Matthew 5:13, commentary and pictures

Christ told His disciples that they are the salt of the earth, appointed to preserve the world from utter moral corruption and restrain evil by their presence, prayers and good works. The savor of the salt is the vital power of the Christian life, the love of Jesus in the heart and the righteousness of Christ pervading the life through divine grace and the Spirit of God. Salt that has lost its savor has lost the power of God's grace, leaving only outward profession without living faith and love, good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot. The salt keeps its savor only by abiding in Christ and receiving His righteousness by the Holy Spirit through study of the Word, prayer and obedience to God's law. To save others it must be mingled with those it would preserve through close personal contact, remaining in the world to scatter its influence while staying separate in principle from the world's ways.

Words and Setting

The saying was spoken by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount when His disciples came to Him in sight of the multitudes. The disciples formed the inner circle around Him while the assembled multitude also heard, including Jews and Gentiles, and looking unto His disciples He made this declaration to them. It stands in direct connection with His blessings on those persecuted for righteousness' sake and with His sayings that His followers are the light of the world. It is part of a lesson in practical godliness for believers in every age, exposing claims of faith or sanctification that contradict Christ's teaching as showing need for conversion and cleansing from sin. It reveals the character of His teaching to be studied together with His conflict and victory over the devil's temptations in the wilderness.

The words were addressed to a few poor, humble fishermen disciples, not to the priests and rabbis who were present. Their learning and claims to know God did not make them the ones called the salt of the earth. This reverses the judgment of ages that dismissed the disciples as mere hewers of wood and drawers of water, showing that true knowledge is in direct opposition to human opinions. The salt fully represents them as possessors of true religion, from whom was to go forth a message illuminating in its influence and saving in its power, in contrast to the chosen people who forsook God as the fountain of living waters and thereby proved they lacked this character despite their advantages.

Christ chose salt losing its taste because it was a familiar object His hearers saw daily. He presented sublime, eternal truth with the greatest simplicity in forcible words easy for learned and unlearned to understand, reaching the heart and not the understanding only. He illustrated divine truth with convincing power in clearness with a distinct, melodious, natural and even voice, so that afterward whenever they saw salt they would recall the words He had spoken.

The saying is one of the blessings spoken on the mount that are full of deep meaning. It is a symbol with real value and a golden treasure of truth and instruction, yet dimly appreciated, with many who claim to be Christians not choosing to bring it into practical experience. It belongs to teachings to be read, believed, and practiced, since living by them develops Christlike character and puts divine principles in the heart. It is to be studied by every person for individual benefit, together with His teaching that only he who does the will of the Father in heaven shall enter the kingdom of heaven and that whoever hears His sayings and does them is like a wise man who built his house upon a rock. It shows the true position messengers of God are called to occupy, and it must be incorporated into the life and worked out in personal life and experience when proved and tried, giving experimental knowledge of the highest value.

It belongs to Christ's lesson on the conduct of His disciples, which they are to learn and obey as His representatives, setting a Christlike example rather than acting in ways that undermine their witness. It shows with Matthew 5:13-16 what putting on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness means, describing the Christlike character produced when the Holy Spirit fashions a person after Christ's likeness, with the person yielded for the Holy Spirit to use rather than trying to use the Holy Spirit. It is part of Christ's soul-saving message, which calls for humility and receiving His truths, so that those who do so are converted and have God's rebuke for past wrongs removed, while the salt image warns that those addressed must not lose their usefulness.

The verse belongs with truth about the laws of God's government and warns of the peril of continuing in disobedience to God's commandments. It presents the church as a bearer of light whose witness to a morally dark world depends on believers' genuine faith, piety, and example, since disunity gives the world a harmful testimony. All who do God's will are the subjects and members of Christ's kingdom and are the salt of the earth. They have righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, are the sons of God and partners in His great firm, a chosen generation, a peculiar people, a holy nation called out of darkness into marvelous light to show forth His praises, the light of the world, living stones, a royal priesthood in copartnership with Jesus Christ, who follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. They are a holy people called to show God's praises, and their lives are to exert a helpful influence on others.

God's true people as the salt of the earth and the light of the world are to advance continually in knowledge of the truth and holiness, so they can recognize Satan's approach and resist him in Jesus' strength. Their advance is fiercely opposed, for Satan will call legions of his angels to oppose the advance of even one soul and if possible wrest it from the hand of Christ.

Salt's Preserving Work

Christ's followers and His church are the salt of the earth, and their presence in the world preserves it from utter moral corruption. Their faithful witness, prayers, good works, virtue and saving grace restrain evil, delay the punishment of the wicked, and keep sacred truth effective in daily life through lives and work practiced in harmony with Christ. A well-developed, harmonious Christian character makes them a saving power, showing the purity of true religion, directing sinners' minds to God, helping others come to Jesus, and making them partners in Christ's work and its rewards. If they lose this distinct character and influence they become useless like salt without savor, rejected and thrown out to be trampled.

God made His people salt not to preserve themselves but to bless the world and save others. Blessings continually received from Him are to pass through them to those not yet connected with Him, and as salt purified Elisha's polluted spring and brought life where there had been death, so God's chosen people bring His saving grace to others. As Abraham was chosen not only to be God's special friend but to be a medium of the privileges God desired to bestow upon the nations, so Christians purified through the truth possess saving qualities that preserve the world from utter moral corruption. This purpose is fulfilled when every follower is fully identified with Christ and with brethren in the unity for which Christ prayed, sanctified by the Holy Spirit in daily transformation, renewal of the divine image, and growth in righteousness and true holiness, so that Christ's attributes are revealed and missionary power is multiplied according to light and knowledge. The religion of Jesus is not selfish and not to be kept under lock and key, but is to go forth as power from every genuine Christian to confer divine illumination, leaven the whole lump, and make better every soul connected with them, after first gathering divine rays from the Word, grasping Christ's salvation by faith, weaving it into life, and bearing the divine mould of character as His true representative.

The salt has no virtue of its own, for all its saving quality is derived from Christ, the Light and Life of the world. It must first be received from Him as the Source of all light and truth, through the Holy Spirit, and then imparted, so that fallen man is elevated, ennobled, and brought to work in Christ's lines as a laborer together with God instead of hiding the light received. Knowledge of Christ acts as salt wherever it finds its way into homes or communities, proving a preserving power to save all that is good and destroy all that is evil, of more value than all pomposity, self-righteousness and supposed intellectual advancement. This salt was already working in many ways through the intellectual light men had before Christ came, even when they did not understand whence it came, and as the holiness and sanctification of all who believe, His light is to be received and imparted in all good works, while the Word of the living God is also the salt of the earth. True Christians are salt and light because Christ is in them and they are like Him, united to Him as branches to the living vine, led by the Spirit, walking after the Spirit and not after the flesh, manifesting His spirit and character in heavenly conversation, meekness, blameless conduct, and holy Christlike love working in the heart with purifying influence in deeds of love to one another, hating sin while loving the sinner, with the Spirit's help and the words of eternal life as wisdom and strength leading the willing and obedient into all truth.

Daniel and Joseph exemplify this calling, for their moral integrity, purity and living connection with God gave them saving influence and made God's character and majesty known even among heathen kingdoms. Their lives displayed Christ's character and exerted a transforming power upon those around them, so that through them God could work to transform associates and be known among those who did not know Him. Even in humble positions their influence was perceived in the character of those around them, showing that moral worth comes from connection with God and that the Holy Spirit, not human power, transforms believers and keeps the savor.

The prayers and good works of the righteous preserve the world from judgment and are a savor of life, delaying God's punishment of the wicked. Those who know the truth and handle God's Word are salt only as living truth abides in the soul in pure and undefiled religion that spreads the truth as it is in Jesus. God's people are salt through a religion that renews the heart and makes life holy, exerting a regenerating influence with saving power for unbelievers, and they must preserve and reveal Christ's saving properties in daily life so the world can see the truth in Jesus. A religion that cannot enlighten people, regenerate character, spread truth and save perishing souls has lost its purpose and saving power, is powerless and spurious, of no value for salvation, and is good for nothing but to be cast aside and trodden underfoot.

Savor and Its Loss

The savor of the salt is the vital power of the Christian, which is the love of Jesus in the heart and the righteousness of Christ pervading the life. It is divine grace, the Spirit of God accompanying effort, the divine nature and living principles of truth received to be imparted to others in meekness, patience, longsuffering, kindness and love. Love, and love only, makes people the salt of the earth, for when it fills the heart it flows out to others not because of favors received but because love is the principle of action, modifying the character, governing impulses, subduing enmity, ennobling the affections, as broad as the universe and in harmony with angel workers, sweetening the entire life and shedding blessing on all around. That love is diffusive and aggressive, warming hearts by unselfish interest as believers come close to people, spreading a penetrating vital energy that gives new moral power to souls, with the transforming work done not by human power but by the Holy Spirit. Keeping the savor requires character under the molding influence of the Spirit, faith that works by love and purifies the soul from hereditary and cultivated objectionable tendencies, truth sanctifying temper, disposition, words and actions, the soul-temple cleansed and crowned with the love of God, so that speech is good and wholesome and purity is never violated in action, language or thought, for the outward word and act express the inward treasure of the heart. Without this profession avails nothing, since no one can impart what he does not have, and salt that keeps its savor is sweetness of humility combined with firmness and solidity of character, a savor of life unto life.

Losing savor means the power of the grace of God has departed, leaving the soul cold and Christless, without living faith in Christ as a personal Saviour, without devotion and consecration, without actual service, genuine love and reality of experience, without connection with heaven. Then the Holy Spirit cannot use the life as an agent to communicate truth as it is in Jesus to a skeptical world, so the life cannot give to others what it does not possess and has no power to help or bless. By lack of the grace of Christ it testifies that the truth claimed has no sanctifying power, and so far as its influence goes makes the word of God of no effect, leaving it entirely worthless. This is what the Jewish nation was doing, having the salt but useless and able to do no good, having once accepted Bible truth and once understood being salt with saving properties but having lost connection with Christ and no longer wearing His yoke, so their salt has no saving qualities. They become criticizers and accusers of the brethren like the first apostates, able to quote Scripture only to throw at others to cause discomfort and confusion instead of seeking to enlighten and save, useless as far as truth and righteousness are concerned. A merely nominal profession of sacred truth without purity, Christlikeness, personal conversion and a life distinct from worldliness makes influence unsavory and worthless, worse than never having embraced the truth unless Christ dwells in the soul and His Spirit controls the affections.

Salt without savor still looks like salt but cannot preserve and is good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot, illustrated by white salt glistening useless in the pathways where it had been thrown. Likewise people who profess the truth and retain a form of godliness yet deny it in words and fail to live its principles lack saving power and are of no value as witnesses, insipid and disagreeable to men and angels whatever their profession. Belief is to be made known through converted character and good works that glorify God, for the prayers and good works of the righteous delay punishment of the wicked and are a savor of life. People who are Christians only in name, without virtuous characters, godly lives, living faith, genuine love, real service and the grace of Christ through the Holy Spirit, do no good in the world, and by misrepresenting God they are worse than unbelievers and may harm the cause of truth more than unbelievers do.

This loss is seen in profession of faith and form of godliness without a living principle of godliness, transforming grace and practical godliness. A professed follower without living connection with Jesus is worthless and without saving properties, not a light to the world, with doubt and unbelief darkening the life and hindering others from receiving help and truth. An unprincipled Christian dishonors Christ and becomes a reproach to His name, contradicting profession by actions and bringing Christ into disrepute instead of showing genuine life in unselfish, self-sacrificing love and Christlike conduct. Breaking God's commandments for worldly gain makes faithful conduct and distinct influence for what is right useless, like salt fit only to be cast out and trodden underfoot. Christians in name only cannot exert a preserving influence and are good for nothing when cast out and trodden underfoot.

This loss is also seen when truth is hidden, mixed with error, tradition, selfish indulgence and worldly ways, for when so mingled its saving properties are destroyed. Salt that keeps its shape but loses preserving quality is useless, and a religious work corrupted by selfishness has lost purity and influence and is unacceptable to God unless changed through conversion and offered in righteousness. The warning applies to the Jewish leaders, whose traditions hid the truth and made their teachings worthless, and to self-indulgent customs, where truth hidden by tradition and mingled with error and selfish indulgence was made worthless. Christ rescued the jewels of truth from the rubbish of falsehood, tradition and selfish indulgence and restored them in original purity and life-giving power that souls and bodies might be preserved from corruption, and His people must present truth in all its freshness in marked contrast to the world, causing its preserving qualities to appear distinctly by pure teaching, right conduct, prayer and Christlike example as a savor of life unto life. Salt that has lost its savor is also seen in a hard, rigid spirit without contrition, tenderness and love replacing sweetness of humility, a savor of death unto death, as with the scribes and Pharisees whose hard orthodoxy made their righteousness worthless and a stumbling-block to sinners, leaving them with no power to preserve the world from corruption.

This loss is seen in unchristlike words, spirit and conduct, for if grace is absent from the heart, sinful speech, discourteous actions and selfishness appear and make profession like salt without savor, useless and dishonoring to Christ before the world. A servant whose life shows anger and accusation rather than the spirit of Christ fails to bear faithful testimony to truth as it is in Jesus through confession of truth and revelation of Christ's love. Conduct that is careless, coarse, discourteous, rough and low in conversation, with careless appearance, does not represent the salt of the earth and is not the mark of true humility or Christian life. Helpful words, kind actions, self-denial and refusing to gain at another's expense show truth's power to restrain evil and keep its preserving influence, while a Christian who is selfish, harms a neighbor for personal advantage, or lacks a life shaped by God's Spirit is useless and fit only to be cast out. True influence appears through sincere, truthful, courteous, kind and benevolent speech, faithful dealings, and modest orderly dress without superfluity, display or extremes.

Keeping the Savor

To keep its savor the salt must abide in Christ, for without Him nothing can be done, and abiding means keeping His commandments and continuing in His love, loving one another even to laying down life, in submission to the principles of the law of God. Preservative power enters the life when Christ abides in the heart through belief of the truth, purifying the believer so that good influence saves many from corruption and death. Being salt that has not lost its savor means following Christ's instruction, studying the Word of God and daily receiving instruction from Christ, receiving the sanctification of the Holy Spirit, bearing the stamp and principles of heaven, and living out pure, elevated, ennobling principles that send forth a high, holy influence and helpful atmosphere with living testimony and saving influence upon unbelievers. This active savor is living faith working through love and bringing every power into conformity with God's will, so that a Christ-connected life can help save a darkened world, whereas if that savor is lost the world cannot be salted through that person. It is kept especially by a well-ordered life and godly conversation and living, decided Christianity whose convictions spread like a contagion and prepare the heart for seeds of truth unto a fruitful harvest, requiring teachers above all to weigh the power of example and pray much lest the influence be lost. Usefulness in building the kingdom depends on receiving Christ's righteousness as saving salt and His Spirit and grace, which restrain evil and produce unselfish love rather than rivalry, self-seeking, or desire for the highest place, for mere profession of godliness without Christ's love loses savor and has no power for good.

Keeping savor requires the character to be under the molding influence of the Spirit, with faith that works by love and purifies the soul from all objectionable tendencies hereditary and cultivated, seen in sweetness of humility combined with firmness and solidity of character as a savor of life unto life, while without this profession avails nothing and a hard spirit becomes a savor of death unto death, good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot. Disciples are responsible for their influence, and those who claim to follow Christ but do not do works of righteousness lose influence for saving souls; to retain it they must have the true Christian characteristics, the graces of the Spirit, with words and works agreeing with Christ's teachings and life. True children of God are known by fruits, good fruit on the Christian tree and corrupt fruit on a corrupt tree, and mere profession without the practical working of truth brought into the inner sanctuary to sanctify thoughts, words and actions becomes a stumbling block, while laying hold by faith of Christ's righteousness gives sure evidence of acceptance in a fruitful life. The savor represents the precious, living, guiding principles of Christ present in the soul, and without them work is good for nothing; those who belong to God must therefore remain like salt that has not lost its savor, influencing others on the side of right against darkness, honoring Him in everything done and said and owing Him life's service because He gave His life for them.

Savor is preserved by remaining faithful to the calling as a blessing sent to the world, receiving and obeying God's Word as a powerful influence, with humility and likeness to Christ increasing the blessing, so that though few and treated with contempt or discouragement believers remain salt that has not lost its savor and carry the gospel through every age. The church becomes salt when every follower is fully identified with Christ and identifies his interest with his brethren, united as Christ is one with the Father in answer to His prayer that they all may be one, so that the world believes. This requires the influence of every believer to remain through sanctification wrought by the Holy Spirit, daily transformation of character, renewing of the divine image, and growth in righteousness and true holiness, so that the attributes of Christ are revealed and grace makes the church a saving power whose missionary power multiplies according to light and knowledge. True followers are salt by unity with Christ in word, life and action, having His mind and Spirit and loving as brethren with living testimony, catching beams from the Morning Star to transmit to those in darkness, shining in their own neighborhoods and going as a church to regions beyond, each doing duty, diffusing light, and standing as co-partners with Christ in saving the world. Its principles are not selfish or narrow but diffusive and aggressive, preserving life and saving souls by spreading knowledge of truth far and near, each filling his proper position and all working together in order, harmony and love while laboring for strength and unity and watching lest diversity and division creep in, with integrity giving life its preserving influence and with patience and forbearance under abrupt speech teaching those around by example.

