ACC ~ Matthew 5 v13

SALT PRESERVES FOODS

ORIGEN: Salt is useful for so many purposes in human life! What need is there to speak about this? Now is the proper time to say why Jesus’ disciples are compared with salt. Salt preserves meats from decaying into stench and worms. It makes them edible for a longer period. They would not last through time and be found useful without salt. So also Christ’s disciples, standing in the way of the stench that comes from the sins of idolatry and fornication, support and hold together this whole earthly realm. FRAGMENT 91. [1]

[1] GCS 41.1:52; cf. Letter to Diognetus 6.

RESISTANCE TO CORRUPTION

HILARY: The salt of the earth, I suppose, seems at first like nothing special. So what did Jesus mean when he called the apostles the “salt of the earth”? We must look for the words’ appropriate meaning. Both the apostles’ task and the nature of salt itself will reveal this. The element of water and the element of fire are combined and united in salt. So ordinary salt, made for the use of the human race, imparts resistance to corruption to the meats on which it is sprinkled. And, of course, it is very apt to add the sensation of hidden flavor. Likewise the apostles are the preachers of surprising heavenly things and eternity. Like sowers, they sow immortality on all bodies on which their discourse has been sprinkled. They are perfected by the baptism of water and fire. So those who are to be salted with the power of gospel teaching have rightly been called the “salt of the earth.” They are right now being preserved to the end. ON MATTHEW 4.10. [1]

[1] SC 254:126-28.

THE WORD SOWN IN OUR SOULS

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: He calls “salt” the frame of mind that is filled with the apostolic word, which is full of understanding. When it has been sown in our souls, it allows the word of wisdom to dwell in us. It has been compared with salt because of salt’s good taste and delightfulness. For without salt neither bread nor fish is edible. So too without the apostles’ understanding and instruction, every soul is dull and unwholesome and unpleasant to God. FRAGMENT 41. [1]

[1] MKGK 165.

DO NOT LOSE YOUR DELIGHTFUL TASTE

HILARY: Jesus calls the faithful the “salt of the earth.” He warns them to persist in the strength of the power handed over to them. Otherwise, losing their own taste, they are unable to make anything else tasty. Deprived of salt’s taste, they are unable to make what is rotten edible. He warns them lest, cast forth from the church storerooms, they be trampled underfoot by the feet of passersby—the very feet of those they should have served with salt. ON MATTHEW 4.10. [1]

[1] SC 254:128.

RESTORING THE TASTINESS OF THE CREATED ORDER

CHRYSOSTOM: It is as a matter of absolute necessity that he commands all this. Why must you be salt? Jesus says in effect: “You are accountable not only for your own life but also for that of the entire world. I am sending you not to one or two cities, nor to ten or twenty, nor even to one nation, as I sent the prophets. Rather, I am sending you to the entire earth, across the seas, to the whole world, to a world fallen into an evil state.” For by saying, “You are the salt of the earth,” Jesus signifies that all human nature itself has “lost its taste,” [1] having become rotten through sin. For this reason, you see, he requires from his disciples those character traits that are most necessary and useful for the benefit of all. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 15.6. [2]

[1] Mt 5:13.

[2] PG 57:231; NPNF 1 10:97**.

GOOD FOR NOTHING

CHROMATIUS: He shows that those who have been educated for the faith and in heavenly wisdom ought to remain faithful and steadfast and not “lose their taste.” If they forsake the faith and divine wisdom, they either plunge headlong into heresy or return to the folly of unbelievers. And so Jesus says, “But if the salt loses its flavor, with what will it be seasoned?” For people of this sort, made tasteless by the devil’s treachery and having lost the grace of faith, are good for nothing. Though they once might have seasoned nonbelievers still foreign to the faith with the word of divine preaching, they instead showed themselves useless. Judas Iscariot deteriorated into this sort of useless salt. After he had rejected divine wisdom, having changed from an apostle into an apostate, he not only did not help others. He became wretched and useless even to himself. TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 18.4.1-2. [1]

[1] CCL 9a:282.