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The Apostles' Creed |
| Article I |
Article II |
Article III |
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
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I believe in Jesus Christ, his only son our Lord,
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into hell.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the
right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
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I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
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What does this mean?
[Robert E. Smith translation, 1994]
I believe that God created me, along with all creatures. God gave to me: body and soul, eyes, ears and all the other parts of my body, my mind and all my senses and preserves them as well. God gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and land, spouse and children, fields, animals, and all I own. Every day God abundantly provides everything I need to nourish this body and life. God protects me against all danger, shields and defends me from all evil. God does all this because of pure, fatherly, and divine goodness and mercy, not because I've earned it or deserved it. For all of this, I must thank, praise, serve, and obey God. Yes, this is true!
Prayer
[From “The Butterfly Song”]: I just thank you, Father, for making me ‘me’.
For you gave me a heart and you gave me a smile, You gave me Jesus and you made me your child,
and I just thank you, Father, for making me ‘me’. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Commentary by Pastor David G. Mullen
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Of course there was no doubt in Luther’s mind that God is the universal creator. But for the formation of faith Luther focused on the personal. For what good would it do to believe that God created the Universe but had nothing to do “with me”? In fact, that point-of-view developed in the Enlightenment period of Western Europe and was called Deism. Many of the Founding Fathers of our nation were Deists. Deism believed that God once, long, long ago created the Universe, like a master clock-maker created a clock. He started the “clock” of the creation and it has run ever since according to its immutable laws. Nothing personal.
But Luther wonderfully captured the truly Biblical vision and faith: God creates and keeps on creation. God makes the creation and the divine relationship to it personal. That is Luther emphasized for the sake of our encouragement in faith: it is personal.
“I believe that God created me”