This verse marks a sharp break in Paul’s thought. He may have been thinking more quickly than his secretary could write. The implied connection with verse 18 may be as follows: “Someone may say that my argument proves too much, since it could apply not only to Jewish, but also to pagan ceremonies. After all, it is idolatry, not Judaism, with which the Corinthians are concerned.”
Different editions of the Greek text punctuate the verse as two or three questions. The last two questions, “Is food offered to idols anything?” and “Is an idol anything?” are very similar in form and meaning and are sometimes treated as one. A few important manuscripts omit the last question, probably by accident.
Do I imply then may be translated as “Do I really mean” or “Do you understand what I am talking about? I mean that….”
The meaning of the verse is best defined by comparing it with 8.4-6, where it is clear that Paul is denying, not the existence of other spiritual powers, but their claims on Christians’ loyalty and worship.
Is anything is literally “to be something.” In some places in the New Testament this means, not “to exist,” but “to be important.” See, for example, Gal 2.6, where Good News Bible translates “to be the leaders.” Translators and commentators are divided about whether the words have the same meaning here. Barclay takes the meaning “to exist,” and translates “What is my argument? That a thing offered to an idol has any real existence? Or that an idol itself has any real existence?” On the other hand, several common language translations express in different ways the thought that although idols may exist, they are not significant for Christians. Bijbel in Gewone Taal has “that an idol or food offered to an idol has any significance?”; Bible en français courant “… has any value?”; Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “Do I mean by that that there is anything special about sacrificial flesh? Or that the idol to whom the sacrifice is made has any significance for us?”; Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente “I do not mean by that that the sacrifice offered to the idol has any value or that the idol is of any importance.” On the whole it seems better for translators to render this passage in a similar way to these other common language translations, or to follow Revised English Bible “What do I imply by this? That meat consecrated to an idol is anything more than meat, or that an idol is anything more than an idol?”
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 .