than
important, and does not affectthe ideal case representedin our Lord’s words.
Wherewith shall it be salted?—The words imply a relative if not an absolute
impossibility. If gifts, graces,blessings, a high calling, and a high work fail,
what remains? The parable finds its interpretation in Hebrews 6:1-6.
To be trodden under foot of men.—The Talmud shows (Schottgenin loc.)that
the saltwhich had become unfit for sacrificialuse in the store-house was
sprinkled in wetweatherupon the slopes and steps of the temple to prevent
the feetof the priests from slipping, and we may accordingly see in our Lord’s
words a possible reference to this practice.
BensonCommentary
Matthew 5:13. Ye — Notthe apostles, notministers only; but all who possess
and manifest the graces spokenofin the preceding verses, and are truly holy

and righteous;are the saltof the earth — Appointed to be the means of
preventing or curing the growth of that corruption which prevails in the
world, and of seasoning men’s minds with wisdom and grace. But if the salt
have lost its savour — Or, be growninsipid, and therefore want seasoning
itself, wherewithshall it be salted — By what means canits lostvirtue be
restored? The word μωρανθη, rendered have lost its savour, has peculiar
strength and beauty, and is literally, be infatuated, or, grown foolish,
“alluding,” says Dr. Doddridge, “to the common figure, in which sense and
spirit are expressedby salt.” It is thenceforth goodfor nothing — It is wholly
useless, andleft to be thrown out of doors, and trampled on by men as the
common dirt in the streets:“thus worthless and contemptible will you, my
disciples, be, even in the most eminent stations, if you lose your characterfor
real and vital religion.” The following passage ofMr. Maundrell, quoted by
Dr. Macknight, illustrates our Lord’s supposition of salt’s losing its savour. In
the valley of Salt, near Gebul, and about four hours’ journey from Aleppo,
there is a small precipice, occasionedby the continual taking awayof the salt.
“In this,” says he, “you may see how the veins of it lie; I brake a piece off it, of
which the part that was exposedto the rain, sun, and air, though it had the
sparks and particles of salt, yet it had perfectly lostits savour. The innermost
part, which had been connectedto the rock, retained its savour, as I found by
proof.”
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
5:13-16 Ye are the salt of the earth. Mankind, lying in ignorance and
wickedness, were as a vast heap, ready to putrify; but Christ sent forth his
disciples, by their lives and doctrines to seasonit with knowledge and grace. If
they are not such as they should be, they are as saltthat has lost its savour. If
a man can take up the professionofChrist, and yet remain graceless, no other
doctrine, no other means, can make him profitable. Our light must shine, by
doing such goodworks as men may see. Whatis between Godand our souls,
must be kept to ourselves;but that which is of itself open to the sight of men,
we must study to make suitable to our profession, and praiseworthy. We must
aim at the glory of God.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible

Ye are the saltof the earth - Salt renders food pleasantand palatable, and
preserves from putrefaction. So Christians, by their lives and instructions, are
to keepthe world from entire moral corruption. By bringing down the
blessing of God in answerto their prayers, and by their influence and
example, they save the world from universal vice and crime.
Salt have lost its savour - That is, if it has become tasteless, orhas lostits
preserving properties. The saltused in this country is a chemicalcompound -
chloride of sodium - and if the saltness were lost, or it were to lose its savor,
there would be nothing remaining. It enters into the very nature of the
substance. In easterncountries, however, the saltused was impure, or mingled
with vegetable or earthy substances, so that it might lose the whole of its
saltness, anda considerable quantity of earthy matter remain. This was good
for nothing, except that it was used to place in paths, or walks, as we use
gravel. This kind of salt is common still in that country. It is found in the
earth in veins or layers, and when exposedto the sun and rain, loses its
saltness entirely. Maundrell says, "I broke a piece of it, of which that part that
was exposedto the rain, sun, and air, though it had the sparks and particles of
salt, yet it had perfectly lost its savor. The inner part, which was connectedto
the rock, retainedits savor, as I found by proof. So Dr. Thomson(The Land
and the Book, vol. ii. pp. 43, 44) says, "I have often seenjust such salt, and the
identical disposition of it that our Lord has mentioned. A merchant of Sidon
having farmed of the government the revenue from the importation of salt,
brought over an immense quantity from the marshes of Cyprus - enough, in
fact, to supply the whole province for at least20 years. This he had
transferred to the mountains, to cheat the government out of some small
percentage. Sixty-five houses in June - Lady Stanhope's village were rented
and filled with salt. These houses have merely earthen floors, and the salt next
the ground, in a few years, entirely spoiled. I saw large quantities of it literally
thrown into the street, to be trodden underfoot by people and beasts. It was
'goodfor nothing.'
"It should be stated in this connectionthat the salt used in this country is not
manufactured by boiling cleansalt water, nor quarried from mines, but is

obtained from marshes along the seashore,as in Cyprus, or from salt lakes in
the interior, which dry up in summer, as the one in the desertnorth of
Palmyra, and the greatlake of Jebbul, southeastofAleppo.
"Maundrell, who visited the lake at Jebbul, tells us that he found salt there
which had entirely 'lost its savor,'and the same abounds among the debris at
Usdum, and in other localities ofrocksaltatthe south end of the DeadSea.
Indeed, it is a well-knownfactthat the saltof this country, when in contact
with the ground, or exposedto rain and sun, does become insipid and useless.
From the manner in which it is gathered, much earth and other impurities are
necessarilycollectedwith it. Nota little of it is so impure that it cannotbe used
at all, and such salt sooneffloresces andturns to dust - not to fruitful soil,
however. It is not only goodfor nothing itself, but it actuallydestroys all
fertility whereverit is thrown; and this is the reasonwhy it is castinto the
street. There is a sort of verbal verisimilitude in the manner in which our
Lord alludes to the act:'it is castout' and 'trodden under foot;' so
troublesome is this corrupted salt, that it is carefully swept up, carriedforth,
and thrown into the street. There is no place about the house, yard, or garden
where it can be tolerated. No man will allow it to be thrown on to his field, and
the only place for it is the street, and there it is castto be trodden underfoot of
men."
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
13-16. We have here the practicalapplication of the foregoing principles to
those disciples who sat listening to them, and to their successors in all time.
Our Lord, though He beganby pronouncing certain characters to be
blessed—withoutexpress reference to any of His hearers—does notclose the
beatitudes without intimating that such characters were in existence, and that
already they were before Him. Accordingly, from characters He comes to
persons possessing them, saying, "Blessedare ye when men shall revile you,"
&c. (Mt 5:11). And now, continuing this mode of direct personal address, He

startles those humble, unknown men by pronouncing them the exalted
benefactors oftheir whole species.
Ye are the saltof the earth—to preserve it from corruption, to seasonits
insipidity, to freshen and sweetenit. The value of saltfor these purposes is
abundantly referred to by classicalwriters as wellas in Scripture; and hence
its symbolical significance in the religious offerings as wellof those without as
of those within the pale of revealedreligion. In Scripture, mankind, under the
unrestrained workings of their own evil nature, are representedas entirely
corrupt. Thus, before the flood (Ge 6:11, 12); after the flood (Ge 8:21); in the
days of David (Ps 14:2, 3); in the days of Isaiah (Isa 1:5, 6); and in the days of
Paul (Eph 2:1-3; see also Job14:4; 15:15, 16;Joh 3:6; comparedwith Ro 8:8;
Tit 3:2, 3). The remedy for this, says our Lord here, is the active presence of
His disciples among their fellows. The characterand principles of Christians,
brought into close contactwith it, are designedto arrest the festering
corruption of humanity and seasonits insipidity. But how, it may be asked,
are Christians to do this office for their fellow men, if their righteousness only
exasperate them, and recoil, in every form of persecution, upon themselves?
The answeris: That is but the first and partial effectof their Christianity
upon the world: though the greatproportion would dislike and reject the
truth, a small but noble band would receive and hold it fast; and in the
struggle that would ensue, one and another even of the opposing party would
come over to His ranks, and at length the Gospelwould carry all before it.
but if the salt have lost his savour—"becomeunsavory" or "insipid"; losing
its saline or salting property. The meaning is: If that Christianity on which the
health of the world depends, does in any age, region, or individual, exist only
in name, or if it containnot those saving elements for want of which the world
languishes,
wherewith shall it be salted?—How shallthe salting qualities be restoredto it?
(Compare Mr 9:50). Whether salt ever does lose its saline property—about
which there is a difference of opinion—is a question of no moment here. The

