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Mar_9:49. Without any parallel; but the very fact of its enigmatical peculiarity[128] tells in favour of its originality (in opposition to de Wette, Weiss, and many others). See on the passage, Schott, Opusc. II. p. 5 ff., and Dissert. 1819; Grohmann in the bibl. Stud. Sächs. Geistl. 1844, p. 91 ff.; Bähr in the Stud. u. Krit. 1849, p. 673; Lindemann in the Mecklenb. Zeitschr. 1864, p. 299 ff. In order to its correct interpretation the following points must be kept closely in view: (1) The logical connection ( γάρ ) is argumentative, and that in such a way that γάρ is related to the πῦρ in Mar_9:48 (because to this the πυρί must correspond), not to the entire thought, Mar_9:43 ff. (2) Πᾶς cannot be every disciple (Lindemann), nor yet can it be every one in general, but it must, in accordance with the context, be limited to those who are designated in the 48th verse by αὐτῶν (comp. Luk_6:40), because afterwards with πᾶσα θυσία another class is distinguished from that meant by πᾶς , and something opposed to what is predicated of the latter is affirmed of it. (3) Πυρί and ἁλί are contrasts; like the latter, so also the former can only be explained instrumentally (not therefore: for the fire, as Baumgarten-Crusius and Linder in the Stud. u. Krit. 1854, p. 515, will have it), and the former can, according to the context, apply to nothing else than to the fire of hell, not to the fire of trial (1Co_3:13), as Theophylact and others (including Köstlin, p. 326 f.) would take it, nor yet to the sanctifying fire of the divine word (Lindemann). (4) Καί may not be taken as: just as ( ὡς , καθώς ), to which, following the majority, Lindemann also ultimately comes, but which καί never expresses; but rather: and, joining on to those who are meant by πᾶς and its predicate others with another predicate. (5) The two futures must be taken in a purely temporal sense; and in accordance with the context (Mar_9:43-48) can only be referred to the time of the Messianic decision at the establishment of the kingdom. Hence, also, (6) it is beyond doubt that πᾶσα θυσία cannot apply to actual sacrifices, but must denote men, who in an allegorical sense may be called sacrifices. (7) The meaning of ἁλισθήσεται may not be apprehended as deviating from the meaning (presupposed by Jesus as well known) which the application of salt in sacrifices had (see Lev_2:13, where meat-offerings are spoken of; comp. in respect of the animal offerings, Eze_43:24; Joseph. Antt. iii. 9. 1; and see in general, Lund. Jüd. Heiligth., ed. Wolf, p. 648; Ewald, Alterth. p. 37; Bähr, Symbol. d. Mos. Cult. II. p. 324; and Stud. u. Krit. l.c. p. 675 ff.; Knobel on Lev. p. 369 f.) It was, namely, salt of the covenant ( îìç áøéú ) of God (comp. also Num_18:19; 2Ch_13:5), i.e. it represented symbolically the covenant with Jehovah as regarded its imperishableness,—represented that the sacrifice was offered in accordance therewith, and for the renewing thereof. Comp. Pressel in Herzog’s Encykl. XIII. p. 343 f.
Consequently we must translate and explain: “With warrant I speak of their fire (Mar_9:48); for every one of those who come into Gehenna will be salted therein with fire, i.e. none of them will escape the doom of having represented in him by means of fire that which is done in sacrifices by means of salt, namely, the imperishable validity of the divine covenant, and (to add now the argumentum e contrario for my assertion concerning the fire, Mar_9:48) every sacrifice, i.e. every pious man unseduced, who, as such, resembles a (pure) sacrifice (comp. Rom_12:1), shall be salted with salt, i.e. he shall at his entrance into the Messianic kingdom (comp. ΕἸΣΕΛΘΕῖΝ ΕἸς Τ . ΖΩΉΝ , Mar_9:43-47), by reception of higher wisdom (comp. Mar_9:50; Col_4:6; and as to the subject-matter, 1Co_13:9-12), represent in himself that validity of the divine covenant, as in the case of an actual sacrifice this is effected by its becoming salted.” Accordingly, it is in brief: for in every one of them the ever-during validity of the divine covenant shall be represented by means of fire, and in every pious person resembling a sacrifice this shall be accomplished by the communication of higher wisdom. It is to be observed, further: (1) that the figure of the salt of the covenant refers, in the case of those condemned to Gehenna, to the threatening aspect of the divine covenant, in the case of the pious, to its aspect of promise; (2) that Jesus does not accidentally set forth the pious as a sacrifice, but is induced to do so by the fact He has just been speaking of ethical self-sacrifice by cutting off the hand, the foot, etc. And the conception of sacrifice, under which He regards the pious, suggests to Him as a designation of its destined counterpart the sacrificial expression ἁλίζεσθαι . (3) Analogous to the twofold distinction of ἁλίζεσθαι in the passage before us, although different in the figurative conception, is the βαπτίζειν πυρί and πνεύματι ἁγίῳ , Mat_3:11.
Of the many diverging explanations, which in the light of what has just been stated are opposed to the context, or to the language of the passage, or to both, we may note historically the following:—(1) Euthymius Zigabenus: Πᾶς ΠΙΣΤῸς ΠΥΡῚ Τῆς ΠΡῸς ΘΕῸΝ ΠΊΣΤΕΩς , Ἢ Τῆς ΠΡῸς ΤῸΝ ΠΛΗΣΊΟΝ ἈΓΆΠΗς ἉΛΙΣΘΉΣΕΤΑΙ , ἬΓΟΥΝ ΤῊΝ ΣΗΠΕΔΌΝΑ (corruption) Τῆς ΚΑΚΊΑς ἈΠΟΒΑΛΕῖ … ΠᾶΣΑ ΘΥΣΊΑ ΠΝΕΥΜΑΤΙΚῊ , ΕἼΤΕ ΔΙʼ ΕὐΧῆς , ΕἼΤΕ ΔΙʼ ἘΛΕΗΜΟΣΎΝΗς , ΕἼΤΕ ΤΡΌΠΟΝ ἝΤΕΡΟΝ ΓΙΝΟΜΈΝΗ , Τῷ ἍΛΑΤΙ Τῆς ΠΊΣΤΕΩς Ἢ Τῆς ἈΓΆΠΗς ἉΛΙΣΘΉΣΕΤΑΙ , ΕἼΤΟΥΝ ἉΛΙΣΘῆΝΑΙ ὈΦΕΊΛΕΙ (2) Luther: “In the O. T. every sacrifice was salted, and of every sacrifice something was burnt up with fire. This Christ here indicates and explains it spiritually, namely, that through the gospel, as through a fire and salt, the old man becomes crucified, seared, and well salted; for our body is the true sacrifice, Romans 12.” He is followed by Spanheim, Calovius, L. Cappel, and others: a similar view is given by Beza, and in substance again by Lindemann.[129] (3) Grotius: “Omnino aliqua desumtio homini debetur, aut per modum saliturae (extirpation of the desires), aut per modum incendii (in hell); haec impiorum est, illa piorum;” the godless are likened to the whole burnt-offerings, the pious to the mincha. He is followed by Hammond, comp. Clericus and Schleusner. (4) Lightfoot: “Nam unusquisque eorum ipso igne salietur, ita ut inconsumtibilis fiat et in aeternum duret torquendus, prout sal tuetur a corruptione: … at is, qui vero Deo victima, condietur sale gratiae ad incorruptionem gloriae.” Wolf and Michaelis follow this view; comp. also Jablonsky, Opusc. II. p. 458 ff. (5) Rosenmüller (comp. Storr, Opusc. II. p. 210 ff.): “Quivis enim horum hominum perpetuo igni cruciabitur; … sed quivis homo Deo consecratus sale verae sapientiae praeparari debet ad aeternam felicitatem.” (6) Kuinoel (taking πῦρ , with Flacius and others, as a figurative designation of sufferings): “Quilibet sectatorum meorum calamitatibus (these are held to be the pains that arise by suppression of the desires) veluti saliri, praeparari debet, quo consequatur salutem, sicuti omnes oblationes sale condiri, praeparari debent, quo sint oblationes Deo acceptae.” (7) Schott: “Quivis illorum hominum (qui supplicio Geennae sunt obnoxii) nunc demum hoc igne sale (quod ipsis in vita terrestri versantibus defuit) imbuetur, i.e. nunc demum poenis vitae futurae discet resipiscere. Alio sensu illi salientur, quam victimae Deo sacrae, de quibus loco illo scriptum legitur: victima quaevis sale est conspergenda. His enim similes sunt homines in hac vita terrestri animis suis sapientiae divinae sale imbuendis prospicientes.” (8) According to Fritzsche, γάρ assigns the reason of the exhortation to suffer rather the loss of members of their body than to let themselves be seduced, and the meaning is (in the main as according to Kuinoel, comp. Vatablus): “Quippe omnes (in general) aerumnis ad vitae aeternae felicitatem praeparabuntur, sicut omnes victimae e Mosis decreto sale sunt ad immolationem praeparandae.” So in substance also Bleek. (9) Olshausen: “On account of the general sinfulness of the race every one must be salted with fire, whether by entering voluntarily upon self-denial and earnest cleansing from sins, or by being carried involuntarily to the place of punishment; and therefore [in order to be the symbolical type of this spiritual transaction] every sacrifice is (as is written) to be salted with salt.”