The Sermon On the Mount
Matthew, Chapter 5
Part VIII
Matthew 5:13) 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.
Regarding “Ye are the salt of the earth,”
“Salt renders food pleasant and palatable, and preserves from putrefaction. So Christians, by their lives and instructions, are to keep the world from entire moral corruption. By bringing down the blessing of God in answer to their prayers, and by their influence and example, they save the world from universal vice and crime” [Barnes].
“Disciples are like salt because they have a preserving influence. Salt was used to preserve meats, and to retard decay, and Christians should have a preserving influence on their culture” [Guzik].
In regards to “if the salt have lost his savour,”
“To make dull, not acute, to cause something to lose its taste or the purpose for which it exists, e.g., salt not being able to make things salty” [Word Study].
“It is common in Syria and Palestine to see salt scattered in piles on the ground because it has lost its flavour, —- Jesus may have used here a current proverb” [Robertson].
(CEV) You are like salt for everyone on earth. But if salt no longer tastes like salt, how can it make food salty? All it is good for is to be thrown out and walked on.
(GNB) “You are like salt for the whole human race. But if salt loses its saltiness, there is no way to make it salty again. It has become worthless, so it is thrown out and people trample on it.
(MSG) “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.
QUESTION: What is salt good for?
2Thessalonians 2:1-12) Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and [by] our gathering together unto him,
2) That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
3) Let no man deceive you by any means: for [that day shall not come], except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
4) Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
5) Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
6) And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
7) For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [will let], until he be taken out of the way.
8) And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
9) [Even him], whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10) And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11) And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
12) That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Other Translations of Verses 6-7:
(CEV) You already know what is holding this wicked one back until it is time for him to come.
His mysterious power is already at work, but someone is holding him back. And the wicked one won’t appear until that someone is out of the way.
(GNB) Yet there is something that keeps this from happening now, and you know what it is. At the proper time, then, the Wicked One will appear.
The Mysterious Wickedness is already at work, but what is going to happen will not happen until the one who holds it back is taken out of the way.
(GW) You know what it is that now holds him back, so that he will be revealed when his time comes.
The mystery of this sin is already at work. But it cannot work effectively until the person now holding it back gets out of the way.
(BBE) And now it is clear to you what is keeping back his revelation till the time comes for him to be seen.
For the secret of evil is even now at work: but there is one who is keeping back the evil till he is taken out of the way.
QUESTION: Who is holding back the full revelation of who the antichrist is?
Genesis 18:23-26, 32) And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
24) Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that [are] therein?
25) That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
26) And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.
32) And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy [it] for ten’s sake.
Another Thought:
Matthew 5:13) 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.
QUESTION: Is He talking about Christians losing their salvation?
John 1:11) He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
Revelation 11:1-2) And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
2) But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty [and] two months.
NOTE: Could be that Jesus is prophesying here. His initial “salt of the earth” was the Jewish people, but that “salt” “lost his savour.” Since then Israel, and its people, have been mostly “trodden under foot.” THAT WILL CHANGE SOON!
Life Application:
The call of God on each of our lives is that we should live in such a way that we preserve the planet from total corruption. Even today, our stubborn clinging to the Scriptures as the deciding factor of what things we consider to be morally absolute drives those among us who despise the thought of anything be an absolute crazy.
HANG IN THERE AND STAND FOR WHAT IS RIGHT!!! DARE TO BE A DANIEL!