What Does 1 Corinthians 14:38 Mean in the King James?
But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse repeats one verb in two moods: ignorance is named, then left with the person who remains in it.
THE MEANING
When someone does not perceive what is being made clear, that non-recognition remains theirs; it cannot simply be produced for them by someone else. The repeated word draws a firm boundary around what another person can be made to understand.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that stating truth more forcefully can guarantee that another person recognizes it.
THE ROOT
ἀγνοεῖ
agnoei
GROWS FROM
ἀ- + νοέω (noeō)
νοέω means to perceive or understand; the prefix ἀ- negates it, giving the sense of not perceiving or understanding.
English can make “ignorant” sound like a fixed label, but the Greek verb describes a failure to perceive. The verse repeats that verb, first naming the condition and then leaving the person in it.
ALSO GROWS
noēsis: perception, understanding
νόησις
This related form names the understanding that ἀγνοέω lacks.
agnoia: lack of knowledge, ignorance
ἄγνοια
This noun names the same absence of understanding that the repeated verb describes.
THE PATTERN
Truth can be revealed and called out, but recognition cannot be forced into another person.
The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.THE THREAD
If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.The verse immediately before this one names recognition as the test of a claim to spiritual insight. Verse 38 gives the stark counterpart: where recognition is absent, the claim does not create it.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us