Savor is kept when conduct is shaped by heavenly principles, with words, patience and good works preserving from an influence unlike Christ and benefiting others through sound words. Those who profess Bible truth must preserve its influence through lives in harmony with that truth, for conduct bringing reproach makes witness ineffective like salt that has lost its savor. Christians who profess allegiance but contradict it in action are like salt without savor, useless and bringing disrepute, whereas the genuine life is shown in unselfish, self-sacrificing love and Christlike conduct. Followers must influence those around them by representing Christ and manifesting His truth in words and actions, keeping thoughts and words right and living in harmony with Christ rather than conforming to the world, lest failing to do so leave them useless and cast out.

Savor begins in the home, where true religion makes believers, especially parents, salt through saving virtues that shape children for God, by gentle kind conduct without loud commands, harshness, unkindness, passion, gloom or lording over heritage, while remaining firm and decided in Bible instruction under God's control. The love of Christ fashions character to manifest His meekness and gentleness toward wayward children and bear with inherited perversity, with self-control gained by prayer, so that parents changed by converting power become constant learners representing Christ and shining as light of the home in pleasant words and soothing tones, with correctly managed discipline flowing out to the world as children carry home influence into schoolroom and among many others. Every member, not the minister alone, must have the savor in himself so his family can be salted through him, preserving families from corruption and immorality, for if savor is lost the home cannot be preserved, as when the same mouth brings blessing and cursing. Salt keeps savor when truth is a living principle received as grace to impart in meekness, patience, longsuffering, kindness and love, walking with Christ, loving His ways, learning His lowliness, cultivating purity of speech, having the soul-temple cleansed and character crowned with love of God, speaking good wholesome words and never violating purity in action, language or thought, since outward word and action express inward treasure. It is kept when humility and a meek and quiet spirit in the heart find expression in dignified deportment, appropriate dress, words and conduct, and chaste conversation as inward adorning, so truth lived becomes manifest, exerts influence for truth, testifies to practical godliness and genuine conversion, makes believers living epistles read by all, enlarges influence, opens usefulness, and makes them signs perpetuating saving knowledge, which requires overcoming self, mastering will and ways to God, living blamelessly under great light without excuse, with patience and forbearance as a blessing and living representation lest salt become useless and trodden underfoot.

Mingling Witness to People

Salt preserves only by being mingled with what it is to preserve, penetrating and infusing it, and the gospel reaches people in the same way through close personal contact and association, because people are saved as individuals and not in masses. Personal influence is a power, so those who would do others good must come close to them and work together with Christ to lift where He lifts, impart right principles, check the spread of corruption, and counterwork the destroying influence of evil. This preserving work shares the grace that Christ alone can impart, sweetening and uplifting the life and character of others by a pure example united with earnest faith and love, while uplifting a risen Saviour who came to seek and save the lost by words, pen, and voice and taking care that self is not exalted between Christ and the people. It is done by sharing with others the truth God has given, and this carrying of the gospel belongs not to ordained ministers alone but to every person called to serve. Those who are one with Christ in word, life, and action, having His mind and Spirit and loving as brethren with a living testimony, catch the bright beams from the Morning Star and transmit that light to those in darkness, shining in their own neighborhoods and going forth as a church to regions beyond as co-partners with Christ in saving the world, for faith is meant to spread and preserve spiritual life as light shines and as leaven transforms.

Followers are to remain among people in the world and not withdraw, isolate, or seclude themselves, so that the savor of divine love in them may preserve the world from corruption. Hearts moved by the Holy Spirit become channels of God's blessing, and even those who despise and oppress God's people benefit from their presence, while if His servants were removed and His Spirit withdrawn the world would be left to desolation and destruction under Satan's dominion. Though separate from the world in principles and interests, they are not to pattern after its ways or customs or imitate them, but in their dealings their conduct is to show that they serve Christ. They are to live in the world as a corrective, saving influence like salt that retains its savor, remaining pure and holy amid an unholy, impure, idolatrous generation to show that Christ's grace can restore the divine likeness in people. This follows Christ, who mingled constantly with men not to encourage anything contrary to God's will but to uplift and ennoble them, and Christians who are Christians in name only are like salt without savor, having no influence for good and by misrepresenting God becoming worse than unbelievers.