point of the case lies in the supposition—that if it should lose it, the
consequence wouldbe as here described. So with Christians. The question is
not: Can, or do, the saints ever totally lose that grace whichmakes them a
blessing to their fellow men? But, What is to be the issue of that Christianity
which is found wanting in those elements which can alone stay the corruption
and seasonthe tastelessnessofan all-pervading carnality? The restorationor
non-restorationof grace, or true living Christianity, to those who have lost it,
has, in our judgment, nothing at all to do here. The question is not, If a man
lose his grace, how shall that grace be restoredto him? but, Since living
Christianity is the only "saltof the earth," if men lose that, what else can
supply its place? What follows is the appalling answerto this question.
it is thenceforth goodfor nothing, but to be castout—a figurative expression
of indignant exclusionfrom the kingdom of God (compare Mt 8:12; 22:13;
Joh 6:37; 9:34).
and to be trodden under foot of men—expressive ofcontempt and scorn. It is
not the mere want of a certaincharacter, but the want of it in those whose
professionand appearance were fitted to begetexpectationof finding it.
Matthew Poole's Commentary
In our Christian course we are not to trouble ourselves with what men sayof
us, and do unto us, but only to attend to our duty of holiness, and an
exemplary life, which is what our Saviour pressethplainly, Matthew 5:16, and
leads his hearers to it by four comparisons, whichhe institutes betweenthem
and four other things. The first we have in this verse,
Ye are the saltof the earth: the doctrine which you profess is so, a thing as
opposite as can be to the putrefaction of the world, both in respectto corrupt

doctrine and corrupt manners (therefore, by the way, it will be no wonder if
they resistit by reviling and persecuting you).
You are the salt of the earth: through the grace of God bestowedupon you,
Mark 9:50 Colossians4:6. If it were not for the number of sound and painful
ministers, and holy and gracious persons, the earth would be but a stinking
dunghill of drunkards, unclean persons, thieves, murderers, unrighteous
persons, that would be a stench in the nostrils of a pure and holy God. Look as
it is in the world,
if the salthath lost its savour, its acrimony, by which it opposethputrefaction
in fish and flesh, not the fish or flesh only will be goodfor nothing, but the salt
itself, so infatuated, (as it is in the Greek), will be
goodfor nothing, but to be castupon a dunghill and trodden under foot. So it
is with ministers of the gospel, so with the professors ofit; if they have lost
their soundness in the faith, and holiness of life, they are of no value, nay, they
are worse than other men. Money, if it be clipped in pieces, andhath lost its
usefulness as coin, yet is of use for a goldsmith; meat corrupted, if it will not
serve for men, yet will feed dogs; saltis goodfor nothing. No more are
pretended ministers or Christians; their excellencylies in their savour;if that
be lost, wherewithshall they be salted? Of what use are they, unless to cause
the name of God and religion to be blasphemed? Such another similitude the
prophet useth, Ezekiel15:2,3.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
Ye are the saltof the earth,.... This is to be understood of the disciples and
apostles ofChrist; who might be comparedto "salt", because ofthe savoury
doctrines they preached; as all such are, which are agreeableto the
Scriptures, and are of the evangelic kind, which are full of Christ, serve to
exalt him, and to magnify the grace of God; and are suitable to the

experiences ofthe saints, and are according to godliness, and tend to promote
it: also because oftheir savoury lives and conversations;whereby they
recommended, and gave sanctionto the doctrines they preached, were
examples to the saints, and checks upon wickedmen. These were the salt "of
the earth";that is, of the inhabitants of the earth, not of the land of Judea
only, where they first lived and preached, but of the whole world, into which
they were afterwards sent to preachthe Gospel.
But if the salt have lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? The "savour"
here supposedthat it may be lost, cannotmean the savour of grace, ortrue
grace itself, which cannot be lost, being an incorruptible seed;but either gifts
qualifying men for the ministry, which may cease;or the savoury doctrines of
the Gospel, whichmay be departed from; or a seeming savoury conversation,
which may be neglected;or that seeming savour, zeal, and affection, with
which the Gospelis preached, which may be dropped: and particular respect
seems to be had to Judas, whom Christ had chosento the apostleship, and was
a devil; and who he knew would lose his usefulness and place, and become an
unprofitable wretch, and at lastbe rejectedof God and men; and this case is
proposedto them all, in order to engage them to take heed to themselves, their
doctrine and ministry. Moreover, this is but a supposition;
if the salt, &c. and proves no matter of fact; and the Jews have a saying (k),
that all that seasonlose theirsavour "hmej hgypm hnya but salt does not lose
its savour". Should it do so,
it is thenceforth goodfor nothing, but to be castout and to be trodden under
foot. Salt is goodfor nothing, but to make things savoury, and preserve from
putrefacation; and when it has lostits savour, it is of no use, neither to men
nor beasts, as some things are when corrupted; nor is it of any use to the land,
or dunghill, for it makes barren, and not fruitful: so ministers of the word,
when they have dropped the savoury doctrines of the Gospel, or have quitted
their former seeming savoury and exemplary conversations;as their

usefulness is gone, so, generallyspeaking, it is never retrieved; they are cast
out of the churches of Christ, and are treated with contempt by everyone.
(k) T. Bab. Betzah, fol. 14. 1.
Geneva Study Bible
Ye {2} are the salt of the {d} earth: but if the salt have lost his savour,
wherewith shall it be {e} salted? it is thenceforth goodfor nothing, but to be
castout, and to be trodden under foot of men.
(2) The ministers of the word especially(unless they will be the most cowardly
of all) must lead others both by word and deed to this greatestjoyand
happiness.
(d) Your doctrine must be very sound and good, for if it is not so, it will be not
regardedand castawayas a thing unsavoury and vain.
(e) What will you have to salt with? And so are fools in the Latin tongue called
saltless, as youwould say, men that have no salt or savour and taste in them.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
Matthew 5:13. Τὸ ἅλας τῆς γῆς] A figure of the power which counteracts
corruption, and preserves in a sound condition—the effectwhich salt has
upon water(2 Kings 2:20), meat, and such like. Thus the ministry of the
disciples was destined by the communication of the divine truth to oppose the
spiritual corruption and powerlessness ofmen, and to be the means of
bringing about their moral soundness and power of life. An allusion to the use

of salt in sacrifices (Mark 9:49)is not hinted at here (in answerto Tholuck).
Comp. rather Colossians 4:6;Theodoret, Heracleon(in Cramer, Cat. p. 33):
ἅλας τ. γῆς ἐστιν τὸ ψυχικὸνἄρτυμα. Withoutthis salt humanity would have
fallen a prey to spiritual φθορά. Fritzsche, overlookingthe positive efficacyof
salt, derives the figure only from its indispensable nature. Observe, moreover,
how the expressionτῆς γῆς, as a designationof the mass of the inhabitants of
the earth, who are to be workedupon by the salt, is as appropriately selected
for this figure as τοῦ κόσμου for the following one. And Jesus thus even now
throws down the thought of universal destination into the souls of the disciples
as a spark to be preserved.
μωρανθῇ]will have become savourless,Mark 9:50 : ἄναλον γένηται;
Dioscoridesin Wetstein: ῥίζαι γευσαμένῳ μωραί.
ἐν τίνι ἁλισθήσεται;] by what means will it againreceive its salting power?
Theophylact: διορθωθήσεται. Laying figures aside:If you, through failing to
preserve the powers bestowedupon you, and by allowing them to perish,
become in despondencyand torpidity unfaithful to your destiny and unfitted
for your calling, how will you raise yourselves againto the powerand
efficiencyappropriate to your vocation, which you have lost.[397]Your
uselessnessforyour calling will then be an irreparabile damnum! “Nonenim
datur sal salis,” Jansen. Grotius well says, “ipsiemendare alios debebant, non
autern exspectare,ut ab aliis ipsi emendarentur.” Augustine, de serm. in
mont. Matthew 1:16. Luther differently: Wherewith shall one salt? Erasmus,
Paraphr.: “quid tandem erit reliquum, quo multitudinis insulsa vita
condiatur?” Putting figure aside: Who, then, will supply your place? However
appropriate in itself this meaning might be, nevertheless εἰς οὐδὲν ἰσχύει
stands opposedto it.[398]See also Mark 9:50.
ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρ.] ab hominibus “obviis quibusque,” Bengel.

[397]Whether the salt canreally become quite insipid and without power, and
thus lose its essentialproperty, is not at all the question. Jesus puts the case.
We need not therefore either appeal, with Paulus, to the salt which has been
exposedto the weatherand become tasteless,whichMaundrell (Reise nach
Pal. p. 162;Rosenmüller, Morgenland, in loc.)found in the district of Aleppo,
or make out of the common cooking salt, saltpetre (Altmann, Vriemoet), or
asphalt (v. d. Hardt, Schoettgen), or sea-salt(Ebrard).
[398]This εἰς οὐδὲν ἰσχύει, etc., clearlysets forth its utter uselessnessforthe
purpose for which it was designed, not the exclusionfrom the community, or
the being rejectedby Christ (Luther, Chemnitz, and others), to which the
idea, “it is fit for nothing but,” is not appropriate. It would be different if
Christ had said βληθήσεται ἕξω, etc. Theophylactunderstands exclusionfrom
the dignity of teacher;Chrysostom, Erasmus, and others, the most supreme
contempt.—Observe, moreover, that the expressionἰσχύει (has powerfor
nothing except, etc.), and so on, contains an acumen in its relation to the
following passive βληθῆναι, etc.
Matthew 5:13-16. The course ofthought: The more important and influential
your destined calling is, all the less ought you to allow yourselves to be
dispirited, and to become faithless to your calling through indignities and
persecutions;you are the salt and the light! Weizsäckerrightly claims for this
section(in answerto Holtzmann, Weiss)originality in this connection, in
which it attaches itself with great significance to the last beatitude and its
explanation.
Expositor's Greek Testament
Matthew 5:13-16. Disciple functions. It is quite credible that these sentences
formed part of the Teaching on the Hill. Jesus might saythese things at a
comparatively early period to the men to whom He had already said: I will
make you fishers of men. The functions assignedto disciples here are not
more ambitious than that alluded to at the time of their call. The new section

