Question:
Please explain 1 Corinthians 10:25.
Answer:
The text reads, “Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake.” By noticing the context, it will be seen that the question was whether eating meat that had been offered to idols was harmful. Sometimes, after this meat had been offered to idols, it was placed in the market for sale, and some were troubled about whether it would not be doing homage to idols to eat it after it had been so offered. Now, “an idol is nothing” (1 Corinthians 8:4), yet there were those who had been idolaters whose conscience would not allow them to eat anything offered to idols without injury to their conscience. In such a case, the apostle tells us we should not eat for the sake of him that has such reservations. However, it was perfectly legitimate to purchase whatever was found in the market suitable for food without asking any questions. Of course, this would not be true if the food was evil in itself. Then it would be a duty to inquire if we suspected it to be bad. But when the idol was nothing and could not affect the meat thus purchased, it would be perfectly proper to eat it, asking no questions for conscience’s sake. Let this text be understood in the light of verse 31.