Believers are to scatter their influence among many places rather than gather in large numbers in one locality or concentrate institutions and influence in one center, since gathering them together can narrow their usefulness and remove light from places where God wants it to shine. Families who settle in towns, rural areas, or regions beyond are to live out this calling, bringing blessing where they live and work and carrying the influence of truth to those places. God intends the knowledge of truth to reach everyone so all may consider it and decide for or against it and all may be warned, and concentration that produces demoralization shows failure to heed warning and risks becoming useless and rejected like salt that has lost its character. Even one or two faithful Christians can impress others with the sincerity of their faith, so that their lives lead people to conviction and conversion or leave them condemned, and help people without God recognize the power of Christ's religion. They are to serve as sentinels throughout the world rather than narrow their usefulness, for reliable, unselfish people are scarce because many are devoted to their own interests.

Being salt means speaking the truth to believers and unbelievers, placing influence where it can benefit others, sharing the light given, and carrying the gospel outward rather than hiding light or confining work to one place and routine. Like salt that has lost its savor, representatives of Christ are good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot if they fail to exert a useful moral influence and retain their effectiveness. For leading physicians this means not confining influence to sanitarium work but exerting God-given influence in as wide a sphere as possible, using it beyond institutions to serve others and speak the truth instead of excluding themselves from public witnessing. Neglect of this open witnessing work leaves people unreached and causes souls to be lost. God's people are to obey His word and spread His truth throughout the world rather than keep their light hidden.

This witness appears in daily life, for the righteousness in the life is made visible and known through words, spirit, and conduct, and virtue is to appear in daily experience as believers share with others the knowledge and experience they have received. Words, patience, forbearance, and good works shaped by heavenly principles preserve from exerting an influence unlike Christ and benefit others through sound words, with patience under abrupt speech providing a teaching example to those around. Careless, coarse, uncourteous, rough, and low conduct and conversation do not represent salt and are not marks of true humility or Christian life, and without a saving influence the world would perish in its own corruption. True influence is shown through sincere, truthful, courteous, kind, and benevolent speech, faithful dealings, and modest, orderly dress without superfluity, display, or extremes, preserving good influence with unbelievers. Heaven's joy and purity made visible in this way lead souls to Christ.

Callings and Warnings

Those who teach the truth are the salt of the earth, and the savor of the salt is divine grace, the Spirit of God accompanying all effort to advance the truth, without which all labor is of little value and teaching becomes child's play. Ministers of the gospel must remember this calling as they serve people in the cities and do all in their power to advance the work in nearby cities, helping the thousands who need help in various ways, as in San Francisco and Oakland and all the other cities of California. Teachers and students preparing for missionary work are called to genuine consecration, self-denial, and devotion to that work, lest like salt that has lost its savor they become useless when their lives fail to serve God's work. Salt that has lost its savor has no real sense of the sacredness of God's work, but minds ease and pleasure and self-importance instead of the stern duty of warning the world of coming judgment, passes time in indolence without benefiting anyone while receiving pay from God's treasury and thereby robs God. Such salt is good for nothing in God's vineyard and must not attempt to teach others until thorough repentance and conversion take off the old stamp of character and bear the impress of the Divine, after which the converted one may strengthen his brethren and work for God; indolence, self-seeking, hovering over churches instead of aggressive labor, and contradicting teaching by example make teachers salt without savor needing such repentance and conversion.

Leading physicians are Christ's representatives to exert a useful moral influence in the world, and like salt they must retain effectiveness, since salt that loses its savor is useless and cast out to be trodden underfoot. They must not confine their influence to sanitarium work and routine but should share truth with believers and unbelievers in as wide a sphere as possible, placing influence where it can benefit others instead of hiding light or confining it to one place, speaking the truth openly rather than excluding themselves from public witnessing. Neglecting this duty leaves people unreached and souls lost. Faithful workers who uphold the truth and seek God's wisdom are to carry this salt influence into establishing sanitariums bearing the impress of their divine Leader, reflecting Christ's face, preserving true pure religion, and extending saving influence to many souls through properly conducted small homelike sanitariums as lights in dark places rather than mammoth institutions.

