The Salt of the Earth

[Salty]

What did Jesus mean when he said, “You are 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.” Matthew 5:13?

Salt was an important commodity in the ancient world. Salt that had lost its saltiness would be worthless, just another mineral. Most people ate a simple diet, and salt added flavor to meat or bread made from wheat or barley. John the Baptist ate locusts, which surely tasted better with a little salt! Roman soldiers were paid a regular salt ration, which in Latin was called a salarium. (This is where we get our word “salary” and the expression that a man is “worth his salt.”)

Salt’s white, clean-looking crystals served as symbols of purity and sacrifice. According to Leviticus 2:13, the priests added salt to all the grain offerings presented on the altar. Salt also brings to mind God’s judgment, for the first time salt is mentioned in the Bible is when Lot’s wife disobeyed God by looking back at the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and she became a pillar of salt (Gen 19:26).

In biblical times, salt mainly was used as a preservative. There were no refrigerators or freezers in Jesus’ day. If you butchered a steer or a sheep, the only way to keep the meat from spoiling was to dry it and cure it with salt. Jesus lived in Galilee, where one of the most popular foods was a small salted fish similar to a sardine. (Two of these small fish were probably the kind Jesus used when he fed the 5,000.)

The Christian life is anything but bland, dull, and tasteless. There should be a different flavor to our lives because we love the Lord. There should be a holy zest, a salty tang to our lives. When we’re around someone with a rotten attitude, we need to be salt. Sin spoils things; God’s people need to preserve what is good.

Salt also makes people thirsty. We need to talk and act in a way that makes others thirsty for God. Colossians 4:6 says, “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” When I was about 14 years old, some young men—students at Kentucky Christian College—stayed at our house for the weekend. They talked about football and music and girls, and we laughed a lot. But these young men also were very serious about the Lord. They were more fun than most Christians I knew, yet they were also more serious about God than most people I knew. Like “salt,” those guys made me thirsty. They made me want a faith filled with humor, joy, adventure, and purpose.

If you want your life to make a difference, don’t lose your “saltiness.”

 

[Ray]

Jesus used the concepts of salt and light a number of different times to refer to the role of His followers in the world.
Like salt, we Christians are meant to preserve what is good, add flavor to life, and be a powerful force for righteousness. If we lose our "saltiness," we become ineffective and useless.

 

[Olde Tymer]

.
Lot was salt for the town of Sodom. Were he not a resident there, God would've
overthrown the city immediately, but the two angels held their fire till Lot was out of
town.

Noah was salt for his generation, but that came to an and when God took Noah out
of harm's way so He could destroy the world.

Christians up to the time of the rapture are serving the same purpose. While they
remain here, the world is safe from the awful events depicted in the book of
Revelation. But the rapture will take them out of harm's way so God can proceed as
planned.
_

 

[3 Resurrections]

What did Jesus mean when he said, “You are 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.” Matthew 5:13?

This was Christ reminding His Jewish audience of the Israelite requirement of putting salt upon every meat offering back under Mosaic law.

"And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with 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). This is the text which you also brought up above in your OP.

So, when Jesus said to His audience, "You are the salt of the earth..." He was reminding them that, as Israelites, they were supposed to have remained faithful to their God as the people of the Old Covenant. The "earth" in this verse is "tes ges", which refers to the land of Israel in particular. But if those ethnic Israelites had lost their "saltiness" by disregarding God's laws of the Old Covenant which had bound them to Him, they were good for nothing, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.