SECTION 1.—­I BELIEVE

The Creed is the expression of personal belief.  Whether spoken in private or in a public assembly, it is the confession of the faith held by each individual for himself.  Each of us has a separate life, and each of us must personally accept God’s message and express his own belief.  Religion must influence men as units before it can benefit them in masses.  Faith that saves is a gift of God which every one must receive for himself.  The faith of one is of no avail for another, therefore the Creed begins with the affirmation “I believe.”  In repeating it we profess our own faith in what God has revealed concerning Himself.

“I believe.”—­The Apostles’ Creed is a declaration of things which are most surely believed among us, and its several parts or articles are founded upon the contents of Scripture, which is our one rule of faith.  It does not begin with the words I think or I know, but with the statement “I believe.”  “Belief” is used in various senses, but here it means the assent of the mind and heart to the doctrines expressed in the Creed.  When we repeat the form we declare that we accept and adopt all the statements which it covers.  “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made."[009]

Faith differs from knowledge.  There are some things which we know to be true, and there are others of which we say we believe them to be true.  There are certain truths which are termed axiomatic.  When the terms in which they are expressed are understood, the truth they convey is at once admitted.  We know that two and two make four, we know that two straight lines cannot enclose a space; but we do not know in the same sense those things which the Creed affirms.  It deals with statements that, for the most part, have never been, and cannot be, tested by sense, and that cannot be demonstrated by such proof as will compel us to accept them.  We believe them, not because it is impossible to withhold our assent, nor only because nature, history, and conscience confirm them, but on the ground of testimony.  “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God."[010] We believe because we are assured on sufficient and competent authority that these things are so.  We know that we live in a material universe, but our knowledge does not extend to the manner in which the universe came into being.  That is a matter of belief.  “Through faith”—­not by ocular or logical proof, but on testimony—­“we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God."[011]