What does it mean for twenty-first century believers to be salt and light in the world?

Is it a call to promote social justice—to stand up for the oppressed and the outcast? Or is it a mandate for activism and lobbying—to reshape society through the political process? Does the church need to champion a moral agenda at home and abroad? Is it a call to redeem the culture?

Or is it something more?

We recently asked John MacArthur to help us understand how each of us is to function as salt and light in this sin-ruined world. Here’s what he had to say:

Serving as salt and light is not about our social agenda—it’s about God’s spiritual agenda. Those vivid metaphors of salt and light apply to the work of the gospel alone—not the social justice issue du jour.

This world is sprinting to hell. As Christians, we ought to have a moral and social influence in our communities. We ought to use the rights granted to us to promote morality and decency in the public arena.

But that’s not the sum total of our responsibility to this world. We can’t settle for mere social change and behavior modification. We must bring the light of the truth to bear in a world blinded by sin. And we must do what we can to halt society’s decay—not through protests and political action, but through the bold proclamation of the gospel.