rests on what goes before, and postulates possessionofthe attributes named in
the Beatitudes. With these the disciples will be indeed the salt of the earth and
the light of the world. Vitally important functions are indicated by the two
figures. Nil sole et sale utilius was a Roman proverb (Pliny, H. N., 31, 9). Both
harmonise with, the latter points expresslyto, a universal destination of the
new religion. The sun lightens all lands. Both also show how alien it was from
the aims of Christ to be the teacherof an esoteric faith.
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
(2) Their responsibility, Matthew 5:13-16.
13. Ye are the saltof the earth] Here the disciples and primarily the Apostles
are addressed. Those who fulfil the condition of discipleship have a
responsibility laid upon them.
have lost his savour] i. e. become tasteless. Saltis essentialto all organized life,
it is also the greatpreservative from corruption. If these virtues pass from it,
it is worse than useless. It cannot even be thrown on the fields, it must be cast
into the street to be trodden under foot. (See a very interesting illustration of
this in Land and Book, pp. 381, 382.)So to the apostles who hold the highest
and most necessaryplaces in the kingdom of God, there is no middle course,
either they must be the salt of the earth, be its very life, or fall utterly. If not
Peter, then Judas.
Bengel's Gnomen
Matthew 5:13-14. Ὑμεῖς, you) sc. the first disciples and hearers of the
Messiah. Saltand light are, in nature, things essential, and of widest use.
Frequently in Scripture the same thing is first declaredby metaphorical
expressions, thatour attention may be excited: and then, when we have not
understood it as we ought, and in the meanwhile have perceived our
blindness, it is disclosedin plain words.—τῆς γῆς, of the earth).—τοῦ κόσμου,
of the world) The earth of itself is without salt, the world without light.—ἐαν,

κ.τ.λ., if, etc.) It is not affirmed in this passage, thatsalt does lose its savour;
but it is shownwhat, in such a case, wouldbe the lot of the Saltof the earth.—
μωρανθῇ, should lose its savour) Galen,[178]in his observations on
Hippocrates, explains ΜΕΜΩΡΩΜΈΝΑ(the perf. pass. part. of this verb) by
ΤᾺ ἈΝΑΊΣΘΗΤΑ, i.e., which have no feeling; in Mark 9:50, we find ἄναλον
γένηται, become saltless.It is the nature of saltto have and to give savour;
and to this savourare opposedsaltlessness, wantof taste, value lost.—
ἁλισθήσεται, shallit be salted)Impersonal. Neither canthe salt (see Mark,
cited above) nor the earth be seasonedfrom any other source.—ἔξω,out of
doors) far from any householduse.—καὶ, and) sc. and therefore.—
καταπατεῖσθαι, to be trodden under foot) There is nothing more despisedthan
one who wishes to be esteemeddivine, and is not so.[179]—ὑπὸτῶν
ἀνθρώπων, by men) i.e., by all who come in its way. This is the force here of
the article τῶν.
[178]Hippocrates, the greatestphysicianof antiquity, was born at the island
of Cos in the 80th Olympiad, and flourished during the time of the
PeloponnesianWar. Galen, secondonly to Hippocrates, was born at
Pergamus, in the LesserAsia, about the year 131.—SeeENCYCLOPÆDIA
BRITANNICA.—(I. B.)
[179]The mere man of the world is not so much disgracedby his vanity as is
such a one.—Vers. Germ.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 13. - Ye are the salt, etc. (cf. a similar saying in Mark 9:50; Luke 14:34,
35). Weiss thinks that St. Luke gives it in its original context; that St. Matthew
is right in interpreting it as of specialreference to the disciples;and that St.
Mark applies it the most freely. It may, indeed, be that its position here is only
the result of the inspired guidance of the evangelist;but, on the whole, it
seems more probable that so natural a figure was used more than once by our
Lord, and that he really spoke these words in his sermon on the mount, as well

as on the later occasionindicated by St. Luke. Ye; i.e. the μαθηταί ofver. 1.
Are, in fact(ἐστέ); therefore recognize the responsibility. The saltof the earth.
It has been disputed whether allusion is here made to the preservative
properties of salt or to the flavour it imparts; i.e. whether Christ is thinking of
his disciples as preserving the world from decay, or as giving it a goodflavour
to the Divine taste. Surely a useless question;forgetful of the fact that spiritual
realities are being dealt with, and that it is therefore impossible for the one
effectto be really separatedfrom the other. Our Lord is thinking of the moral
tone which his disciples are to give to humanity. The connexionwith vers. 11,
12 is - Persecutionmust be borne unless you are to lose your moral tone,
which is to be to the earth what salt is to its surroundings, preserving from
corruption and fitting for (in your case Divine) appreciation. What χάρις is to
be to the Christian λόγος (Colossians 4:6), that the Christian himself is to be to
the world. If... have lostits savour(μωρανθῇ); so elsewhere in Luke 14:34
only. Saltthat has lost its distinctive qualities is here said to lack its proper
mind or sense. Saltwithout sharpness is like an ἄνθρωπος ἄλογος;for man is
a ζῶον λογικόν. On the fact of salt losing its virtue, cf. Thomson('Land and
the Book,'p. 382:1887), "It is a well-knownfact that the salt of this country
[i.e. Palestine]whenin contactwith the ground, or exposedto rain and sun,
does become insipid and useless. Fromthe manner in which it is gathered
[vide infra], much earth and other impurities are necessarilycollectedwith it.
Not a little of it is so impure that it cannot be used at all; and such saltsoon
efflorescesandturns to dust - not to fruitful soil, however. It is not only good
for nothing itself, but it actually destroys all fertility whereverit is thrown....
No man will allow it to be thrown on to his field, and the only place for it is the
street;and there it is cast, to be trodden under foot of men." It should be
observedthat the salt used in Palestine is not manufactured by boiling clean
salt water, nor quarried from mines, but is obtained from marshes along the
seashore, as in Cyprus, or from salt lakes in the interior, which dry up in
summer, as the one in the desertnorth of Palmyra, and the greatLake of
Jebbul, south-eastof Aleppo. Further, rock-saltis found in abundance at the
south end of the DeadSea (cf. Thomson, loc. cit). Wherewith shall it be salted?
i.e. not if you will not act as salt, wherewith shall the earth be salted?
(apparently Luther and Erasmus);but what quality cantake the place of
moral tone to produce in you the same result? You are as salt. If you lose your

distinctive qualities, where, canyou find that which answers to them? It is
thenceforth goodfor nothing. Our Lord here lays stress, noton want of fitness
(εὔθετον, Luke), but on want of inherent power. "It is only useful for that
purpose to which one applies what is absolutely useless"(Weiss-Meyer).
Vincent's Word Studies
Have lost his savour (μωρανθῇ)
The kindred noun (μωρός) means dull, sluggish;applied to the mind, stupid
or silly; applied to the taste, insipid, flat. The verb here used of salt, to become
insipid, also means to play the fool. Our Lord refers here to the familiar fact
of salt losing its pungency and becoming useless. Dr. Thompson ("The Land
and the Book")cites the following case:"A merchant of Sidon, having farmed
of the government the revenue from the importation of salt, brought over a
greatquantity from the marshes of Cyprus - enough, in fact, to supply the
whole province for many years. This he had transferred to the mountains, to
cheatthe government out of some small percentage ofduty. Sixty-five houses
were rented and filled with salt. Such houses have merely earthen floors, and
the saltnext the ground was in a few years entirely spoiled. I saw large
quantities of it literally thrown into the road to be trodden under foot of men
and beasts. It was 'goodfor nothing.'"
GreatTexts of the Bible
The Salt of the Earth
Ye are the saltof the earth: but if the salthave lost its savour, wherewithshall
it be salted? it is thenceforth goodfor nothing, but to be castout and trodden
under foot of men.—Matthew 5:13.

