Salt in scripture carries a two-fold signification. The positive attribute of salt is that it is the flavor which makes things good, and the negative attribute of salt is that of it's use in making something barren or without worth. These are characteristics which both signify the Blessings, and the Judgments of God. In fact, it is the very judgment of God which makes a person good or righteous in His sight. i.e., the judgment for our sins were laid upon Christ, and through His being judged in our stead, we were made good or virtuous. This is the same principle as fire both being illustrated in scripture as a blessing (as in the baptism by Fire, or refined by fire), and as God's judgments (as in the lake of fire). When we come to understand just how we were made righteous, we understand that the Christians' righteousness, and his judgment, is intimately related.

It is thus not curious that God, almost from the beginning, used the signification of salt as a figure of the Covenant Promise which He has with His chosen people.

Leviticus 2:12-13

• "As for the oblation of the firstfruits, ye shall offer them unto the LORD: but they shall not be burnt on the altar for a sweet savour.

• And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the Covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt."

Salt cannot be lacking from the sacrifice because it signifies the virtue of the sacrifice. It is the flavor which makes the meat good, or gives it it's savory or good taste.

Job 6:6

• "Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? or is there any taste in the white of an egg?"

Salt makes the meat tasty. That sacrifice is equated to Christ, and it was the salt that made the meat good. This is equating the salt which makes the sacrifice good, to the virtue or righteousness of Christ, which makes us good. That is why God decrees that the sacrifice was to be seasoned with salt, that no sacrifice should be lacking salt. It is why it is called, "The salt of the Covenant." It is the savor of the sacrifice, the righteousness of Christ, which is the foundation of the Covenant. Salt is at the heart of the Covenant both in judgment, and in the virtue of Christ. A sacrifice without salt (without virtue) would not suffice, signifying Christ had to be the lamb that was without sin, that through judgment we could also be made virtuous!

2nd Corinthians 5:21

• "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."

The virtuous sacrifice, judged for us, that we could be made virtuous or righteous in Him. the sacrifice, seasoned with salt.

Mark 5:28-30

• "For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.

• And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.

• And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?"

When this woman touched Christ, His virtue (righteousness) healed her, just as it does every sinner who comes to him. It is His virtue which is the savor of the sacrifice, and this is signified by the salt. When Christ was judged of God for "our sins," we became the righteousness of Christ, in Him. We were healed by Christ's virtue, just as this woman was healed by it. Therefore are we also the salt (righteousness) of the earth, in Him. It is because of Christ's virtue, now in us, that God calls us both the Light of the world, and the Salt of the earth. The two significations of Christ's righteousness.

Matthew 5:13-14

• "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

• Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid."

Jesus is here giving us a contrasting view of the man of God with Christ in him, and the man who has fallen away from God, and has no virtue. Note that if the salt have no savor (no virtue), it is good for nothing. For it is the savor which is the goodness! The savor signifies the good or righteousness. In this verse we are warned not so much of our duty to salt the world, but to see that our salt is genuine, having a real flavor. In other words, we make our calling and Election sure! The previous verses (matt. 5:11-12) set the context of Christians being reviled, persecuted, and having all manner of evil spoken against them, and it is in this context that in verses 13 and 14 we are warned not to lose our saltiness. Context is important!

In Christ only can we be the salt of the earth, having flavor or virtue to go forth with the gospel, righteously. In Christ only can we be the Light of the world to go forth in righteousness, the gospel shinning, that many will not walk in darkness. Covenant-breakers who cease doing God's work is like salt which has lost it's savor. Apostasy, or the departing from the faith, is the inevitable result. This salt (without virtue of Christ) is savourless, unfit for use of God, and good for nothing but to be trampled upon by men. Rather than salt of savor, it has become salt of Judgment. Salt loosing it's flavor is salt which has lost all it's goodness. This analogy is the same one as Jesus uses of a light which has been put under a bushel or bed. In other words, it's made useless! No Christian should hesitate to salt the earth, or to let his light shine, for fear of not being popular, or being reviled, hated, or persecuted by man. God says blessed are those who for the sake of Christ endure these things. These two figures of light and salt, are synonymous.

