A note from the desk of our Pastor:

“Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.”

Colossians 4:6

Good Morning Dearly Beloved,

The Apostles Paul and Peter stood shoulder to shoulder as fellow ministers, weary travelers, and church planters navigating a deeply pagan 1st-century culture. Both leaders shared a burden to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to a young New Testament church and to encourage them to speak about Jesus to the outside world. Consequently, both apostles explicitly commanded believers to possess the spiritual agility required to answer those outside the church in an appropriate, deliberate, and Christlike fashion. That instruction is captured in 1 Peter 3:15 and in our study verse for this week.

The Apostle’s first instruction is for the disciple to always speak with grace for the hearer. Speaking with grace is not about social politeness or superficial etiquette. Rather, this commandment directly ties to the great commandment of Jesus Christ: to love God and to love your neighbor. The Apostle in Ephesians chapter four told disciples to “minister grace unto the hearers” of their words. When a believer speaks from a heart motivated by love for God and shaped by love for their neighbor, the speech is rooted in the other person’s dignity, well-being, and understanding. The believer who starts with words intended to express grace to the hearer will create a far more receptive audience for the things of Jesus Christ.

In the middle of this verse, the Apostle shifts from the general nature of speech to its strategic substance by admonishing that it should be “seasoned with salt.” Salt both preserves food and gives it flavor. In this context, salt represents structural wisdom, spiritual discernment, and a high-level situational awareness. Proverbs 15 advises that a soft answer turneth away wrath. The disciple must be like an experienced chef, knowing how much salt to add to a given situation. The Apostle, in telling disciples to “know how to answer every man,” was not mandating that every interaction between a believer and a non-believer be an effort to convert the non-believer. Rather, the Apostle was encouraging believers to show kindness, compassion, and empathy so that the non-believer might see the beauty of believing in Christ Jesus and his gospel.

The ultimate purpose of the disciple speaking with grace and seasoning it with wisdom is to equip the disciple fully to articulate the bedrock truth of Jesus Christ and his salvation when the situation arises. However, it is important to know that those we interact with will have different postures towards the gospel. A few will be actively inquiring, some will be questioning, and others will be cynical. Past experiences, religious trauma, and the way other believers have treated them shape the postures of these individuals. The goal is not to win a debate. Winning a debate might boost your pride, but it does nothing to help the other person. The goal is to speak to the other person with a heart that understands their situation and reflects the grace of Christ to them. Ultimately, if the disciple can show love and grace, they have done a tremendous amount to point them towards the salvation of Jesus Christ. 

In our modern culture, the Christian culture has swapped divine grace and situational awareness for aggressive culture-war rhetoric. This swap has done tremendous damage to the church and the cause of Jesus Christ. We as disciples should seek to change this impression. The most empowered way to make this change is to speak to all people with love, kindness, understanding, and acceptance. After all, that is what Jesus has provided to his disciples.

Our Prayers are with you daily,

Brother Jeremiah