This long verse may be divided into six parts, corresponding to the main verbs (in italics) in Greek, literally:
(1) For do you not have houses to eat and drink (in)?
(2) or do you despise the church of God?
(3) and humiliate those who do not have (anything)?
(4) What am I to say to you?
(5) Shall I praise you?
(6) About this I do not praise you.
(1) to (5) form a new series of rhetorical questions with high emotional impact. Paul is now challenging his readers to make a positive response.
(1) is a rhetorical question equivalent to the statement “surely you have houses for eating and drinking in.”
(2) and (3) are clearly separated from (1), are closely linked together, and overlap in meaning. Despise has much the same meaning as humiliate, except that humiliate suggests an active expression of a person’s contempt. From another point of view, (3) makes (2) more specific: Paul accuses some of his readers of despising the Christian fellowship by embarrassing those members who are in need.
Since there is no direct connection between (1) and (2), Or may be omitted in translation. “Rather” (Good News Bible) is not in the text and does not improve the connection between (1) and (2). One should translate these as two independent questions.
(2) should be understood as despise in the sense of “treat as if it is unimportant.” Paul means “does it mean nothing to you that you are members of God’s people?”
(3) Those who have nothing is, of course, an exaggeration; the meaning is similar to the expression “the have-nots,” people who have few material things.
Humiliate can be rendered as “bring shame upon” or “cause to receive shame.”
“Am I to” in (4) is different in Greek from “shall I” in (5). The verb in (5) is future tense; in (4) the verb form suggests that Paul is considering what he will do. (4) is a real question, and (5) must, in this context, be understood as a real question too, since Paul answers it in (6). As the literal translation shows, Paul repeats the verb translated “praise” (Good News Bible) or commend, probably recalling verses 2 and 17.
In this (Good News Bible‘s “about this”), in the UBS Greek text, belongs to (6), as the literal translation shows. Some older translations agree with Revised Standard Version in making in this part of (5). There is no manuscript evidence for making it part of (4). Good News Bible, however, does so to make the meaning clear, since (4), (5), and (6) all refer to “this matter.”
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 .