Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine?
All Commentaries on 1 Corinthians 14:6 Go To 1 Corinthians 14
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues . . . or by doctrine? His tongues would profit them nothing unless he added to them a Revelation , that is an explanation of the revelation given him; or knowledge, that is a declaration of what he knew, whether infused by God or acquired by study; or prophecy, that is a statement of what he knew, either by prophecy properly so called or improperly, in the way of explanation of hidden and difficult things, especially of Holy Scripture; or doctrine, that is an accommodation of his discourse to their capacity. Such is pretty nearly the explanation given by S. Thomas and Theophylact. To complete the sense of the verse we must supply: But I shall do nothing of this sort if I merely speak with tongues and do not interpret, so that you may understand me; therefore it is better to prophesy than to speak with tongues, unless some one interpret.
But in the second place we can understand the Apostle"s meaning still better if we join knowledge with doctrine, and revelation with prophecy. For, as it was from their stores of knowledge that learned men drew the teaching that they gave others, so was it from revelation that they prophesied. Prophecy is distinguished from doctrine in that it is received by Revelation , doctrine from knowledge; for what we teach has been acquired by intellectual study. So Tolatus and Jansenius, in the place quoted above, say that S. Paul"s meaning Isaiah , "Though I speak in unknown tongues, but do not teach you, whether by knowledge gained by study or by prophecy received by Revelation , I shall profit you nothing."
Thirdly, Cassianus (Collat xiv8) sees here the four senses of Holy Scripture: in the doctrine the literal sense, in the revelation the allegorical, in the knowledge the tropological, in the prophecy the allegorical. But this is a mystical and symbolic interpretation.