The exactposition of these words in the Sermonon the Mount must be
carefully remembered. They follow immediately after the Beatitudes—those
sayings in which Christ had describedthe various qualities of character
essentialto the citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven, that is, for one who would
obey the rule which He had come on earth to establishand extend. A citizen of
that Kingdom, Christ had just taught His hearers, must be humble-minded:
he must grieve over the sin and the various evils which exist in the world; he
must be gentle; he must desire righteousness above allthings; he must be
merciful; he must be pure-minded in the fullest sense ofthe words;he must do
all in his power to promote peace;and he must be prepared to suffer in order
that righteousness maybe promoted and extended. A characterwhich fulfils
these conditions, that is, a characterof which these virtues are the factors, is
the characterdesiredby Christ, and such a characteris His own.
Immediately after this description has been given, as soonas ever this ideal
has been setus as the standard, Christ addresses the words of the text to those
who were following Him and learning from Him. To them He lookedto
cultivate this character. And for a moment He thinks of them, not as they
actually were, but as He would have them be. Fora moment He treats them as
if His ideal for them were already realized in them; He does not sayye shall
be, but ye are the salt of the earth. The spirit of all the united qualities
commended in the Beatitudes is the salt of the life of the world. All of them—
meekness andhumility and purity and the rest—run up into two: the spirit of
love and the spirit of righteousness.These,then, embodied in human life, are
the saltof the earth, the salt of Churches and nations, of all forms of human
activity, of thought, of imagination, of business, of the daily life of men. These
keephumanity fresh and living, preserve it from corruption, and add to it the
savour which secures to men their true and enduring enjoyment of life. But
chiefly, in Christ’s present idea, they were the freshening, purifying,
preserving element in His Kingdom.
I

The Salt and its Savour
“Ye are the salt of the earth.”
1. Saltis one of those superfluities which the greatFrench wit defined as
“things that are very necessary.” Fromthe very beginning of human history
men have seta high value upon it and soughtfor it in caves and by the
seashore. The nation that had a goodsupply of it was countedrich. A bag of
salt, among the barbarous tribes, was worth more than a man. The Jews
prized it especiallybecausethey lived in a warm climate where food was
difficult to keep, and because their religionlaid particular emphasis on
cleanliness, andbecause saltwas largelyused in their sacrifices.
Both in Hebrew and in Roman bywords, salt is praised as a necessityof
human life. Homer calls it “divine,” and Plato speaks ofit as a “substance
dear to the gods.” It is an indispensable element in the food both of men and
of animals. It is so cheap and plentiful with us that we can hardly realize that
there are places where there is what is known as salt starvation, which is in its
way even more painful than hunger or thirst. A missionary tells us that in
Africa he has known natives who have travelled fifty or sixty miles in search
of salt. Their hot African blood, lacking the purifying and health-giving salt,
has brokenout in painful ulcers which drain the life and energy; and when
the mission-house has been reachedthey have beggedin piteous tones, not for
money or bread, but for salt.1 [Note:J. G. Mantle, God’s To-Morrow, 22.]
Chloride of sodium (common salt)is fortunately one of the most widely
distributed, as well as one of the most useful and absolutelynecessary, of
nature’s gifts; and it is a matter of much comfort to know that this mineral
exists in such enormous quantities that it can never be exhausted. “Had not,”

says Dr. Buckland, “the beneficent providence of the Creatorlaid up these
stores of saltwithin the bowels of the earth, the distance of inland countries
from the sea would have rendered this article of prime and daily necessity
unattainable to a large proportion of mankind; but under the existing
dispensation, the presence ofmineral salt, in strata which are dispersed
generallyover the interior of our continents and largerislands, is a source of
health and daily enjoyment to the inhabitants of almost every region.” Even
supposing that the whole of the mines, brine pits, and springs become
exhausted, we canfall back on the sea, whose supply is as boundless as its
restless self;and there is as little fear of its exhaustion as there is of the failure
of the sun’s heat.1 [Note:W. Coles-Finch, Water:its Origin and Use, 167.]
2. From one point of view it was an immense compliment for the disciples to
be spokenof as salt. Their Mastershowedgreatconfidence in them. He set a
high value upon them. The historian Livy could find nothing better to express
his admiration for the people of ancient Greece than this very phrase. He
calledthem sal gentium, “the saltof the nations.” But our Lord was not
simply paying compliments. He was giving a clearand powerful call to duty.
His thought was not that His disciples should congratulate themselves on
being better than any other men. He wishedthem to ask themselves whether
they actually had in them the purpose and the powerto make other men
better. Did they intend to exercise a purifying, seasoning, saving influence in
the world? Salt exists solely to purify, not itself, but that which needs its
services. The usefulness ofthe Church as a separatedsocietylies wholly in the
very world from which it has been so carefully separated. It exists to redeem
that world from itself. Out of love for that world it is sent by the same impulse
of the Fatheras sentto it His only-begotten Son; and the damning error of the
Pharisee is that he arrests this Divine intention in mid career, arrests itat the
point where it has reachedhim, arrests it for his own honour and his own
benefit, refusing to let it pass through him to its work on others.

(1) Salt is most largely used as an antiseptic, for allaying corruption, and for
stopping the effects ofclimate upon animal matter; it is a preservative of
sweetness andpurity in that with which it is associated. So the presence of
Christ’s Church in the world, of a Christian man or womanin the smaller
world of his or her own circle in society, is to be preservative: to allay
corruption, to maintain life, to ward off decayand death, to uphold a
standard of right, without which the world would be a far worse place than it
is.
“Ye”—Christians, ye that are lowly, serious, and meek; ye that hunger after
righteousness, thatlove God and man, that do good to all, and therefore suffer
evil—“ye are the salt of the earth.” It is your very nature to seasonwhatever
is round about you. It is the nature of the Divine savour which is in you to
spread to whatsoeveryoutouch; to diffuse itself, on every side, to all those
among whom you are. This is the greatreasonwhy the providence of God has
so mingled you togetherwith other men, that whatevergrace you have
receivedof God may through you be communicated to others; that every holy
temper and word and work of yours may have an influence on them also. By
this means a check will, in some measure, be given to the corruption which is
in the world; and a small part, at least, savedfrom the generalinfection, and
rendered holy and pure before God.1 [Note: John Wesley.]
(2) To put our Lord’s comparisonin its full relief, however, we must add the
sacrificialuse of salt in Hebrew worship as well as in the rites of heathen
antiquity. No offering of cakesorvegetable produce was laid on Jehovah’s
altar saltless;perhaps this seasoning was addedeven to animal sacrifices;
certainly it entered into the composition of the sacredincense. With all this in
their minds, Jesus’audience could understand Him to mean no less than this,
that His disciples were to acton society(Jewishsociety, ofcourse, in the first
place)as a moral preservative, keeping it from total decay, and fitting it to be
an oblation, not distasteful, but acceptable,to Jehovah. The thought was far
from a new one to the Hebrew mind. Remembering how the world before the

flood perished because “allflesh had corrupted his way,” exceptone salt
particle too minute to preserve the mass;how ten men like Lot would have
savedthe cities of the lowerJordan; how it marked the extreme ripeness to
destruction of the Israelof Ezekiel’s day, that even these three men, Noah,
Daniel, and Job, had they been in it, could have delivered “neither sonnor
daughter”; no Jew could miss the point of our Lord’s words to His Twelve
around Him, “Ye are the salt of the land.” When He spoke, the corruption of
His nation was extreme, as His own sermons show us; and effete Judaism was
fast ripening for its fall.
(3) Salt gives relish to what would otherwise be tasteless orunpleasant; and
Christ’s people are, if we may so speak, the relishing element in the world,
which prevents it from being loathsome altogetherto the Lord. So Lot was in
the cities of the plain the one savourwhich made them even so long endurable.
There was not much salt in Lot; but there was a little, there was a righteous
soul that at leastvexed itself because ofthe unrighteousness around it, if it did
not do very much to arrest that unrighteousness. And because ofLot, God
almost sparedthe place, would have spared it had there been only a few more
like him, or had he been just a little truer than he was. Evenso Christians are
to be as salt to the earth, which, without them, would be in a manner
loathsome, being so possessedwith mean and base and ignoble souls.
A king askedhis three daughters how much they loved him. Two of them
replied that they loved him better than all the gold and silver in the world.
The youngestone said she loved him better than salt. The king was not
pleasedwith her answer, as he thought salt was not very palatable. But the
cook, overhearing the remark, put no salt in anything for breakfastnext
morning, and the meal was so insipid that the king could not enjoy it. He then
saw the force of his daughter’s remark. She loved him so well that nothing
was goodwithout him.1 [Note:A. C. Dixon, Through Night to Morning, 197.]

(4) Salt does its work silently, inconspicuously, gradually. “Ye are the light of
the world,” says Christ in the next verse. Light is far-reaching and brilliant,
flashing that it may be seen. That is one side of Christian work, the side that
most of us like best, the conspicuous kind of it. But there is a very much
humbler, and a very much more useful, kind of work that we have all to do.
We shall never be the “light of the world,” except on condition of being “the
salt of the earth.” We have to play the humble, inconspicuous, silentpart of
checking corruption by a pure example before we can aspire to play the other
part of raying out light into the darkness, andso drawing men to Christ
Himself.
I was once travelling in an Oriental country, where life was squalid, women
despised, and houses built of mud; and of a sudden, I came upon a village
where all seemedchanged. The houses had gardens before them and curtains
in their windows; the children did not beg of the passer-by, but calledout a
friendly greeting. What had happened? I was fifty miles from a Christian
mission-station, and this mission had been there for preciselyfifty years.
Slowly and patiently the influence had radiated at the rate of a mile a year, so
that one could now for a space of fifty miles acrossthat barren land perceive
the saltof the Christian spirit, and could see the light of the Christian life
shining as from a lighthouse fifty miles away. That was the work to which
Jesus summoned the world,—notan ostentatious orrevolutionary or
dramatic work, but the work of the salt and of the light. The saying of Jesus is
not for the self-satisfiedorconspicuous, but for the discouragedand obscure.
A man says to himself: “I cannot be a leader, a hero, or a scholar, but I canat
leastdo the work of the salt and keepthe life that is near to me from spoiling;
I can at leastdo the work of the light so that the way of life shall not be wholly
dark.” Then, as he gives himself to this self-effacing service, he hears the great
word: “He that losethhis life for my sake shallfind it,” and answers gladly:
“So then death workethin us, but life in you.”1 [Note:F. G. Peabody,
Mornings in the College Chapel, ii. 53.]

