The first part of this verse raises several related problems of (1) text, (2) grammar, and (3) meaning.
(1) The UBS Greek text, like most translations and commentaries, has literally “But this, instructing, I do not praise.” Other manuscripts have different texts, the most important being “But this I instruct, not praising.” The meaning is much the same.
(2) A more important problem is whether “this,” in the word-for-word translation just given, refers to preceding or following instructions. This Greek pronoun normally refers to what precedes, but there are exceptions. Revised Standard Version, Good News Bible, and most common language translations understand “this” to refer to what follows. Other translations take “this” to refer to what precedes; for example, Jerusalem Bible says “now that I am on the subject of instructions…”; New English Bible has “in giving you these injunctions…”; Traduction œcuménique de la Bible has “having dealt with this….” It is true that Paul uses a Greek conjunction that can imply a contrast with what precedes, but it can also indicate a transition from one thought to another. Some say that the following instructions is unlikely to be the correct translation, since Paul does not give any specific instruction until verse 33, or at least until verse 28. This argument is weak, since the phrase “in the first place” in verse 18 seems to refer forward to chapters 12 and 14, and because deviations are typical of Paul’s writings.
(3) The word that Revised Standard Version and Good News Bible translate because may also mean “that,” so that the whole sentence would mean “In giving you these injunctions I must mention a practice that I cannot commend: your meetings tend to do more harm than good” (New English Bible).
It appears, then, that the more natural interpretation is to take “this” as referring forward, so it is good to add the words following instructions.
In some languages it may be necessary to make explicit that the instructions are from Paul, not from rules made by the Corinthians themselves. One can say “As I give these following instructions to you, however, I do not….”
On Good News Bible‘s “for worship,” see introduction to 11.2-16.
Commend is the same verb as that used in 1 Cor. 11.2; see discussion there.
The phrases for the better and for the worse seem to refer to the effect or result of the Corinthians’ meetings.
Come together: Paul uses this verb in verses 18, 20, 33, 34 and in 14.23, 26 only.
Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .