But the scribe Matthew, who followed Me at some distance to see what was happening so that he could then record it, also came to Me and asked Me whether he should record these events.
But I said, ‘Leave that, so that no confusion may arise later; for the day after tomorrow we shall go to the sea again, and there an exactly identical event will occur before us, which you are then to describe in full. In general, from tomorrow onwards you may record everything extraordinary that occurs.’
Matthew is entirely content with this; but John, to whom this deed seemed very wondrous, also asks Me whether he too might not at least note this deed for himself with a few marks.
And I say to him, ‘You may indeed do that, but not immediately following what you have written up to now; only sometime later. For in half a year we shall have another entirely identical case to attend to, and then you can record that one in place of this one, or this one in place of that one.
‘But it does not matter so much whether one sign or another that closely resembles an earlier one is recorded or not, because this could easily give rise to confusions among the later followers of My teaching, and from such confusions eventually all manner of brooding and doubts, which would then do far more harm than good to the main thing, which consists solely in My teaching.
‘As long as I, you and those who can bear witness in different ways to the full truth of the many signs live on this earth, all doubts will be easily prevented. But in later times, when what is written alone is to bear witness to Me for the sake of the freedom of the human will, the writing must be pure and well ordered, otherwise it does more harm than good.’
John says, ‘Lord, You my Love! What You have now said is certainly true in the highest degree; but for that very reason, would it not be very advantageous if I then recorded everything You do and teach just as precisely as brother Matthew?
‘For when people later compare my writing and Matthew’s, and do not find in mine what is in Matthew’s, will they not begin to brood and doubt the authenticity of the whole Gospel and say, “Was there not one Jesus who taught the same things and surely also did the same things? Why did Matthew write this and John that, things which do not agree, and yet both are supposed to have been constantly around Him?” I think this judgment of posterity will not fail to arise under such circumstances, when I write something entirely different from brother Matthew?’
I say, ‘You are quite right, dearest brother; but see, why I allow this to happen thus has a ground that you cannot yet grasp now, but which will become clear to you in time.
‘What Matthew writes is particularly for the benefit of this earth alone, but what you write holds for the whole of eternal infinity! For in everything you write there lies veiled the purely divine governance from eternities to eternities, through all already existing creations and also through those which in future eternities will take the place of the creations now existing. And even if you were to write in many thousands of books what I shall yet make known about this to you and to all of you, the world could never comprehend such books, and such books would therefore be of no use to the world either.
‘But whoever lives according to the received teaching and believes in the Son is in any case born again in spirit, and the spirit will lead him into all the depths of eternal truth.
‘Now you know the ground why I do not let you write everything; therefore do not ask Me any more about it in the future. For it must never be made too clear to the world, so that it does not fall into an even greater judgment than the old, necessary judgment in which it already finds itself.
‘But I intend to set out My teaching so that no one should reach the ground of living truth through merely reading or hearing the Gospel, but only through acting according to My teaching. Only action will become a lamp for everyone!’