On the First-Century Context of Matthew 5:13

The Salt of the Earth

Matthew 5:13 is one of the most well-known and popular passages in Scripture. Salt of the earth is a phrase in common usage in the English language. But the phrase’s meaning now has deviated from the original context when Jesus first spoke it while teaching the crowds of ancient Judea. Currently, ‘salt of the earth’ is used to reference hard-working common folk, those who support society from the background in their quiet virtuous way and who are underappreciated or just not often thought about. They are the backbone of society, or those who act as the glue, keeping the world together. But to properly understand what Jesus Himself meant in Matthew 5:13, along with related passages Mark 9:49-50 and Luke 14:34, one must use the Church’s tools for interpreting Scripture. This essay will explore Matthew 5:13 according to the principles of interpretation laid out in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 109-119. Using these instructions, and informed by Scripture, the Church Fathers, the orderly attributes of creation, and historical context, one can understand what it means to be the salt of the earth, and what it means when Jesus says that this salt can lose its saltiness and may be thrown out.

Part I: The Literal Sense

“The literal Sense is the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture and discovered by exegesis, following the rules of sound interpretation. “All other senses of Scripture are based on the literal” (ST I, 1, 10, ad I.)” (CCC 116). The literal sense of Scripture refers to the initial meaning of the text in context. Exegesis is performed by trying to understand authorial intent in its original context and the position and credibility of the author. It must be understood that not all is written in the same genre. The Gospels themselves at face value are meant to be literal historical accounts of the life of Jesus. This does not preclude other senses in which the texts may be understood, but they must be understood in this context first and foremost. There is good evidence to believe that the Gospels are credible accounts of what Jesus actually did and said that will not be covered here.[DF1] [DF2] [1] The teaching passages of Jesus must be interpreted a second time to discover what Jesus intended to say when He spoke, especially this passage which is very clearly metaphor.

Properties of Salt

              To begin to understand what Jesus was speaking about, it may be useful to understand the physical properties of salt and what it was used for. Sirach 39:26 correctly states that among the necessities of life, on par with water and heat, is salt. A few terms are needed before trying to explain what salt does. Salt, most commonly sodium chloride, is an electrolyte, which means that it not only dissolves in water, but also dissociates. When sugar is dissolved in water, it separates into individual particles of sugar and forms what is called a solution, thus distributing a sweet taste evenly in the water. When salt is dissolves in water, the sodium and chloride also dissociate, meaning they break into component ions which not only distribute throughout the water, but also allow the transmission of electricity through the water as the molecules and ions line up in ways that permit electrons to freely move through the solution.

Osmosis is the spontaneous passage or diffusion of water through a barrier which prevents the freedom of particles dissolved within the water.[DF3]  The electrolyte property of salt affects osmosis, important to biological processes because the way that ions diffuse is based on their concentration in water. This property of salt is important to biological function because the buildup of sodium ions is the process behind neural transmissions and muscle contraction. Salt’s ions are only permitted in certain amounts within biological systems, but because cells can control the flow of the ions and not the flow of the water, water flows from areas of low concentration of particles to high concentration of particles to equalize the distribution of the solutes. Where high amounts of salt are present with biological systems, because only a little salt is allowed within the cells, water is drawn out of cells, dehydrating the cells, sometimes enough to kill them. This property gives salt five primary uses and three subsequent associations in ancient societies: (1) salt as a seasoning, (2) salt as a preservative, (3) salt as a fertilizer, (4) salt as a cause of destruction or desolation, (5) salt as an anti-septic, (6) salt as a major valuable, (7) salt as a sign of favor, (8) salt used in covenant-making and sign of relationship. {+Plus Valley of Salt}

Salt as Jesus Would Have Known It

              Likely the first association Jesus would have had with salt, and likely one of the first things His audience would have recognized, is salt’s taste. Salt’s foremost use was as a seasoning, and it is this association that most modern people are familiar with. While salt is set alongside pepper on tables, their effects are not the same. Because salt is such an important substance for biological function, it is specifically built into the human sense of taste as a primary flavor detectable by certain taste buds. It has an especially potent flavor, and yet salt’s primary use as a seasoning is to bring out the flavor of the food it is put on. There are a few different explanations for why salt enhances the flavors of foods instead of overriding them, but one main hypothesis is that alt induces diffusion, drawing out water and allowing the flavor particles to be more pronounced. The other popular hypothesis is that the salt masks bitter tastes in food, allowing desirable sweet and savory flavor to be more pronounced.[2]

              The second common use of salt is preservation of food. In a time before refrigeration, food, and meat especially, still needed to be kept for extended periods of time without spoiling. The point of refrigeration is to keep microorganisms from spawning on and in the food making it inedible and dangerous to eat. This is a principle behind drying meat, smoking meat, and other methods of keeping meat. Of these, salt is just about the most ancient and this becomes a very prominent association of salt. While imperfect, salt is effective for this purpose. Most microorganisms are not very tolerant of salt. They have a weak ability to regulate the water in their bodies when salt is present to a certain extent, and if too much salt is present, they are killed, keeping the food safe for consumption. Salt of this purpose is mentioned in an interesting context in the Old Testament: the wives of pagan priests would preserve the sacrifices their husbands offered to idols for later usage (Baruch 6:28).

