Last Sunday a sermon at my church was preached about Mark 9 and one of the verses kind of has me confused:
Mark 9:49 For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.
It was explained in the pulpit that this "fire" was metaphorical for the trials that Christians are faced with on a daily basis. However, that explanation doesn't make much sense to me in the light that "fire" in the verses immediately before this one seem to indicate the fires of Hell:
Mark 9:47 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:
Mark 9:48 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
There is also that "for" which verse 49 begins with, which seems to indicate that the previous verse has some contextual bearing on 49. Surely it doesn't mean what a literal reading would say: that everyone experiences Hellfire. Or does it? That is kind of interesting considering how Judaism sees Hell/Gehinom (i.e. that everyone goes there for some period of time to burn off their sins).
Alternatively, maybe the prior verses do not refer to real Hellfire and also refer to trials of a sort? Is the original word for "fire" used in these verses the same, or are they two different words? If they are the same, but were intended to have different meanings, it seems kind of strange to link the verses together like that.
Any thoughts?
Mark 9:49 For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.
It was explained in the pulpit that this "fire" was metaphorical for the trials that Christians are faced with on a daily basis. However, that explanation doesn't make much sense to me in the light that "fire" in the verses immediately before this one seem to indicate the fires of Hell:
Mark 9:47 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:
Mark 9:48 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
There is also that "for" which verse 49 begins with, which seems to indicate that the previous verse has some contextual bearing on 49. Surely it doesn't mean what a literal reading would say: that everyone experiences Hellfire. Or does it? That is kind of interesting considering how Judaism sees Hell/Gehinom (i.e. that everyone goes there for some period of time to burn off their sins).
Alternatively, maybe the prior verses do not refer to real Hellfire and also refer to trials of a sort? Is the original word for "fire" used in these verses the same, or are they two different words? If they are the same, but were intended to have different meanings, it seems kind of strange to link the verses together like that.
Any thoughts?
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