Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Mark 9:49

"For every one shall be salted with fire." — Mark 9:49 (ASV)

This is admittedly one of the most difficult verses in Mark; it has over a dozen different interpretations. Of these, two commend themselves, both taking their clue from the insertion by a copyist of the words, “and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt” (an allusion to Lev 2:13).

One interpretation sees the sacrificial salt as a symbol of the covenant relationship that the children of Israel had with God. For every disciple of Jesus, the salt of the covenant is the Divine Fire, the Holy Spirit (cf. Matthew 3:11). Every follower of Christ, in other words, will receive the Holy Spirit.

The other interpretation sees in the fire the trials and persecutions of the disciples of Jesus. In the previous verses the various members of the body must be sacrificed, if need be, to enter into the kingdom of God. Here in v.49 the total self is in mind. Every true disciple is to be a total sacrifice to God (cf. Romans 12:1); and as salt always accompanied the temple sacrifices, so fire—i.e., persecution, trials, and suffering—will accompany the true disciple’s sacrifices (cf. 10:30; 1 Peter 1:7; 1 Peter 4:12). If this is Mark’s meaning, this saying must have had special meaning for the persecuted Roman church. It helped them understand that the purifying fires of persecution were not to be thought of as foreign to their vocation as Christians, because “everyone will be salted with fire.” 50 In this verse salt must be understood in a domestic setting and not in a religious or ritual one as in v.49. Salt played an important role in the ancient world. It was necessary to life, and was also used as a preservative to keep food from spoiling. But salt could lose its saltiness. Jesus was warning his disciples not to lose that characteristic in them that brought life to the world and prevented its decay, that is, not to lose their spirit of devotion and self-sacrifice (cf. v.49) to Jesus Christ and the Gospel. Jesus’ disciples could only be at peace with one another where that kind of devotion instead of self-interest prevailed (cf. v.34).