The contrast between knowledge and ignorance shows that reason can recognize excellence and deficiency in particular attributes. Knowledge is an excellence concerning awareness of reality; ignorance is the lack of that awareness.
This does not immediately mean that every knowledgeable person is thereby owed religious reward or every ignorant person deserves punishment. Judging an attribute to be excellent differs from judging someone’s accountability.
The distinction between the rational value of a quality and an agent’s entitlement to recompense must be preserved.