The Scriptures
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.
God
There is one and only one living and true
God. …The eternal God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son and
Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without
division of nature, essence, or being.
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. …God is Father in truth
to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus
Christ.
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. …He honored the divine law by His personal
obedience, and in His death on the cross, He made provision for
the redemption of men from sin.
God the Holy Spirit
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
Man was created by the special act of God, in His own image, and
is the crowning work of His creation. …By his free choice man
sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. … 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 man possesses dignity and is worthy of respect and
Christian love.
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,
sanctification, and glorification.
God's Purpose of Grace
Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He
regenerates, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners. …All true
believers endure to the end. Those whom God has accepted in
Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit will never fall away from
the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end.
The Church
A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a local body
of baptized believers who are associated by covenant in the
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.
Baptism & the Lord's
Supper
Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water. …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 life, and the resurrection to walk in
newness of life in Christ Jesus.
The Lord's Supper is a symbolic act of
obedience whereby members … memorialize the death of the
Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.
The Lord's Day
The first day of the week is the Lord's Day. …It commemorates
the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should be employed
in exercises of worship and spiritual devotion.
Last Things
God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to
its appropriate end. …Jesus Christ will return personally and
visibly…the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge all men
in righteousness. The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell.
…The righteous… will receive their reward and will dwell forever
in Heaven with the Lord.
Evangelism & Missions
It is the duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and
every church of the Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to make
disciples of all nations … to seek constantly to win the lost to
Christ by personal effort.
Education
The cause of education in the Kingdom of Christ is co-ordinate
with the causes of missions and general benevolence … there
should be a proper balance between academic freedom and academic
responsibility. …The freedom of a teacher in a Christian school,
college, or seminary is limited by the pre-eminence of Jesus
Christ, by the authoritative nature of the Scriptures, and by
the distinct purpose for which the school exists.
Stewardship
God is the source of all blessings, temporal and spiritual; all
that we have and are we owe to Him. Christians have a spiritual
debtorship to the whole world, a holy trusteeship in the gospel,
and a binding stewardship in their possessions. They are
therefore under obligation to serve Him with their time,
talents, and material possessions.
Cooperation
Christ's people should … organize such associations and
conventions as may best secure cooperation for the great objects
of the Kingdom of God. Such organizations have no authority over
one another or over the churches. …Cooperation is desirable
between the various Christian denominations.
The Christian & the
Social Order
Every Christian is under obligation to seek to make the will of
Christ supreme in his own life and in human society. ... The
Christian should oppose in the spirit of Christ every form of
greed, selfishness, and vice.
Religious Liberty
Church and state should be separate. The state owes to every
church protection and full freedom in the pursuit of its
spiritual ends. …A free church in a free state is the Christian
ideal.
Family
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.