1. I believe in one God, the Father, Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

 

1. Πιστεύω εἰς ἕνα Θεόν, Πατέρα, Παντοκράτορα, ποιητὴν οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς, ὁρατῶν τε πάντων καὶ ἀοράτων.

I believe in one God, the Father, Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

• Deuteronomy 6:4–5 (LXX): "Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ Θεός ἡμῶν, … ὁ μόνος Κυρός" (“The Lord is our God… the Lord alone”).
  
  

• Colossians 1:16 (NT): “ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ ἐκτίσθη τὰ πάντα, τὰ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς… ὁρατὰ τε καὶ τὰ μὴ ὁρατὰ” (“…all things were created through him… visible and invisible”)
  
  

• Patristic: Theodore of Mopsuestia begins his commentary stressing "one God, Father Almighty, Creator of all things visible and invisible" blueletterbible.org+5tertullian.org+5en.wikipedia.org+5.
  
  

Target heresies: Gnosticism / Marcionism; various dualisms that divide the “good transcendent God” from the creator (demiurge).

Heretical statement (summary): Gnostic and Marcionite systems held that the creator of the visible world was either an inferior demiurge or a different (often lower) god, not the one Supreme Father; some denied that the God of the Old Covenant was the same as the Father revealed in Christ. The creed insists the one Father is Creator of both visible and invisible — a direct repudiation of a two-god/dual creator ontology.
Sources: overview of Marcion/Gnostic rejection of the creator and how creeds affirm one Creator.

Parsing and Grammar Breakdown

• Πιστεύω (Verb, 1 sg. present active indicative of πιστεύω): "I believe"
  
  

• εἰς + ἕνα Θεόν (preposition + accusative): "in one God"
  
  

• Πατέρα, Παντοκράτορα (accusatives in apposition): "Father, Pantokrator (Almighty)"
  Literal: I believe in one God, Father, Almighty
  Greek uses πιστεύω + εἰς + accusative (mirroring late-antique Latin credo + in → acc.)

• ποιητὴν (noun, acc. sg.): "maker"

• οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς (genitives): "of heaven and earth"

• ὁρατῶν τε πάντων καὶ ἀοράτων (genitives; τε…καὶ = both…and): "of all things visible and invisible"

• Literal: maker of heaven and earth, and of all visible and invisible things

Brief Commentary

The Creed begins with the firm declaration: “I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.” This opening line establishes both the unity of God and His role as Creator, affirming the faith of Israel proclaimed in the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4–5) and carried forward into the Church. By naming the Father as Pantokrator (Almighty), the Creed rejects any notion that creation is the work of an inferior being or demiurge, as Gnostics and Marcionites falsely claimed. St. Paul confirms in Colossians 1:16 that all things—seen and unseen—were created through Christ and held in unity by the one Father. The Fathers, such as Theodore of Mopsuestia, stressed this truth as the foundation of Christian confession: the visible world is not evil, nor is it divorced from God, but rather is the handiwork of the same Father revealed in Jesus Christ. Thus, the Creed’s grammar itself underscores the point—πιστεύω εἰς ἕνα Θεόν—not many gods, not rival creators, but one God who is Father, Almighty, and Creator of both heaven and earth, visible and invisible alike.