Matthew 5:13-16

• "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

• Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

• Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

• Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

Our good works are the light of the world, and our Good works are the Salt of the earth. It is the good of Christ in us (Philippians 2:13, Hebrews 13:21), not our own. It is the virtue of Christ, which is the salt of the Covenant that Leviticus addressed! The Promise or Covenant of Christ was confirmed, or given strength (heb. 9:17), by the judgment of the sacrifice Lamb.

1st Peter 2:24

• "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed."

It is by His bearing our sins, and His being judged of God for them, that we are healed. And that judgment and healing, is by the signification of salt. The sign manifested in such illustrations as in 2nd Kings.

2nd Kings 2:21

• "And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the LORD, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land."

There we see the signification of salt used for the healing of the waters, that there not be any more death or barren land. This is the marvelous spiritual figures which God places in His Holy Word. One salt makes the land barren, and another salt heals the land that it not be barren. The figure of salt is inseparably tied to both the healing of the nations, and the judgment of the nations. For truly, because of God's perfect justice, you can't have one without the other. Without judgment, there would be no forgiveness. The judgment side of salt is illustrated in such chapters as Joel, in the wastes of the east sea.

Joel 2:20

• "But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things."

Being in a land barren and desolate, and having your face toward the east sea is a signification of having nothing worthwhile. The east sea (sea of the plain), is more commonly known as the Salt sea, or today appropriately called the Dead Sea! The salt sea is a large inland lake whose waters are extremely saline. In fact, it is five times more salty than the oceans, and marine life cannot live in it's waters. It is at the lowest point on earth (1292 feet below sea level), and thus not then surprising that God would use it as a signification of Judgment. Truly a dead sea, it is a place with a salt content so high, it can only be described as desolate. For this people to be in a land barren and desolate and have their face toward this dead sea, is a figure of the worst possible scenario, and the lowest position one can be in. Under God's judgment where there is nothing around you but desolation! And one's "face" toward the salt sea, signifies this judgment.

It is interesting that some Theologians read chapters like Ezekiel 47 and believe that this prophesies of a time when the salt sea will "literally" be made clean again, and team with life. It's not hard to imagine that, given the verses which say the waters shall be healed. However, upon careful examination, Ezekiel is not talking about the sea literally being healed with H²0, but Christ, the living waters going forth to heal the sea, and making fishers of men that catch diverse kinds of fish therein. The same living waters which Zechariah chapter 14 speaks about as going forth from Jerusalem to heal the sea. Living waters are not a worldly or earthly river, it is the virtue which flows from Christ!

John 4:14

• "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."

This living water is indeed a river, but it's not to water literal land or make literal plains spring forth. It is the righteousness of salvation, which if one has, he will never thirst again! We are back to both the healing by salt (2nd Kings 2:21), and the judgment by salt (Joel 2:20) intimately related. As even right in this controversial chapter 47 of Ezekiel, where we read of the healing waters for the salt sea, we see right along with it, the judgment side of salt. God signifies that by salt, something here "will not" be healed.

Ezekiel 47:11

• "But the miry places thereof and the marishes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to SALT."

To not be healed, but given to salt, signifies the land will remain worthless or desolate where nothing can grow there. Salt is the signification that it is made barren. If you've ever seen pictures of the salt sea, with it's saline and chemical structures jutting from the waters, you can better understand it's barrenness. It is a figure of how those coming under God's judgment are left destitute. Salt on the land means it's polluted, that nothing good will grow there.

One of the first examples we find of salt as judgment is when Lot's wife "Looked Back" to Sodom, as she obviously had not taken her eyes off it's wickedness and placed them on the Lord. A great example God made of her there for all of us! Her eyes offended her, and she didn't pluck them out! It implies a heart problem, as her thoughts were on Sodom, not on her God, and she was judged there, as God turned her into a Pillar of salt.

Genesis 19:26

• "But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt."

