36. Why does the Profession of Faith begin with the words, “I believe in God”?

36. Why does the Profession of Faith begin with the words, “I believe in God”?

(Comp 36) The Profession of Faith begins with these words because the affirmation “I believe in God” is the most important, the source of all the other truths about man and about the world, and about the entire life of everyone who believes in God.

“In Brief”

(CCC 178) We must believe in no one but God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

To deepen and explain

(CCC 198) Our profession of faith begins with God, for God is the First and the Last (Cf. Isa 44:6). The beginning and the end of everything. The Credo begins with God the Father, for the Father is the first divine person of the Most Holy Trinity; our Creed begins with the creation of heaven and earth, for creation is the beginning and the foundation of all God's works.

On reflection

(CCC 199) "I believe in God": this first affirmation of the Apostles' Creed is also the most fundamental. The whole Creed speaks of God, and when it also speaks of man and of the world it does so in relation to God. The other articles of the Creed all depend on the first, just as the remaining Commandments make the first explicit. The other articles help us to know God better as he revealed himself progressively to men. "The faithful first profess their belief in God" (Roman Catechism I, 2, 2).

(Next question: Why does one profess belief that there is only one God?)