“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.” Matthew 5:13 NKJV.
In this week’s blog I am asking the question, “What does Jesus mean by the word “salt” in Matthew 5:13?”
“Salt” in this passage comes from the Greek word halas meaning prudence (see The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, James Strong, LL.D., S.T.D.). The Merriam-Webster Dictionary’s definition of prudence is “careful good judgement that allows someone to avoid danger or risks.”
“Salt” also refers to “believers” (see Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, W.E. Vine, Merrill F. Unger, William White, Jr., Thomas Nelson Publishers).
In this world, the believer has to have the wisdom to have to carry out the will of God (careful good judgement) for our lives to reap the blessings that God has for us. Thus we are to avoid the dangers of unbelief or to be faithless like those of the world, and thus “to be trodden under foot of men” like salt that has lost it’s savor or flavor.
Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary in it’s reference to “believers” states that “In the Lord’s teaching it is also symbolic of that spiritual health and vigor essential to Christian virtue and counteractive of the corruption that is in the world.”
Be “Salt!”
God Bless You All!
Brenda A. McGee has attended New York Theological Seminary in New York, NY, and Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA as a Master of Divinity student.