THE BIBLE
The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s
revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine
instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end,
and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter.
Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It
reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is,
and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of
Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human
conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All
Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of
divine revelation.
Exodus
24:4; Deuteronomy
4:1-2; 17:19; Joshua
8:34; Psalms
19:7-10; 119:11,89,105,140; Isaiah
34:16; 40:8; Jeremiah
15:16; 36:1-32; Matthew
5:17-18; 22:29; Luke
21:33; 24:44-46; John
5:39; 16:13-15; 17:17; Acts
2:16ff.; 17:11; Romans
15:4; 16:25-26; 2
Timothy 3:15-17; Hebrews
1:1-2; 4:12; 1
Peter 1:25; 2
Peter 1:19-21.
GOD
There is one and only 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. God is all
powerful and all knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends
to all things, past, present, and future, including the
future decisions of His free creatures. To Him we owe the
highest love, reverence, and obedience. The eternal triune
God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
with distinct personal attributes, but without division of
nature, essence, or being.
A. God the Father
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. He is all
powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise. God is
Father in truth to those who become children of God through
faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in His attitude toward
all men.
Genesis 1:1; 2:7; Exodus
3:14; 6:2-3; 15:11ff.; 20:1ff.; Leviticus
22:2; Deuteronomy
6:4; 32:6; 1
Chronicles 29:10; Psalm
19:1-3; Isaiah
43:3,15; 64:8; Jeremiah
10:10; 17:13; Matthew
6:9ff.; 7:11; 23:9; 28:19; Mark
1:9-11; John
4:24; 5:26; 14:6-13; 17:1-8; Acts
1:7; Romans
8:14-15; 1
Corinthians 8:6; Galatians
4:6; Ephesians
4:6; Colossians
1:15; 1
Timothy 1:17; Hebrews
11:6; 12:9; 1
Peter 1:17; 1
John 5:7.
B. God the Son
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. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will
of God, taking upon Himself human nature with its demands
and necessities and identifying Himself completely with
mankind yet without sin. He honored the divine law by His
personal obedience, and in His substitutionary death on the
cross He made provision for the redemption of men from sin.
He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and
appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them
before His crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now
exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One
Mediator, fully God, fully man, in whose Person is effected
the reconciliation between God and man. He will return in
power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His
redemptive mission. He now dwells in all believers as the
living and ever present Lord.
Genesis 18:1ff.; Psalms
2:7ff.; 110:1ff.; Isaiah
7:14; Isaiah
53:1-12; Matthew
1:18-23; 3:17; 8:29; 11:27; 14:33; 16:16,27; 17:5; 27; 28:1-6,19; Mark
1:1; 3:11;
Luke 1:35; 4:41; 22:70; 24:46; John
1:1-18,29; 10:30,38; 11:25-27; 12:44-50; 14:7-11; 16:15-16,28; 17:1-5, 21-22; 20:1-20,28; Acts
1:9; 2:22-24; 7:55-56; 9:4-5,20;
Romans 1:3-4; 3:23-26; 5:6-21; 8:1-3,34; 10:4; 1
Corinthians 1:30; 2:2; 8:6; 15:1-8,24-28; 2
Corinthians 5:19-21; 8:9; Galatians
4:4-5; Ephesians
1:20; 3:11; 4:7-10;
Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians
1:13-22; 2:9; 1
Thessalonians 4:14-18; 1
Timothy 2:5-6; 3:16; Titus
2:13-14; Hebrews
1:1-3; 4:14-15; 7:14-28; 9:12-15,24-28; 12:2; 13:8;
1 Peter 2:21-25; 3:22; 1
John 1:7-9; 3:2; 4:14-15; 5:9; 2
John 7-9; Revelation
1:13-16; 5:9-14; 12:10-11; 13:8; 19:16.
C. God the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He
inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures. Through
illumination He enables men to understand truth. He exalts
Christ. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness, and of
judgment. He calls men to the Savior, and effects
regeneration. At the moment of regeneration He baptizes
every believer into the Body of Christ. He cultivates
Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the
spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church.