[130] Similarly Lange. (10) According to de Wette, πυρὶ ἁλίζεσθαι is nearly (?) tantamount to “the receiving by purification the holy seasoning and consecration (of purity and wisdom),” and καί is comparative. (11) Grohmann takes the first clause in substance as does Olshausen, and the second thus: “as every sacrifice shall be made savoury with salt, so also shall every one, who desires to offer himself as a sacrifice to God, be salted,—that is, shall from without, by sufferings, privations, and the like, be stirred up, quickened, and pervaded by a higher, fresh spiritual power.” (12) Bähr: “As according to the law there must in no sacrifice be wanting the symbol of the covenant of sanctification that consecrates it the salt; so also must every one be purified and refined in and with the sacrifice of self-surrender; … this refining process, far from being of a destructive nature, is rather the very thing which preserves and maintains unto true and eternal life.” (13) According to Ewald, the meaning is that every one who yields to seductive impulses, because he allows the salt—wherewith from the beginning God has seasoned man’s spirit—to become insipid, must first be salted again by the fire of hell, in order that this sacrifice may not remain without the salt which, according to Lev_2:13, belongs to every sacrifice; no other salt (no other purification) is left save the fire of hell itself, when the salt in man has become savourless. (14) By Hilgenfeld the fire, is alleged to be even that of internal desire, through which (this is held to mean: by overcoming the desire!) one is said to be salted, i.e. led to Christian wisdom; thereby one is to offer a sacrifice of which the salt is Christian discernment.
This great diversity of interpretation is a proof of the obscurity of the utterance, which probably was spoken by Jesus in an explanatory connection which has not been preserved.
The second clause of the verse has been held by Gersdorf, p. 376 f., on linguistic grounds that are wholly untenable, to be spurious; and, as it is wanting also in B L Δ à , min. and some vss. (on account of the twice occurring ἁλισθήσ by transcriber’s error), it is declared also by Schulz to be a gloss.
[128] Baur judges very harshly on the subject (Markusev. p. 79), holding that Mark in this independent conclusion, ver. 49 f., gives only a new proof how little he could accomplish from his own resources, inasmuch as the thought only externally annexed is obscure, awkward, and without unity of conception. By Hilgenfeld the discourse is alleged to be a mitigation of the harsh saying as to cutting off the hand and the foot, and so to confirm the later position of Mark after Matthew. According to Weiss, vv. 49, 50 are “an artificial elaboration” of Mat_5:13. But how specifically different are the two utterances! And what would there have been to elaborate in the plain saying of Mat_5:13? and to elaborate in such a way? According to Weizsäcker, ver. 49 f. is only added here “on account of the assonance as respects the figure.” This would amount to mere mechanical work. Holtzmann, however, justly maintains the independent conception of the (primitive-) Mark.
[129] “As every sacrifice is salted by salt, i.e. by the word of God is made a holy offering, so also every disciple is to be salted by fire [of the divine word].”
[130] According to Olshausen, we are to find here an authentic explanation as to the significance of the sacrifices, and of the ritual of their salting.