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NASB | Matthew 5:13 ¶ "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Matthew 5:13 ¶ "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has lost its taste (purpose), how can it be made salty? It is no longer good for anything, but to be thrown out and walked on by people [when the walkways are wet and slippery]. |
Subject: Question of Salt |
Bible Note: When our Sunday School Class studied these verses we had problems making the normal understanding of this verse fit. Part we agree with. Jesus is talking to Christians, and is talking about the inner portion of our witness. The Salt description is an amazing analogy of a Christian and how it supercedes the light that he discusses in the following verse. This verse has to be placed in context with the beatitudes which it precedes and with the light that follows. One of the descriptions of salt is that it can never become tasteless just as the inner spirit of a true believer in christ can never lose that identity with Jesus Christ. And that is the focal point of the analogy that Jesus is stating in this verse. He does not say but if the salt's taste is diluted or weakened but he states if it becomes tasteless. Salt it self can never become tasteless, the salt it self will always have taste. Once it has been added to food, it changes the taste of food and preserves it or if it is added to the ground it changes the ground forever and nothing will grow. We concluded that what Jesus is telling us is that our fruit may change (light) but our inner core and the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit are forever a mark that we as beleivers will have. So we beieve that the Salt is a representation of a True Believer who will have the indwelling of the holy spirit which becomes the basis for our witness and our life. We are not trying to change what Jesus is saying and we are not trying to force something that is not there. But with that being said, if you look at the verse carefully and the NASB interpretation of the words are correct, the Salt cannot become tasteless, it does not seem that we are interpreting what Jesus is saying correctly if we say that a Christian can lose his witness. |
Down View Branch | ID# 192772 | ||
Questions and/or Subjects for Matt 5:13 | Author | ||
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bckennyg1 | ||
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Diomede |