The Sermon on the Mount is a foundational our guide for what must characterize those follow Jesus. And we’ve seen that the Beatitudes that Jesus sets forth at the beginning of his teaching here are not only the marks of a disciple but invitations to the way of life that leads to true human flourishing. The Beatitudes that Jesus sets forth at the beginning of his teaching in the Sermon on the Mount are not only the marks of a disciple but invitations to the way of life that leads to human flourishing. Verses 3-10 are about the blessed life of the disciple, verses 11-12 are about the joyful privilege of the disciple, and this results in verses 13-16: the distinct witness of the disciple. Here Jesus reveals that the citizens of his kingdom are to put his saving rule on display before the world through their life together.
In this section of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus uses two images from the Old Testament to describe the church’s distinct witness in the world: salt (Matt. 5:13) and light (Matt. 5:14-16). As with the rest of the NT, if we want to understand what Jesus is saying, we must be begin with Israel’s Scriptures.
Covenant Salt
“You are the salt of the earth” (Matt. 5:13a)
A basic understanding of salt is that it is used as a seasoning and preservative. But to understand the symbolism of salt, we need to look to the OT.1The following is primarily from Don Garlington, “‘Salt of the Earth’ in Covenantal Perspective,” JETS 54-4 (December 2011), 716-730. When we do, we find some amazing truths.
Salt is a symbol of permanence and purity, of covenant fidelity and fellowship. It was found in every offering, representing the eternal nature of the covenant. It also pointed to the worshiper’s need to persevere in faithfulness, resist impurity and idolatry, and preserve fellowship with God.
- Make an incense blended as by the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy (Exodus 30:35).
- You shall season all your grain offerings with salt. You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt (Leviticus 2:13).
- All the holy contributions that the people of Israel present to the Lord I give to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due. It is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord for you and for your offspring with you (Numbers 18:19).
Gordon Wenham explains that, “Salt was something that could not be destroyed by fire or time or any other means in antiquity. To add salt to the offering was a reminder that the worshipper was in an eternal covenant relationship with his God. This meant that God would never forsake him, and also that the worshipper had a perpetual duty to uphold and keep the covenant law.”2Gordon J. Wenham, The Book of Leviticus, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1979), 71. Salt is also a symbol of curse and barrenness, of covenant infidelity and destruction, and salty land was uninhabitable (Gen. 19:24-26; Deut. 29:22-23; Judg. 9:45; Ps. 107:33-34; Jer. 17:5-6; et. al.)
So, what does Jesus mean when he says that his disciples are the salt of the earth? It follows from what he has just said in vv. 3-12. As his followers live “right-side up in an upside-down world,” as his people live as citizens of heaven and embody is saving rule, they act as salt in the earth. “You are the salt of the earth” means that “You are the covenant faithful!” Those who belong to Christ are the true people of God, and their lives are to bear witness to his life-giving power. Like salt added to bland food, Christians are to flavor the earth with the distinct taste of the kingdom. And not just in our attitude and actions but in our speech as well:
- “Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another” (Mark 9:50).
- “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person” (Colossians 4:6).
We are to be a preservative and purifying agent in a corrupt world. “God intends the most powerful of all restraints within sinful society to be his own redeemed, regenerate and righteous people.”3John R. W. Stott and John R. W. Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7): Christian Counter-Culture, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 59. Interestingly, for those in the world who reject our message and mock our witness and despise our king, our “salty” life testifies against our world and the curse that remains upon them.
But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life (2 Corinthians 2:14-16).
Foolish Salt
“…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” (Matt. 5:13b)
Genuine salt cannot become un-salty. If so, it has ceased to be salt. In other words, what Jesus is saying is that those who claim to belong to the kingdom yet fail to influence the world by exhibiting the characteristics of that kingdom (5:3-12) are not real disciples. They are “salt” that has ceased to be salt; they are not salt.
But the word choice here is profound. “To lose taste” (μωραίνω) can also mean, “to become foolish.” Jesus uses the adjective of this word (μωρός) later in Matthew 7:24-27 when he speaks of the “foolish man” who is a hearer but not a doer, who builds his house on sand and not the rock (cf. Rom. 1:21-22). Remember, foolishness in the Bible “is not so much a lack of intelligence as the perversion of a will turned away from God.”4Latham in Garlington, “Salt of the Earth,” 736. This means, then, that authentic disciples, “salty” disciples, are the “wise” who hear and do his words, who embody the life of the kingdom, who look like Jesus.
This is the challenge of Jesus’s words here. We are to be the salt of the earth. But if we fail to flavor the earth with the distinct taste of the kingdom, the question is: Have we come to belong to that kingdom? If we fail to be hearers and doers of the word, and fail to adorn the gospel, do we believe the gospel?
Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. . . ., [and] any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Luke 14:25-35).
Matt Bedzyk is the lead pastor of Emmanuel Community Church where he has faithfully served in many capacities for most of his life. He received his Master of Divinity from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and currently oversees preaching and liturgy. Matt and his wife Brianna have four children: Lorien, Owen, Vivian, and Simon. In his spare time, you can find him brewing coffee, enjoying music, quoting Frasier with his wife, and dancing with his kids.