              Thirdly, salt has anti-septic properties which relate to the previously mentioned functions. By the same actions of osmosis which prevents unwanted growth on food, salt can prevent infection in wounds. Many ancients would use salt as an anti-septic because water would be drawn out of bacteria, killing them, drawing them out of the flesh, and so cleaning the area. It is commonly known that this is a very painful process, and it is such for a couple reasons. Firstly, besides drawing water out of the infectious organisms, salt also draws water out of the subject’s cells, drying them, which anyone with chapped lips or dry skin knows makes them more sensitive. Secondly, salt is not smooth, but jagged, and can itself cause some amount of damage to cell membranes. The ancients would have recognized the value of salt over the pain it would cause while being administered, but in modern usage, saline solutions are much more commonly used, being better at simultaneously washing out the wound and at not causing pain. A possible example of this kind of usage of salt in the Old Testament, at least symbolically, comes from 2 Kings 2:20. In this story, Elisha has just begun his ministry apart from Elijah and he comes to Jericho where the water source is bad and causes sickness and miscarriage. The leaders of the city plead with him and in response he fills a bowl with salt and throws the salt in the water and cleanses it. It does not seem that Elisha would’ve had enough salt to truly purify a spring if it were infected by bacteria or fungi or other, and even if he did, it may not have been the most desirable water to drink from, but the symbolism is visible.

              Fourthly, salt was used as a fertilizer in certain cases. In low amounts, salt can promote the growth of certain crops by killing weeds, thereby reducing competition. There is a fine line for this to work, between the killing of the weeds and the killing of the crops, and only certain salt-resistant crops, like asparagus, cauliflower, or cotton, really benefit from this kind of fertilizer. Salt can even promote the release of minerals sometimes. A second fertilizing application of salt relates more to salt’s preservative properties when salt is applied to manure. Salt, again in low amounts, can keep manure from rotting if left to sit for a time before being spread in fields.

              From the fifth association of salt is derived a somewhat popular idiom: ‘salting the earth’. It refers to stories where, after victory over an enemy, an invading army would spread salt on the fields around the loser’s city, rendering the fields useless and infertile. This both symbolizes and actualizes curse upon the land and the inhabitants who would face hardship without productive land and would likely have to leave. This is, of course, the message behind the Romans salting Carthage. They hated Carthage so much that they wanted it never to return to power. Another very ancient example of this, specifically with implications of divine judgement, comes from the 8^th-century Sefire Treaty steles[DF4] .[3] In section III. on curses with accompanying rites, there is found the line “and may Hadad sow in them salt”. Them refers to Arpad and subject cities who are the subjects of this treaty with KTK. This treaty invokes divine judgement from the god, Hadad, upon Arpad in response to any potential unfaithfulness to the treaty. This appears to have been part of a common formula for covenant curses in ancient Mesopotamia as another similar inscription exists in Bukān, Iran[DF5] .[4] A Biblical example of this is found in Judges 9 when Abimelech, who had previously become king of Shechem by an act of treachery, was at war against his own city which was led by Gaal the son of Ebed. He defeated Shechem and amidst other violences against it, he sowed it with salt (Judges 9:45). There is debate about whether salting the earth was an actual tactic used by the ancients, because there is evidence that it would be a useless measure and a waste of precious salt. Salt can be easily washed away by rain, so the fields would likely be usable again before long, resulting only in a time of hardship. Besides this, the salting of Carthage may be an apocryphal tale with the earliest writings mentioning it coming hundreds of years after the purported event. Related to man salting the earth, one euphemism for a wasteland was a salt land because soil with a high concentration of salt is infertile. Thus, areas like the Dead Sea are not lively places, but desolate lands. In several passages of prophecy and song, there are imagery referring to the unrighteous losing their prosperity and becoming ‘as a wasteland’ or his land to become a salt land. These are areas or people forsaken by God.

              Salt in the ancient world was an important commodity and contributed heavily to the wealth of a place. As societies grew to be more agriculturally dependent, salt became more important for trade and primitive industry as many immediate sources of salt fell short of the needed yield for large stationary populations.[5] [DF6] [DF7] Examples such as Timbuktu and other medieval African cities trading salt for gold at high rates show that salt was on par with precious metals in certain times and places where it was harder to get. Just because salt was hard to come by at times did not mean that people were willing to go without. Indeed they could not have survived such deprivation. In Italy, the famous Via Salaria is an ancient salt route in Italy with origins much older than Rome itself. It may have played a vital role in circumstances allowing the rise of Rome and soldiers of Rome were often paid in salt rather than money. This is where the word ‘salary’ comes from. In 1 Maccabees, the king Demetrius shows Judea favor by releasing them from a salt tax (1 Macc 10:29, 11:35). Salt, then, was of vital importance economically to the ancients.

              Salt was used as a sign of favor in the ancient world. Because of its great value, it was a generous gift to those one wanted to be friendly with. In the Book of Ezra, the enemies of the Jews write to King Artaxerxes and in that letter, they describe how the Jews “eat the salt of the palace” (Ezra 4:14). The meaning of this phrase is that the Jews were living off the wealth of the king, literally subsidized by the wealth of the empire. This policy had originated from Cyrus the Great as was later uncovered, and it was a sort of favor upon the Jews and a symbol of his special relationship with them. When this was uncovered, the supplies were once again sent to the Jews, but in the passage describing this event—Ezra 7:22—while certain large amounts of silver, wheat, oil, and wine, are sent to the Jews, salt was to be supplied in unlimited quantity.

