Christians as salt and light in the world

Jesus explained the unique role of Christians in society by calling them the salt and light of the world.

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:13-16)

The primary sense of this scripture is that Christians must preach the true gospel of God and that they should live their lives in accordance with the gospel. In a secondary sense, these verses could read that Christians must help preserve the world from evil and to shine as examples of God’s righteousness and justice. Just like salt preserves meat from spoiling, Christians are in the world to preserve it from moral degradation and injustice. Jesus is saying that Christians, through their unique message and actions, exert a good moral influence on society that checks a natural deteriorating process. Jesus also says that Christians are like a light that exposes evil and illuminates what is right and wrong according to God’s standard. Just like people in a dark room need the light of a lamp to see objects around them, society needs the moral instruction and godly examples of Christians to see God’s standard of justice and righteousness.

As salt and light in society, Christians instruct others about God’s standard of righteousness and justice found in the Bible. Their conscience, pricked by the Holy Spirit through God’s word in the Bible, commands that they decry societal injustice. Christians must be first to raise moral objections when the powerful oppress the weak, first to expose injustice and corruption, and first to seek redress for the oppressed and protection for the vulnerable. Of course, Christians must be salt and light not just in what they say, but also in their life example. To effectively illuminate God’s standard of righteousness and justice, they need actions that correspond with their words. Thankfully, Christians can be proud of their heritage in both advocacy and action. For example, Christians not only advocated for the abolition of slavery in the United States but helped to establish the Underground Railroad that helped slaves escape from Southern plantations.[1] This advocacy on behalf of the weak goes on today as Christians speak out against abortion on behalf of those who have the least voice of all—unborn children. Many others adopt children who need families, work to stop human trafficking, bring hope to those in prison, and care for the poor and needy because of their Christian faith. In doing so, these Christians act as salt and light helping society see, hear, and understand the standard of righteousness and justice found in the Bible.

[This post is an excerpt of my work-in-progress book on social justice in the Old Testament. Feedback is welcome! More on Learning to Do Right.]

---

[1] Unfortunately, some Christians also twisted the Scriptures to suit their own prejudice or self-interest, such as those in the slave-holding South who argued that Africans should be subject to Whites because of Noah’s prophesy that Ham was to be the slave of Shem. Later, other Christians argued against miscegenation on grounds that God commanded the Israelites not to intermarry with other nations. This type of travesty should serve as a warning to Christians to remain true to the Scriptures and seek out their true sense apart from political ideology.