The call to be salt applies to responsible workers serving people in large cities, who must remember they are to be a preserving influence and become useless if they lose salt-like influence. Educational institutions need the Spirit's reforming power, with deeply consecrated teachers and self-denying students, forming new habits and unlearning worldly theories before proclaiming shaking truth.

The church is the Lord's light bearer to shine amid the moral darkness of a corrupt generation, and the aggressive power of the gospel is in proportion to genuine faith and piety and example. The religion of Christ is saving salt whose principles are not selfish or narrow but diffusive and aggressive, as all true believers, ministers and people, preserve life and save souls by spreading knowledge of truth far and near, each filling his proper position and all working together in order, harmony, and love, while laboring for strength and unity and watching lest diversity and division creep in. Disunity offends God because it bears a bad testimony and example to the world. When God's people center His work contrary to His order and let a demoralizing condition grow after warnings have been given and not heeded, as in concentration of institutions and influence in one center, they lose their savor; leaving unconverted men as managers and directors of sacred work is that loss of savor, leaving them good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden underfoot unless they wake up and change speedily. When members grow cold and merely profess religion they need a deeper work of grace and reformation before God can bless them, putting God's kingdom first so integrity shows and influence is for good; dead lifeless churches without virtue lose savor and need reformation, for the church is salt as a living people proclaiming a living message in the last days, not Babylon.

The Jewish leaders illustrate salt losing its savor, for when truth is mixed with error its saving power is lost, and their traditions hid the truth and made their teachings worthless. Christ's people are to exert preserving influence through pure teaching, right conduct, prayer, and Christlike example, openly bearing God's truth rather than blanketing faith to obtain patronage, with healing institutions established to save souls as well as bodies; salt that has lost its savor is truth hidden by tradition, mingled with error and selfish indulgence and self-indulgent customs, its saving properties destroyed. Christ rescued the jewels of truth from rubbish of falsehood, tradition, and selfish indulgence and restored them in original purity and life-giving power that souls and bodies might be preserved from corruption, and His people must now present truth in all its freshness in marked contrast to the world, causing its preserving qualities to appear distinctly by words and actions as a savor of life unto life. Salt losing its savor means a soul from whom the power of grace has departed and who has become cold and Christless, illustrated by white salt glistening useless in pathways where thrown; it pictured the condition of the Pharisees and the effect of their religion upon society, and pictures every soul in that state, whatever his profession insipid and disagreeable to men and angels. The scribes and Pharisees are salt that has lost its savor because their hard rigid orthodoxy destitute of contrition, tenderness, and love made their righteousness worthless and a stumbling-block to sinners, leaving no power to preserve the world from corruption. Losing savor is what the Jewish nation was doing, having the salt but useless and able to do no good, representing those who once accepted Bible truth and understood being salt with saving properties but lost connection with Christ and no longer wear His yoke, becoming criticizers and accusers of the brethren like the first apostates, able to quote Scripture only to throw at others to cause discomfort and confusion instead of seeking to enlighten and save. Israel's light rejected showed the salt had lost its savor through idolatry and sin, losing preserving and spiritually beneficial influence.

Preaching which does not bring people to thorough conversion, separate them from the world, and unite them with God's people lacks the salt and savor needed to preserve and strengthen faith, so its converts drift without anchor and may be lost. Preaching can have no saving influence when it lacks the saving blood of Christ's sacrifice, the holy fire, and divine unction, for good words alone are not enough and truth must be presented as it is in Jesus. Professed Christians whose thoughts and actions do not lead heavenward but fit Satan's plans are salt that has lost its savor, used as decoys to lead others away from true piety and earnest Christian work, which is terrible; such salt can never benefit the world and is left worthless to be thrown out and trampled. Pride and selfishness, variance and enmity, covetous backsliding, weakening others' faith, drifting without considering where one is going and losing the burden for the work, giving way to ambition and desire to supersede, and evil threads woven into character with quibbling over sin all make influence like salt without savor, fit only to be cast out, for every center and worker must keep the spiritual experience marking the Holy Spirit's guidance and preserve sacred truth in holy dignity and power under supervision of holy angels.

The Christian church is to be the salt of the earth by abstaining from tobacco and intoxicating drink, and a church whose members use them and lead others to drink fails that calling. The church should teach young people to control appetite and avoid temptation, since drinking is not safely moderate but leads downward.