              Salt was used to represent relationship in the ancient world, and most importantly, covenants. In Nicomachean Ethics, in chapter 8, on friendship, Aristotle uses a phrase about sharing a ‘proper amount of salt’ with a friend. This idea would have spread from Athens to Judea with the Hellenistic culture spread by Alexander the Great, student of Aristotle, but in the context of the middle East, that would’ve been a shallower interpretation of sharing salt because such a phrase was already used in Mesopotamia. In Akkadian, the phrase tabat X lehemum means to eat the salt of another person[DF8] [DF9] ,[6] but it also was used in the ancient context to mean making a covenant. Ancient peoples often made covenants in connection with a meal, because people in relationship eat together peacefully. In certain contexts, sacrifices, covenant-making, and eating were all intertwined. Baruch 6:28 references sacrifice being made, but the eating of the sacrifice, or perhaps the sale of the sacrificial meat, being done without connection. In the case of the Jews, the priests were specifically instructed to eat from the offerings, and this was called “a covenant of salt for ever” (Num 18:19). The Jews had an extensive theology on this topic. From all the aforementioned attributes, salt was recognized by the Jews to be a very fitting sign of their covenant theology.

Salt to the Jews and in the Old Testament

              The Jews used salt in mostly the same ways that other ancient peoples did, but they expanded on the symbolism of salt, and salt is mentioned extensively in the Hebrew Old Testament and there are many references to The Salt of the Covenant. Leviticus instructs that every cereal offering must be seasoned with salt and states, “You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be lacking from your cereal offering” (Lev 2:13). But why is salt in every cereal or grain offering? A careful study of the attributes of salt described above reveals how salt is a perfect sign to represent covenant-making under God. Salt is appropriate for the covenant in its anti-septic properties. Ever since the fall, because man broke his relationship with God and so cut himself off from the tree of life (Gen 3:22), he has been in need of a preservative to keep his life. Just as salt heals infection, covenant with God is understood to preserve spiritual life, keeping corruption and the infection of sinful lifestyles at bay. Because salt keeps food fresh, it became a symbol of permanence just as God’s covenant is made to last forever. At the same time, being unfaithful to the covenant causes the reverse: corruption permeates society and sin infects the people; life is destroyed. This is described in Deuteronomy 28, on covenant blessings and curses, and the rest of the Old Testament is the story of this cyclic occurrence. On top of that meaning, the priests were instructed to eat of the cereal offering. The priests, being representatives for the people, were to eat a covenantal meal with God from the sacrifice being offered. Thus when the priests ate of the covenantal meal with God, it was as Aristotle described as friends sharing the proper amount of salt over a meal. Furthermore, as salt could be used in certain cases as fertilizer, specifically by killing less salt-resistant weeds and promoting the release of minerals into the soil, so does the covenant act. Living according to the covenant drives out the sin and temptation which inhibits growth, and promotes the release of virtue into the environment which promotes the growth of the people. But, to a people living contrary to the terms of the covenant, the effects of the covenant would be curse. Similarly, salt could be used to destroy the soil, rendering it infertile, but it would wash out in time and allow the return of life to the land after a period of trial and purification. It is with this understanding that Jesus spoke to the people in Matthew 5:13, and the covenant curses, further explored, may help explain what Jesus meant when He said that salt may lose its savor.

How Might Salt Lose its Saltiness?

              Matthew 5:13 contains the confusing clause, “but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?”, and the concerning clause, “It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trodden under foot by men.” First, one might read with alarm thinking, ‘I can be thrown out!’ One might also question, ‘but how does salt lose its taste? Can salt stop tasting like salt?’ Obviously, table salt does not lose its taste under normal circumstances. Typically, it is only when salt disappears that its saltiness goes away. But Jesus must have been referencing some real possibility of salt losing its taste while still leaving behind ‘salt’ if this passage is to make any sense. It is not reasonable to think that Jesus was speaking of regular salt which would decompose, because NaCl is a stable compound which is washed away if anything and leaves no residue. Eugene P. Deatrick, in his 1962 publication in The Biblical[DF10] [7] Archaeologist, reports that, according to his sources, there is indeed a phenomenon that explains how rock salt in Israel may become less salty. According to Jacob Freedman, gypsum dust from the Jordan River Valley may be windblown into Jewish Palestine, polluting the rock salt of the area and rendering it less salty. Another detail Deatrick mentions is that modern Israeli shepherds regard rock salt as salt of the earth and sea salt as salt of the sea, further pointing to the notion that Jesus was specifically referring to the rock salt that Jews would crush up and use for their food, and it is this salt, incidentally, that would be ruined by Gypsum.

Who was Jesus Speaking to?

