The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s revelation of Himself to man.  It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter.

 

There is but one Living and True God.  He is an intelligent, spiritual and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe.  God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections and has perfect knowledge of all things past, present, and future.  He exists in three Persons–Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each with distinct personal attributes but without division of nature, essence, and being.

 

God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace.  God is Father in truth to those who become children of God, spiritually, through faith in Jesus Christ.

 

Christ is the eternal Son of God.  In His incarnation as Jesus Christ, He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, thus being fully God and fully man.  In His death on the cross, He made provision for the redemption of men from sin, reconciliation with God, and spiritual life.

 

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God.  He exalts Christ.  He convicts of sin, of righteousness and of judgment.  He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service.

 

Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image.  He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation.  The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God’s creation.  By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race.  All men and women, when they become capable of moral action, commit sin and are spiritually separated from a Holy God, under judgment and in need of salvation.  Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God.

 

Salvation of any soul is entirely according to God’s sovereign will, mercy, and grace and is accomplished by the drawing and regeneration of the Holy Spirit. Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is bestowed freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer.  In its broadest sense, salvation includes regeneration, sanctification, and glorification.  There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ.

 

Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners.  It is consistent with the free agency of man, and comprehends all the means in connection with the end.  It is the glorious display of God’s sovereign goodness, and is infinitely wise, holy, and unchangeable.  It excludes boasting and promotes humility.  All true believers endure to the end.  Those whom God as accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end.  Believers may fall into sin through neglect and temptation, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, and bring reproach on the cause of Christ and temporal judgments on themselves; yet they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.

 

A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a local body of believers who are associated by covenant in faith and fellowship of the gospel and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth.  This church is an autonomous body.  The New Testament speaks also of the church as the body of Christ, which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages.

 

God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society.  Marriage is the unity of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime.  The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are created in God’s image.  The marriage relationship models the way God relates to His people.  Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord.