1 Corinthians 14:38

There is more than indifference, there are severity and threatening in these words; they are addressed to the persons whose folly was characterized by the word δοκεῖ in the previous verse. “If there are among you people who reckon their ideas superior to mine, let them follow them!” Of course such speaking is not addressed to people with whom one is on good terms. We have to bear in mind the first Chapter s of the Epistle, where the apostle once and again alluded to the disrespectful sentiments of a party in the Church toward him; comp. also 1 Corinthians 7:40.

The reading ἀγνοείτω, let him be ignorant, is the only admissible one. After all he has said, the apostle no longer seeks to convince those who think themselves wiser than he is; he abandons them at once to their inexperience and their responsibility. The reading ἀγνοεῖται, he is ignored, preferred by some commentators, and again recently by Heinrici, would signify: “Willing to be ignorant of God, he is ignored (rejected) by Him.” Edwards regards ἀγνοεῖται as a future indicative middle: “he will be ignored (at the judgment).” Comp. 1 Corinthians 8:3. It is difficult to explain the origin of this variant (see Meyer's attempt). But the threat of perdition for refusal to accept directions so external in their nature as those which precede would be rather severe. The reading ἀγνοείτω : “Let him be ignorant at his risk and peril!” is the only one worthy of the apostle, and really natural.

Paul closes with a very precise statement of his conclusion: