The Confusing Sayings: Mark 9:49

Mark 9:49 Everyone will be salted with fire.

This article is part of a series explaining Jesus’s Confusing Sayings.

If any of Jesus’s verse’s are confusing for you, let me know in a comment and I may analyze its Greek in a future article.

Why is it that Jesus’s more interesting—and, therefore, confusing—statements are never explained in sermons? Perhaps some of you have more adventurous pastors than I have had, but I have never heard verses like the one discussed here today even mentioned. Perhaps some would find Christianity more interesting and less predictable if they were.

Mark 9:48 follows the verse about cutting off your hand (Mark 9:43), the similar one about cutting off a foot (Mark 9:45), the one about plucking out an eye (Mark 9:47). and the line about worms not dying and fire never being quenched, Mark 9:48. This is followed by Mark 9:49:

NIV: Everyone will be salted with fire.

The NIV translation is a straight translation of the Greek. However, it misses the many meanings and key points of the similarities between “salt” and “fire” because we don’t have same understanding of the importance of both concept.

Notice that Jesus says “everyone” in this verse. This is not a punishment confined to evil-doers. It is not a punishment at all, but it is purification process that everyone must go through. The idea is that we are all flawed, all tested, and all in need of purification.

Salted

This is one of the fun words of Jesus's vocabulary. It blends a number of multiple meanings together and plays on their related ideas. The Greek metaphorical meaning of salt is "wit." Salt was used as money to pay wages. Our word "salary" and “sales” comes from the Roman word for salt. It was also the most common preservative for food, especially for fish, which was the context of this encounter with the risen Christ. Salt was used to temper blades. And, most importantly, used in ritual sacrifice in the Temple. Priests were required to salt all the sacrifices burnt at the altar.

The Greek metaphorical meaning of salt is "wit." Salt had other meanings in Jesus 's era as well. It was used as money to pay wages. Our word "salary" and “sales” comes from the Roman word for salt. Salt was also the most common preservative for food. Especially for preserving fish, which is the context of this verse. Jesus uses an uncommon verb that is translated as "salted," that refers to using salt as a purifying meat for sacrifice and tempering blades that moves the meaning back to "salt" in the sense of "preserve." The verb used to mean “salted” is from the same root word as “salt,” but it also means “to gather together.” When food is preserved with both salt or fire, it is gather in one place for the process.

From these basic meanings, we get a number of different meaning for this verse:

• We will be salted, made wise, by fire.

• We will be salted, made valuable, by fire.

• We will be salted, preserved, by fire.

• We will be salted, purified, by fire.

• We will be gathered together by fire.

Purification

Both salt and fire are connected to ritual purification. Because of our fixation on “hell,” when we hear “fire” in a religious context, we think in terms of punishment. No Judean of Jesus’s period would have thought this way. To all ancient peoples, fire was seen as a great blessing. It was the only source of man-made heat and light, both necessary for survival. Looking at the list of possible meanings for “being salted” above, we can see that all of them are positive.

Of course, most of the “hell” in Jesus’s words refer to a fire, but it is not a fire of punishment. The fires of the trash dump outside of Jerusalem, called Gehenna (see this article), were used for cleansing, that is, the disposal of dangerous waste like diseased bodies. Many of Jesus’s verses that refer to fire (Matthew 7:19, Matthew 18:8, Matthew 18:9, Mark 9:43, etc.) are references to sacrifice for purification. The trees burnt in Matthew 7:19 are specifically described as diseased. While the hands and eyes that are tossed into the fire before this verse are sacrificed because they trip us up to save the body.

Jesus described himself as a fire-starter in Luke 12:49:

NIV: I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!

Notice that this line is followed by a verse about baptism, Luke 12:50:

NIV But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed!

John the Baptist described the baptism of Jesus as one of fire in Matthew 3:11:

NIV: He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

The fire of purification and the water of baptism seem like opposites to us today, but both were used in ritual purification. The purification of fire was compared to the refining of gold and silver where the impurities were separated from what is precious by melting it. This is explicit a verse describing the promised coming in Malachi 3:2-3:

NIV: But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap.

There is another connection between salt and the waters of baptism. Salt then was necessary for the health of people and livestock traveling in a desert climate. Salt retained body moisture, avoiding dehydration. People carried salt when traveling and put out salt for animals to lick. This a passive verb in this verse can be translated as “made salty,” but the passive form, used in this verse, is usually only used for putting out salt for sheep. When we are salted by eating salt, we preserve the water of within us including the waters of baptism.

Given the different meaning of “fire,” this verse can mean:

• Everyone will be salted with fire (of sacrifice).

• Everyone will be salted with fire (of purification).

• Everyone will be salted with fire (of light).

We cannot put all of these different dimensions of meaning into any single translation, but it all went into what Jesus’s listeners heard:

Listeners Heard: Because everyone will be seasoned by a fire.