He seals the believer unto the day of final redemption. His
presence in the Christian is the guarantee that God will
bring the believer into the fullness of the stature of
Christ. He enlightens and empowers the believer and the
church in worship, evangelism, and service.
Genesis 1:2; Judges
14:6; Job
26:13; Psalms
51:11; 139:7ff.; Isaiah
61:1-3; Joel
2:28-32; Matthew
1:18; 3:16; 4:1; 12:28-32; 28:19; Mark
1:10,12;
Luke
1:35; 4:1,18-19; 11:13; 12:12; 24:49; John
4:24; 14:16-17,26; 15:26; 16:7-14; Acts
1:8; 2:1-4,38; 4:31; 5:3; 6:3; 7:55; 8:17,39; 10:44; 13:2; 15:28; 16:6; 19:1-6;
Romans 8:9-11,14-16,26-27; 1
Corinthians 2:10-14; 3:16; 12:3-11,13; Galatians
4:6; Ephesians
1:13-14; 4:30; 5:18; 1
Thessalonians 5:19; 1
Timothy 3:16; 4:1;
2 Timothy 1:14; 3:16; Hebrews
9:8,14; 2
Peter 1:21; 1
John 4:13; 5:6-7; Revelation
1:10; 22:17.
MAN
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. In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was
endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice. By his free
choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human
race. Through the temptation of Satan man transgressed the
command of God, and fell from his original innocence whereby his
posterity inherit a nature and an environment inclined toward
sin. Therefore, as soon as they are capable of moral action,
they become transgressors and are under condemnation. Only the
grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable
man to fulfill the creative purpose of God. The sacredness of
human personality is evident in that God created man in His own
image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore, every person
of every race possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect
and Christian love.
Genesis
1:26-30; 2:5,7,18-22; 3; 9:6; Psalms
1; 8:3-6; 32:1-5; 51:5; Isaiah
6:5; Jeremiah
17:5; Matthew
16:26; Acts
17:26-31;
Romans 1:19-32; 3:10-18,23; 5:6,12,19; 6:6; 7:14-25; 8:14-18,29; 1
Corinthians 1:21-31; 15:19,21-22; Ephesians
2:1-22; Colossians
1:21-22; 3:9-11.
SALVATION
Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is
offered 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,
justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no
salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.
A. Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God’s grace
whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It
is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through
conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in
repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace.
Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God. Faith
is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and commitment of the
entire personality to Him as Lord and Savior.
B. Justification is God’s gracious and full acquittal upon
principles of His righteousness of all sinners who repent
and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer
unto a relationship of peace and favor with God.
C. Sanctification is the experience, beginning in
regeneration, by which the believer is set apart to God’s
purposes, and is enabled to progress toward moral and
spiritual maturity through the presence and power of the
Holy Spirit dwelling in him. Growth in grace should continue
throughout the regenerate person’s life.
D. Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the
final blessed and abiding state of the redeemed.
Genesis
3:15; Exodus
3:14-17; 6:2-8; Matthew
1:21; 4:17; 16:21-26; 27:22-28:6; Luke
1:68-69; 2:28-32; John
1:11-14,29; 3:3-21,36; 5:24; 10:9,28-29; 15:1-16; 17:17; Acts
2:21; 4:12; 15:11; 16:30-31; 17:30-31; 20:32; Romans
1:16-18; 2:4; 3:23-25; 4:3ff.; 5:8-10; 6:1-23; 8:1-18,29-39; 10:9-10,13; 13:11-14; 1
Corinthians 1:18,30; 6:19-20; 15:10;
2 Corinthians 5:17-20; Galatians
2:20; 3:13; 5:22-25; 6:15; Ephesians
1:7; 2:8-22; 4:11-16; Philippians
2:12-13; Colossians
1:9-22; 3:1ff.; 1
Thessalonians 5:23-24; 2
Timothy 1:12; Titus
2:11-14; Hebrews
2:1-3; 5:8-9; 9:24-28; 11:1-12:8,14; James
2:14-26; 1
Peter 1:2-23; 1
John 1:6-2:11; Revelation
3:20; 21:1-22:5.
