Why do we say, "I believe"?

In the creed we confess our faith in God. Most Churches state that I believe in God ... The LCMS Explanation to the Small Catechism says, "Everyone must believe for himself or herself, no one can be saved by another's faith." This is absolutely true. All people must believe for themselves. But none of us can believe on their own. "I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him," from the Small Catechism.

But in the early texts of the Creeds it still reads "We Believe." These are not personal statements of Faith but confessional statements of faith. Christians are people who share in a common belief. Thus, they should say we believe in Jesus Christ. This does not mean I believe for your salvation but that we are joined in our confession.

St Paul says we are baptized into the Body of Christ. We are joined together through Christ. We are one body with many members. All of Christians joined together as brothers and sisters in Christ. Thus, we should remember that all our actions together are confessions of our joint faith. When you read the creed you should remember this is what connects us, not what divides us.

There are other confessions of our Faith such as the Small Catechism which can join us together or divide us. These many confessions of Faith define the truth we cling to. These confessions separate us from heresies or false teachers and pagans. Hopefully we can still join together in our confession as we are one body in Christ Jesus.

I would finally like to say that I think this comes about not because we want to defend saving other people by our faith, but that we want to make the choice for ourselves. Many Christians throughout the world believe that you must choose to believe in God. This makes your faith an Individual relationship between you and God. Jesus talks about more than just an Individual relationship. Jesus talks about the body of Believers. God is a God of People not Individuals. God calls his people from many Nations to be a holy race and priesthood, not to be individuals. Live as a people or group of Believers who confess their faith together.

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