Pass the Salt! - T M Moore

You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.  Matthew 5:13

The declining state of the Church in America -- even among some of its own members --  suggests that the warning Jesus issued in this teaching has begun to be realized: The Church is losing its "saltiness," and therefore is being rejected as no long being needed or useful.


In Jesus' day, salt was not used primarily as a seasoning to enhance the taste of food. Its main use was as a preservative against decay. Salt would be rubbed into meat and this would allow the meat to remain palatable for a longer period of time. Salt that no longer accomplished this purpose was thrown into the trash.

But there was another use of salt in Jesus' day, which, if anything, was more important than either its use as a seasoning or a preservative. In Hebrew religious practice, offerings brought to the Lord were to be accompanied by a "measure of salt" (Leviticus 1:13). This salt was referred to as the "salt of the covenant;" that is,  salt represented the relationship Israel had with their God. Salt was thus a token and a sign of the divine covenant, and a way of indicating agreement with and participation in God and His promises.


The Church is the salt of the earth, not only because she entices the world's taste for the Gospel, or because she serves to hold off the advances of corruption and decay in morality and culture. These are certainly vital aspects of what it means to be the salt of the earth.  But beyond these, the Church is the salt of the earth because she is the token of the covenant, given with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, in order to open the way for the sinful world to receive the promises and blessings of God.   -- T. M. Moore