Matthew 5:13, The Salt of the Earth

"Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men." Matthew 5:13

The Bible doesn’t command us to be the salt of the earth. It says we already are salt. But what exactly does it mean to be salt? There are at least three attributes of salt that I believe applies to Christians.

First, salt adds flavor. A touch of salt to a bland meal seems to perform a miracle and makes the blah meal suddenly delicious. Jesus said that He came so that we might have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10). We don’t just get by in life, we have abundant life. Like salt flavors meals, I believe a walk with Christ adds flavor to life.

Next, salt is a preservative. People used to cover meat with salt to preserve it. For centuries it was the best preservative of food. How does it do this? It acts as an antibiotic in that it inhibits the growth of bacteria. Even a few bacteria in meat will multiply and spoil it. Compare that to leaven. Jesus warned His disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and of Herod (Matthew 16:6, Mark 8:15, et al). In the Bible, leaven is a type of sin and the Bible warns that a little leaven will leaven the whole lump (1 Corinthians 5:6). Our society needs salt. Even a little sin will corrupt the whole nation.

Finally, salt makes people thirsty. Jesus said that He has living water which becomes in us eternal life. Whoever drinks the water He gives will never thirst again (John 4:13-14). It’s the job of Christians to make people want to drink that water. It’s our job to make people thirsty.

I’m sure there is much more truth that could be mined from Matthew 5:13, but these simple points should be self evident. As Christians, we should add flavor to life, we should be a preservative that staves off sin, and we should make people thirsty for the living water Christ promised them. We should examine ourselves. It’s a sobering thought. Are we salt? Do we have these three characteristics of salt or are we the worthless salt that has lost its flavor?