Are You SALTED? – ⚪️??⚪️

[Bible Speaks]

ARE YOU SALTED? ??????

"Let your utterance be always with graciousness, seasoned with salt." Ö (Col. 4:6) 

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Salt is often used in the Bible figuratively. Jesus told his disciples: “You are the salt of the earth,” a preserving influence on others, preventing spiritual putrefaction and moral decay. The good news they carried would preserve life. However, he went on to say to them: “But if the salt loses its strength, how will its saltness be restored? It is no longer usable for anything but to be thrown outside to be trampled on by men.” (Mt 5:13; Mr 9:50; Lu 14:34, 35) One Bible commentator remarks on Matthew 5:13: “The salt used in this country [United States] is a chemical compound—muriate of soda—and if the saltness were lost, or it were to lose its savour, there would be nothing remaining. It enters into the very nature of the substance. In eastern countries, however, the salt used was impure, mingled with vegetable and earthy substances; so that it might lose the whole of its saltness, and a considerable quantity of earthy matter remain. This was good for nothing, except that it was used, as it is said, to place in paths, or walks, as we use gravel. This kind of salt is common still in that country. It is found in the earth in veins or layers, and when exposed to the sun and rain, loses its saltness entirely.”—Barnes’ Notes on the New Testament, 1974.

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Because salt prevented decay, it became a symbol of stability and permanence. Often when covenants were made, the parties ate together—eating salt together—denoting perpetual loyalty and fidelity to one another in the covenant relationship. “A covenant of salt” therefore was considered very binding. (Nu 18:19) Accordingly, Judean King Abijah’s statement that Jehovah had made “a covenant of salt” with David and his sons meant that the covenant with David’s line for the kingship would stand forever. Jesus Christ the “son of David” and “the root of David” proves to be the one holding the Kingdom and administering its affairs forever.—2Ch 13:4, 5; Ps 18:50; Mt 1:1; Re 5:5; Isa 9:6, 7.

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Jesus said: “For everyone must be salted with fire.” The context here points to a salting with the fire of Gehenna in the case of all who stumble into a life of sin or who are responsible for so stumbling others.—Mr 9:42-49.

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Using the term to convey a different sense, Jesus thereafter said: “Have salt in yourselves, and keep peace between one another.” (Mr 9:50) The apostle Paul used it in a similar way, saying: “Let your utterance be always with graciousness, seasoned with salt, so as to know how you ought to give an answer to each one.” (Col 4:6) One’s conduct and speech should always be in good taste, considerate, wholesome, and tend toward preserving the lives of others.

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https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200003809