pparently foolish to reason. As Paul says (1 Cor 1, 21): "It was
God's good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save
them that believe." How can reason adapt itself to comprehend that
three are one, and one is three; that God became man; that he who is
washed with water in obedience to Christ's command, is washed with
the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ and cleansed from all sins? Such
articles of faith appear utterly foolish to reason. Paul aptly calls
the Gospel foolish preaching wherewith God saves such as do not
depend on their own wisdom but simply believe the Word. They who will
follow reason in the things dealt with in these articles, and will
reject the Word, shall be defeated and destroyed in their wisdom.

25. Now, we have in the holy Scriptures and in the Creed sufficient
information concerning the Holy Trinity, and all that is necessary
for the instruction of ordinary Christians. Besides, the divinity of
our Lord Jesus Christ and that of the Holy Spirit is also attested by
miracles not to be lightly esteemed nor disregarded. The Lord our God
brings to pass miraculous things for the Christian's sake--for the
strengthening of his faith--and not merely as a rebuke to false
teachers. Were he to consider the false teachers alone, he might
easily defer their retribution to the future life, since he permits
many other transgressors to go unpunished for ten, twenty or thirty
years. But the fact is, God openly in this life lays hold upon
leaders of sects who blaspheme and slander him with their false
doctrines. He inflicts upon them unusual punishments for the sake of
warning others. Besides being openly convicted of blasphemy and
having the condemnation of their own conscience, the misguided ones
receive testimony to the fact that these false leaders are
instigators of blasphemy against God's name and his Word. All men are
compelled to admit God can have no pleasure in their doctrine, since
he visits them with special marks of his displeasure, destroying them
with severer punishments than ordinarily befall offenders.

26. History records that John the evangelist had as contemporary a
heretic, by the name of Cerinthus, who was the first to arise in
opposition to the apostolic doctrine and in blasphemy against the
Lord Jesus with the claim that Jesus is not God. This blasphemy
spread to such an extent that John saw himself compelled to
supplement the work of the other evangelists with his Gospel, whos