Mark 9:50

My Notes

What Does Mark 9:50 Mean?

"Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another." Jesus delivers a three-part instruction about SALT: (1) salt is GOOD — its value is affirmed. (2) Saltless salt is USELESS — once the saltness is gone, nothing can restore it. (3) HAVE salt in yourselves AND peace with one another. The two commands — internal saltiness and external peace — go together. The salt and the peace are not alternatives. They're partners.

The phrase "if the salt have lost his saltness" (ean to halas analon genētai — if the salt becomes unsalty/saltless) describes a CATASTROPHIC loss: salt that isn't salty has lost its ESSENTIAL QUALITY. The salt didn't disappear. It lost what makes it SALT. The substance remains. The substance's purpose is gone. The form exists without the function. Saltless salt is the material without the meaning.

The dual command — "have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another" (en heautois echete halas kai eirēneuete en allēlois — in yourselves have salt and be at peace with one another) — pairs INTERNAL CHARACTER with EXTERNAL RELATIONSHIP: the salt is IN YOURSELVES (your own character, your own distinctiveness, your own preserving and flavoring influence). The peace is WITH ONE ANOTHER (your community, your relationships, your life together). You need BOTH — personal saltiness AND communal peace.

Reflection Questions

• 1.Do you have both — salt in yourself AND peace with others — or are you sacrificing one?
• 2.What does saltless salt (form without function) look like in your life?
• 3.How does internal saltiness (distinctiveness) balance with external peace (harmony)?
• 4.What has lost its 'saltness' in your character — and can it be restored?

Devotional

Salt is good. But saltless salt? Useless. Nothing can re-season it. So: have salt in YOURSELVES and peace with ONE ANOTHER. Two commands that belong together: be distinctive (salty) AND be harmonious (peaceful). Internal character AND external relationship. Both. Together.

The 'salt have lost his saltness' describes the IRREVERSIBLE loss: you can't re-salt salt. Once the saltiness is gone, there's no seasoning the seasoning. The loss is permanent. The salt that lost what makes it salt is fit for nothing (Matthew 5:13 adds — to be thrown out and trampled). The warning is: don't lose what makes you YOU. Don't lose the distinctive quality that gives your life its purpose. The form without the function is worthless.

The 'have salt in yourselves' is the command for INTERNAL distinctiveness: the salt is IN YOU — not in your performance, not in your reputation, not in your religious activities. In YOURSELF. The saltiness is a CHARACTER quality — the preserving, flavoring, truth-telling, distinctiveness-maintaining quality that makes you useful to the world around you. Without it, you exist without purpose.

The 'have peace one with another' is the command that BALANCES the saltiness: salt without peace is corrosive. Peace without salt is bland. The community that has salt (distinctiveness, truth, preserving influence) but no peace (constant conflict, division, hostility) is corrosive salt that damages what it touches. The community that has peace but no salt is a pleasant nothingness. BOTH are required. The salt AND the peace.

Do you have salt in yourself AND peace with others — or are you sacrificing one for the other?

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture