Opus 2011-342, Christian Cliches: Salt of the earth

Have you ever been called “the salt of the earth?”  It is usually a compliment unless you happen to be in the anti-salt, health food group.  The phrase comes from the Bible.

(Matthew 5:13 KJV)  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.

As you can see, the term originally referred to followers of Jesus.  It tells us a lot about what it means to be a believer.

Salt is never the major ingredient.  Even in things like bacon, salt is a small percentage of the total.  Are you a believer?  Do you feel like you are a minority?  You are.  Get used to it.

Salt adds savor as it says in this verse.  That can be good or bad.  Here it is pointing out how salt is added to food to bring out the flavor.  That is good.  Christians may be a small part of the population but we exert a tremendous influence on the direction society goes.  Or at least we used to do so.  I fear that we may be losing our savor.  The prospects for the world are bad, for us they are eternal.

I guess we could also concede a point to the medical gurus.  Sometimes salt raises the blood pressure.  This is obvious when we take a stand on abortion, abstinence, homosexuality or any other moral issue.  We get people’s blood pressure up.  Of course in society that can be a healthy thing.

Salt also preserves.  It was one of the few methods that ancient times had to preserve food.  The presence of believers goes a long way toward holding back God’s wrath and the decay that comes in godless society.

So being the salt of the earth means a lot more than the popular understanding.  Properly understood it means that we change the world around us.

Be salty.

homo unius libri