II
The Salt without the Savour.
“If the salt have lostits savour, wherewith shall it be salted?”
1. Saltmay lose its seasoning power. In Christ’s era salt frequently reached
the consumerin a very imperfect state, being largelymixed with earth. The
salt which has lostits savouris simply the earthy residuum of such impure
salt after the sodium chloride has been washedout. Blocks ofsaltwere
quarried on the shores of the Dead Sea and brought to Jerusalem, and a store
of this rock-saltwas keptby the Levites in the Temple to be used in the
sacrifices.It was very impure—usually containing a large mixture of sand—
and in moist weatherthe saline ingredient deliquescedand, trickling away,
left the porous lump in its original shape, but all its substance, allits “savour”
gone. Forfood it was no longerfit seasoning. Castonthe altar it would no
longerdecrepitate and sparkle, and in flowers of flaming violet adorn and
consume the offering. Even the farmer did not care to get it. The gritty,
gravelly mass was goodfor nothing—only fit to be pounded and sprinkled on
the slippery pavement, and trodden under the feet of men.
I have often seenjust such salt, and the identical dispositionof it that our
Lord has mentioned. A merchant of Sidon having farmed of the Government
the revenue from the importation of salt, brought over an immense quantity
from the marshes of Cyprus—enough, in fact, to supply the whole province
for at leasttwenty years. This he had transferred to the mountains, to cheat
the Government out of some small percentage. Sixty-five houses in Jûne—
Lady Stanhope’s village—were rentedand filled with salt. These houses have
merely earthenfloors, and the saltnext the ground in a few years entirely
spoiled. I saw large quantities of it literally thrown into the street, to be

trodden under foot of men and beasts. It was “goodfor nothing.” Similar
magazines are common in Palestine, andhave been from remote ages;and the
sweeping out of the spoiledsalt and casting it into the streetare actions
familiar to all men. Maundrell, who visited the lake at Jebbûl, tells us that he
found salt there which had entirely “lostits savour,” and the same abounds
among the debris at Usdum, and in other localities ofrock-saltatthe south
end of the DeadSea. Indeed, it is a well-knownfactthat the saltof this
country, when in contactwith the ground, or exposedto rain and sun, does
become insipid, and useless. Fromthe manner in which it is gathered, much
earth and other impurities are necessarilycollectedwith it. Not a little of it is
so impure that it cannot be used at all; and such saltsoonefflorescesand
turns to dust—not to fruitful soil, however. It is not only goodfor nothing
itself, but it actually destroys all fertility whereverit is thrown; and this is the
reasonwhy it is castinto the street. There is a sort of verbal verisimilitude in
the manner in which our Lord alludes to the act—“itis castout” and
“trodden under foot”;so troublesome is this corrupted salt, that it is carefully
sweptup, carried forth, and thrown into the street. There is no place about
the house, yard, or gardenwhere it canbe tolerated. No man will allow it to be
thrown on to his field, and the only place for it is the street; and there it is
cast, to be trodden under foot of men.1 [Note: W. M. Thomson, The Land and
the Book, chap. xxvi.]
2. What is a saltless Christian? A saltless Christianis one who has gone back
to the earthly, the worldly, the carnal. The heavenly element is no longer in
the ascendant;the salt has lost its savour.
(1) One sign of deterioration is to be found in a loweredand attenuated ideal.
Christ has little by little become almost a personalstranger. We do not seek
His company, watchHis eye, listen for His voice. The thought of Him does not
send a thrill of joy into the heart. We have not renounced Him or consciously
takenanother Lord in His place. But we have laggedso far behind in the
journey that He is quite out of our sight and reach. We can no more honestly

say, as once we could say with a kind of rapture, “He is chief among ten
thousand, and altogetherlovely.” It is the inevitable result from this changed
relationship to Christ that the cross has dropped from our back (we did not
feel it drop, nor do we miss it now that it is gone);there is nothing in our lives,
or activities, or generalprofession, that is irksome or troublesome, compelling
sacrifice, andearning joy. The world is apparently neither worse nor better
for us. Reallyit is worse. The candlestick is still in its place, the candle is still
feebly burning, but in a moment it may go out, and then where shall we be?
If you take a red-hot ball out of a furnace and lay it down upon a frosty moor,
two processeswill go on—the ball will lose heatand the surrounding
atmosphere will gain it. There are two ways by which you equalize the
temperature of a hotter and a colderbody; the one is by the hot one getting
cold, and the other is by the cold one getting hot. If you are not heating the
world, the world is freezing you. Every man influences all men round him,
and receives influences from them; and if there be not more exports than
imports, if there be not more influences and mightier influences raying out
from him than are coming into him, he is a poor creature, and at the mercy of
circumstances. “Menmust either be hammers or anvil”;—must either give
blows or receive them. I am afraid that a greatmany of us who callourselves
Christians geta greatdeal more harm from the world than we ever dream of
doing goodto it. Remember this, you are “the saltof the earth,” and if you do
not saltthe world, the world will rot you.1 [Note:A. Maclaren.]
(2) Another signof deteriorationis a growing indifference to all great
enterprise for Christ. Few things are more exhilarating, more invigorating,
more uplifting, more solemnizing, than a mighty gathering of Christian
people, met, let us say, for a greatmissionary anniversary, to hear the glad
tidings of the progress of the Redeemer’s kingdom, and to return to their
homes, stirred, joyful, thankful. The man whose heart is cold to all this,
scepticalaboutit, indifferent to it, and who yet looks back on days when every
word spoken, every blow struck, every triumph won for Jesus, was a joy

which few things else equalled, has goodreasonfor asking himself what has
happened to him to make the growthof the Kingdom of Christ so small and
dull and unattractive and commonplace a thing. The change is assuredlynot
in the purpose of Jesus, orin the value of the soul, or in the duty of the
Church, which is His Body.
If, as can be reasonablyargued, the historian may trace an increasing
deteriorationin the moral worth of Alexander Borgia from the period when
the influence of Cesare atthe Vaticanreplaced that of Juan, the fact has its
obvious explanation. Rodrigo Borgia was a man of extraordinary vitality, with
unusual reserves ofpower for his years. His energies had found their chief
outlet in keeninterestin the functions of his office as he understood them. His
sensualindulgences, howeverdisreputable, were never the first preoccupation
of his nature; they were rather the surplusage of a virile temperament to
which such interests as art, letters, or building made no serious appeal. In any
position but that of the Vicar of Christ his excesseswouldhave passed
unremarked. If they weakened, as they undoubtedly did, his spiritual
authority, they had hitherto scarcelydetractedfrom the respectdue to his
political capacity. But in proportion as he surrendered his initiative in affairs
and sharedthe control of policy, of finance, and of ecclesiastical
administration with Cesare, the less worthy elements of his nature asserted
themselves more forcibly. It was inevitable that in such a man abdication of
responsibility should have this result, till in the end Alexander became a
thoroughly evil man; evil, in that under guise of natural affection, in reality
through cowardice, he allowedhis authority, both spiritual and political, to be
shamelesslyexploited. Thus knowingly and without resistanceRodrigo Borgia
steadily yielded to the worst impulses of his nature.1 [Note: W. H. Woodward,
Cesare Borgia,136.]
3. When the salthas lost its savour it is goodfor nothing. There are some
things, the chemist tells us, which, when they have losttheir own peculiar
form and utility, are still of some good, for they canbe put to other and baser

uses. But to what use can a dead Church be put? You may try to galvanize it
into newness oflife by artificial means, but, after all, it is nothing more than a
corpse. All that canbe truly said of such an attempt is that it was an
interesting experiment. A mere professionofreligion is either an
embarrassmentor, what is worse, a fatal delusion. This old world of ours has
undergone many material changes during its existence, yetit has grown more
and more beautiful, in spite of them, as the forces of evolution have unfolded
themselves. But there is one change it could hardly survive as the habitation of
man, and that is the lost consciousness ofthe presence and powerof God with
the people, or the loss of the sweetnessandbeauty of the Redeemerof men as
revealedin the lives of those faithful souls who sincerelylove Him. Forthe
Church which has lost its savour there will come a day when men,
overwhelmed by their disappointment, and maddened by their sense ofits lost
savour, will tear it to pieces, just as the enragedmob in Paris is said to have
torn the fillet from Reason’s brow and trampled it under their feet.
If the saltshould lose its savour, if the regenerative force should die out of the
Church—if there were a Church into which the spirit of the world had passed,
a Church which had become assimilatedby the world, a Church which had
somehow learnt to speak the world’s language and to justify the world’s
morality, and to echo the world’s phrases, a Church which are and drank at
the world’s table without the world becoming aware ofany protest, or any
discomfort, or any fear, a Church which, instead of awakening consciences,
sent them to sleep, instead of exposing the world’s plagues flatteredthem into
excusing or forgetting them: in the name of Godwhat use, or place, has such a
Church on the face of the earth? Such a Church has falsified the first law of
its existence. It has killed out the very consciencewhich it was createdto
sustain. It has destroyed the very power of remedy from sin which it alone
held in charge. It has poisonedthe wells of human hope. “If the very salt have
lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing,
but to be castout and trodden under foot of men.”

