Believers are uniquely salt and light in this world. There is no salt or light in the world apart from Christ’s disciples (Matthew 5:13; Mark 9:49-50). What does salt signify in scripture? First, it signifies judgment. God rained fire from heaven on Sodom. He left the land barren in salt (Deuteronomy 29:23). Lot’s wife turned back and was turned to a pillar of salt. Abimelech sowed salt in the soil to make his enemies land barren (Judges 9:45). Second, salt also signifies blessing. Salt heals. Elisha poured salt from a new vessel into a spring to heal the waters that otherwise resulted in death to people and barrenness of land. Salt also signifies God’s covenant. God’s covenant is eternal and unalterable. Salt signifies this. As salt preserves by preventing putrefaction, so God preserves His people in the covenant of promise. God also required salt to be offered with every sacrifice. Salt seasoned the sacrifice, Leviticus 2:13. Job said that salt made unsavory things taste good. He meant not only food, but the trials of life, Job 6:6. Because salt was offered with every sacrifice and because it made things taste good, God accepted the sacrifice. The blessings of God’s covenant of promise come through the accepted sacrifice. Salt signifies judgment poured out, and blessings on those named in God’s covenant through Christ, who, through His suffering unto death, endured God’s judgment by virtue of His person and work. Grace comes out of judgment because Christ endured the judgment of God’s wrath against our sin by virtue of His holy person, sinless life and His love for His Father and His people (Luke 1:35; Hebrews 7:25-28; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 5:1-2). Just as God healed the waters into which salt was poured by Elisha from the new vessel, so all who look to Christ, though bitten by sin and under the curse of God’s law, are healed from their sin, are set free from condemnation and inherit eternal life (John 3:14-15). His stripes alone heal our sin-sick souls (Isaiah 53:5).
All these things teach us at least two basic principles. First, salt signifies grace out of judgment. The blessings of God promises in the everlasting covenant (Hebrews 13:20) are given to God’s elect, the promised seed (Romans 9:8), because Christ their Surety endured the wrath of God against their sin in His own person. Thus, grace comes out of judgment. By virtue of Christ’s righteousness, the judgment of God is extinguished against God’s people in His suffering, and only blessings are given them because in their Surety they endured the full punishment for their sins and fulfilled God’s requirements for their righteousness. Second, salt signifies that outside of Christ there is only judgment. There is no covenant without salt. There is no accepted sacrifice without salt. There is no healing without salt. There is no comfort in trials without salt. In short, all is tasteless and barren without Christ and Him crucified. God required salt to be mingled with every sacrifice. Christ loved His people and gave Himself for them. That was a sweet smelling savor to God. It smelled and tasted good to Him (Ephesians 5:2). And the priests who ate the sacrifice (Leviticus 2:13) tasted that salt too. Believers look in faith to Christ alone (John 3:14-15; 6:51). Without Christ and Him crucified, without faith in Him, all in life and all in God’s word is barren, without comfort and only a curse. Therefore, believers uniquely are the salt of the earth. They make known the savor of the knowledge of Christ in their walk and by the Gospel (2 Cor. 2:14-17; Ephesians 5:1-9). Their message is pure: it is Christ alone. In their heart, they hold to Christ alone. Before men, they confess that their only hope is Christ and Him crucified. And to all who hear, they hold out Christ alone as the only way in which God is gracious to sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). In Christ, God is merciful and gracious to sinners (Romans 8:1-39). Outside of Christ, there is only destruction, judgment, fire, barrenness and burning. Everyone outside of Christ will be salted with fire (Mark 9:49). Every disciple of Christ holds to Christ alone, holds out Christ alone in their coming to God, and holds out Christ alone to men as the only hope for sinners under the wrath of God. The speech of believers is to be with grace, seasoned with salt (Colossians 4:6). This is nothing short of declaring that there is grace from God nowhere but in Christ alone, and there is nothing but judgment from God if we hold to anything but Christ alone.
All these things teach us at least two basic principles. First, salt signifies grace out of judgment. The blessings of God promises in the everlasting covenant (Hebrews 13:20) are given to God’s elect, the promised seed (Romans 9:8), because Christ their Surety endured the wrath of God against their sin in His own person. Thus, grace comes out of judgment. By virtue of Christ’s righteousness, the judgment of God is extinguished against God’s people in His suffering, and only blessings are given them because in their Surety they endured the full punishment for their sins and fulfilled God’s requirements for their righteousness. Second, salt signifies that outside of Christ there is only judgment. There is no covenant without salt. There is no accepted sacrifice without salt. There is no healing without salt. There is no comfort in trials without salt. In short, all is tasteless and barren without Christ and Him crucified. God required salt to be mingled with every sacrifice. Christ loved His people and gave Himself for them. That was a sweet smelling savor to God. It smelled and tasted good to Him (Ephesians 5:2). And the priests who ate the sacrifice (Leviticus 2:13) tasted that salt too. Believers look in faith to Christ alone (John 3:14-15; 6:51). Without Christ and Him crucified, without faith in Him, all in life and all in God’s word is barren, without comfort and only a curse. Therefore, believers uniquely are the salt of the earth. They make known the savor of the knowledge of Christ in their walk and by the Gospel (2 Cor. 2:14-17; Ephesians 5:1-9). Their message is pure: it is Christ alone. In their heart, they hold to Christ alone. Before men, they confess that their only hope is Christ and Him crucified. And to all who hear, they hold out Christ alone as the only way in which God is gracious to sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). In Christ, God is merciful and gracious to sinners (Romans 8:1-39). Outside of Christ, there is only destruction, judgment, fire, barrenness and burning. Everyone outside of Christ will be salted with fire (Mark 9:49). Every disciple of Christ holds to Christ alone, holds out Christ alone in their coming to God, and holds out Christ alone to men as the only hope for sinners under the wrath of God. The speech of believers is to be with grace, seasoned with salt (Colossians 4:6). This is nothing short of declaring that there is grace from God nowhere but in Christ alone, and there is nothing but judgment from God if we hold to anything but Christ alone.
Rick Warta
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