1 Corinthians 14:6 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

By revelation, or by knowledge, &c.— It is not to be doubted that the four distinct terms here used bythe Apostle had each its distinct signification in his mind and intention. Whether what may be collected from these epistles will sufficiently warrant us to understand them in the following significations, must be left to the judgment of others. First, Revelation;—something revealed by God immediately to the person; see 1 Corinthians 14:30. Secondly, Knowledge;—the understanding of the mystical and evangelical sense of passages in the Old Testament, relating to our Saviour and the gospel. Thirdly, prophesy; an inspired hymn, 1 Corinthians 14:26, or the prediction of some future event. Fourthly, doctrine;—any truth of the gospel concerning faith, experience, or manners. But whether this, or any other precise meaning of these words, can be certainly made out now, it is perhaps of no great necessity to be over curious; it being enough, for the understanding thesense and argument of the Apostle here, to know that these terms stand for some intelligible discourse; tending to the edification of the church; though of what kind each of them was in particular we know not certainly.