“The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.” – Psalm 24:1-2
As the sovereign originator of the universe, God is not only the creator, but owner of all. Paul quotes these verses (1 Cor 10:26) in an effort to clarify God’s elect were intended to enjoy creation, since their Lord provided it. The reference here to the seas, and their juxtaposition to the earth, is a literary tool used to represent good and evil. God’s rebuking of the seas is seen throughout the psalms as his dominance over evil (Ps. 29:10; 77:16-20; 104:5-9). God is either sovereign over all or he is sovereign over none. If God is sovereign, then man is not.
Since God controls everything, man controls nothing. There is no man, government, or group worthy to praise. Man cannot be even partially in control. Because God is completely and fully sovereign, there can be nothing in humans which makes us worthy to stand blameless before the Creator. John Calvin said, “We will find in many other places the children of Abraham compared with all the rest of mankind, that the free goodness of God, in selecting them from all other nations, and in embracing them with his favour, may shine forth the more conspicuously. The object of the beginning of the psalm is to show that the Jews had nothing of themselves which could entitle them to approach nearer or more familiarly to God than the Gentiles.”[1] We submit completely to God or do not submit at all. The disciples of Christ have nothing in them to make them more or less appealing to God. Our salvation is of the Lord.
The elect of God must obey him completely and seek out the lost and tell them of the sovereign Lord. This must be done in humble submissions as one unworthy beggar to another. The Christian and the non-believer are equally unappealing, yet eternally and completely loved by God.
[1] John Calvin and James Anderson, Commentary on the Book of Psalms, vol. 1 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 401.