The really amazing thing is that such immense numbers of people have
acceptedChristianity in the world, and profess themselves Christians without
the slightestdoubt of their sincerity, who never regard the Christian
principles at all. The chief aim, it would seem, of the Church has been not to
preserve the original revelation, but to accommodate itto human instincts and
desires. It seems to me to resemble the very quaint and simple old Breton
legend, which relates how the Saviour sentthe Apostles out to sell stale fish as
fresh; and when they returned unsuccessful, He was angry with them, and
said, “How shall I make you into fishers of men, if you cannoteven persuade
simple people to buy stale fish for fresh?” That is a very trenchant little
allegoryof ecclesiasticalmethods!And perhaps it is even so that it has come to
pass that Christianity is in a sense a failure, or rather an unfulfilled hope,
because it has made terms with the world, has become pompous and
respectable and mundane and influential and combative, and has deliberately
exalted civic duty above love.1 [Note:A. C. Benson, Joyous Gard, 197.]
Glancedover some lectures of Mr. Gore’s on “The Missionof the Church.”
He tells a story of St. Thomas Aquinas which is new to me. The Pope said to
him, as the bags full of the money of the faithful, who had crowdedto the
Jubilee, were carried past: “Petercould not saynow, ‘Silver and gold have I
none.’ ” “No,” was the reply, “neither could he say, ‘Arise, and walk!’ ”2
[Note:Sir M. E. Grant Duff, Notes from a Diary, 1892–1895, i. 138.]
The Salt of the Earth
The GreatTexts of the Bible - James Hastings
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES

BRUCEHURT MD
again? It is no longer goodfor anything, except to be thrown out and
trampled under foot by men. (NASB: Lockman)
Greek:Humeis este (2PPAI)to halas tes ges;ean de to halas moranthe,
(3SAPS)en tini alisethesetai? (3SFPI)eis ouden ischuei (3SPAI) eti ei me
blethen (APPNSN)exo katapateisthai(PPN)hupo twn anthropon.
Amplified: You are the saltof the earth, but if salt has lost its taste (its
strength, its quality), how canits saltness be restored? It is not goodfor
anything any longerbut to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by men.
(Amplified Bible - Lockman)
KJV: Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have losthis savour,
wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth goodfor nothing, but to be cast
out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
NLT: "You are the saltof the earth. But what goodis salt if it has lostits
flavor? Can you make it useful again? It will be thrown out and trampled
underfoot as worthless. (NLT - Tyndale House)
Philips: "You are the earth's salt. But if the saltshould become tasteless, what
can make it salt again? It is completelyuseless and canonly be thrown out of
doors and stamped under foot. (New Testamentin Modern English)

Wuest: As for you, you are the salt of the earth. But if the saltloses its
pungency, by what means can its saltness be restored? Fornot even one thing
is it of use any longer, except, having been thrown out, to be trampled under
foot by men.
Young's Literal: 'Ye are the saltof the land, but if the salt may lose savour, in
what shall it be salted? for nothing is it goodhenceforth, except to be cast
without, and to be trodden down by men.
YOU ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH
Leviticus 2:13; Colossians4:6
Matthew 5 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries
Matthew 5:13 You Are the Salt of the Earth - John MacArthur
What did Jesus meanwhen He described His followers as the salt of the
earth?
What does it mean that believers are to be saltand light (Matthew 5:13-16)?
ARE YOU SALTING
YOUR SOCIETY?
RelatedResources:
Salt - ISBE Dictionary
Torrey's Topic

Hastings'Dictionary of the Bible -Salt
Hastings'Dictionary of the New Testament - Salt
Hastings'Dictionary of the New Testament - Salt (2)
Don't miss a the keyprinciple in Jesus'metaphors of salt and light. Citizens of
the Kingdom of Heaven impact societybecause theyare different (not weird
or bizarre but distinct) from the Kingdom of this World. When salt and light
try to accommodate to and/or be conformedby the Kingdom of this World,
they lose their distinctiveness and their potential to impact the decayand the
darkness of the this world which is passing away. In the RevelationJohn
records the triumphant cry when
"the seventh angelsounded; and there arose loud voices in heaven, saying,
"The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His
Christ; and He will reign forever and ever." (Revelation11:15-note)
Until then God has left believers in the Kingdom of Darkness andDecayto
dispel the darkness and retard decay, as peacemakersgiving out the word of
reconciliation(2Cor5:14-21), a word which in some will birth new life and to
others will cause them to hate and persecute you (John 3:19-21, Mt 5:10, 11,
12-see notes Mt5:10; 11; 12, Lk 6:22). Persecutionfor the sake ofChrist and
the Kingdom of Heaven therefore becomes a sign that one truly belongs to the
glorious coming Kingdom of our Lord (cp Ro 8:16, 17, 18-notes Ro 8:16; 17;
18). Beloved, don't let this world squeeze you into it's mold (Ro 12:2-note)
Charles Simeon writes…
LITTLE does the world think how much they are indebted to those very
saints whom they “revile and persecute for righteousness’sake.” (Mt5:11)
The extirpation of them (which is so much desired by many) would leave the

world an entire mass of corruption, without any thing to heal its disorders, or
to stop its progress towards utter destruction. Were they removed out of it,
the restwould soonbecome as Sodom and Gomorrah (Is 1:9). The
representationgiven of them in the text fully justifies this idea. They are
called“the salt of the earth.” This, of course, must be understood of those only
who have the spirit of religion in them: for all others, whatever they may
possess, are as vile and worthless as the real Christians are goodand excellent.
The words before us will lead us to consider, the worth and excellence oftruly
spiritual Christians— The use of salt, as intimated in this expressionof our
Lord, is to keepother things from putrefaction and corruption. This is the
office that has been executedby all the saints of old— [View them from the
beginning; and they will all be found active in their generation, and zealous in
benefiting the world around them. Noahpreached to the antediluvians an
hundred and twenty years, indefatigably exerting himself to bring them to
repentance. Lot, in Sodom, “vexed his righteous soul from day to day with
their unlawful deeds,” and strove to turn the people from their horrible
abominations. All the prophets in successive ages labouredin the same blessed
work, using all their efforts to lead their hearers to the knowledge ofthe only
true God, and to an obedience to his holy laws. How the Apostles acted in
relation to this, it is needless to observe. They lived for no other end, but to
make known the way of life, and to “turn men from darkness unto light, and
from the powerof Satan unto God.” (Readthe entire sermon - Matthew 5:13
Christians the Salt of the Earth)
Stuart Weberintroduces this sectionwith the following comment…
In Matthew 5:13, 14, 15, 16, before embarking on the body of the sermon,
Jesus explained in two word pictures the impact that a truly righteous person
will have on his or her world. The entire sermon, including the Beatitudes
before and the many teachings after, shows us how to live as "saltand light"

in the world as representatives of another kingdom. These wordpictures also
serve Matthew's purpose—to encourage believers to change their world
(Matt. 28:18, 19, 20). (Weber, Stuart, Max Anders, Ed: Holman New
TestamentCommentary: Matthew Broadman& Holman)
Dave Guzik summarizes Mt 5:13-16 writing that…
A key thought in both the pictures of saltand light is distinction. Salt is
needed because the world is rotting and decaying and if our Christianity is
also rotting and decaying, it won't be any good. Light is neededbecause the
world is in darkness, and if our Christianity imitates the darkness, we have
nothing to show the world. To be effective we must seek and display the
Christian distinctive. We can never affect the world for Jesus by becoming
like the world. The figures of salt and light also remind us that the life marked
by the beatitudes is not to be lived in isolation. We often assume that those
inner qualities can only be developed or displayed in isolationfrom the world,
but Jesus wants us to live them out before the world.. Jesus points to a
breadth in the impact of disciples that must have seemedalmostridiculous at
the time. How could these humble Galileans saltthe earth, or light the world?
But they did. Jesus neverchallenges us to become saltor light. He simply says
that we are - and we are either fulfilling or failing that responsibility.
(Matthew 5) (Bolding added)
THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT
An Outline
Chapter Subject
Mt 5:3-9 Character
Mt 5:10-12 Conflict
Mt 5:13-7:27 Conduct