She became a "sign" of God's judgement upon those who look back to their old house after God brings them out of that world of darkness. And that sign, or signification, was of a Pillar of Salt. In other words, a station or house of worthlessness, destitution or barrenness. It is meant an example to all of us who would look back to our former dwellings. It is also interesting that most Theologians believe from scripture that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were in the area of the Salt Sea. Some say it is "in" what is now part of the salt sea.

By Lot's wife becoming a pillar or station of salt, she is a standing sign or example for all, that, "No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. -Luke 9:62" This judgment illustrated by salt.

Deuteronomy 29:23

• "And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath:"

Here we see Salt again used to signify that the land was desolate or in ruin, and was worthless that it could not bear any grass. Moreover, in times when there was war, the enemies' lands were sometimes "sown with salt" in order to make it barren that no one could cultivate it. As in the example we read of Abimelech destroying a city, and then sowing the fields thereof with salt that nothing would grow there.

Judges 9:45

• "And Abimelech fought against the city all that day; and he took the city, and slew the people that was therein, and beat down the city, and sowed it with salt."

These are all examples of God using Salt in it's negative attribute to signify that something is made worthless or barren, the figure of God's judgments.

Another chapter which shows salt in both it's negative and positive aspects, is Mark chapter 9.

Mark 9:47-50

• "And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:

• Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

• For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.

• Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another."

Salted with fire signifies the judgment of God, and the sacrifice salted with salt signifies the virtue in the sacrifice, given to us. Another parallel passage speaks likwise of both aspects of salt, but in a slightly different way.

Luke 14:33-35

• So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

• Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?

• It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."

Again note, "forsaketh not all he has." i.e., remember Lot's wife who looked back, not forsaking all she had, not plucking out her eye that offended! And the signification here of salt being sown in the land, to make it desolate is again illustrated. It is being pictured as worthless, not fit to salt the land, or even for the dunghill. Salt which is without efficacy is worthless salt. Which is the picture that the Lord is painting here. If we, the Chosen people of God, have lost our savor (Christlike virtue), then we become worthless and are then good for nothing. We have fallen away from God, departed from the faith, and will come under judgment. It is a continuing theme of God's Word. As the body of Christ, we are the salt of the earth, the vessels which He uses to evangelize the world.

God indeed calls us various things in the scriptures to illustrate particular aspects of His relationship to us. Names such as Sheep, Branches, Children, Prophets, Stones, Temple, Light, etc. When Jesus ascribes to us the title "salt," He is illustrating that we have the responsibility to be the savor or good influence in the world by virtue of Christ, that we should faithfully preach the truth of the gospel. Salt is the seasoning within us.

Colossians 4:6

• "Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man."

How is our speech seasoned with salt? By it being virtuous, and that can only be by the faithful witness of the Word. Then and only then is it speech which cannot transgress, because it's the testimony of Christ.

Titus 2:8

• "Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you."

Speech seasoned with salt is what is spoken in righteousness, not hypocrisy. It's speech wherein is virtue, not vanity. It's a sure word of prophecy whereunto we do well to take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place. It's the Word in Love, a word where no man can gainsay nor resist, because it's not our Word. A word patient, longsuffering, in humility and servitude. We are a virtuous body, because of Christ!

Proverbs 12:4

• "A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband: but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones."

The truly virtuous woman is the bride of Christ, only! Then, and only then, is she the salt of the earth, and the light of the world.

As we ponder these illustrations of salt, we should ask if we can honestly look at ourselves and humbly say that our life is as a light to the world, and that we are as the salt of the earth. For therein are we called to be. Not to neglect this great commission, but to embrace it, recognizing the work Christ does in us. Let us therefore go forth with renewed vigor in this endeavor, that we be good vessels of the virtue of Christ, for the world. That we be the genuine salt, which will never lose it's savor, and the genuine light, which can never be overcome by darkness.

And may the Lord, who is Gracious above all, strengthen our resolve to be all that He desires for us, in understanding how we, in Christ Jesus, are the savor of salt in the earth.

Amen!