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[GOD] [SCRIPTURES] [CREATION] [SATAN]
[DEPRAVITY] [SALVATION] [SANCTIFICATION]
[ETERNAL SECURITY] [THE CHURCH] [CIVIL AUTHORITY]
There is one living and true God, the creator of the universe. He is revealed in the unity of the Godhead as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, who are equal in every divine perfection.
B. God the Son is the Savior of the world. Born of the virgin Mary, He declared His deity among men, died on the cross as the only sacrifice for sin, arose bodily from the grave, and ascended back to the Father. He is at the right hand of the Father, interceding for believers until He returns to rapture them from the world.
C. God the Holy Spirit is the manifest presence of deity. He convicts of sin, teaches spiritual truths according to the written Word, permanently indwells believers, and confers on every believer at conversion the ability to render effective spiritual service.
B. The Scriptures provide the standard for the believer's faith and practice, reveal the principles by which God will judge all, and express the true basis of Christian fellowship.
B. The Angels--God created an innumerable host of spirit beings called angels. Holy angels worship God and execute His will; while fallen angels serve Satan, seeking to hinder God's purposes.
C. Man--God created man in His own image. As the crowning work of creation, every person is of dignity and worth and merits the respect of all other persons.
Satan is a person rather than a personification of evil, and he with his demons opposes all that is true and godly by blinding the world to the gospel, tempting saints to do evil, and warring against the Son of God.
Although man was created in the image of God, he fell through sin and that image was marred. In his unregenerate state, he is void of spiritual life, is under the influence of the devil, and lacks any power to save himself. The sin nature has been transmitted to every member of the human race, the man Jesus Christ alone being excepted. Because of the sin nature, man possesses no divine life and is essentially and unchangeably depraved apart from divine grace.
B. The Way of Salvation--Salvation is based wholly on the grace of God apart from works. Anyone who will exercise repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved.
C. The Provision of Salvation--Christ died for the sins of the whole world. Through His blood, atonement is made without respect of persons. Any sinner can be saved by this gracious provision.
D. Divine Sovereignty and Human Freedom--God's sovereignty and man's freedom are two inseparable factors in the salvation experience. The two Bible truths are in no way contradictory in the great salvation so freely provided. God, in His sovereignty purposed, planned, and executed salvation in eternity while man's freedom enables him to make a personal choice in time, either to receive this salvation and be saved, or to reject it and be damned.
All believers are set apart unto God at the time of their regeneration. They should grow in grace by allowing the Holy spirit to apply God's Word to their lives, conforming them to the principles of divine righteousness and making them partakers of the holiness of God.
All believers are eternally secure in Jesus Christ. They are born again, made new creatures in Christ, and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, assuring their perseverance in good works. A special providence watches over them, and they are kept by the power of God.
B. The Autonomy of the Church--She acknowledges Jesus as her only Head and the Holy Bible as her only rule of faith and practice, governing herself by democratic principles under the oversight of her pastors.
C. The Perpetuity of the Church--Instituted by Jesus during His personal ministry on earth, true churches have continued to the present and will continue until Jesus returns.
D. The Ordinances of the Church--Her two ordinances are baptism and the Lord's Supper.
Both ordinances must be administered by the authority of a New Testament church.
E. The Officers of the Church--Pastors and deacons are the permanent officers divinely ordained in a New Testament church. Each church may select men of her choice to fill those offices under the leading of the Holy Spirit according to the divinely given qualifications.
F. The Ministry of the Church--Her mission is evangelizing sinners by preaching the gospel, baptizing those who believe, and maturing them by instruction and discipline.
G. The Fellowship of the Church--She is free to associate with true churches in furthering the faith but is responsible to keep herself from those who hold doctrines or practices contrary to Holy Scripture. In association with other churches, each church is equal and is the sole judge of the measure and method of her cooperation. In all matters of polity and practice, the will of each church is final.
Human government was instituted by God to protect the innocent and punish the guilty. It is separate from the church, though both church and state exercise complementary ministries for the benefit of society.
B. Civil authority is not to interfere in matters of conscience or disturb the institutions of religion, but it should preserve for every citizen the free exercise of his religious convictions.
C. Churches should receive no subsidy from the government, but they should be exempt from taxation on property and money used for the common good through worship, education, or benevolence.
B. Resurrections--After Jesus returns, all of the dead will be raised bodily, each in his own order: the righteous dead in "the resurrection of life" and the wicked dead in "the resurrection of damnation".
C. Judgments--Prior to the eternal state, God will judge everyone to confer rewards or to consign to punishment.
D. Eternal States--