“You are the salt of the earth…” Matthew 5:13
England was in deep trouble in the mid-18th century. Simply put it was
in nearly complete moral corruption. Drunkenness and debauchery were
common place. Crime of all sorts continued to climb. The thought of the
day was that those who were involved in such things did so either
because it was genetic (a widely held view) or because of their
environment. The solution proposed, based on either view, was to deport
those who committed any crime to a faraway place and allow England
to be purified in the process. Our state of Georgia was originally
populated on that basis and the
country of Australia was founded as a penal colony. The results though were non-existent. Crime continued and moral depravity grew worse. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said,
“Most competent historians are agreed in saying that what undoubtedly saved 18th century England from a revolution was not the export of every criminal but the Evangelical Revivals of George Whitfield and the Wesley brothers…the whole culture was affected…”
country of Australia was founded as a penal colony. The results though were non-existent. Crime continued and moral depravity grew worse. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said,
“Most competent historians are agreed in saying that what undoubtedly saved 18th century England from a revolution was not the export of every criminal but the Evangelical Revivals of George Whitfield and the Wesley brothers…the whole culture was affected…”
Salt can be used in a variety of ways and Jesus may have had in mind
several meanings in His illustration. We use salt to add flavor to food.
Are we as believers to “add” a little zest to our culture? Or, after
I’ve eaten salt I’m often thirsty. Should our presence leave people
thirsty for more of Christ? I think he probably means both of these but
something else too…The emphasis seems to point to salts’ use as a
preservative. Quite simply - salt prevents rotting. In Jesus’ time a
piece of meat left out would soon begin to rot, but a piece of meat
rubbed with salt would not. The world is often uncomfortable in the
presence of Christian teachings, values and lives of personal holiness.
But that is all a part of being a “preservative influence”—as this
type of living genuinely retards moral and spiritual decay.
Many people like to use this passage of Scripture to advocate
for political activism – but politics has never changed hearts. The
true hope of our nation (as was the case in England) lies in the
spiritual revival of believers spurred to live lives of holiness in an
insipid culture. The spiritual and moral nature of our nation is in
trouble - not because of a lack of Christian political activism but from
a lack of authentic Christian living dedicated to Gospel-centered
lives. Jesus has told us what we ought to be, “…the salt of the earth.”
Keith M. Doyle
