1 Corinthians 10:26

For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(26) The earth is the Lord’s. . . .—All food that earth brings forth or nourishes is God’s gift, and therefore good. It was merely when regarded as an actual sacrifice that any meat could be considered that “of devils.” This great truth, recognised in the Old Testament as well as in the New, is the reason of the previous statement that conscience need not come into the matter at all.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

10:23-33 There were cases wherein Christians might eat what had been offered to idols, without sin. Such as when the flesh was sold in the market as common food, for the priest to whom it had been given. But a Christian must not merely consider what is lawful, but what is expedient, and to edify others. Christianity by no means forbids the common offices of kindness, or allows uncourteous behaviour to any, however they may differ from us in religious sentiments or practices. But this is not to be understood of religious festivals, partaking in idolatrous worship. According to this advice of the apostle, Christians should take care not to use their liberty to the hurt of others, or to their own reproach. In eating and drinking, and in all we do, we should aim at the glory of God, at pleasing and honouring him. This is the great end of all religion, and directs us where express rules are wanting. A holy, peaceable, and benevolent spirit, will disarm the greatest enemies.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For the earth is the Lord's - This is quoted from Psalm 24:1. The same sentiment is also found in Psalm 50:11, and in Deuteronomy 10:14. It is here urged as a reason why it; is right to partake of the meat offered in the market. It all belongs to the Lord. It does not really belong to the idol, even though it has been offered to it. It may, therefore, be partaken of as his gift, and should be received with gratitude.

And the fulness thereof - All that the earth produces belongs to Him. He causes if to grow; and He has given it to be food for man; and though it may have been devoted to an idol, yet its nature is not changed. It is still the gift of God; still the production of His hand; still the fruit of His goodness and love.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

26. The ground on which such eating without questioning is justified is, the earth and all its contents ("the fulness thereof," Ps 20:1; 50:12), including all meats, belong to the Lord, and are appointed for our use; and where conscience suggests no scruple, all are to be eaten (Ro 14:14, 20; 1Ti 4:4, 5; compare Ac 10:15).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

This sentence is taken out of Psalm 24:1. The earth is God’s, or the Lord Christ’s, who hath sanctified all things for the use of man, and all the variety of creatures that are in it are sanctified by him. An idol cannot pollute any kind of meat, it hath no such malign influence upon any thing; you may pollute yourselves by your action, eating it in the idol’s temple, at an idolater’s feast immediately upon his sacrifice, but the idol itself is no operative thing, nor can cause an ill quality in the meat; let the meat be once returned to its common use, (the idolater’s sacred mysteries being over), it is the Lord’s, what he hath appointed for the use of man. In the idol’s temple they took the meat out of the devil’s hand, that was indeed unlawful; but if it were once returned to its common use, and sold in the market, they took it out of the hand of God’s common providence, and every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving, 1 Timothy 4:4.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof,.... Which words are taken out of Psalm 24:1 and to be understood of Christ, who by creation and preservation is Lord of the whole earth, and as Mediator has all in his possession; and having broken down the middle wall of partition, gives his people the free use of all creatures, of the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, the fishes of the sea, and the trees, fruits, and plants of the earth, which are the fulness thereof; and therefore as the saints have a full right from Christ, to make use of all the creatures in a moderate way, and with thankfulness, they need not fear being defiled by any of them; provided they do not act contrary to the honour of God, and in favour of an idol, or against their own conscience, and the peace of weak believers.

Geneva Study Bible

For the earth is the Lord's, and the {x} fulness thereof.

(x) All those things of which it is full.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

1 Corinthians 10:26 supplies the religious ground for the injunction just given: μηδὲν ἀνακρίνειν διὰ τ. συνείδησιν, expressed in the words of Psalm 24:1 (comp Psalm 50:12), which Paul here makes his own. If the earth and its fulness belong to God, how should it be necessary before using somewhat of them for food to institute an investigation on grounds of conscience, as if such gifts of God could be in themselves unholy, or involve sin in the use of them? Comp 1 Timothy 4:4. For the rest, the passage affords another proof that the apostle had now in principle gone beyond the standpoint of the decree of Acts 15. Comp on 1 Corinthians 8:1, remark.

As to ΠΛΉΡΩΜΑ, id, quo res impletur, see Fritzsche, a[1710] Rom. II. p. 469 ff. Calvin had already put the point well: “Terra enim, si arboribus, herbis, animalibus et aliis rebus careret, esset tanquam domus … vacua.”

[1710] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

26. for the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof] See Psalm 26:1. Cf. Psalm 50:12. It is not the eating of meats that is sinful. ‘An idol is nothing in the world,’ and all creatures are made by God, and are therefore fit for food. (Cf. 1 Timothy 4:4.) But knowingly to countenance idolatrous rites, to give to another the glory due to the one True God alone, is a grievous sin. Therefore the whole question of sinfulness depends, not on the meat, but on the knowledge of him who eats it, what kind of meat it is. If he does not know that it has been offered to an idol, he may dismiss all scruples, for it is only this knowledge, and not the perishable meat (see ch. 1 Corinthians 6:13), which makes him partaker of the ‘table of devils.’ So 1 Corinthians 10:27.

Bengel's Gnomen

1 Corinthians 10:26. Τοῦ Κυρίου, of the Lord) not of idols. Psalm 24:1, τοῦ Κυρίου ἡ γῆ καὶ τὸ πλήρωμα αὐτῆς—The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof. Psalms 50(49):12, ἐμὴ γὰρ ἐστιν ἡ οἰκουμένη καὶ τὸ πλήρωμα αὐτῆς—The world is mine and its fulness.—πλήρωμα, fulness) including all kinds of meats.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 26. - For the earth is the Lord's (Psalm 24:1). Consequently, "Every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving" (1 Timothy 4:4). The text formed the ordinary Jewish "grace before meat." The fulness thereof. The plenitude of its created furniture - plants, animals, etc. 1 Corinthians 10:26

Vincent's Word Studies

The earth is the Lord's, etc.

The common form of Jewish thanksgiving before the meal. For fullness, see on Romans 11:12.