Matthew 5:13

Salt and Light

5:13 “You are the salt ¹  of the earth. But if salt loses its flavor, ²  how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled on by people.

Matthew 6:24

6:24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate ³  the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise ⁴  the other. You cannot serve God and money. ⁵ 

Matthew 11:27

11:27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father. ⁶  No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son decides ⁷  to reveal him.

Matthew 17:20

17:20 He told them, “It was because of your little faith. I tell you the truth, ⁸  if you have faith the size of ⁹  a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; nothing ¹⁰  will be impossible for you.”

Matthew 23:16

23:16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple is bound by nothing. ¹¹  But whoever swears by the gold of the temple is bound by the oath.’

Matthew 27:24

Jesus is Condemned and Mocked

27:24 When ¹²  Pilate saw that he could do nothing, but that instead a riot was starting, he took some water, washed his hands before the crowd and said, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. You take care of it yourselves!” ¹³ 

[5:13]  ¹ sn Salt was used as seasoning or fertilizer (BDAG 41 s.v. ἅλας a), or as a preservative. If salt ceased to be useful, it was thrown away. With this illustration Jesus warned about a disciple who ceased to follow him.

[5:13]  ² sn The difficulty of this saying is understanding how salt could lose its flavor since its chemical properties cannot change. It is thus often assumed that Jesus was referring to chemically impure salt, perhaps a natural salt which, when exposed to the elements, had all the genuine salt leached out, leaving only the sediment or impurities behind. Others have suggested that the background of the saying is the use of salt blocks by Arab bakers to line the floor of their ovens; under the intense heat these blocks would eventually crystallize and undergo a change in chemical composition, finally being thrown out as unserviceable. A saying in the Talmud (b. Bekhorot 8b) attributed to R. Joshua ben Chananja (ca. a.d. 90), when asked the question “When salt loses its flavor, how can it be made salty again?” is said to have replied, “By salting it with the afterbirth of a mule.” He was then asked, “Then does the mule (being sterile) bear young?” to which he replied: “Can salt lose its flavor?” The point appears to be that both are impossible. The saying, while admittedly late, suggests that culturally the loss of flavor by salt was regarded as an impossibility. Genuine salt can never lose its flavor. In this case the saying by Jesus here may be similar to Matt 19:24, where it is likewise impossible for the camel to go through the eye of a sewing needle.

[6:24]  ³ sn The contrast between hate and love here is rhetorical. The point is that one will choose the favorite if a choice has to be made.

[6:24]  ⁴ tn Or “and treat [the other] with contempt.”

[6:24]  ⁵ tn Grk “God and mammon.”

[11:27]  ⁵ sn This verse has been noted for its conceptual similarity to teaching in John’s Gospel (10:15; 17:2). The authority of the Son and the Father are totally intertwined.

[11:27]  ⁶ tn Or “wishes”; or “intends”; or “plans” (cf. BDAG 182 s.v. βούλομαι 2.b). Here it is the Son who has sovereignty.

[17:20]  ⁷ tn Grk “For truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.” Here γάρ (gar) has not been translated.

[17:20]  ⁸ tn Grk “faith as,” “faith like.”

[17:20]  ⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[23:16]  ⁹ tn Grk “Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing.”

[27:24]  ¹¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[27:24]  ¹² sn You take care of it yourselves! Compare the response of the chief priests and elders to Judas in 27:4. The expression is identical except that in 27:4 it is singular and here it is plural.