Salt of the Earth (Mat 5:13)

 

Salt of the Earth (Mat 5:13)

Collin Leong.  January 3, 1916

I. INTRODUCTION

My son and I visited Hallstatt, Austria in October 2015. Hallstatt is a small town in a beautiful valley with a lake and recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage. 

Lake of Hallstatt

In Hallstatt, you can find nice, colored houses that seemed to fit the autumn leaves.  This is one of the most charming place I've been in my life. 

Another unique thing about Hallstatt is that it has the oldest salt mine in the world.  The white house in the middle of the picture below is built over the salt mine. What you need to do is take a lift down to that valley and get yourself a ticket to enter the mine. 

The reception house leading to the salt mines
 

Inside the salt mine, they have found human remains and tools that are as old as 3000 years, during the iron age. Usually salt is found near the sea, not high in the mountains. Some said that once this highland was once covered by the sea! 

Tunnels going deep into the earth for salt mining

What makes salt so important, that the ancient people were willing to dig 400 meters into the earth, live a life of suffering, and risk their very lives to get salt out of the earth? There are several reasons:

• At that time, salt – or what they also called “White Gold”, was very precious as they do not have refrigerators. Salt was the main means of preserving food.  

• In ancient Greece, you can buy your slaves with salt, and here we find the expression for a lazy individual as being someone “not worth his salt.”  

• In the Roman times, salt was worth its weight in gold.  Soldiers were paid with salt which was known as "salarium argentum,", where the word “salary” comes from.  

• The word "salad" also originated from "salt," and began with the early Romans salting their leafy greens and vegetables.  

• Salt adds flavor to food in cooking. Without salt, everything will taste bland.  

• Salt was also a minor but important ingredient in fertilizer, which is used to grow crops. 

• Salt is also used to kill bacteria and virus. During Covid-19 era, people were advised to gargle with salt solution to kill the virus that may have entered the mouth.  

• Our bodies need salt to survive. When Napoleon’s forces retreated from Moscow, many of the troops lost their lives as result of salt deficiency and low resistance to disease. We do know that too much salt is bad for you. 

Illuminated salt blocks  

The Latin word for salt is “sal”.  Many words have their root word based on “sal”. 

An example includes a nearby city called Salzburg, which means Salt Castle.  Several other cities in Europe that sold or process salt also start with "Sal".   

Let's take a look into the Bible to find out the important symbol of salt in our spiritual life.

2. Biblical Application of Salt

Jesus said this to his diciples: "You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet." (Matthew 5:13)

 
There are a few lessons we can learn from this verse:

"You are the salt" 

In the old testament, all offerings that the Jews bring to God as a sacrifice must be sprinkle with salt. "Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your offerings." (Lev 2:13)

Salt purifies the offering, as the sacrificed we bring are not pure. However, there was no need to put salt on the sacrifice of Jesus body on the cross, for He was already pure.

Furthermore, just as salt (Sodium Chloride) is immutable, God's salvation through Jesus - the only pure man - is also immutable. You will never lose your salvation, just as pure salt cannot lose it's saltiness. In fact, some of the covenant that God made to his people cannot be changed, and are known as "Covenant of Salt." (Num 18:19; 2Chron 13:5)

The salvation brought through Jesus's perfect sacrifice is one given by God's amazing Grace to humans who do not deserve it.  

In another word, salt a symbol of God's Immutable Covenant of Salvation through Grace. To put a cap on this, the root word for "sal-vation" is, indeed, salt.

“of the Earth” 

This does not mean that the salt comes from the earth, but that it is the scope of our work for Christ. Having been purified by hit sacrifice, we can now be a channel of God's blessing to everyone. 

 

“Lost its taste” 

Some critics said Jesus made an error, because Sodium Chloride cannot lose its salty taste. However, it was found that in the ancient days, due to the preciousness of salt, many dishonest merchants mixed salt with other chemicals or ingredients.  As a result, though the mixture looked like salt, it has lost its taste and cannot be used for the intended purposes. It was documented by authors that they literally saw people throwing damaged “salt” into the streets.  

"Lost its taste" translated from Greek “mórainó” means to be foolish; to act like a simpleton; to be a fool. Believers are left in the world to change the world; however, we sometimes foolishly “mix” God’s work with our own desires and ambitions, thus losing the effectiveness of spiritual salt.  

“no longer good for anything” 

In direct Greek translation this clause meant that “nothing is potent” (ouden ischye).  Another application is ischuó - to be strong, to have power; to prevail. The cognate (relative) word is isxýō – meant "gets into the fray", getting into action, i.e. engaging the resistance.   

Effective Christians are always on the move, in the same direction with God's will and letting ourselves be used for the multi-functions just like salt. 

 

“trampled under people’s feet.”

The word “trampled” (katapateó) is the same word used for Luke 12:1: “…when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another”  

The word seems to hint that ineffective Christians are not necessarily a slave to the secular world. However, the Christians are caught in a rat race, to achieve more money, fame and pleasure. Sometimes, they are the one that trampled on others, instead of behaving like Christ. 

3. Conclusion

As disciples of Christ, we are called to perform similar functions as salt – to preserve the Gospel message; to enable the church to grow; and to help others taste the goodness of God.  

"Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!" (Psalms 34:8). How will they know God is good, unless we are good?  

Salt has little influence while sitting in a saltshaker. It is when we rub elbows with others, both Christians and non-Christians, that we have the opportunity to bring a Christ-like flavor to their lives.

"How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?" (Rom 10:14) 

"Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person." (Colossians 4:6)

However, we must always stay alert so that we do not allow secular flavor from distracting us from the functioning of salt of God. 

While we are often few in number, but it does not matter. Just as a few grains of salt can make a big difference in food, so also a few faithful Christians can make a big difference in the world.