Article I: Of God.
1] Our Churches, with common consent, do teach that the decree of the Council of Nicaea concerning the Unity of the Divine Essence and concerning the Three Persons, is true and to be believed without any doubting; 2] that is to say, there is one Divine Essence which is called and which is God: eternal, without body, without parts, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness, the Maker and Preserver of all things, visible and invisible; and 3] yet there are three Persons, of the same essence and power, who also are coeternal, the Father the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And the term "person" 4] they use as the Fathers have used it, to signify, not a part or quality in another, but that which subsists of itself.
5] They condemn all heresies which have sprung up against this article, as the Manichaeans, who assumed two principles, one Good and the other Evil: also the Valentinians, Arians, Eunomians, Mohammedans, and all such. 6] They condemn also the Samosatenes, old and new, who, contending that there is but one Person, sophistically and impiously argue that the Word and the Holy Ghost are not distinct Persons, but that "Word" signifies a spoken word, and "Spirit" signifies motion created in things.
If one defends one's position, where does one begin? Of all the doctrines and teachings of the Church, where do you begin stating what you believe and how where you agree with your opponent?
The Lutherans begin with the Council of Nicea and the creed that came out of Nicea which asserted the Trinity. The first paragraph above seems to indicate not the Nicene Creed but the Athanasian Creed, which spelled out clearly the Trinity, the three persons in that Trinity, and the unity of the Trinity. Compare the first paragraph above with the Athanasian Creed:
1. Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic (universal, ecumenical, common) faith.
2. Which Faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.
3. And the Catholic Faith is this:
That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity,
4. Neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance [Essence].
5. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost.
6. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one, the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal.
