The Christian As Salt

“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 (ESV).

Jesus used the metaphor of salt to teach how important Christians are as they live out their lives in the world.  Comparing the disciples to the familiar commodity of salt, He reminded them to think of the value of salt.  It is used as a preservative and as a seasoning.  As a preservative it keeps food from spoiling.  Growing up on a farm, we raised hogs and along about Thanksgiving time, my father announced a “hog-killing” day when the hogs were butchered and the meat laid out in the smokehouse to be preserved and cured.  I can remember well how he took salt, rubbing it well into the meat to start the curing process.  He also had his own formula using brown sugar to sugar-cure the hams, but always there was the salt application first to preserve the meat.  Salt is also a seasoning, making the food taste better.  Many of us who have experienced heart difficulties may have to forego salt in our diets, or, if salt is used at all only minimally or a “lite” salt.  But still the salt permeates the food and makes it more tasty.  There are other uses for salt:  as a cleansing agent, as a medicine in warm water to gargle sore throats, as a agent to purify water.  All of these can be likened to the influence of the Christian’s life.

Coming immediately after the Beatitude on persecution, the comparison of the Christian to salt shows how important is the influence for good the Christian wields in the world.  We are to purify, preserve and flavor the society in which we live by setting a godly example and counteracting corruption.  To do this, the Christian must be genuine, holy and obedient to God’s direction. 

In my historical research for columns I’ve written, I came across some Civil War letters posted by leaders in Fannin County, Georgia to Governor Joseph Emerson Brown, the man who served our state for three terms during the years leading up to and during that war.  More than one of the letters begged the governor to ship salt as soon as possible to the mountains, for they had none for their cattle salt licks or for use in curing meat and even seasoning food.  It was an urgent appeal and one expressing genuine need.  Likewise, in thinking of the Christian’s influence as salt, we think of the necessity of good example and virtuous living.

Jesus said that if the salt has lost its savor, or saltiness, it is good for nothing except to be trod under feet of men.  We have historical accounts that ancient roads were actually paved with such salt, that which had lost its potency as a preservative and a flavoring.  The alternative, rather than to waste what had been taken from the salt mines or else extracted from sea water in a slow process when it became flavorless, was to spread it on roadways to make them smoother.  That may not have been the original intent for the salt, but it was a way to make it useful.  As applied to a Christian, the “salt that has lost its savor” applies to those who take on the characteristics of worldliness and are no longer an influence for good.  Christians must feel that they have a flavor given them by the Lord Christ, different from the world, and making a definite difference in society.