METAPHOR OF THE SALT & LIGHT

Matthew 5:13-16

Salt of the earth:

 Salt - primary way to preserve food = life to the Hebrews.

o Salt is aseptic – devoid of poison. As opposed to antiseptic – kills bacteria.

o Tainted meat cannot be purified by salt, but salt can prevent further decay by arresting the spread of the
bacteria.

 Application:

o Salt = a moral quality. ‘Pure heart’.

o Christians are to attempt to check or fight against moral decay in the world.

 Salt was obtained by evaporating water from the Dead Sea.

o Other substances – magnesium and potassium.

o Salt crystals first to form – collected prior to formation of magnesium and potassium crystals to remain
pure.
o Diligence

 If salt was not separated, moisture would inevitably cause the salt to leach.

o What then remained had bad taste and could not preserve food.
o ‘Useless’ and ‘thrown away’.
o Small amount of salt can effect ‘taste’ of food … society

 Greek words used: ‘lose its flavor’ = made foolish

‘thrown out’ = intense or violent action (strong statement)

 Israel today, ‘savorless’ salt – spread on flat rooftops made of soil, causing it to harden.

o These places are then used for social gathering and as playgrounds – ‘trampled on’ imagery.

 Mark 9:50 - emphasizes importance of relationship with fellow believers – being at peace with one another – so
that we represent Christ well and will not lose our effectiveness in the world. “Have salt in yourselves and have
peace with one another.” No salt … no peace.

 Matthew and Luke – emphasize total uselessness. “It is then good for nothing, but to be thrown out and
trampled underfoot by men.” “It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out. He who
has ears, let him hear!”

Application:

o Christians are to be ‘separated unto the gospel’.

o Cannot serve God and mammon.
o Diligence is required to remain uninfluenced by the corruption in the world.

*** Salt cannot remove decay or bacteria from meat, it can only preserve that which is not yet contaminated. As Christians,
we cannot eradicate evil from this world. However, we are called to protect and preserve, to the best of our ability, that
which is good.***
Light of the world:

 Light enables other things to be seen by its shining – good and evil – by contrast.

o ‘Lamp’ – the Word of God – acts as light.

o Christians, by the way we live our lives, act as light revealing what is right and good.
o With the light of our spiritual energy, we can be used to guide the world to see Christ via the gospel.
o If Christians lose their spiritual energy and commitment, how will the world be enriched and enlightened.

 G. Campbell Morgan: “Each Christian man and woman has to fulfill a double function in the world. The whole
church, in its corporate relationship, in the bonds of love, friendship and service, is to illuminate the distances. In
the home, with the shut door, the lamp is to illuminate everything there.”

o Dual leadership responsibility – individual, single candle, and as part of the whole, a candelabra.

When the doors to our homes are opened, a light should shine forth welcoming and embracing the visitor as he or she
enters. Our hearts should be like that open door, with the light of Christ shining forth in our faces (Moses), words, deeds
and attitudes toward others.

Consider the order of the similitudes: Cannot be light if we are not first salt, both individually and as a body.