cannot bear them now." Yet whatever things out of
His wisdom He judged it right to make known to others, He expounded,
not in secret, but openly; although He was not understood by all.
Hence Augustine says on John 18:20: "We must understand this, 'I have
spoken openly to the world,' as though our Lord had said, 'Many have
heard Me' . . . and, again, it was not 'openly,' because they did not
understand."

Reply Obj. 3: As stated above, our Lord spoke to the multitudes in
parables, because they were neither able nor worthy to receive the
naked truth, which He revealed to His disciples.

And when it is said that "without parables He did not speak to them,"
according to Chrysostom (Hom. xlvii in Matth.), we are to understand
this of that particular sermon, since on other occasions He said many
things to the multitude without parables. Or, as Augustine says (De
Qq. Evang., qu. xvii), this means, "not that He spoke nothing
literally, but that He scarcely ever spoke without introducing a
parable, although He also spoke some things in the literal sense."
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FOURTH ARTICLE [III, Q. 42, Art. 4]

Whether Christ Should Have Committed His Doctrine to Writing?

Objection 1: It would seem that Christ should have committed His
doctrine to writing. For the purpose of writing is to hand down
doctrine to posterity. Now Christ's doctrine was destined to endure
for ever, according to Luke 21:33: "Heaven and earth shall pass away,
but My words shall not pass away." Therefore it seems that Christ
should have committed His doctrine to writing.

Obj. 2: Further, the Old Law was a foreshadowing of Christ, according
to Heb. 10:1: "The Law has [Vulg.: 'having'] a shadow of the good
things to come." Now the Old Law was put into writing by God,
according to Ex. 24:12: "I will give thee" two "tables of stone and
the law, and the commandments which I have written." Therefore it
seems that Christ also should have put His doctrine into writing.

Obj. 3: Further, to Christ, who came to enlighten them that sit in
darkness (Luke 1:79), it belonged to remove occasions of error, and
to open out the road to faith. Now He would have done this by putting
His teaching into writing: for Augustine says (De Consensu Evang. i)
that "some there are who wonder why our Lord wrote nothing, so that
we have to believe what others have written about Him. Especially do
those pagans ask this question who dare not blame or blaspheme
Christ, and