THE CHURCH
A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous
local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant
in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two
ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the
gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and
seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each
congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through
democratic processes. In such a congregation each member is
responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord. Its scriptural
officers are pastors and deacons. While both men and women are
gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is
limited to men as qualified by Scripture. The New Testament
speaks also of the church as the Body of Christ which includes
all of the redeemed of all the ages, believers from every tribe,
and tongue, and people, and nation.
Matthew
16:15-19; 18:15-20; Acts
2:41-42,47; 5:11-14; 6:3-6; 13:1-3; 14:23,27; 15:1-30; 16:5; 20:28; Romans
1:7; 1
Corinthians 1:2; 3:16; 5:4-5; 7:17; 9:13-14; 12; Ephesians
1:22-23; 2:19-22; 3:8-11,21; 5:22-32; Philippians
1:1; Colossians
1:18; 1
Timothy 2:9-14; 3:1-15; 4:14; Hebrews
11:39-40; 1
Peter 5:1-4; Revelation
2-3; 21:2-3.
ORDINANCES:
BAPTISM AND THE LORD’S SUPPER
Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the
name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act
of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified,
buried, and risen Savior, the believer’s death to sin, the
burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness
of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the
final resurrection of the dead. The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic
act of obedience whereby members of the church, through
partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize
the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.
Matthew
3:13-17; 26:26-30; 28:19-20; Mark
1:9-11; 14:22-26; Luke
3:21-22; 22:19-20; John
3:23; Acts
2:41-42; 8:35-39; 16:30-33; 20:7; Romans
6:3-5; 1
Corinthians 10:16,21; 11:23-29; Colossians
2:12.
THE
KINGDOM OF GOD
The Kingdom of God includes both His general sovereignty over
the universe and His particular kingship over men who willfully
acknowledge Him as King. Particularly the Kingdom is the realm
of salvation into which men enter by trustful, childlike
commitment to Jesus Christ. Christians ought to pray and to
labor that the Kingdom may come and God’s will be done on earth.
The full consummation of the Kingdom awaits the return of Jesus
Christ and the end of this age.
Genesis
1:1; Isaiah
9:6-7; Jeremiah
23:5-6; Matthew
3:2; 4:8-10,23; 12:25-28; 13:1-52; 25:31-46; 26:29; Mark
1:14-15; 9:1; Luke
4:43; 8:1; 9:2; 12:31-32; 17:20-21; 23:42; John
3:3; 18:36; Acts
1:6-7; 17:22-31; Romans
5:17; 8:19; 1
Corinthians 15:24-28; Colossians
1:13; Hebrews
11:10,16; 12:28; 1
Peter 2:4-10; 4:13; Revelation
1:6,9; 5:10; 11:15; 21-22.
THE FAMILY
God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of
human society. It is composed of persons related to one another
by marriage, blood, or adoption. Marriage is the uniting of one
man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is
God’s unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His
church and to provide for the man and the woman in marriage the
framework for intimate companionship, the channel of sexual
expression according to biblical standards, and the means for
procreation of the human race.
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. A husband is to love his wife as
Christ loved the church. He has the God-given responsibility to
provide for, to protect, and to lead his family. A wife is to
submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her
husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of
Christ. She, being in the image of God as is her husband and
thus equal to him, has the God-given responsibility to respect
her husband and to serve as his helper in managing the household
and nurturing the next generation.
Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and
heritage from the Lord. Parents are to demonstrate to their
children God’s pattern for marriage. Parents are to teach their
children spiritual and moral values and to lead them, through
consistent lifestyle example and loving discipline, to make
choices based on biblical truth. Children are to honor and obey
their parents.