You [emphatic: you alone] are the salt of the earth. "You", not governmental
institutions, not educationalinstitutions, not organizations, but "you" and
"you alone" are the salt of the earth.
Note that in this sectionJesus shifts from "those" ("blessedare those… ") to
the secondperson"you". He shifts from characterto influence of this
character.
The point is that those who live out the Beatitudes (Mt 5:3-12) in the powerof
the Spirit, not might be, but actually are "the saltof the earth". How do we
know that is what He means? "Are" is in the indicative mood which is the
mood of reality. In other words, they really are the specific saltfactor in this
world. Furthermore, the presenttense expressesa constantcondition and
indicates that saltiness is to continually be the lifestyle of every citizen of the
Kingdom of Heavenevery day of their life on earth.
Think of the implications - you have a greatpurpose in God's plan and you
have it all the time in every place you go! It does not matter whether you are
rich or poor, highly educated or not, tall or short, etc, etc. You are an
invaluable pawn in God's greatchess match! What an incredible privilege
citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven have been granted by their King, Jesus
Christ! This is privilege we should not only cherishbut one that should also
create in us a sense ofdivine accountability. We are stewards of salt so to
speak and one day we will give an accountfor how salty we were (cf 2Cor
5:10). The King does not give us an option at this point but calls us to a central
responsibility to be salt to the world about us. How are you doing? Are you
really living like a Christian? Are you using your money like a Christian? Are
you talking like a Christian? Are you conducting your family like a Christian?
Are you using your leisure time like a Christian? Does the language change
when you are around? Does the attitude of the workplace improve because

you work without complaining, you show up on time, you treat everyone with
kindness, you refuse to enter into gossip?
In Jesus'prayer (the real "Lord's Prayer")to His Father, He explains why
believers are not just automatically jettisonedup to heaven when they are
saved. We have a distinct purpose as He relates in His prayer…
"I have given them (those who are "the salt") Thy word; and the world has
hated them (cf persecutionsee notes Matthew 5:10; 5:11; 5:12), because they
are not of the world (explains "why" the poor in spirit, mourning, meek ones
are persecuted), evenas I am not of the world. I do not ask Thee to take them
out of the world, but to keepthem from the evil one. They are not of the
world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify (set them apart from the world)
them in the truth; Thy word is truth. As Thou didst send Me into the world, I
also have sent them into the world." (John 17:14-18)
There it is, Jesus'disciples are sent into the world to be "the salt" in the world
(note how often "world" is repeatedin this passage).
The renownedBaptist pastor, George Truett once said…
"You are either being corrupted by the world or you are salting it."
Jesus'declarationof the state of believers leaves no room for a middle ground.
Earth (1093)is used instead of ‘world’ as a metaphor for the people of the
world

Salt (217)(halas) is natural salt which purifies, cleanses, preservesfrom
corruption. Its literal sense of “seasoning salt” is found in Matthew 5:13;
Mark 9:50; Luke 14:34). Figuratively (see metaphor and terms of comparison
simile metaphor)) salt appears in conjunction with believers’ characters and
concerning their speech(Mark 9:50; Colossians4:6).
For an interesting discussionof saltsee Pliny the Elder's (who is he?)article in
Natural History, Book 31, chapter41.
Zodhiates - (I) Natural saltwhich purifies, cleanses,and preserves from
corruption (Luke 14:34; Sept.:Lev. 2:13; Judg. 9:45). In Matt. 5:13 and Mark
9:50 applied spiritually to the disciples of Christ who were to circulate among
and purify the corrupted mass of mankind by their heavenly doctrines and
holy examples. (II) Metaphoricallyused of wisdom and prudence (Matt. 5:13;
Mark 9:50 [cf. Acts 15:9; Col. 4:6; 1 Pet. 1:4; 1 John 3:3]). (Complete Word
Study Dictionary – New Testament)
The Greek noun halas is not found in the Septuagint, but the related noun
hals is found 31x in 29v (hals is not found in the NT, only halas) -
Ge 14:3; Gen. 19:26; Lev. 2:13; Lev. 24:7; Num. 18:19; Deut. 29:23;Jos. 3:16;
Jos. 12:3;Jos. 15:62;Jos. 18:19;Jdg. 9:45; 2 Ki. 2:20; 2 Ki. 2:21; 1 Chr.
18:12;2 Chr. 13:5; 2 Chr. 25:11;Ezr. 6:9; Ezr. 7:22; Job6:6; Ps. 60:1; Ezek.
16:4; Ezek. 43:24;Ezek. 47:11
Halas - 8x in 4v

Matthew 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become
tasteless, how canit be made salty again? It is no longer goodfor anything,
exceptto be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.
Mark 9:50 "Saltis good;but if the saltbecomes unsalty, with what will you
make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one
another."
Luke 14:34 "Therefore, saltis good; but if even salt has become tasteless,
with what will it be seasoned?
Colossians 4:6 Let your speechalways be with grace, as though seasonedwith
salt, so that you will know how you should respond to eachperson.
Vine - halas - a late form of hals (found in some mss. in Mark 9:49 ), is used
(a) literally in Matthew 5:13 (2nd part); Mark 9:50 (1st part, twice);Luke
14:34 (twice); (b) metaphorically, of "believers," Matthew 5:13 (1st part); of
their "characterand condition," Mark 9:50 (2nd part); of "wisdom"
exhibited in their speech, Colossians 4:6. Being possessed ofpurifying,
perpetuating and antiseptic qualities, "salt" became emblematic of fidelity
and friendship among easternnations. To eatof a person's "salt" and so to
share his hospitality is still regarded thus among the Arabs. So in Scripture, it
is an emblem of the covenantbetween Godand His people, Numbers 18:19; 2
Chronicles 13:5; so againwhen the Lord says "Have saltin yourselves, and be
at peace one with another" (Mark 9:50 ). In the Lord's teaching it is also
symbolic of that spiritual health and vigor essentialto Christian virtue and
counteractive of the corruption that is in the world, e.g., Matthew 5:13 , see
(b) above. Foodis seasonedwith "salt" (see B); every meal offering was to
contain it, and it was to be offeredwith all offerings presentedby Israelites, as
emblematic of the holiness of Christ, and as betokening the reconciliation

provided for man by God on the ground of the death of Christ, Leviticus 2:13
. To refuse God's provision in Christ and the efficacyof His expiatory
sacrifice is to expose oneselfto the doom of being "saltedwith fire," Mark
9:49 .While "salt" is used to fertilize soil, excess ofit on the ground produces
sterility (e.g., Deuteronomy29:23;Judges 9:45; Jeremiah 17:6; Zephaniah 2:9
). (Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words - Salt, Saltness)
Salt was one of the earliestof all preservatives and was a valued commodity in
the ancientworld. Without any source of refrigeration, salt became the means
of preserving meat from decaying, as the ancients rubbed down meat and fish
to preserve it for regular use. Seafarers justa century ago would salt down
their fish and meat to preserve them for the long transatlantic journeys. Salt
was so important as a corruption preventative in the ancient world that wars
were fought over it, and entire economies were basedon it. In short, saltcould
literally make the difference betweenlife and death in a time when fresh food
was unavailable.
The Greek writer Plutarch said that meat is a dead body and part of a dead
body, and will, if left to itself, go bad, but salt preserves it and keeps it fresh,
and is therefore like a new soul inserted into a dead body. Deadmeat left to
itself went bad, but, pickled in salt, it retained its freshness. The saltseemedto
put a kind of life into it. The point is that salt preserves corruption.
Salt was used as a figure of speechin the ancient world of sparkling
conversation, speechdottedwith witty or clever remarks. In Colossians 4:6
(note), salt indicates speechwhich gives a flavor to the discourse and
recommends it to the pallet as well as speechwhich preserves from corruption
and renders wholesome

The Greeks calledsalt"charitas" (grace)becauseit gave flavor to things. Our
speechmust not be corrupt (Ep 4;29-note) and salt(God's grace)holds back
corruption. A thoughtless word of criticism, a questionable remark, an angry
word—any of these could teardown in a minute whateverChristian testimony
others have tried to build up. No believerought ever to say, “Now take this
with a grain of salt!” Insteadwe need to put the salt into our speech!
When we wish to stress a person's solid worth and usefulness we often say
"Thatperson is the saltof the earth." Salt was a valuable commodity in the
dry Middle Eastand was used to barter. Our English word “salary” comes
from the Latin salarius (“salt”). A person lacking integrity might have mixed
white sand with the saltand then had more for trade. But salt mixed with
sand lost some of its salty quality and became useless.Christians are to be the
"saltof the earth".
Salt acts secretly. We know that it combats decay, though we cannot see it
perform its task. Its influence is very realnonetheless.
Spurgeon- Our Savior was speaking ofthe influence of his disciples upon the
fellows, and he first of all mentioned that secretbut powerful influence which
he describes under the figure of salt: “Ye are the salt of the earth.” No sooner
is a man born unto God than he begins to fellow-men with an influence which
is rather felt than seen. The very existence of a believer operates upon
unbelievers. He is like a handful of salt castupon flesh; he has a savorin
himself, and this penetrate those who are in contact with him. The unobserved
almost unconscious influence of a holy life is most effectualto serving of
societyand the prevention of moral putrefaction. May there be saltin every
one of us, for “saltis good.” Have saltin yourselves, and then you will become
a blessing to all around you.

