Catechist. Rehearse the Articles of thy Belief.
Answer. I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth...
Question. What dost thou chiefly learn in these Articles of thy Belief?
Answer. First, I learn to believe in God the Father, who hath made me, and all the world.
The Creed teaches us to “believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth” – an infinite power of fatherly goodness which is the source and origin of all things from beyond all things. Pagan myths often taught how the world gave birth to the gods, and so the gods are “super-creatures”, very powerful beings but within the world, what the Bible calls “principalities and powers” – angels, or demons. The central confession of Israel is that God made the world, and therefore God is not a creature, nor even a super-creature, but something utterly other than a creature, their Creator.
A carpenter needs wood and a sculptor needs stone, but God created all things out of nothing, by the wisdom and power of his Word and Spirit (Genesis 1:1-2:3; cf. Isaiah 64:8; Acts 4:24; 1 Corinthians 8:6). The doctrine of creation is not an explanation of how God made the world, but that he did: it answers the question – and what other answer could there be? – why is there anything at all, instead of nothing? It affirms that everything that exists, is dependent for its existence at every point upon God's power as Creator and Preserver.
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