GOD
We believe that there is but one living and true God (Deut 6:4; Isaiah 45:5-7; 1 Corin 8:4), an infinite, all-knowing Spirit (John 4:24), perfect in all His attributes, one in essence, one eternally existing in three Persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matt 28:19; 2 Corin 13:14) – each equal in being, power, and glory and equally deserving of worship and obedience.
God The Father
We believe that God the Father, the first Person of the Trinity, orders and disposes all things according to His own purpose and grace (Psalm 145:8-9; 1 Corin 8:6). He is the Creator of all things (Gen 1:1-31; Eph 3:9). As the only absolute and omnipotent Ruler in the universe, He is sovereign in creation, providence, and redemption (Psalm 103:19; Rom 11:36). His fatherhood involves both His designation within the Trinity and His relationship with mankind. As Creator He is Father to all men (Eph 4:6), but He is spiritual Father only to believers (Rom 8:14; 2 Corin 6:18). He has decreed for His own glory all things that come to pass (Eph 1:11). He continually upholds, directs, and governs all creatures and events (1 Chron 29:11). In His sovereignty He is neither the author nor approver of sin (Hab 1:13; John 8:38-47), nor does He abridge the accountability of moral, intelligent creatures (1 Peter 1:17). He has graciously chosen from eternity past those whom He would have as His own (Eph 1:4-6); He saves from sin all who come to Him through Jesus Christ; He adopts as His own all those who come to Him; and He becomes, upon adoption, Father to His own (John 1:12; Rom 8:15; Gal 4:5; Heb 12:5-9).
God The Son
1. We believe that Jesus Christ, the second Person of the Trinity, possesses all the divine excellencies, and in these He is coequal, consubstantial, and coeternal with the Father (John 10:30; 14:9).
2. We believe that God the Father created according to His own will, through His Son, Jesus Christ, by whom all things continue in existence and in operation (John 1:3; Col 1:15-17; Heb 1:2).
3. We believe that in the incarnation (God becoming man) Christ surrendered only the prerogatives of deity but nothing of the divine essence, either in degree or kind. In His incarnation, the eternally existing second Person of the Trinity accepted all the essential characteristics of humanity and so became the God-Man (Phil 2:5-8; Col 2:9).
4. We believe that Jesus Christ represents humanity and deity in indivisible oneness (Mic 5:2; John 5:23; 14:9-10; Col 2:9). We teach that our Lord Jesus Christ was virgin born (Isaiah 7:14; Matt 1:23, 25; Luke 1:26-35); that He was God incarnate (John 1:1, 14); and that the purpose of the incarnation was to reveal God, redeem men, and rule over God’s kingdom (Psalm 2:7-9; Is 9:6; John 1:29; Phil 2:9-11; Heb 7:25-26; 1 Peter 1:18-19).
5. We believe that, in the incarnation, the second Person of the Trinity laid aside His right to the full prerogatives of coexistence with God and took on an existence appropriate to a servant while never divesting Himself of His divine attributes (Phil 2:5-8).
6. We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through the shedding of His blood and sacrificial death on the cross and that His death was voluntary, vicarious, substitutionary, propitiatory, and redemptive (John 10:15; Rom 3:24-25; 5:8; 1 Peter 2:24).
7. We believe that on the basis of the atoning death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, the believing sinner is freed from the punishment, the penalty, the power, and one day the very presence of sin; and that he is declared righteous, given eternal life, and adopted into the family of God (Rom 3:25; 5:8-9; 2 Corin 5:14-15; 1 Peter 2:24; 3:18).
8. We believe that our justification is made sure by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead and that He is now ascended to the right hand of the Father, where He now mediates as our Advocate and High Priest (Matt 28:6; Luke 24:38-39; Acts 2:30-31; Rom 4:25; 8:34; Heb 7:25; 9:24; 1 John 2:1).
9. We believe that in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave, God confirmed the deity of His Son and gave proof that God has accepted the atoning work of Christ on the cross. Jesus’ bodily resurrection is also the guarantee of a future resurrection life for all believers (John 5:26-29; 14:19; Rom 1:4; 4:25; 6:5-10; 1 Corin 15:20, 23).
10. We believe that Jesus Christ will return to receive the church, which is His Body, unto Himself at the rapture, and returning with His church in glory, will establish His millennial kingdom on earth (Acts 1:9-11; 1 Thess 4:13-18; Rev 20).
11. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is the One through whom God will judge all mankind (John 5:22-23):
- Believers (1 Corin 3:10-15; 2 Corin 5:10)
- Living inhabitants of the earth at His glorious return (Matt 25:31-46)
- Unbelieving dead at the Great White Throne (Rev 20:11-15). As the Mediator between God and man (1 Tim 2:5), the Head of His Body the church (Eph 1:22; 5:23; Col 1:18), and the coming universal King, who will reign on the throne of David (Isaiah 9:6; Luke 1:31-33), He is the final Judge of all who fail to place their trust in Him as Lord and Savior (Matt 25:14-46; Acts 17:30-31).
God The Holy Spirit
1. We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine Person, eternal underived, possessing all the attributes of personality and deity, including intellect (1 Corin 2:10-13), emotions (Eph 4:30), will (1 Corin 12:11), eternality (Heb 9:14), omnipresence (Psalm 139:7-10), omniscience (Isaiah 40:13-14), omnipotence (Rom 15:13), and truthfulness (John 16:13). In all the divine attributes He is coequal and consubstantial with the Father and the Son (Matt 28:19; Acts 5:3-4; 28:25-26;1 Corin 12:4-6; 2 Corin 13:14; Jer 31:31-34 with Heb 10:15-17).
2. We believe that it is the work of the Holy Spirit to execute the divine will with relation to all mankind. We recognize His sovereign activity in creation (Gen 1:2), the incarnation (Matt 1:18), the written revelation (2 Peter 1:20-21), and the work of salvation (John 3:5-7).
3. We believe that the work of the Holy Spirit in this age began at Pentecost, when He came from the Father as promised by Christ (John 14:16-17; 15:26) to initiate and complete the building of the Body of Christ, which is His church (1Corin 12:13). The broad scope of His divine activity includes convicting the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ and transforming believers into the image of Christ (John 16:7-9; Acts 1:5; 2:4; Rom 8:29; 2 Corin 3:18; Eph 2:22).
4. We believe that the Holy Spirit is the supernatural and sovereign Agent in regeneration, baptizing all believers into the Body of Christ (1 Corin 12:13). The Holy Spirit also indwells, sanctifies, instructs, empowers them for service, and seals them unto the day of redemption (Rom 8:9; 2 Corin 3:6; Eph 1:13).
5. We believe that the Holy Spirit is the divine Teacher, who guided the apostles and prophets into all truth as they committed to writing God’s revelation, the Bible (2 Peter 1:19-21). Every believer possesses the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit from the moment of salvation, and it is the duty of all those born of the Spirit to be filled with (controlled by) the Spirit (John 16:13; Rom 8:9; Eph 5:18; 1 John 2:20, 27).
6. We believe that the Holy Spirit administers spiritual gifts to the church. The Holy Spirit glorifies neither Himself nor His gifts by ostentatious displays, but He does glorify Christ by implementing His work of redeeming the lost and building up believers in the most holy faith (John 16:13-14; Acts 1:8; 1 Corin 12:4-11; 2 Corin 3:18).
7. We believe that God the Holy Spirit is sovereign in the bestowing of His gifts for the perfecting of the saints today according to His perfect will and perfect attributes of holiness (1 Corin 12:4-11; Eph 4:7-16).