Christian scriptures refer repeatedly to salt. That’s no surprise. Salt has been well-appreciated by people everywhere and throughout time.

We often receive inquiries about these references. These are my thoughts; feel free to add your comments.

Salt references grow from the properties and uses of salt. These functions, historically, produced cultural practices leading to effective symbolism.

Salt is a preservative. It kills bacteria. Thus it retards spoilage and preserves the wholesome purity of foods. In related fashion, salt was the first antiseptic, killing bacteria in wounds. In reference to this function, salt is distinguished from leven or other fermentatives.

Salt affects flavor. The salty taste, of course, is one of the five basic tastes (some would add umami as a sixth), but salt’s flavor role is so much more as a flavor enhancer. It masks bitterness and off-tastes, enabling our palettes to appreciate prepared foods.

Preserving fresh foods equated to permanence and salt came to symbolize covenants. The pure white color symbolizes purity, the absence of contamination, including the contamination of intent in a relationship. Indeed, a “salt covenant” described an enduring, unbreakable covenant, a predictable relationship. Leviticus 2:13 instructed: "Neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt." And in Numbers 18:19 we read: "It is a covenant of salt for ever before the Lord unto thee and to thy seed with thee." Many cultures such as in Russia, prescribe a traditional offering of salt and bread to arriving guests as defining appropriate hospitality.

The desirable taste of salt and of salt-prepared foods has come to symbolize joy and happiness.

One oft-rehearsed verse, Matthew 5:13, produces the most misunderstanding. Christ taught: “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 trodden under the foot of men.” Followers of Christ were to be as salt, expunging evil (bacteria) and providing joy in the lives of their fellow men. Chemically, salt does not deteriorate and retains its unique taste (savour) forever. Adulterated, however, and the “savour” is lost and the value destroyed. It becomes unfit for its purposes of preservation or flavoring. The teaching is that followers of Christ are to make choices that preserve their purity and avoid impurities that contaminate their intended role as examples of Christian virtues and the joy they bring.

Salt is good and pure. Salt is the essence of life. Just as salt is an essential nutrient required by the body so must we be like salt. We must avoid losing our “savour” through principle-centered living.