Prior Book | Prior Chapter | Prior Verse | Next Verse | Next Chapter | Next Book | Viewing NASB and Amplified 2015 | |
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]. |
Bible Question: What does the salt, in the covenant of salt (lev 2 v 13 and num 18 v 19) represent? It is Christ, or the gospel? I am trying to find out if there is a link between salt here and it's use in matt 5 v 13. |
Bible Answer: Hi, Diomede... John Calvin comments on this when he wrote: The reason for salting the victims was very similar, viz., that God’s service might not be without savor; but the true seasoning which gives grace to sacrifices is found nowhere except in God’s word. Hence it follows that all modes of worship fabricated by men are rejected as unsavory. For although they who profane God’s worship by superstitions think themselves very acute, yet all that most approves itself to them under the cloak of wisdom is mere fatuity. Nevertheless, Christ deduces an exhortation from this ceremony, viz., that believers, if they desire to please God, should patiently endure to be refined and purified. “Every one,” He says, "shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.” (Mark 9:49.) In which words He signifies that, when we are searched and tried by fire, we shall be acceptable sacrifices to God, and that this is the seasoning of salt when our flesh with its affections shall have been well macerated. Meanwhile, let us firmly hold to this, that our service of God is not what it should be without, the savor which is to be sought in the word; since in all the brains of men not one particle of salt is to be found. I pass by other more subtle allegories, in which I see no other use than to gratify curious ears. “The salt of the covenant” is used in a different sense from “the covenant of salt,” viz., as the salt which is employed in the sacrifice according to the inviolable compact of God. Hence, too, is confirmed what I have said before, that the keeping of God’s covenant always occupies the first place in this service. Additionally, David Brown observes the following: The same reasons which led to the prohibition of leaven, recommended the use of salt - if the one soon putrefies, the other possesses a strongly preservative property, and hence it became an emblem of incorruption and purity, as well as of a perpetual covenant -- a perfect reconciliation and lasting friendship. No injunction in the whole law was more sacredly observed than this application of salt; for besides other uses of it that will be noticed elsewhere, it had a typical meaning referred to by our Lord concerning the effect of the Gospel on those who embrace it (Mark 9:49-50); as when plentifully applied it preserves meat from spoiling, so will the Gospel keep men from being corrupted by sin. And as salt was indispensable to render sacrifices acceptable to God, so the Gospel, brought home to the hearts of men by the Holy Ghost, is indispensably requisite to their offering up of themselves as living sacrifices. I hope those comments help. In Him, Doc |
Up | View Branch | ID# 218421 | ||
Questions and/or Subjects for Matt 5:13 | Author | ||
|
bckennyg1 | ||
|
Diomede | ||
|
DocTrinsograce |