              Knowing what salt meant in Jesus’ context is only useful when considering the intended recipients of the metaphor, because different people with different callings have…different callings, different instructions. Matthew 5:13 is at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount where a large audience was there to hear the preaching, but the text in Matthew does not actually make it clear who He was speaking to. This does, in fact, play a great deal of importance: “Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them (Mt 5:1-2, emphasis added). Now it isn’t entirely clear, but it appears from this passage at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus is speaking to his disciples. This is similar to Mark 9:49 when Jesus is speaking in a house to his disciples, and that passage is somewhat clearer on this fact. If such is the case, then this could be interpreted in light of the priestly role of the inner circle of Jesus’ disciples, those who would later become the Apostles. They of course would have a particular leadership within the Church and in the world, and it is perhaps these who ought to be called the salt of the earth, mediators of the new covenant.[8] This is one way in which St. Jerome and perhaps St. John Chrysostom interpret this passage[DF11] .[9][DF12]  Essentially, this would mean that the metaphor is referring to the Church in her totality.[10] [DF13] However, at the end of the Sermon on the Mount is this passage: “And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching” (Mt 7:28). So clearly, the crowds were at least listening in on what Jesus was telling his disciples. And in Luke 14:34-35, Jesus is explicitly said to have turned from those at table to whom he was primarily speaking, to the crowds looking intrusively in on the meal. Now these three passages seem to be describing different events, one being on the Mount, another in Caperna-um, and another near or in Jerusalem, and while Matthew and Mark only explicitly report Jesus speaking to His disciples, Matthew and Luke both give reason to believe Jesus was speaking to the crowds too, either directly or indirectly. But Matthew’s is the only Gospel in which Jesus specifically makes that statement “you are the salt…”. The most straightforward interpretation of the text would be that Jesus is telling his disciples that they are the salt of the earth, and not telling the masses, but this does not require that Jesus is only instructing the clergy. Firstly, the first list of the Twelve doesn’t come until five chapters later in the Gospel; this is quite early in Jesus’ ministry. Secondly, there are two adjacent passages that may inform the reader of another audience. The Beatitudes come immediately before, and the ‘light of the world’ metaphor comes immediately after. The Beatitudes clearly describe those who are followers of Jesus, those who are his disciples, but they are also obviously not restricted to the Twelve (who are not a set group yet). “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Mt 5:3): the poor in spirit is a group attainable by all those who follow Jesus. The Jerome Biblical Commentary, among many others, makes the direct connection between the passages of salt and of light: “The explanation of the two images (5:16) refers [the images] to the “good works” of the disciples”[11]. Later in the sermon, Jesus similarly explains who will be saved as “he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Mt 7:21). So the words of Jesus and the interpretation of scholars seems to point to an audience that is wider than the Twelve and the clergy, but narrower than the crowd, designated as ‘disciples’, or those who “manifest the goodness of “their father in heaven”” by living according to the teaching of Jesus (JBC).[12] This means that Jesus is speaking to those who are called to a mission to go on and further teach the crowds[DF14] , a group which includes all Christians. Historically, the Church promotes a ‘both/and’ option in such situations, and any reductionist interpretation would be contrary to the truth. Hence, it would appear that Jesus is speaking this message both to the Twelve, and so the Church in her formality, as well as to this wider group of disciples, who make up the Church. The significance of both becomes clearer in the spiritual meaning of Matthew 5:13, but for now it is sufficient to say that this work that Jesus calls his audience to is to be at work both in individuals as well as to the culture at large.

Conclusion of the Literal Meaning of Matthew 5:13

              Upon study of the numerous contexts in which salt could be used in the ancient world, several interpretations of Jesus’ words in this passage become available. The most comprehensive look at the history and of the Biblical context reveals a covenantal meaning to the phrase “the salt of the earth”. When Jesus tells his followers that they are to be “the salt of the earth”, he is instructing them to be like spiritual salt, which is suitable for use in bringing out the true and good character of the world, for promoting spiritual growth and destroying spiritual and societal pollution, and for preserving the world for a glorious final destiny. Because of these attributes, salt is not just good for menial tasks, but suitable for signifying relationship and to be a noble gift. Then even more, it is suitable for signifying covenant, particularly God’s covenant with His people. Christ’s followers, now Christians, are to bring the world back into covenant fidelity by their works which “shine before men…and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Mt 5:16).

              Evidence for this interpretation comes from early manuscripts of the related passage, Mark 9:49, which has three versions as is commented on by the Jerome Biblical Commentary. (1) “For everyone will be salted with fire”, (2) “and every sacrifice will be salted with fire”, and (3) “For every sacrifice will be salted with salt.”  All three of these, but especially the third version, relate to Leviticus 2:13, and the indication here is that everyone is a sacrifice which, like the sacrifices of the Old Testament, must be salted, but in this case, “by the fire of the Holy Spirit”[DF15] .[13] Early copyists must have seen the similarity between the two verses and so this interpretation goes very far back, though the first is most common among manuscripts and with modern translations. Thus, those more proximate to Christ saw this passage as speaking with sacrificial meaning, and thus applicable to Christ’s fundamentally covenantal sacrifice.

