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Improving ‘culture’
Shiao Chong
From: Christian Courier
How do we go about reforming culture? What basic strategy do we use?
In Matthew 5:13-16, Jesus described Christians as “salt of the earth”
and “the light of the world”. I think these two metaphors can help us
understand how we engage culture.
All of us are called to be salt and light, and we’ve heard it often. But
in order to know what this means, we need first to understand these
biblical metaphors in their historical context. From this, we can derive
a general strategy for engaging culture...
It is commonly thought that Jesus, in Matthew 5, was pointing to the use
of salt in preserving meat from decay. Therefore, Christians help
prevent the moral and spiritual decay in culture. And as light overcomes
darkness, Christians help dispel evil in culture.
The InterVarsity Press Bible Background Commentary, however, suggests
instead that Jesus was probably referring to the equally common use of
salt to flavour and season food. The Greek word for saltiness in verse
13 “But if the salt loses its saltiness” (NIV) – is more accurately
translated as “taste,” as in the NRSV. Therefore, rather than preserving
culture from decaying, our role is making culture “taste good.”
We are not trying to preserve something good from turning bad but the
reverse; we are making something tasteless into something tasteful. This
is very much like how God acts: turning suffering into joy, sickness
into health, sinners into saints.
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