Bible Dictionary
POLLUTION
Pollution means defilement or contamination. In Scripture it may describe worthless or profaned offerings and participation in food sacrificed to idols.
Definition
Pollution is defilement, contamination, or profanation. In biblical usage it may describe offerings that are common or worthless rather than physically unclean, and it may refer to things connected with idols.
Biblical Usage
Malachi calls sacrificial offerings polluted when they are treated as common or worthless. In Acts, “the pollutions of idols” refers to food or things sacrificed to idols.
Historical Background
The English word represents terms meaning to pollute and contamination. The reference to polluted bread uses “bread” as a broader expression for sacrificial offerings.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>po-lu'-shun (ga'al, "to pollute"; alisgema, "contamination"): In Mal 1:7, "Ye offer polluted bread," i.e. not actually unclean, but worthless, common (compare Ezr 2:62), bread here being used metonymically for sacrificial offerings generally (compare Le 21:6; Mt 6:11). The phrase in Ac 15:20, "the pollutions of idols," is explained in 15:29 by "things sacrificed (the King James Version "meats offered") to idols."</p>