The meaning of this can be further expounded. As an anti-septic, the Church is meant to promote moral health in society and to prevent the decay of culture into depravity and disintegration. “For men of God are assuredly the salt of the earth: they preserve the order of the world; and society is held together as long as the salt is uncorrupted” (Origen Against Celsus, Bk VIII, ch. LXX). As a sign of relationship, God offers the world his salt. It is a gift of great worth and shows the favor He still has for His children. As a fertilizer, the Church is a blessing from God, promoting greater prosperity and peace due to the working of the Church in the world and through the work of Christians. Such has been the effect of Christendom in promoting the development of science and culture during the Middle Ages, and so the Church continues to work in all places where charity is required. When religion has been neglected and those who were called to be ‘the salt of the earth’ have rejected their calling and ‘lost their savor’ by becoming polluted by worldliness, disaster has followed. The covenant curses came into effect. Christian wars such as followed the Protestant Reformation resulted in greater bloodshed than Europe had ever seen before. In the past century, atheistic states such as the Soviet Union and present China have resulted in great numbers of deaths and the looming threat of worldwide war. Present immoralities such as divorce, abortion, and gender theory have resulted in a series of fundamentally confused, aimless, and angsty generations. Jesus was not merely calling his audience to be ‘the salt of the earth’—he was making a declarative statement: “You are the salt of the earth”, and that statement has proven true throughout history. The early Church miraculously converted the mighty Roman empire by the witness of the martyrs, and beyond that, proceeded to hold together the crumbling empire for many years as the remaining pagan society declined into cowardice, laziness, and complacency with vice. Then, after the final fall of Rome, Christian monasteries retained the intellectual possessions of civilization, relinquished their secrets when Europe was ready to receive them, and plunged the world into an underrated golden age of intellectual development that would serve as the basis for enlightenment developments. Besides the preservation of knowledge, Christendom preserved traditions of virtue and of worship that would be used to build the most integral societies which understood the dignity of all human beings. In every generation, great saints in the Church have played their vital role in bringing a pagan world into union with God and continue to hold it together as forces of chaos threaten to shred society by sheer confusion—blindness to mission, the loss of morals, and the loss of identity. These confusions are specifically addressed by a spiritual reading of Matthew 5:13 according to the Church’s traditional understanding.

Part II: The Spiritual Sense

              “Thanks to the unity of God’s plan, not only the text of Scripture but also the realities and events about which it speaks can be signs.

1.        The allegorical sense: we can acquire a more profound understanding of events by recognizing their significance in Christ; thus the crossing of the Red Sea is a sign or type of Christ's victory and also of Christian Baptism.[14]

2.       The moral sense: the events reported in Scripture ought to lead us to act justly. As St. Paul says, they were written “for our instruction”.[15]

3.       The anagogical sense (Greek: anagoge, “leading”): we can view realities and events in terms of their eternal significance, leading us toward our true homeland: thus the Church on earth is a sign of the heavenly Jerusalem.[16]

” (CCC 117).[DF16] [DF17] 

The spiritual sense is a reading of the Scriptures in light of the literal meaning, but also in a prayerful manner, guided by the Holy Spirit, which leads the faithful into more profound understanding of the Word. It must be understood that the literal meaning of the text is the most authoritative, and it must be the basis for any subsequent spiritual interpretations; therefore, it is the basis of any discussion.[DF18] [17] The spiritual sense, however, edifies the spiritual life of the readers of Scripture, or those engaged in Lectio Divina. It is also what can be seen in many of the writings and homilies of the Church Fathers when they use the same Scriptures for a variety of topics while preaching, as is the case with Matthew 5:13.

The Allegorical Sense

              This world is profoundly lost. As it has strayed further from relationship with God, it has continually fallen into a more decadent state, as brokenness builds upon brokenness. Families are in dire need of guidance, and community leaders fail to enact good effective policy. This world needs to be reawakened to what it means to be human and to live out vocation.

The allegorical sense of Scripture involves seeing the significance of the text in Christ and in His passion, death, and resurrection. As discussed earlier, Matthew 5:13 has a strong connection to the covenantal theology of the Jews which ties together many of the attributes of salt into a sign of one cohesive movement toward God and the attributes thereof. The significance of this in Christ can be recognized in seeing Jesus as the high priest of the New Covenant. If Christ calls his followers, now Christians, to be the salt of the earth, and He Himself is the high priest, we then are an essential part of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and of His work on Earth. As St. Paul says, “in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body” (Col. 1:24). We are called to work as part of Christ’s ministry in bringing the world back to covenant fidelity, into His body. This happens in a few ways.

There is an aspect in which it is true that Christians are supposed to put a little flavor in the world, as simplistic as this might seem. Throughout history, the Christian population has stood out in society, whether it be the persecuted faithful in pagan Rome or ‘Jesus people’ of a secular high school culture. From a letter to Diognetus[DF19] :

“And yet there is something extraordinary about their lives. They live in their own countries as though they were only passing through. …Like others, they marry and have children, but they do not expose them. They share their meals, but not their wives. They live in the flesh, but they are not governed by the desires of the flesh. …Obedient to the laws, they yet live on a level that transcends the law. …They live in poverty, but enrich many; they are totally destitute but possess an abundance of everything.”[18]

The Christian influence in society is one that is noticed from the inside, when getting the taste of a place. The mere presence of true Christians changes a neighborhood for the better and is noticeable.

              The Letter to Diognetus communicates another fact: the unjust return of harm for good against Christians by the pagans. The author diagnoses the cause, comparing Christians to the soul and a society to the body: “The body hates the soul and wars against it, not because of any injury the soul has done it, but because of the restriction the soul places on its pleasures.” As spiritual anti-septic, Christians are supposed to control the spread of the infection of sin within a culture. This is to be done both actively and passively[DF20] . Actively, Christians must work to promote good morals, calling people out for their sins and promoting public policy that disallows grave immorality like abortion and sodomy. This will result in backlash from a society that sees this as an affront on their ability to do whatever pleases it, and the backlash may be violent. Passively, Christians must not participate in activities unbecoming of a saint. This may result in loneliness for a Christian, because he will seem to his friends to be a damper on fun, but it is necessary to lead by example. In either case, the presence of the ‘salt of the earth’ will touch the sore of sin and cause it pain, but in the pain is healing.

