94. But let us illustrate this with an example. Many places in the Word attribute anger, wrath and vengeance to the Lord, and say that He punishes, casts into hell, tempts, and many other like things. Someone who believes this in simplicity, and for that reason fears God and takes care not to sin against Him, is, because of the simplicity of that belief, not condemned. But someone who affirms these ideas in himself to the point that he believes that anger, wrath, and vengeance, and thus such attributes as are connected with evil, are found in the Lord, and that anger, wrath and vengeance are what cause the Lord to punish people and cast them into hell — such a one is condemned, because he has destroyed genuine truth, namely, that the Lord is love itself, mercy itself, and goodness itself, and someone who has these attributes cannot be angry, wrathful, or vengeful.
The attribution of these characteristics to the Lord is due to the appearance. And the like is the case in many other instances.
