Is That Enough Salt?

The Lexham Bible Dictionary Salt and Discipleship

Salt and Discipleship

Several New Testament passages connect salt with discipleship, including:

• Jesus calls His disciples to be the “salt of the earth,” perhaps referring to salt’s preserving or flavoring properties (Matt 5:13; Mark 9:49–50; Luke 14:34–35).

• Jesus calls His disciples to have salt within themselves and to live at peace, perhaps referring to God’s word and the effect it was to have on their lives (Mark 9:50; compare Heb 4:12, Strack and Billerbeck, Kommentar, 2:23).

• Paul admonishes the Colossians to season their speech with salt (Col 4:6).

Darlington argues that the association of salt with the people of God reminds them that their discipleship and its effect on the world carries with it a strong covenantal context (Darlington, “The Salt of the Earth,” 731). It also serves as a reminder of the final judgment, when “everyone will be salted with fire” (Mark 9:49 ESV).

Matt 5:13; Mark 9:49–50; Luke 14:34–35

Matthew 5:13 NKJV

13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.

Mark 9:49–50 NKJV

49 “For everyone will be seasoned with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt. 50 Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another.”

Luke 14:34–35 NKJV

34 “Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? 35 It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Not Enough Salt To Stop The Flood

Genesis 7:1 NKJV

1 Then the Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.

2 Peter 2:5 NKJV

5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;

Not Enough Salt To Save Sodom & Gomorrah

Genesis 18:32 NKJV

32 Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.”

Not Enough Salt To Save Israel

Ezekiel 14:14 NKJV

14 Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness,” says the Lord God.

Ezekiel 14:20 NKJV

20 even though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live,” says the Lord God, “they would deliver neither son nor daughter; they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness.”

Is This Enough Salt To Preserve The World?

Luke 18:8 NKJV

8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”