The Salt of the Covenant

In a recent Spiritual Snack, “The Fire of the Holy Spirit,” I explained one example of how Paul wove powerful symbolism from the Old Covenant law into his letters and, no doubt even more so, his teaching. Prior to his conversion, Paul was a Pharisee and an expert in the law. That’s why the fact that Jesus is the Messiah was so powerful to him: he already knew the Law and the Prophets inside and out, so that, when God opened his understanding, he was overwhelmed by the depth and intricacy of God’s plan. Because of this, I have no doubt that Paul used the law to teach the Gentiles, since this was, in effect, how he was taught. For this reason, I believe that many references in his and other New Testament writings that appear to have a connection to the Old Covenant law are deliberate.

The aforementioned article examined how the fire of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us can be compared to the fire on the altar of the God’s temple. Today, I want to look at another reference in Paul’s writing that caught my attention in a similar way

Colossians 4:6

Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

In passing, it is easy to ignore the statement about salt here, because it doesn’t seem essential to the meaning of the verse. We could glean some meaning out of this just by our human understanding of what salt is and what it does, but that’s not the approach I want to focus on here. Once again, this reminds me of something I read way back in Leviticus:

Leviticus 2:13

Season all your grain offerings with salt. Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your offerings.

Our conversations are supposed to be seasoned with salt. Is it possible that there is some connection between our interactions with each other and the grain offering? Here are a few important points about what the grain offering was, along with my interpretations of what it means for us today:

Leviticus 2:1

When anyone brings a grain offering to the LORD, their offering is to be of the finest flour. They are to pour olive oil on it, put incense on it and take it to Aaron’s sons the priests.

The grain offering was not an animal sacrifice - there was no shedding of blood to atone for sin. Romans 12:1 says that we are to put to death our fleshly desires in order to offer our bodies as a “living sacrifice,” which certainly would involve blood since our bodies are flesh and blood. Therefore the grain offering, as it relates to us, is not specifically about denying the desires of our flesh. Flour, oil, and incense are each significant in the their own rite, but the main point that I want to make here is that these are all processed products – things that men make through their own labor. Although all things ultimately come from God, these represent man’s use of what God has physically given in order to produce something good – oil, incense, and fine flour. This offering represents our actions and our use of what God has spiritually given us in order to produce something good – namely, good works (See: Saved by Grace, but Judged by the Law? (Part 2)). 

Leviticus 2:11-12

Every grain offering you bring to the LORD must be made without yeast, for you are not to burn any yeast or honey in a food offering presented to the LORD.

All grain offerings were to be unleavened. Paul taught that unleavened bread represents “sincerity and truth,” while leaven represents “malice and wickedness” (1 Corinthians 5:8). This tells us that our grain offerings – i.e. good works – are to be offered in sincerity and truth, without ulterior motives.

Now we have learned the following from the grain offering:

#1 We are to do good works as a sacrificial offering to God, but not for the purpose of covering our sins. 

#2 These good works are a product of using the gifts that has given us in a constructive way.

#3 We are to do these good works sincerely while remaining grounded in God’s truth – not for our own benefit or gain.

Recall that the verses that inspired this entire train of thought were about our interactions being seasoned with salt and that the grain offering was not to be offered without salt. My conclusion is that perhaps Paul was reminding the brethren that their fellowship with each other was an offering to God, and that they should treat it as such with great care. Whether that was actually his intention in that particular instance or not, we should all take heed that we conduct ourselves in a way that pleases God, especially when it comes to interacting with each other, and even more so in times such as these. As God has said: "Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God our of your grain offerings."