451. All goodwill that is not united to faith in the one God, who has a divine trinity inside, is illegitimate. Take for example the goodwill practiced by the modern-day church, which has faith in three persons of the same divinity in succession: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This constitutes a faith in three persons, each of whom is a self-sufficient god, and thus it is a faith in three gods. Goodwill can be appended to this faith - its proponents have in fact done this - but goodwill can never become an integral part of it. Goodwill that is only appended to faith is merely earthly; it is not spiritual. Therefore it is an illegitimate goodwill.

The same applies to the goodwill in many other heresies: for example, the heresy of people who deny the existence of the divine Trinity and therefore turn to God the Father alone or the Holy Spirit alone, or turn to them both rather than to God the Savior. Goodwill cannot become integral to these people's faith. Whether goodwill becomes integral to those faiths or is merely attached to them, in either case the goodwill is illegitimate.

It is called illegitimate because it is like offspring from an unlawful affair, like Hagars son by Abraham, who was thrown out of the house (Genesis 21:9 [and following]).

This kind of goodwill is like fruit that did not grow on a tree but was nailed there instead. It is like a carriage with horses that are attached to it only by the reins in the driver's hands; when the horses start to run, they pull the driver from his seat, leaving the carriage behind.