Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Colossians 4:6

"Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer each one." — Colossians 4:6 (ASV)

Like his Lord and also like James the brother of the Lord, Paul knew how important the way Christians speak is (cf. Matthew 12:36; Ephesians 4:24; Titus 2:8; James 3:1– 12). Here he may well have had in mind the relation of the right kind of speech to witnessing. So their speech, he reminds the Colossians, must be always full of “grace” and “seasoned with salt.” “Grace” (GK 5921), a word that usually denotes divine favor, seems here to be used in the broader sense of “pleasantness,” “attractiveness,” “charm,” and “winsomeness.” These ideas are all implicit in the word.

“Seasoned with salt” may mean that Christian conversation is to be marked by purity and wholesomeness. Some, however, understand “salt” in the sense of that which gives taste or flavor. Among the ancient Greeks “salt” could designate the wit that gives zest and liveliness to conversation. The remainder of v.6 tells why we should cultivate this kind of speech: “so that you will know how to answer everyone.” Conversation must be appropriate for each person to whom we speak.