OLD TESTAMENTNEW TESTAMENT

Matthew 5:13

You are the salt of the earth: but if the salt has lost its savor, how shall it be salted? it is thereafter good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

All Commentaries on Matthew 5:13 Go To Matthew 5

Hilary of Poitiers

AD 368

The salt of the earth, I suppose, seems at first like nothing special. So what did Jesus mean when he called the apostles the “salt of the earth”? We must look for the words’ appropriate meaning. Both the apostles’ task and the nature of salt itself will reveal this. The element of water and the element of fire are combined and united in salt. So ordinary salt, made for the use of the human race, imparts resistance to corruption to the meats on which it is sprinkled. And, of course, it is very apt to add the sensation of hidden flavor. Likewise the apostles are the preachers of surprising heavenly things and eternity. Like sowers, they sow immortality on all bodies on which their discourse has been sprinkled. They are perfected by the baptism of water and fire. So those who are to be salted with the power of gospel teaching have rightly been called the “salt of the earth.” They are right now being preserved to the end.

1 min

About Privacy Policy Donate

Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation - 2 Peter 1:20