Having been enabled, through divine Grace to give ourselves to the Lord, and likewise to one another by the will of God, we account it as incumbent upon us, to make a declaration of our faith and practice, to the honor of Christ, and the glory of His Name; knowing, that as with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, so with the mouth confession is made unto salvation; which declaration is as follows:

 

We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the verbally and plenarily inspired and inerrant Word of God. We hold the Bible, as originally given through human agents of revelation, to be infallible and see this as a crucial article of faith with implications for the entire life and practice of all Christian people. With the great fathers of Christian history we declare our confidence in the total trustworthiness of the Scriptures, urging that any view which imputes to them a lesser degree of inerrancy than total, is in conflict with the Bible’s self-testimony in general and with the teaching of Jesus Christ in particular. Out of obedience to the Lord of the Church, we submit ourselves unreservedly to His authoritative view of Holy Writ.

 

Psalms 119:89, 105, 103, 160; Proverbs 30:5-6; Isaiah 8:20; Luke 16:31, 24:25-27, 44-45; John 5:39, 45-47, 12:48, 17:17; Acts 1:16, 28:25, Romans 3:4, 15:4; Ephesians 6:17; 1 Timothy 3:16-17; 1 Peter 1:23; 2 Peter 1:19-21; Revelation 22:19

 

 

We believe, that there is but one only living and true God; that there are three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who are equal in nature, power, and glory; and that the Son and the Holy Spirit are as truly and properly God as the Father.

 

Genesis 17:1; Exodus 20:2-3, 15:11; Deuteronomy 6:4-5; Psalms 83:18, 90:2; Jeremiah 10:10; Matthew 28:19; John 4:24, 10:30, 15:26, 17:5; Acts 5:3-4; Romans 11:33; 1 Corinthians 2:10-11, 8:6, 12:4-6, 2 Corinthians 13:14; Ephesians 2:18, 4:6; Philippians 2:5-6; 1 Timothy 1:17; 1 John 5:7; Revelation 4:11

 

 

We believe in the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is very God, express image of the Father, the one by whom and for whom all things were created.

 

Matthew 28:19; Mark 9:37; John 1:1, 14, 5:23, 8:17,, 58, 10:30, 12:44, 14:7-9, 15:23, 17:9, Acts 7:59; Romans 9:5; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Philippians 2:6; Colossians 1:15-19, 2:9; 1 Timothy 3:16, 5:14-16; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 1:3-6; 1 John 5:20

 

 

We believe in the virgin birth of Christ. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, and became the incarnate Son of God, Immanuel, God with us.

 

Genesis 3:15; Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:35; John 1:14; 1 Corinthians 15:47; Galatians 4:4; 1 John 5:20

 

 

We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine person; equal with God the Father and God the Son and of the same nature; that He was active in the creation; that in His relation to the unbelieving world He restrains the Evil One until God’s purpose is fulfilled; that He convicts of sin, of judgment and of righteousness; that He bears witness to the truth of the Gospel in preaching and testimony; that He is the agent in the New Birth; that He seals, endues, guides, teaches, witnesses, sanctifies, and helps the believer.

 

Matthew 28:19, 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 1:35, 3:16, 24:49; John 1:33, 3:5-6, 14:16-17, 26, 15:26-17, 16:8-11, 13; Acts 5:30-32, 11:16; Romans 8:16, 26-27; Ephesians 1:13-14; 2 Thessalonians 2:7-14; Hebrews 9:14; 1 Peter 1:2

 

 

We believe that Satan was once holy, and enjoyed heavenly honors, that through pride and ambition to be as the Almighty, fell and drew after him a host of angels, that he is now the malignant prince of the power of the air, and the unholy god of this world. We hold him to be man’s great tempter, the enemy of God and His Christ, the accuser of the saints, the author of all false religions, the chief power back of the present apostasy; the lord of the antichrist, and the author of all the powers of darkness–destined however to final defeat at the hands of God’s own Son, and to the judgment of an eternal justice in hell, a place prepared for him and his angels.

 

Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 29:14-17; Matthew 4:1-3, 13:25, 37-39, 25:49; Mark 13:21-22; Luke 22:3-5; John 14:30; Ephesians 2:2; 2 Corinthians 11:13-15; 1 Thessalonians 3:5; 2 Thessalonians 2:8-11; 1 Peter 5:8; 2 Peter 2:4; 1 John 2:22, 3:8, 5:3; 2 John 7; Jude 6; Revelation 12:7-10, 13:13-14, 19:11-20, 20:1-3,10

 

 

We believe that man was created in innocence under the law of his maker, but by voluntary transgression fell from his sinless and happy state, in consequence of which all mankind are now sinners, not by constraint, but of choice; and therefore under just condemnation without defense or excuse.

