Matthew 5:13 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
Most of us have heard preaching and exhorting from this passage regarding the Christian being the salt of the earth. Usually, the Christian is encouraged to be careful that he does not lose his savour. If the savour is lost, then he is no longer valuable to the advancement of Christ’s church or the service of the will of God. This interpretation of the scripture is packed with truth and agreeable. However, there may be a possibility that the scripture’s context affords a somewhat different interpretation. The context up to this verse is the matter of persecution, the fellowship of Jesus’ suffering, brokenness, and heavenly rewards. Draw your attention to the final phrase of the verse to be trodden under foot of men. If this verse would remain in the context of the preceding three verses, it would be defined as “persecuted for righteousness’ sake… men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake… so persecuted they the prophets.” Therefore to be trodden under foot of men is a metaphoric description of persecution.
If this be the case, then this changes the meaning of the text from what it usually means to most people. Usually, it’s preached that a Christian who has lost his savour has backslidden from God and he’s ineffective in the ministry. The godly characteristics of his life are no longer present and known to mankind, and therefore cannot entice the world to Jesus any longer. Hence, to be trodden under foot of men is somehow a judgment, chastisement, or consequence of some sort for the child of God that has lost his savour. If it is not judgement, however, and instead persecution, then for one to have lost his savour is most definitely not a bad thing. In truth, it is evidence of a good thing. We must be reminded that “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” (2 Tim 3:12) It must be concluded that one that has lost his savour is evidence of a godly life in Christ Jesus, and has not backslidden. What the world is turned off by is not hypocrisy, but rather humility, hunger for righteousness, and purity of heart. That is if you want to stay in the context.
To whom we lost our savour is still the world and man, but the reason why is what is different. What a lost and dying world finds unpalatable is not a lack of Christian virture; it’s a lack of worldliness. We are good for nothing to the world. Christian virtues, such as mentioned in the text, are poverty, mourning, meekness, hunger, thirst, mercy, and peace. These have no savour to the world and are of no use. Jesus said, “They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” (Luke 5:31) If they don’t need the physician, they certainly don’t need the physician’s assistants. Jesus said, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” (John 15:18,20) If the world sees Jesus in us, they will see the one that has no form nor comeliness, and when they shall see him, there is no beauty that they should desire him. (Isaiah 53:2). When Jesus began to tell his disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things, and be killed. Peter did not find that very palatable. Jesus told him, “Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.” (Matthew 16:23)
Now, this does not negate all the good preaching we’ve heard about being a salty Christian. Yes, salt still gives flavor and it still preserves. But, maybe losing your savour is not such a bad thing, if it’s to the world.
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