Revised Standard Version‘s So, which Good News Bible omits, is often used in Greek to introduce a logical sequence, similar to Good News Bible‘s “then” in verse 21 of this chapter. The point of this verse can be understood best by looking back for a moment. Verse 5a asked the real questions, “What then is Apollos? What is Paul?” to which the first short answer was “servants.” The end of verse 5, and still more verse 6, explained the meaning of “servants” by telling what work went with this position. Now verse 7 states the conclusion that neither Paul the planter, nor Apollos the waterer, is important; but God is the one who “made the plant grow.” One may translate the word anything as “really are not important,” and expand only God to “The important person is God…”; in many languages a new sentence should begin with such a clause, as in Good News Bible.

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 .