Mark 9:49

49. Salted with fire As salt, from its antiseptic qualities, was an ancient emblem of purification, so salted here is equivalent to purified, and “salted with fire” is equivalent to “purified with fire.” Now every one (who is purified) is indeed purified by the fire of the Spirit of God. See note on Matthew 3:11. And that same fire of God’s holiness which purifies the saint, constitutes the penal fire of the obdurate sinner, so that the essential base of the fire in Mark 9:48-49 is the same. The particle for connects Mark 9:49 with Mark 9:47, and shows that the severity of the purgation which is expressed by fire here is the same as that expressed by cutting off in the previous verses. Undergo this purgative severity of cutting off and plucking out all the members of sin, for it is by this severe and fiery ordeal that we are purified, as a meat offering is purified by salt. And every sacrifice shall be salted with salt The Greek word for and might better be rendered as. There is a comparison thus introduced. Every soul is purified with fire as every sacrifice is salted with salt. See Leviticus 2:13.