Where the worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched.
All Commentaries on Mark 9:48 Go To Mark 9
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
For every one shall be salted with fire: and every victim shall be salted with salt.
1st. Franc. Lucas and Maldonatus understand the fire of hell, that Christ gives the reason of what He had just said, where their worm, &c. The reason Isaiah , for every one, namely, such as are adjudged to Gehenna, shall be salted with fire, that Isaiah , shall be burnt and tormented with fire, but in such manner that by the same fire, as it were by salt, they shall be preserved incorrupt for everlasting torments. For salt possesses the properties both of burning and preserving. It burns and torments by burning; by its saltness it preserves from corruption. The fire of hell does the same thing, wherefore it is appropriately compared to salt.
And every victim: and, that Isaiah , like as. As though He said, As every victim of God is wont to be seasoned with salt, according to the Law ( Leviticus 2:13), so whosoever shall be adjudged to Gehenna shall be a victim, as it were, of the justice and vengeance of God for ever, and so shall be salted with fire unquenchable as with salt, that Isaiah , shall be burnt and tormented, and shall at the same time remain unconsumed in the fire." So Isaiah teaches that the wicked shall in their torments be victims of God"s vengeance ( Isaiah 34:6; see also Ezekiel 39:17, and Jeremiah 46:10). For the wicked are, as it were, victims immolated to the honour of God"s justice. This sense is very plain, apposite, and in accordance with the context.
2nd Others refer the words more remotely to what Christ said in the42nd and following verses about avoiding scandals, and that to do so a hand or a foot must be cut off. It would be as though He said, "Cut off from thee the person who is as dear and as necessary to thee as a hand or an eye, if he scandalize thee; for every one who seeks to please God, and to offer himself to Him as a spiritual victim, must cut off from him, as by the fire of mortification, the man who causes him to offend, however dear he may be. He must, therefore, be salted by suffering tribulation, that Isaiah , he must be crucified and purified. He must be salted with the mystical salt of prudence, discretion, and evangelical Wisdom of Solomon , which teaches us that it is better to cut off our hand than to go into hell." There is an allusion to, or, indeed, in a mystical sense, a citation of Leviticus 2:13, "Whatsoever thou shalt offer in sacrifice, thou shalt season with salt." So Theophylact on this passage of S. Mark; Theodoret, Procopius, Bede, Radulphus, Ruperti, on Lev. ii, and Cyril (lib15 , de Adorat.). Wherefore it is added, salt is good. Hear the Gloss, "To be salted with fire is for the love of Christ to deny ourselves of those who are nearest to us, and as dear as a hand or an eye." Hear also Bede, "The heart of the elect is the altar, the victims are good works, the salt is wisdom." Christ opposes the fire of mortification to the fire of hell, and the salt to the undying worm. As though He said, "That ye may escape the fire and the worm of hell, which concupiscence generates, be zealous for the fire of mortification and the salt of wisdom. For this shall take away the putridity of concupiscence, from which are generated the undying worms which shall be burned in the fire of hell."
3By fire Bede understands charity and the Holy Spirit, and His gift of discretion, by which He guides us into all good.
Lastly, the Scholiast in S. Jerome by salt understands also the fire of Purgatory. Hear what he says, "The victim of the Lord is the human race, which in this life is seasoned with the season of Wisdom of Solomon , when the corruption of the blood, which is the source of putridity, that Isaiah , the mother of worms, is consumed, and after this life is tried by purgatorial fire."
Salt is good, i.e, useful. "Ye, 0 ye Apostles, who have been chosen by Me to be the salt of the earth, are profitable to the world, that ye may season with your wisdom and evangelical doctrine all nations." Hear the Scholiast, "It is a good thing to hear the Word of God; to season the heart with the salt of wisdom; yea, to be salt, like the Apostles, i.e, to minister wisdom unto others." Also Theophylact, "Salt preserves flesh; so the speech of a doctor prevents the unquenchable fire from being generated in carnal men."
But if the salt become unsavoury (the Gr. contains an elegant pun, άλς άναλον, i.e, saltless salt), wherewith (i.e, with what other salt) will ye season it? It is as if He said, "If ye, 0 ye Apostles, who are the salt of the earth, lose this virtue of saltness, and become unsavoury and insipid, that through love or fear of men, through cupidity or ambition, ye fall away from My doctrine and an evangelical life, who shall restore you to your former Wisdom of Solomon , vigour, and sanctity?" Christ plays upon the word salt. For salt in Lev. ii13is to be understood literally, but here it is to be taken mystically for Wisdom of Solomon , and metonymically for the Apostles, who had in themselves this mystic salt. Hear the Scholiast in S. Jerome, "Salt is savourless which loves the chief place, and which dares not either to rebuke or confess, loving the praise of men more than the praise of God." Christ has a reference to Judas, who being corrupted by the love of money, and becoming unsavoury, lost his Apostleship, and did not hesitate to betray the Lord.
Have salt in yourselves, i.e, the salt of wisdom and a Christian life, as humility, charity, contempt of the world, but especially peace; as Christ adds, saying, And have peace among yourselves. "Do not ambitiously contend among yourselves for the primacy, as ye have contended" (ver33), to which Christ refers. For such a contention will be a scandal to the whole world; and for that reason Christ subjoined what is said concerning the avoidance of scandal in verses36,41. But if ye preserve peace and mutual concord, ye shall be for the edification of the whole world; and being united one with another in the bond of charity, ye will be invincible, and will draw all men to yourselves and Christ. Therefore by peace the Interlinear understands love. And the Scholiast thus expounds, Have salt in yourselves, "The love of one"s neighbour tempers the salt of correction; and the salt of justice preserves love."
Have peace, &c. That Isaiah , let him who speaks eloquently greatly fear lest by his eloquence unity be broken. For, as Bede says, "to have salt without peace is not a gift of virtue, but a proof of condemnation; for the wiser any one Isaiah , the greater his sin if he fall." "For there are many," says the Gloss, "that whilst greater knowledge lifts them up, it separates them from the society of others; and the wiser they are, the more they fall from the virtue of concord."
Lastly, the Gloss thus expounds, Have salt in you, i.e, have discretion: and have peace among yourselves. By wisdom and discretion peace is both acquired and preserved among men. For the prudent and discreet do nothing which may offend others and disturb peace. The same bear with the infirmities of others, while those who are impatient are angry, and strive with them. (Top)
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