二、信心的本質（信心看到了那看不到的上帝）
為了給信心留有餘地，上帝把他永恆的良善與慈愛隱藏在永恆的憤怒之下，把他的公義隱藏在不法之下。
第二個理由則是基督徒信心的本質。
第二個理由是，信心必須和所見之事無關（來11:1）。因此，為了給信心留有餘地，必須隱藏所信之事。然而，隱藏得再深，頂多不過是隱藏在一個與其相反之物體、知覺、或經驗之下。因此，當上帝要人活的時候，他以殺戮來成就，當他要使人稱義時，他以使人自覺有罪來成就，就如聖經所言：「耶和華使人死，也使人活，使人下到陰間，也使人往上升」（撒上2:6）。
因此，上帝把他永恆的良善與慈愛隱藏在永恆的憤怒之下，把他的公義隱藏在不法之下。當他拯救的人那麼少，而毀滅的人那麼多的時候，人們要相信他是慈愛的，而且當他按著他自己的旨意使我們必須下地獄，而使得（根據伊拉斯漠所言）他似乎喜悅悲慘之人遭受折磨，並且似乎值得人去恨他，而不是去愛他。這時，還是要相信他是公義的，這就是信心的最高表現。
此外，如果我能以任何方法理解這位表現出如此憤怒和不法的上帝怎麼會是慈愛的和公正的，那麼我就不需要信心了。
事實上，既然那是不可能理解的，當這樣的事傳講和公佈出來的時候，就有操練信心的機會了，這就正如當上帝施行殺戮的時候，對生命的信心便在死亡中操練。——馬丁路德《論意志的綑綁》（《路德文集，第二卷》，p.344，上海三聯書店出版，2005年）
The second reason is that faith has to do with things not seen [Heb. 11:1]. Hence in order that there may be room for faith, it is necessary that everything which is believed should be hidden. It cannot, however, be more deeply hidden than under an object, perception, or experience which is contrary to it. Thus when God makes alive he does it by killing, when he justifies he does it by making men guilty, when he exalts to heaven he does it by bringing down to hell, as Scripture says: 「The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up」 (I Sam. 2[:6]). This is not the place to speak at length on this subject, but those who have read my books have had it quite plainly set forth for them.
Thus God hides his eternal goodness and mercy under eternal wrath, his righteousness under iniquity. This is the highest degree of faith, to believe him merciful when he saves so few and damns so many, and to believe him righteous when by his own will he makes us necessarily damnable, so that he seems, according to Erasmus, to delight in the torments of the wretched and to be worthy of hatred rather than of love. If, then, I could by any means comprehend how this God can be merciful and just who displays so much wrath and iniquity, there would be no need of faith. As it is, since that cannot be comprehended, there is room for the exercise of faith when such things are preached and published, just as when God kills, the faith of life is exercised in death.(The Bondage of the Will)(AE 33:62-63 from Fortress Press, Philadelphia)