 

Genesis 3:1-6; Ezekiel 18:19-20; Romans 1:18, 20, 28, 30, 3:10-19, 5:12, 19; Galatians 3:22; Ephesians 2:1, 3, 12

 

 

We believe in salvation by the sacrifice of Christ received by grace through faith alone. He shed His blood to accomplish propitiation to God, redemption from sin, and reconciliation of man. “Christ died for us,” and, “bore our sins in His body on the tree.”

 

Isaiah 53:4-7, 11,12; Matthew 18:11; John 3:16, 10:18; Acts 15:11; Romans 3:24-25; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, 20; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 1:4; Ephesians 2:8-10; Philippians 2:6-7; Hebrews 2:14, 7:25, 9:12-15, 12:2; 1 Peter 2:24, 3:18; 1 John 2:2, 4:10

 

 

We believe that all those who are chosen by the Father, redeemed by the Son, and sanctified by the Holy Spirit, shall certainly and finally persevere, so that not one of them shall ever perish but shall have everlasting life.

 

John 3:15-16,, 36, 5:24, 6:37, 54, 10:28, 29, 14:16-17; Romans 5:8-10, 6:5-6, 8:28-39, 11:29, 16:25; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 1:4, 13-14, 4:30; Philippians 1:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:9, 24; 2 Thessalonians 3:3; 2 Timothy 1:12, 2:19, 4:18; Hebrews 7:25, 10:12-18; James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:5, 10; 2 Peter 1:4; 1 John 2:1, 19, 27, 5:4, 11-13

 

 

We believe that there is a radical and essential difference between the righteous and the wicked; that such only as through faith are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and sanctified by the Spirit of our God, are truly righteous in His esteem; while all such as continue in impenitence and unbelief are in His sight wicked and under the curse, and this distinction holds among men both in and after death, in the everlasting felicity of the saved and the everlasting conscious suffering of the lost.

 

Genesis 19:23; Proverbs 11:31, 14:32; Malachi 3:18; Matthew 25:34, 41, 7:13-14; Luke 9:26, 16:25; John 8:21, 12:25; Acts 10:34-35; Romans 1:17, 6:16-18, 23, 7:6; 1 Corinthians 15:22; Galatians 3:10; 1 Peter 1:18; 1 John 2:7, 29, 5:19

 

 

We believe that Christian baptism is the immersion in water of a believer; in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, with the authority of the local church, to show forth in a solemn and beautiful emblem our faith in the crucified, buried and risen Savior, with its effects in our death to sin and resurrection to a new life; that it is prerequisite to the privileges of a church and to the Lord’s Supper; in which the participants by the sacred use of bread and the fruit of the vine are to commemorate together the dying love of Christ; preceded always by solemn self-examination.

 

Matthew 3:6, 16, 28:1, 19-20; John 3:23; Acts 2:41-42, 8:26-39; Romans 6:3-5; 1 Corinthians 11:23-28; Colossians 2:12

 

 

We believe that a New Testament Church is a congregation of baptized believers associated by a covenant of faith and fellowship of the gospel, said church being understood to be the citadel and propagator of the Divine and Eternal Grace: observing the ordinances of Christ; governed by His laws; exercising the gifts, rights and privileges invested in them by His Word; that its officers of ordination are pastors or elders whose qualifications, claims and duties are clearly defined in the Scriptures; we believe the true mission of the church is found in the Great Commission. We hold that the local church has the absolute right of self government, free from the interference of any hierarchy of individuals or organizations; and that the one and only superintendent is Christ through the Holy Spirit; that it is scriptural for true churches to cooperate with each other in contending for the faith and for the furtherance of the gospel; that every church is the sole and only judge of the measure and method of its cooperation; on all matters of membership, of policy, of government, of discipline, of benevolence, the will of the local church is final.

 

Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 2:41-42, 6:5-6, 14:23, 15:22-23, 20:17-28; 1 Corinthians 5:11-13, 6:1-3, 11:2, 12:4, 8-11, 16:1-2; 2 Corinthians 8:23-24; Ephesians 1:22-23, 4:11, 5:23-24; Colossians 1:18; 1 Timothy 3:1-13; 1 Peter 5:1-4; Jude 3-4

 

 

We believe in the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, that because He lives we shall live also. We affirm the blessed hope of the personal, imminent, pre-tribulational, and pre-millennial coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for His Church, and in His subsequent return to the earth, with His saints, to establish His Millennial Kingdom.

 

Zechariah 14:4-11; John 14:2-3; Romans 1:4; 1 Corinthians 1:78, 15:1-58; Philippians 3:20-21; Colossians 3:5; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; 1 Timothy 6:14; 2 Timothy 4:1; Titus 2:13; James 5:7-9; 1 John 2:28; Revelation 3:11, 19:11-16