I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
The first word in the new translation of the Creed is one of the most noticeable changes in the entire text. We move from “we believe” to “I believe.” Surprisingly enough, both forms are quite accurate translations! "The Church emphasizes the 'I' and the 'we' of faith by using two professions of faith in her liturgies: the Apostles' Creed, the Creed that begins with 'I believe' (Credo), and the Great Creed of Nicaea-Constantinople, which in its original form starts with the words 'We believe' (Credimus)" (YouCat 24; cf. Catechism 26). The Greek original of the Nicene Creed begins with “we.” But in the Roman liturgy, the Latin version begins "I believe." The translators of the 1974 Sacramentary wanted to take the Church back to the original form of the Creed, and to emphasize the communal nature of this profession of the faith we share as a Church. The new translation adheres to the Latin, and so we will now say “I believe.” But even as we say “I believe,” we join in a corporate expression of faith, prayed aloud together, as one body in Christ.
The first part of the Creed is about God the Father. And what do we believe about the first Person of the Trinity? That God is one and all-powerful. That God created everything; heavens and earth, all we can see, and all we cannot see. Another change in translation can be noted here: “seen and unseen” has become “visible and invisible,” to echo the Latin “visibilium omnium et invisibilium.”
