Quotes from Scot McKnight

In other words, one metaphor (salt) speaks of the role of Jesus' people to Israel and the other (light) to the Gentile world.

Then Martin says, as if he is writing a commentary on Matthew 6:19—24: "The acid test is not what we say, but what we do; not what we promise in words, but what we actually give in money.

Salt, which was obtained from the shores of the Dead Sea, was added to sacrifices and thus was covenant salt (Lev 2:13); salt purified things (Exod 30:35). Salt flavored things (Job 6:6), and seasoning is found in the parallel at both Mark 9:50 and Luke 14:34, and it was a preservative.

The might that made Rome an empire will bow to the might that makes God God and the Lamb the Lamb. Brian Blount sums it up best: Babylons will be "sLambed.

When Jesus calls his disciples 'the salt,' instead of himself, this transfers his efficacy on earth to them. He brings them into his work." But he adds the warning of Jesus: "The call of Jesus Christ means being salt of the earth or being destroyed.

The power of military might is a Babylonian reality, not a new Jerusalem one. The Lamb was slaughtered because he refused to use Babylon's weapons, and the way of the Lamb is to conquer by the "sword from his mouth," not a sword drawn from a scabbard. The Word of God is the weapon of choice for those walking in the way of the Lamb.

Dissidents pause with these words as a motto: "Not so with you!" Power for Jesus was power for the other and not power over the other. The way of the dragon aches for power over, and the wild things wield the dragon's power over and climb their way into high places where they exert power over others.

The weapon of choice for Jesus was the cross. The Lamb of Revelation slays with the sword that proceeds from his mouth. Christian realism compromises the way of the Lamb because true realism is a deep reality that sees God on the throne and the Lamb in its center.

Our churches have not discipled people in the last forty years in Christoform power but have instead discipled them into playing Babylon's power games. They have decided who might be their next king, only to realize that kings become wild things. Instead of giving more and more power to presidents, to senators, to representatives, to Washington DC and states and cities and villages and towns, we need to search again for Christoform power.

It is one thing to be judgmental; it is entirely different to say greed is wrong or that sexual sins are wrong, and saying so is not judgmentalism.

Two things resulted from this "follow Torah by adding rules" approach. The first one is that Jesus thought this completely misunderstood how to do Torah. The second, which follows from the first one, is that an increasing number of ordinary folks were cut off from their faith.

In our local context, the pastors and elders and deacons are disciples of Jesus, called to submit first to him and to nurture others into serving one another as Jesus himself served his disciples. The strangest words in the church ought to be the words "authority" and "power.