              As a vocation is God calling us to our particular mission in life, so Jesus in Matthew 5:13 calls us to our vocation on Earth in a particular aspect. There are three aspects to our vocational life: prophet, priest, and king. Jesus here is making a particular reference to the priestly aspect. Obviously, there is a primary calling of the ordained priests to fulfill this, but in fact all are called to “the common priesthood of the faithful” (CCC 1535). All are called to offer their daily labor, not just as a duty toward God, or even as a show of love. Through Christ’s sacrifice, all our labors, through charity, participate in Christ’s redemptive work as true sacrifice in reparation for sin. This is particularly shown in sacramental vocation.

“The family is often called the principal cell or building block of human society. Since we are used to thinking about the family as the place where our Catholic faith is handed on and lived, we sometimes pay too little attention to how the family itself is related to the plan of God revealed in Scripture for the sake of our salvation” (Cardinal Levada, par. 14)[DF21] [DF22] .[19]

The Catechism juxtaposes matrimony with the ordained priesthood. They are vocations calling Christians out of themselves to a particular mission and “serve to build up the people of God” (CCC 1534). “Salt, with leaven and light, is beneficial to other things beyond itself. Salt is used as a preservative, helping fix what is decaying” (Chrysostem).[20][DF23]  The family has a particular significance in leading the world to covenant fidelity. It is within the family that Children are raised properly, so that they may restore the world by their faith. By raising faithful children, parents are making an offering to Christ of their time, their freedom, and their children. “For this reason the family home is rightly called “the domestic church,” a community of grace and prayer, a school of human virtues and of Christian charity” (CCC 1666). The priest’s role then, is to guide these families in worship as a community—the parish, and the diocese. By this hierarchy of covenant fidelity and worship the world is restored. By this, Matthew 5:13 is a fulfillment of Leviticus 2:13, and itself is fulfilled in the participation of the Christian in Christ’s priestly work on the cross. As God demands, “[we] shall not let the salt of the covenant with [our] God be lacking from our offering” (Lev 2:13).

The Moral Sense

              As the world strays from God, it lives worse and falls into immorality. Such is the necessary opposite of covenant fidelity, if fidelity means living virtuously and charitably and in awe of God. This is addressed by reading scripture according to the moral sense which “should lead us to act justly” (CCC 117). To be the salt of the earth means to live a certain radical way. This certain way can be found in the immediate context of the Sermon on the Mount, during which Jesus instructs God’s people are to live. This would seem to be an obvious case to pursue, and much has been written on the Sermon on the Mount, and for good reason. This sermon is a primary reason that Matthew’s gospel was used for so long as the primary teaching gospel. This calling that Jesus explains is what being a saint looks like; the saint is not defined by great piety and acts of sacrifice and discipline unattainable for the average person. A saint emerges from a life that follows practical guidelines (as laid out by Jesus and the teachers of the Church) to detach from this world, stop following its ways and distractions, and living a moral life with an awareness of God and the spiritual significance of our acts. Yes, it is true that St. Clement of Alexandria calls the salt of the earth “The elect of the elect”, [DF24] and it is true that Jesus says “The gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life” (Mt 7:14), and it is true that discipline is difficult and human virtue is imperfect; but Jesus also tells us, “my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Mt 11:30) and “with God all things are possible” (Mt 19:26). While the way is difficult by nature, and man is weak by nature, God’s Grace is strong enough to overcome all barriers, and in truth, this way of life makes many things—the most important and rewarding aspects of life—much easier and more satisfying. “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Mt 7:7). Christians must ask for the Grace to live the life and follow the way that is Christ Himself.

              While living the Christian life is of the utmost importance, and really a prerequisite for what comes next, it is no less important to share the faith with others by word and also essentially to put the world to shame and to humble it in its pride and viciousness. This is well put by St. Paul when in his letter to the Colossians. “Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time” (Col 4:5). The first instruction is for Christians to conduct themselves, to be saints as mentioned, but also to be wise, aware of the mission at hand and of the circumstances. This is not just acting piously for the sake of getting oneself to Heaven, but also now for the sake of another, and this affects how we present ourselves. Certain portrayals of holiness may be off-putting if coming across as vain or fake, but virtue in and of itself is attractive. “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer every one” (Col 4:6). Clarifying, St. Paul says that we must be gracious, to not put off the other, but then he adds the description ‘seasoned with salt’, which must be explained. As explained before, salt brings out the good flavor of food, and this seems to be the primary meaning, but it must be considered that salt hurts too when exposed to a wound. This seems to be a contradictory simile, because Paul is instructing us to have gracious speech that brings healing and good feeling toward another, but also to be seasoned with salt, which has the connotation of stinging. Here the explanation lies again in the nature of salt, which stings so that it may heal. To a soul that is open yet infected, the truth stings. Our words should not be the cause of pain, but the truth may hurt to that it may bring healing to a wounded soul. This is the proper means by which God humbles those in the world, living in the Pride of Life, and we, by participating accordingly, become ‘the elect of the elect’ who are holy yet humble[DF25] .[21]