J Vernon McGee has a pithy ("peppery") note on Christians as salt writing
that "God’s people in any age and under any condition are both saltand light
in the world. The Scots translate “savour” by the more expressive word tang.
I like their word much better. “If the salt has lostits tang.” The problem
today is that most church members have not only lost their tang as salt, but as
pepper they have losttheir pep also. We have very few saltand pepper
Christians in our day. Now salt doesn’tkeepfermentation and that type of
thing from taking place, but it will arrestit. You and I ought to be the salt in
the earth and have an influence for goodin the world. (McGee, J V: Thru the
Bible Commentary Nashville:Thomas Nelson)
Barclayexplains that "In the ancient world salt was highly valued. The
Greeks calledsaltdivine (theion). (Matthew 5 Commentary - Daily Study
Bible online)
The domestic and medicinal value of saltboth as condiment and preservative
was as universal in the ancient world as it is today. Pliny declaredthat "salt
has something of the nature of fire", and he quotes a current saying, "To the
whole body nothing is better than sun and salt"
Lasting alliances orcovenants were made by eating bread and salt, or salt
alone (Aristotle). (Ed: See Trumbull's book = Covenant of Salt) See also What
is a salt covenant?
Cato, Virgil, and Pliny all refer to the ability of saltto improve the
productivity of the soil.
Dwight Pentecostgives an excellentsummary of some of the Biblical uses of
salt…

Salt has been valued from time immemorial. Roman soldiers were paid in salt
and, if one were derelict in his duties, he was said to be "not worth his salt."
Salt was used throughout ancientsocieties as a signof friendship, (Ed note:
see The Oneness of Covenant:Friend) a conceptthat continues to the present
day. In the Arab world, if one man partakes of the salt of another man, that is,
eats a meal with him, he is under his protectionand care. If a man's worst
enemy came into his tent and ate of his salt, he would be obliged to protect
and to provide for him as though he were his dearestfriend.
Out of that idea grew the conceptof a salt covenant, referred to in 2
Chronicles 13:5 (cf Nu 18:19), where God speaks ofa covenantof salt made
with David. Before the days of a notary public who could authenticate the
legality of a document, when two men entered into a business agreement, they
would haggle over terms until they had settledon the agreement. Then they
would eat salt or portions of food together;eating salt bound them togetherin
what they calleda salt covenant. This covenantestablisheda contractthat was
not to be broken.
God prescribed saltas a necessarypart of the sacrifices.
"Every oblation of thy meat-offering shalt thou seasonwith salt; neither shalt
thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat-
offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt" (Lev 2:13, cf Ezekiel
43:23, 24, Ezra 9:9, 10).

God said that if they left salt out of their offering to God, it was an
unacceptable offering. The offering demanded the whole, and the offering was
incomplete without salt.
Job refers to salt as a necessaryingredient of foodas he askedthe question,
"Canthat which is unsavory be eatenwithout salt? or is there any taste in the
white of an egg?" (Job6:6).
As early as Job's time, men recognizedthe importance of salt, and attached
specialsignificance to it. (
Pentecost, J. D. Designfor living: Lessons in Holiness from the Sermon on the
Mount. Kregel Publications
) (Bolding added)
SALT PRESERVES
Someone has said that there are some 14,000 industrial uses for salt! And
frankly, this is where we must sound a note of caution… interpretation of
metaphors canbe "tricky" especiallyif the expositorhas a vivid imagination.
Unfortunately, such interpretations may not be what God really intended by
using a given metaphor like "salt". Forexample, some say salt was white and
then reasonthat this whiteness pictures purity (and even compare it with
purity of heart in Mt 5:8). Now while there may be some element of truth in
such an interpretation, that is probably not the primary message Jesus
intended to convey to His audience. Let's think for a moment about the
context. Jesus is speaking in a time when there were no ice makers or
refrigerators. There was needfor a simple method of preservation of

foodstuffs from decayand corruption and this was the primary function of
salt. In factthe only way to preserve meat in the hot climate of Palestine was
to salt it or soak it in a saltsolution. This practice is still common in many
remote areas ofthe world. It follows that the primary interpretation of the
meaning of the metaphor of saltis that it speaks of a preservative agent which
impedes corruption, decompositionand decay. The world, in contrastto what
many "enlightened" members teach, is not evolving but devolving. The world
is not going toward order but disorder. It is slowlydecomposing and rotting
away.
What happened when God left the world to itself after the fall of Adam?
Severalcenturies passeduntil we come to Genesis 6…
Then the LORD saw that the wickednessofman was greaton the earth, and
that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
(Genesis 6:5)
Even the "saltyeffect" of Noahwas not enough to preserve the world and
impede the moral decayand spiritual rot, Peterrecording that as a result
God…
and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacherof
righteousness, withsevenothers, when He brought a flood upon the world of
the ungodly; (2Pe 2:5-note)
Even with another chance man fell into total debauchery leading to the
wickednessofSodom and Gomorrahwhich God againcondemned

to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to
those who would live ungodly thereafter (2Pe 2:6-note)
So history proves the point that our world continually tends toward decaynot
divinity. Enter the citizens of the Kingdom of heavenwho are the decay
retardants and preservatives of a disintegrating world. Thus even as salt
arrests decayin meat or fish, the influence of Christian charactercan halt the
downward spiral of the world and help to stem the natural degenerationthat
occurs in the world’s rebellion againstGod. Christians have a moral influence
on the world around them, affecting every part of society. If you are not
having a moral influence on those around you then something is gravely amiss
in regarding your morality, for as Alan Redpath once said…
If it is possible for your closestcontacts to be neutral about Christ then there
is something wrong with your Christianity.
Sinclair Fergusonexplains the preservative effectof saltnoting that…
it calls for radicaland costlyapplication. Christians whose lives exhibit the
qualities of the 'blessed'will have a preserving impact upon a societythat, if
left to itself, will rot and deteriorate. Without the influence of the gospel,
societywill suffer moral decayand become putrid, unfit for the consumption
of goodmen and women… It is all too easyfor us to despairas Christians
because ofour frailty and insignificance, personallyor numerically. However,
we must never give in to Satan's lie that we canbe effective only when we have
large numbers and a show of strength. Jesus'illustration of saltis an
encouraging reminder that the apparently cheapand insignificant can
influence its environment out of all proportion to our expectation.

Sometimes this happens on a national scale. It is said, with some justification,
that the only thing that saved England from a revolution as horrible and
bloody as the French Revolution was the evangelicalrevival under the
preaching and teaching of men like John Wesleyand George Whitefield
during the eighteenth century.
More frequently it will happen on a small scale:your companions will
moderate their language;the name of Jesus will not be so easilyblasphemed;
those with whom you work will develop something of a conscienceaboutthe
standard of their work;the conversationsofmen or womenwill be brought
under control; respectfor others will be more common. Your life will save
others from yielding to the immoral pressures by which our contem-porary
world is characterised. Whenyou are the salt of the earth, you preserve
society. (Ferguson, Sinclair:Sermon on the Mount :Banner of Truth)
Christians make plenty of negative comments and vent tons of frustration
over the putrefaction of our society. But our culture is simply doing what
comes natural, rotting because it has no preservative. As hard as it is to admit,
we should quit leveling the blame of decadence onpagans and start asking
why the Church is not more effectively preventing decay(especiallyof our
ethical and moral values)from accelerating andexerting an ever increasing
negative influence in our society. A Christian should be in the world and yet
not of the world. How can this be? Considerthe fish who, though he lives in
the salty sea, does nottaste salty.
As John Stott points out, “And when societydoes go bad, we Christians tend
to throw up our hands in pious horror and reproachthe non-Christian world;
but should we not rather reproachourselves? One canhardly blame unsalted
meat for going bad. It cannot do anything else. The real question to ask is:
where is the salt?” (Stott, John: The Messageofthe Sermon on the Mount:
1978, Intervarsity Press)

The impact of salty Christians has effectedentire countries. Consider impact
of the First GreatAwakening (revival) on England at a time when the restof
Europe was embroiled in political upheavals. Even secularwriters
acknowledge thatit was because ofthe impact of salty Christians like John
Wesleyand George Whitefield that England was sparedthe effects of the
horribly bloody revolution that sweptthrough France (see FrenchRevolution)
in the late 1700's. Saltybelievers really do prevent from corruption and
decay!
Phil Newtontells an encouraging storyabout the "after taste" left by "salty"
missionaries relating that "PastorPaulNdungu from Kenya, told us of a
missionary couple that served for fifteen years among a particular people
group in Kenya without seeing any outward response. He said they labored
faithfully, serving the people, teaching the gospel, and doing all they could to
setChrist before these people. But none respondeduntil a couple of days after
their departure. The missionary family’s maid, two gardeners, and milkman
convergedupon the empty house, relatedhow they now missed these
Christians. All wept about this sense ofloss, and reflectedupon what they saw
in them and what they had taught them. One by one they calledupon the
Lord, coming to faith in Christ. The church among that people group was
born without a missionary but not without the saltand light influence of that
Christian family that lived among these people for fifteen years, faithfully
living unto the Lord. What they did not accomplishwith their missiological
approachthey accomplishedby being Christians in a decaying world.
(Matthew 5:13: Problem of Tasteless Christianity)
Barclaywrites that "The individual Christian must be the conscienceofhis
fellows;and the church the conscienceofthe nation. The Christian must be
such that in his presence no doubtful language will be used, no questionable
stories told, no dishonorable actionsuggested. He must be like a cleansing

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