1 Corinthians 10:25

Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question. Eat indifferently everything, whether offered to idols or not. Asking no question, i.e., making no difference, or according to S. Ambrose, making no inquiry; according to Theophylact, without hesitation.

Herodotus tells us, as well as S. Augustine in the commentary he commenced on the Epistle to the Romans (c. 78), that the heathen custom was to send t the shambles whatever remained over of the sacrificed meats after the feast, and to give the priests the proceeds. In the shambles, therefore, they were looked upon as any other meats, as having returned to secular and common use. S. Augustine says: " Some weaker brethren at that time abstained from flesh and wine, lest they should unknowingly partake of things offered to idols; for all kinds of sacrificial flesh were offered for sale in the shambles, and the heathens used to pour out libations of wine to their images, and even to offer sacrifices at their wine-presses." Hence the Apostle dispels this scruple, and bids them buy and eat freely whatever was sold in the shambles, making no distinction between meats, nor asking where they same from, as if it were a matter of conscience, or as though the flesh needed cleansing, if it came from an idol's temple. The Christians of Antioch followed this teaching of the Apostles, when Julian the Apostate endeavoured to force them into idolatry through idol meats. Theodoret (lib. i. c. xiv.) thus describes the incident: "Julian first polluted the water-spring with victims offered to idols, so that every one who drank of the water was infected. He then polluted in the same way whatever was offered for sale in the market; for bread, flesh, fruits, vegetables, and all other eatables were sprinkled with this water; but when the Christians saw this, though they could not but grieve and detest the wickedness, still they ate of such things, in obedience to the injunction to the Apostle: "Whatsoever is sold in the shambles that eat, asking no question."

For conscience sake, as though you were bound to ask whether the meat which they wish to sell has been offered to idols, it being not lawful for you to buy and eat such. So Anselm, Ambrose, Theodoret. It is evident from this that Paul is not speaking of the fasts of the Church, or saying that on any day, even a fast day, it is lawful to eat meat which is exposed for sale in the shambles. For these fasts do not belong to the class of non-essentials, but are precepts of the Church. Therefore S. Paul, in Acts 15., Acts 15:16., ordered the decree concerning abstinence from things strangled and from blood to be observed, though it was a mere positive precept enjoined by the Apostles alone.