              This is where an interesting interpretation of a few obscure passages by St. Augustine also may take its meaning. In ‘Exposition on the Psalms’, [DF26] St. Augustine of Hippo interprets the title of Psalm 60: “A Miktam of David; for instruction; when he strove with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, and when Joab on his return killed twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt” (Ps 60).[22] He interprets this passage as typifying the humbling of the earth by God. Edom represents the earth and worldly things, and 12,000 Edomites represent all the earth. Being slain in the Valley, the things of the earth were humbled, “for from the whole earth was chosen out the Church, mortified from earthly life” (Augustine, emphasis added). They were specifically slain in the Valley of Salt, which means that not only were they humbled, but they were humbled in savor. “For many men are humbled, but emptily and foolishly, in empty oldness they are humbled” (Augustine). The things of the earth are humbled by those Jesus calls the salt of the earth, as is explained in the previous paragraphs, by holy life and gracious words which sting the infected earthly soul. What Augustine finishes this passage with is a warning which explains the second part of Matthew 5:13. The enemies of the Church are being humbled without savor because those who are the salt of the earth have lost their savor. They are no longer effective salt because, while they humiliate the world, by doing so they do not lead the world to God and so they are “no longer good for anything except to be thrown out” (Mt 5:13).

              The moral significance of Matthew 5:13 is that all of Christ’s followers are called to be saints, but Jesus does not leave His message there. He instructs Christians how they are to be saints and promises that He will assist them in becoming those saints. This is important because it is the prerequisite to evangelization, which performed unsupported by a moral life is ineffective in touching and healing souls infected by sin. But if evangelization is backed by a life participating with God’s grace, it works most efficaciously in the lives of others, even if the effects are never seen by the evangelist. Practically, this means living out one’s vocation with dedication, joyfulness, and virtue in accordance with the moral law. While maintaining humility, this will make one stand out in a culture of work and pleasure. Community and political leaders must take their role as representatives of the people seriously and must lead those under them into moral lives by the policy they enact, the example they make, and by what they teach. Parents must lead their household in a domestic liturgy, offering their services to one another constantly and realizing that their work in raising their children is an offering to the Lord. At the same time, they must teach their children the significance of work, love, and service on the spiritual plane, and how it all is a participation in the salvific work of Jesus in the world and their lives. Those who do not work to bring those souls placed in their life to Christ in this way are good-for-nothings only fit to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

The Anagogical Sense

              The final significance of all this is of the greatest importance because this life has eternal consequences for all souls and determines whether we end up going to Heaven or to Hell for all eternity. This world has lost its identity and does not know where it is headed, or even whether it is headed anywhere in particular. It is full of people who do not realize that they even have an eternal destiny, or to reference C.S. Lewis in ‘The Weight of Glory’, they do not know that they are immortals, destined either to be ‘immortal horrors or everlasting splendours’ (Lewis, pg. 8). The anagogical sense of Scripture addresses this problem. By it, “we can view realities and events in terms of their eternal significance, leading us toward our true homeland: thus the Church on earth is a sign of the heavenly Jerusalem” (CCC 117). Thus, the anagogical sense reveals what Jesus was telling us in Matthew 5:13 about our eternal destinies and our immortal nature.

              A grave misunderstanding of Heaven is that it is a dry forced worship of God for all eternity. Such a Heaven, without being permeated with infinite charity, would be truly Hell. Many can only imagine Heaven with their knowledge of temporal pleasures, or cannot imagine it with any sort of diversity, being too caught up with images of clouds and gold brick roads, and so Heaven comes across as eternal boredom to them. To address this, we may refer to salt’s role as a seasoning. If we are the salt of the earth then we must communicate to the world that a true Heaven does not eliminate our differences. When we are united with God, far from becoming part of a large sameness, our uniqueness as individuals is magnified into its fullest potential and that truest version of ourself is drawn out, just as salt does not overwhelm the flavor of foods it is put on, but draws out greater flavor. The same is true on Earth. The Church, as it evangelized a multitude of cultures, found success in lifting up those cultures into the fullest sense of their meaning and assimilating what was true and good about them. When evangelists tried to suppress local cultures and force upon them the Roman way of worship and understanding the truth, it resulted in few conversions and significant backlash. The success is revealed today in the multitude of Catholic rites, each with a beautiful history and culture and unique style of reverent worship. Christians are not called to a uniform and cheesy cheerfulness or weirdness, but instead the Grace of God draws out the fullness of our personalities and talents to be used in unique and wonderful ways to His glory. “For by saying, “Ye are the salt of the earth,” He signified all human nature to have “lost its savor,” and to be decayed by our sins” (Chrysostom)[DF27] .[23] We are not fully ourselves on Earth, because of our fallen nature, and so we need Grace to enter our lives and restore us. Oftentimes, that Grace comes through people, and these people are Christians sent on mission. “For which cause, you see, He requires of them such virtues, as are most necessary and useful for the superintendence of the common sort” (Chrysostom).

              Sometimes, long-time Christians need to be reawakened to the dignity of their position when they fall lax. St. Clement of Alexandria notes that “some are raised their whole lives in brine” (Stromata, Bk IV, Ch  VIII)[DF28] , and yet even Christians from childhood need to be attended to by their peers who are playing their part as salt of the earth if they are not to be “thrown out”.[24]

              Man has a high dignity, having an immortal soul, destined either for everlasting happiness or eternal damnation. He must be made aware of this if he is to prepare suitably for his judgement. He must also remember what this entails for his nature, that he will not remain as he currently is, but by the operation of Grace grows into a fuller version of himself, culminating in the Resurrection of the dead at the end of time when his nature will be glorified and the uniqueness of his talents and gifts will be fully manifest.

