What is the purpose of salt? We know that Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth,”[1] and we have the Apostle Paul telling us in Colossians[2] to “Let your speech be.. seasoned with salt.” But what exactly does this mean? We salt our food to make it taste better, and in our day and age, anything that disagrees with us is unpalatable, so we typically ignore it or throw it away.
In the Hellenistic period, when persuading someone, it was common to hear that one would be “salting” their speech.[3] A great philosopher and historian during that time wrote, “Let your style have salt (ἅλς ἔστω), so that your audience does not grow dull.”[4] Yet we find preachers and Bible teachers across the country who completely miss the point of salting our speech.
When we give the gospel to someone or talk about divine things, those conversations can quickly become heated, much like many hot-button issues today. When someone challenges our beliefs, we may get nervous and respond with insults, or say it’s just our opinion, often without ever standing for the truth.
Was the Apostle Paul telling us to make our language more tolerant? No. The Hellenistic writers used the phrase “seasoned with salt” to describe a far more precise manner of rhetoric. There is an old saying that has stuck around for a while, “Laughter is the best medicine”, this saying is apropos here. The Hellenists thought, if we injected slight humor combined with wit and precision into our daily conversations (for them it would be around philosophy and for the purposes of this blog it would be our faith), then not only would we be more persuasive, but without insults there is no injury to the relationship, allowing for further debate if warranted.
Our mission is to go out, spread the gospel, make disciples, and baptize them. None of that happens if those who disagree with us become so angry or offended that they reject the message entirely. The true gospel will get you in trouble far more often than the comfortable, tolerant version of Western Christianity.
It comes down to this; if you tell someone to repent and that they need the gospel, they will either lash out or they will repent and follow. You can be bold. You can be gracious. But you cannot be a jerk.
So when Paul says our speech should be “seasoned with salt,” he is not calling for extra tolerance. He is describing the kind of speech that disarms hostility and allows vulnerability to prosper, prayerfully tilling the soil for the gospel to take root.
