[Sidenote: Division of the Creed]
The Creed is divided into three parts[14], according to the Creed
three Persons of the holy and divine Trinity who are therein
mentioned. The first part belongs to the Father, the second to the
Son, the third to the Holy Ghost; for the Trinity is the chief thing
in the Creed, on which everything else depends.
[Sidenote: Two Ways of Believing]
We should note that there are two ways of believing. One way is to
believe about God, as I do when I believe that what is said of God is
true; just as I do when I believe what is said about the Turk, the
devil or hell. This faith is knowledge or observation rather than
faith. The other way is to believe in God, as I do when I not only
believe that what is said about Him is true, but put my trust in Him,
surrender myself to Him and make bold to deal with Him, believing
without doubt that He will be to me and do to me just what is said of
Him. I could not thus believe in the Turk or in any man, however
highly his praises might be sung. For I can readily believe that a man
is good, but I do not venture on that account to build my faith on
him.
[Sidenote: True Faith]
This faith, which in He or death dares to believe that God is what He
is said to be, is the only faith that makes a man a Christian and
obtains from God whatever it will. This faith no false and evil heart
can have, for it is a living faith; and this faith is commanded in the
First Commandment, which says, "I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt have
no other gods." Wherefore the word _in_ is rightly used; and it is
diligently to be noted that we may not say, "I believe God the
Father," or "about the Father," but "_in_ God the Father, _in_ Jesus
Christ, _in_ the Holy Ghost." This faith we should render to no one
but to God. Therefore we confess the divinity of Jesus Christ and of
the Holy Ghost, when we believe in them even as we believe in the
Father; and just as our faith in all three Persons is one and the same
faith, so the three Persons are one and the same God.