Conclusion on the Spiritual Sense

              The fundamental meaning of the call to be the salt of the earth is to be a saint. In every generation, when the world looked to be falling apart, great saints rose up to revive the faith, bringing it back from seeming death. We are all called to be saints, though not everyone is called to be a preacher or a large-scale reformer. Most of us are called to be saints on a more proximate scale by following our vocations with great love and heroic virtue. Saints are the salt of the earth because it is their work that brings the world into union, or Covenant fidelity, with God and by them the world is blessed. It is a participation in Christ’s sacrifice as enabled by the transformative power of grace which allows even our small works to be effective. Covenant living preserves life, ending the corruption of fallen matter and killing sin which infects our lives. It encourages development by the inhibition of evil growths. The disciple is a gift to the world, a gift of God’s grace and a sign of His favor, a gift that He gives freely and without restriction. And rather than causing uniformity and simply covering over the unique persons and cultures in the world, covenant living brings out the true person as a fuller expression of who he or she is. On the contrary, when people depart from Covenant living, and when the Christians fall away from their mission, infertility necessarily occurs, and so God’s gifts become curses, and the society becomes desolate and debased.

So, the necessity of the salt of the earth is revealed in history and can be found in the traditions and the Scriptures by a detailed historical survey and by using the methods of Scriptural study laid out by the Church, and even by looking at the physical attributes of salt itself. It reveals how God uses all aspects of His creation to communicate His love for His children and His glorious intent for them.

Bibliography

Faley, Roland J., et al. The Jerome Biblical Commentary. Edited by Joseph A. Fitzmyer et al., 1st ed., Prentice-Hall, 1968.

Catechism of the Catholic Church. Liguori Publications, 1994.

Cavins, Jeff, et al. The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. Ascension, 2018.

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[1] See Can We Trust the Bible on the Historical Jesus, Dr. Bart Ehrman, Dr. Craig Evans, Rober B Stewert or The Case for Jesus, Dr. Brant Pitre.

[2] Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Strategies to Reduce Sodium Intake; Henney JE, Taylor CL, Boon CS, editors. Strategies to Reduce Sodium Intake in the United States. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2010. 3, Taste and Flavor Roles of Sodium in Foods: A Unique Challenge to Reducing Sodium Intake. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK50958/

[3] Fitzmyer, Joseph A. “The Aramaic Inscriptions of Sefire I and II.” Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 81, no. 3, 1961, pp. 178–222. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/595652. Accessed 12 Jan. 2024.

[4] Sokoloff, Michael. “The Old Aramaic Inscription from Bukān: A Revised Interpretation.” Israel Exploration Journal, vol. 49, no. 1/2, 1999, pp. 105–15. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27926880. Accessed 12 Jan. 2024.

[5] “Salt Early History - Inc Ancient, Iron Age, Roman & Anglo Saxon.” The Salt Association, 3 Oct. 2022, saltassociation.co.uk/education/salt-history/early-history/.

[6] Potts, Daniel. “On Salt and Salt Gathering in Ancient Mesopotamia.” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, vol. 27, no. 3, 1984, pp. 225–71. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3631848. Accessed 12 Jan. 2024.

[7] Deatrick, Eugene P. “Salt, Soil, Savior.” The Biblical Archaeologist, vol. 25, no. 2, 1962, pp. 41–48. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3210991. Accessed 12 Jan. 2024.

[8] John Chyrsostom, Homilies on the Gospel of St. Matthew, The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom, Mtthew V. 1, 2, Editor Philip Schaff, NPNF1-09 (Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library)

[9] “The Bishops are the salt of the Earth and give savor to the whole world and their church. If a bishop falls, then what?”

[10] The Church as salt promotes culture and enhances what was before rather than obliterating culture.

[11] John L. McKenzie S.T.D., Jerome Biblical Commentary, Vol. 2, Matthew, (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1968), 43:33.

[12] John L. McKenzie S.T.D., Jerome Biblical Commentary, Vol. 2, Matthew, (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1968), 43:33.

[13] Roland J. Faley T.O.R., S.T.D., Jerome Biblical Commentary, Vol. 1, Leviticus, (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1968), 4:7.

[14] Cf. 1 Cor 10:2.

[15] I Cor 10:11; cf. Heb 3:1 – 4:11.

[16] Cf. Rev 21:1 – 22:5.

[17] ST I, 1, 10, ad I.

[18] Epistle to Diognetus, Anonymous, (Nn. 5-6; Funk, 397-401)

[19] Cardinal William J. Levada, The Family in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, (Valencia, July 7, 2006), 14

[20] John Chrysostom, On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes, To Those Who Had Not Attended The Assembly, Editor Philip Schaff, NPNF1-09 (Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library)

[21] Clement of Alexandria, Who is the Rich Man that Shall be Saved?, Editor, Philip Schaff, ANF02 (Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, 1885)

[22] Augustine, Exposition on the Book of Psalms (Ps LX), Editor Philip Schaff, NPNF1-08 (Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library)

[23] John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of St. Matthew, The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom, Mtthew V. 1, 2, Editor Philip Schaff, NPNF1-09 (Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library)

[24] Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata or Miscellanies, Book I, Chapter VIII.--The Sophistical Arts Useless, Editor, Philip Schaff, ANF02 (Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, 1885)