Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Corinthians 10:25

"Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, eat, asking no question for conscience` sake," — 1 Corinthians 10:25 (ASV)

Whatsoever is sold in the shambles.—Here is the practical application of the principle laid down. When a Christian sees meat exposed for sale in the public market, let him buy it and eat it; he does not need to ask any question to satisfy his conscience on the subject. Some of the meat which had been used for sacrificial purposes was afterwards sold in the markets.

The weaker Christians feared that if they unconsciously bought and ate some of that meat, they would thereby become defiled. The Apostle’s view is that once sent into the public market, it becomes simply meat, and its previous use gives it no significance.

You buy it as meat, and not as part of a sacrifice. Thus the advice here is not at variance with the previous argument in 1 Corinthians 10:20–21. The act which is there condemned as partaking of the table of devils is the eating of sacrificial meat at one of the feasts given in the court of the heathen temple, when the meat was avowedly and significantly a portion of the sacrifice.

The words for conscience sake have been variously interpreted as meaning:

1. Make no inquiry, so that your conscience may not be troubled, as it would be if you learned that the meat had been used for sacrifice; or
2. Ask no question, for fear that some weak person’s conscience might be defiled if they hear that it is sacrificial meat and yet see you eat it.

This latter interpretation must be rejected, as the Apostle clearly points out in 1 Corinthians 10:28 that he has, up to this point, been speaking of the person’s own conscience, and only then proceeds to speak of a brother’s conscience.