- Table of content
- 2.4.1 The First Article of Faith
- 2.4.2 The Second Article of Faith
- 2.4.3 The Third Article of Faith
- 2.4.4 The Fourth Article of Faith
- 2.4.5 The Fifth Article of Faith
- 2.4.6 The Sixth Article of Faith
- 2.4.7 The Seventh Article of Faith
- 2.4.8 The Eighth Article of Faith
- 2.4.9 The Ninth Article of Faith
- 2.4.10 The Tenth Article of Faith
2.4.1 The First Article of Faith
I believe in God, the Father, the Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth.
The First Article of Faith refers to God, the Father, as the Creator (see 3.3). That God is the Creator is attested in both the Old and New Testaments. The creation incorporates both heaven and earth, namely–as the Creed of Nicaea-Constantinople states–"all things visible and invisible". Both the material and the spiritual exist on the basis of God's act of creation: God is the author of all reality, and it testifies of Him.
God is not only almighty as regards His work of creation, but is omnipotent in all respects. The omnipotence of God is also demonstrated by the fact that He has authored the creation in the absence of any preconditions: the act of God's free will created all that exists from nothing (creatio ex nihilo, Hebrews 11: 3).
Although the First Article of Faith speaks of God, the Father, as the Creator, God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit, are also involved in the act of creation. After all, it is the triune God as a whole who is the Creator, as is suggested in Genesis 1: 26: "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness." In John 1: 1 and Colossians 1: 16 the creatorship of the Son is expressly referenced.