I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
A Creed, also known as a “symbolon”, a means to recognise those with the same belief. In ancient times, a symbolon was half of a broken object, for example, a seal presented as a token of recognition. The broken parts were placed together to verify the bearer's identity. The symbol of faith, then, is a sign of recognition and communion between believers.
Our Symbol of Faith also means a gathering, collection or summary of the principal truths of the faith and therefore serves as the first and fundamental point of reference for catechesis.
There are several creeds – the Nicene, the Apostles, and others. They grew out of the need to question those requesting baptism. They also grew out of disputes regarding aspects of belief – the details of the identity of Jesus was one dispute. The Nicene was born as a kind of contract. It began “We believe” and the bishops at the various councils in the 4th century signed the document. Our use of “I believe” comes from the creed being used before baptism. Each person personally declared their adherence to the faith before being admitted to baptism.
In saying we believe in one God, we’re saying several things. That we believe in God’s existence, although the church teaches that we can know of God’s existence from observing the world around us. However, we also say we rely on God, we trust in him.
Next that there is just one God. That’s not particular revolutionary today, but in the past it certainly was. Even the Hebrews accepted there were other gods in the early days of their coming to know God. Today, we encounter other religions who acknowledge the existence of lots of gods. We refuse to accept that there are other Gods, and this very point comes up at baptisms, confirmations, etc.
Our faith is a Trinitarian faith, which says that there are three divine persons in the one God. God the Father is one of those divine persons. He is almighty, and maker of heaven and earth. His creation is visible to us, and part of it is invisible to us: the spiritual creation whether that be our souls or the angels or God’s grace. Our physical eyes are incapable of seeing the spiritual world, it is invisible to us, not just never seen, but impossible to see with our eyes. And we could extend “invisible” to the impossibility of scientific techniques perceiving, measuring and describing the invisible world.
