That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
James 2:26
For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
The Creed is traditionally broken into twelve parts for instructional purposes. For the sake of keeping my posts from getting too long and to better provide a general overview, I'm going to further divide some of those sections. This post will cover what it means to "believe" ("credo" in Latin, where we get the word "creed"). According to The Catechism of St Philaret of Moscow1...
76. What is it to believe in God?And also from The Confession of Peter Mohila2...
To believe in God is to have a lively belief of his being, his attributes, and works; and to receive with all the heart his revealed Word respecting the salvation of men.
80. For what is the confession of the faith necessary?
The Apostle Paul witnesses that it is necessary for salvation. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Rom. x. 10.
Q. 2. Should a Christian first believe and then do good works in life?According to the scriptures, "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God", meaning that we recieve our faith by being taught. The manner in which this takes place in us is two fold. First, as Paul writes "God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith", our capacity to believe in God is a gift from Him, and as the parable of the sower and the seed shows, this gift is given freely to all. But having received the gift freely given, we have a responsibility to respond as Christ Himself said "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear" and "Take heed therefore how ye hear".
R. Since "without faith it is impossible to please God", as St. Paul teaches, "he that comes to God must believe that he is, and is a rewarder to them that seek him."[5] Therefore, so that a Christian may please God and his works may be accepted by him, first it is necessary that he have faith in God and then he must form his life according to this faith.
Q. 4. What is faith?
R. Faith is, according to St. Paul, "the substance of things to be hoped for, the evidence of things that appear not. For this the ancients obtained a testimony."[6] Or, as follows: the apostolic orthodox-catholic (faith) is to believe in one's heart and confess by one's mouth one God in the Holy Trinity, according to the teaching of the same St. Paul: "for with the heart we believe unto justice; but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation;"[7] and then also, Faith is to hold intact all the articles of the orthodox- catholic faith, handed down by Christ the Lord through the Apostles and pronounced and approved in the Ecumenical Councils (4) and to believe them without doubt as taught therein, just as the Apostle designates: "Brothers, stand fast and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word or by our epistle." [8] And in another place: "I praise (you, brothers), that you are mindful of me in all things; and keep my ordinances as I delivered them to you." [9] From these words it is clear that the articles of faith receive their commendation and authority partly from Sacred Scripture and partly from church tradition and the teaching of the Councils and the Holy Fathers. By way of explanation in this matter, St. Dionysius says: "For the substance of our hierarchy is the divinely given oracles; most truly we declare these oracles to be venerated, which were given to us by our holy founders, inspired by the Holy Spirit, in Sacred Scripture and theological books, as also that which comes from these same holy men in a more subtle way, not completely treated from on high, but by the penetration of one mind unto another, indeed by way of the corporeal word, but nevertheless at the same time immaterial, by which our holy founders were taught without writing in this certain sacred tradition." [10] I speak, he says, of certain dogmas given through the Scripture and contained in the theological books (that is, of St. Basil); (5) Truly these are dogmas which were orally given by the Apostles and the Holy Fathers. And on these two things the faith is based, not only to remain in the recesses of the heart, with all doubt and fear really removed, but to be proclaimed and professed orally, even as the Psalmist says: "I have believed, therefore have I spoken."[11] "We also believe, wherefore we also speak."[12]
Belief is also closely tied to action in the scriptures. To truly believe is to act on that belief as we are told to "be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only" and that "faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone" because even "the devils also believe, and tremble". We find "for the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer" in the Psalms. We are also told that "whatsoever is not of faith is sin" and that with faith "ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked". We also find that faith must also be accomplanied by love where it is written "though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing". Faith also requires perseverence. Christ told us that "he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved" and Paul commanded us to "run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith".
Through the intercession of St Patrick, may God Almighty strengthen one's faith and grant the grace of faith to others.
1http://www.pravoslavieto.com/docs/eng/Orthodox_Catechism_of_Philaret.htm
2http://esoptron.umd.edu/ugc/ocf1a.html
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