Answer to the third question. ”As to why, if the Holy Spirit has spoken through them,
there is so much variance among the evangelists, I answer: It is written that the Holy Spirit
is various in his operations in that he distributes his gifts to his chosen people in varied
ways. Indeed, the Holy Spirit is like a man with a balance in his hand, measuring and
balancing the scales until the balance reaches equilibrium and comes to rest. A balance is
handled in different ways by a person who is used to it and by one who is unused to it, by
one who is strong and by one who is weak.
So the Holy Spirit now rises like a balance in human hearts, and then sinks again. He
rises when he uplifts the mind through keenness of understanding and through the soul’s
devotion and through the inflaming of spiritual desire. He sinks when he allows the mind to
fall into difficulties and to be anxious about trifling vanities and upset by tribulation.
Therefore, just as the balance cannot reach equilibrium unless the weights are adjusted,
and it is controlled by a guiding hand, so too measure and a good life, a simple intention,
and discretion in works and virtues are necessary for the operation of the Holy Spirit.
When I, the Son of God, visible in the flesh, preached different things in different
places, I had different kinds of followers and listeners. Some followed me out of love,
others in order to have an occasion for fault finding or out of curiosity. Some of my
followers had a keener intellect, others a simpler. Accordingly, I spoke simply to instruct the
simple. I also spoke deeply to awaken the wonder of the wise. Sometimes I spoke darkly
in parables, which gave some people an occasion for commenting. At other times I
repeated things said earlier and sometimes added to or simplified them. So it is no wonder
that those who arranged the gospel narrative recorded different but still true things, for
some of them wrote it down word for word, others captured the sense but not the exact
words. Some wrote things they had heard but not seen; others placed earlier events later;
others wrote more about my divinity; yet all of them as the Spirit gave them to speak.
However, I want you to know that only those evangelists are to be accepted whom
the church accepts. Many people attempted to write who had zeal but not in accordance
with my knowledge. Recall what I said in today’s reading: ‘Destroy this temple and I shall
rebuild it.’ Those who testified to what they heard were truthful regarding the words they
495
heard, but they were false witnesses because they did not consider the sense of my
words, for I spoke concerning my body. Likewise when I said: ‘Unless you eat my flesh,
you shall not have life.’ Many hearers went away, because they did not consider the
conclusion that I added: 'My words are spirit and life, that is, they have a spiritual meaning
and force. It is not remarkable that they went astray, inasmuch as they did not follow me
out of love. Thus the Holy Spirit rises in human hearts like a balance, at one time speaking
corporeally, at another spiritually. And he sinks when the human heart is hardened against
God or falls into heresies or worldliness and is darkened.”
This should be required knowledge in Cathechism classes as I never knew until now that this document existed.