Genesis
1:26-28; 2:15-25; 3:1-20; Exodus
20:12; Deuteronomy
6:4-9; Joshua
24:15; 1
Samuel 1:26-28; Psalms
51:5; 78:1-8; Psalms
127; Psalms
128; 139:13-16; Proverbs
1:8; 5:15-20; 6:20-22; 12:4; 13:24; 14:1; 17:6; 18:22; 22:6,15; 23:13-14; 24:3; 29:15,17; 31:10-31; Ecclesiastes
4:9-12; 9:9; Malachi
2:14-16; Matthew
5:31-32; 18:2-5; 19:3-9; Mark
10:6-12; Romans
1:18-32; 1
Corinthians 7:1-16; Ephesians
5:21-33; 6:1-4; Colossians
3:18-21; 1
Timothy 5:8,14; 2
Timothy 1:3-5; Titus
2:3-5; Hebrews
13:4; 1
Peter 3:1-7.
STEWARDSHIP
God is the source of all blessings, temporal and spiritual; all
that we have and are we owe to Him. We are therefore under
obligation to serve Him with our time, talents, and material
possessions; and should recognize all these as entrusted to them
to use for the glory of God and for helping others. According to
the Scriptures, Christians should contribute of their means
cheerfully, regularly, systematically, proportionately, and
liberally for the advancement of the Redeemer’s cause on earth.
Genesis
14:20; Leviticus
27:30-32; Deuteronomy
8:18; Malachi
3:8-12; Matthew
6:1-4,19-21; 19:21; 23:23; 25:14-29; Luke
12:16-21,42; 16:1-13; Acts
2:44-47; 5:1-11; 17:24-25; 20:35; Romans
6:6-22; 12:1-2; 1
Corinthians 4:1-2; 6:19-20; 12; 16:1-4; 2
Corinthians 8-9; 12:15; Philippians
4:10-19; 1
Peter 1:18-19.
RELIGIOUS
LIBERTY
God alone is Lord of the conscience, and He has left it free
from the doctrines and commandments of men which are contrary to
His Word or not contained in it. Church and state should be
separate. The state owes to every church protection and full
freedom in the pursuit of its spiritual ends. In providing for
such freedom no ecclesiastical group or denomination should be
favored by the state more than others. Civil government being
ordained of God, it is the duty of Christians to render loyal
obedience thereto in all things not contrary to the revealed
will of God. The church should not resort to the civil power to
carry on its work. The gospel of Christ contemplates spiritual
means alone for the pursuit of its ends. The state has no right
to impose penalties for religious opinions of any kind. The
state has no right to impose taxes for the support of any form
of religion. A free church in a free state is the Christian
ideal, and this implies the right of free and unhindered access
to God on the part of all men, and the right to form and
propagate opinions in the sphere of religion without
interference by the civil power.
Genesis 1:27; 2:7; Matthew
6:6-7,24; 16:26; 22:21; John
8:36; Acts
4:19-20; Romans
6:1-2; 13:1-7; Galatians
5:1,13; Philippians
3:20; 1
Timothy 2:1-2; James
4:12; 1
Peter 2:12-17; 3:11-17; 4:12-19.
LAST THINGS
God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to
its appropriate end. According to His promise, Jesus Christ will
return personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead
will be raised; and Christ will judge all men in righteousness.
The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the place of
everlasting punishment. The righteous in their resurrected and
glorified bodies will receive their reward and will dwell
forever in Heaven with the Lord.
Isaiah 2:4; 11:9; Matthew
16:27; 18:8-9; 19:28; 24:27,30,36,44; 25:31-46; 26:64; Mark
8:38; 9:43-48; Luke
12:40,48; 16:19-26; 17:22-37; 21:27-28; John
14:1-3; Acts
1:11; 17:31; Romans
14:10; 1
Corinthians 4:5; 15:24-28,35-58; 2
Corinthians 5:10; Philippians
3:20-21; Colossians
1:5; 3:4; 1
Thessalonians 4:14-18; 5:1ff.; 2
Thessalonians 1:7ff.; 2; 1
Timothy 6:14; 2
Timothy 4:1,8; Titus
2:13; Hebrews
9:27-28; James
5:8; 2
Peter 3:7ff.; 1
John 2:28; 3:2; Jude
14; Revelation
1:18; 3:11; 20:1-22:13.
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