Sign in
MATTHEW 5:13 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
Matt 5:12Matt 5:14
“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.”
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. The disciples are salt — a metaphor that communicates preserving quality, flavor-enhancing function, and a certain distinctiveness that cannot be diluted without loss. Salt that has lost its saltiness has become useless; a disciple community that has lost its distinctive kingdom character serves no purpose in the world. Colossians 4:6 says let your speech always be seasoned with salt. The question how shall its saltiness be restored? implies that tasteless salt cannot recover its saltiness through its own effort — the warning is about the irreversible loss of the community's distinctive kingdom character when it accommodates itself to surrounding values.

Church Fathers on Matthew 5:13

When He had delivered to His Apostles such sublime precepts, so much greater than the precepts of the Law, that they might not be dismayed and say, How shall we be able to fulfil these things? He sooths their fears by mingling praises with His instructions, saying, 'Ye are the salt of the earth.' This shews them how necessary were these precepts for them. Not for your own salvation merely, or for a single nation, but for the whole world is this doctrine committed to you. It…

Chrysostom · 4th century

There may be here seen a propriety in our Lord’s language which may be gathered by considering the Apostle’s office, and the nature of salt. This, used as it is by men for almost every purpose, preserves from decay those bodies which are sprinkled with it; and in this, as well as in every sense of its flavour as a condiment, the parallel is most exact.

Hilary of Poitiers · 4th century

Moreover, salt is changed into another kind of substance by three means, water, the heat of the sun, and the breath of the wind. Thus Apostolic men also were changed into spiritual regeneration by the water of baptism, the heat of love, and the breath of the Holy Spirit. That heavenly wisdom also, which the Apostles preached, dries up the humours of carnal works, removes the foulness and putrefaction of evil conversation, kills the work of lustful thoughts, and also that worm…

Remigius · 9th century
Read all 15 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
Publish a reflection on this verse
No reflections on this verse yet. Be the first to write one!
Matthew 5:13 — Community Reflections | HolyStudy