One God
There is one God (Deut. 6:4), who is infinitely perfect (Matt. 5:48), existing eternally in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19). In His nature, God is all-powerful (Jer. 32:17), all-knowing (1 Chr. 28:9), all-present (Jer. 23:24) and sovereign over all things (2 Chr. 20:6). He is the complete definition of both love (1 John 4:7-8) and justice (Deut. 32:4). Jesus Christ, the Son, is the true God and the perfect man (Phil. 2:6-11). He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary (Luke 1:34-38). He died by crucifixion upon a Roman cross, the Righteous for the unrighteous (1 Pet. 3:18), as a substitutionary sacrifice (Heb. 2:9, 1 Pet. 2:24), and all who believe in Him are justified on the grounds of His shed blood (Rom. 5:9). He was laid in a tomb (Matt. 29:59-60) and arose from the dead according to the Scriptures (Acts 2:23-24). He is now at the right hand of Majesty on high as our great High Priest (Hebrews 8:1). He will come again to establish His kingdom, righteousness and peace (Matt. 26:64).
Divinity of the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is a divine person (John 14:15-18) sent to indwell, guide, teach, and empower the believer (John 16:13; Acts 1:8) and convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment (John 16:7-11). The indwelling Holy Spirit within the believer is the seal of salvation (Eph. 1:13).
The Bible
The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s revelation of Himself to man (2 Tim. 3:15-17). All 66 books of the Old and New Testament are a perfect and truthful account of divine instruction (Ps. 19:7-10, Rom. 15:4). It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter (Deut. 17:19). It reveals the principles by which God judges mankind and therefore is and will always be (Ps. 119:89, Is. 40:8, Luke 21:33) the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried (Matt. 22:29, Ps. 119:105). All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation (Matt. 5:17-18, Luke 24:44-46, John 5:39). By adherence to the truth of Scripture, believers everywhere can experience a unity of the Spirit (John 16:13-15, Eph. 4:4-6) and be encouraged in a commonality of purpose.
Original Sin, Salvation and the Second Coming of Christ
Mankind (both male and female) was originally created in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:27) to be in a unique and intimate relationship with Him. Man walked with God, with the freedom of choice, but rebelled through disobedience—what we call “sin”—thus incurring both physical and spiritual death (Rom. 6:23). All mankind descended from the first man are born with this sinful nature (Rom. 3:23), are separated from the life of God, and can be saved only through the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:20-23). Any person can receive salvation and the forgiveness of sins by repenting of their sinful life (Acts 2:38), confessing the Lordship of Jesus and believing in their heart that God raised Him from the dead (Rom. 10:9). At the moment of salvation, a person is made a new creation in Christ, spiritually alive (Gal. 2:20). Salvation is not of one’s own doing, but only accomplished by grace, through faith (Eph. 2:8).
In the same way that Jesus ascended, there is coming a day, not known to any, where Jesus will come back to judge the living and the dead (2 Tim. 4:1). The inheritance of the unrepentant and unbelieving is existence apart from the presence of the Lord in conscious and everlasting destruction (2 Thes. 1:8-9, Rev. 21:8). The inheritance of the believer is eternal life in a resurrected glorified body apart from all pain and sorrow in the presence of God (Rev. 21:1-4, 1 Cor. 15:35-44).
The Church Body
The Church consists of all those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, are redeemed through His blood, and are born again of the Holy Spirit. Christ is the Head of the Body, the Church (Eph. 1:22-23), which has been commissioned by Him to go into all the world as a witness, preaching the gospel to all nations (Matt. 28:19-20). The local church is a body of believers in Christ who are joined together for the worship of God, for edification through the Word of God, for prayer, fellowship, the proclamation of the gospel, and observance of the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s supper (Acts 2:41-47). While both men and women are equally gifted for service in the church, the roles of Lead and Teaching Pastor are limited to men as qualified by Scripture (1 Tim. 2:11-12).
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 (Rev. 5:9-10).
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 design. He made them as an object of love with the intended purpose to rule and have dominion over all the rest of creation (Gen. 1:26-30, Ps. 8:4-6). The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man (Rom. 5:19, Rom. 8:14-17); therefore, every person of every race possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love (Acts 17:26-28, 1 Cor. 1:28-31).
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 until death do them part (Mark 10:6-9). The only grounds for divorce, according to Scripture, is a breaking of covenant by the actions of marital unfaithfulness (Matt. 5:31-32) or desertion (1 Cor. 7:15).
Marriage is God’s unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church (Eph. 5:31-32) and to provide for the man and the woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship (Gen. 2:18), the channel of sexual expression according to biblical standards (1 Cor. 7:2-5), and the means for procreation of the human race (Gen. 1:28).
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 suitable helper (Eph. 5:22-30, 1 Pet. 3:1-7).
Children are a blessing and heritage from the Lord (Ps. 127:3). 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 (Deut. 6:4-9). Children are to honor and obey their parents (Ex. 20:12, Eph. 6:1-3).
Singleness/celibacy is not an indication of an inferior or unfulfilled purpose but rather is biblically validated as an honorable gift that demonstrates godly restraint from the desires of the flesh (Matt. 19:12, 1 Cor. 7:6-7).
The Church and Culture
All Christians are under obligation to seek to make the will of Christ supreme in our own lives and in human society (1 Cor. 2:2). Most paramount in our efforts to bring about improvement in our society is the effort to bring all men to a saving knowledge of the truth of Jesus Christ (Matt. 5:13-16, 2 Cor. 5:11-21). In the spirit of Christ, Christians should therefore oppose racism, every form of greed, selfishness, corruption, and all forms of sexual immorality, including adultery, homosexuality, and pornography (1 John 2:15-17, 1 Cor. 6:18, Rom. 13:13-14, Col. 3:5-8). We should work to provide for the orphaned, the needy, the abused, the aged, the helpless, the outcasted, the prisoner, the sojourner and the sick (Micah 6:8, Luke 4:18, Matt. 25:38-40). We should speak on behalf of the unborn and contend for the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death (Ps. 139:13-16). Every Christian should seek to bring industry, government, and society as a whole under the sway of the principles of righteousness, truth, and brotherly love. In order to promote these ends, Christians should be ready to work with all men of good will in any good cause (Mark 9:40).