Our Convictions

We believe and confess that the Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, inerrant, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience.^a Although nature and the works of creation and providence reveal the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable, yet they are not sufficient to give that knowledge of God and his will which is necessary unto salvation.^b Therefore, it pleased the Lord to reveal himself and declare his will to the Church through the Spirit inspired Word of God that consists of Thirty-Nine books of the Old Testament and the Twenty-Seven books of the New Testament.^c

2 Tim. 3:15-17; Isa. 8:20; Lk. 16:29,31; Eph. 2:20

Rom. 1:19-21, 2:14-15; Ps. 19:1-3

Heb. 1:1; Prov. 22:19-21; Rom. 15:4; 2 Pet. 1:19-20

We believe and confess that the Lord our God is the one only living and true God, Creator of heaven and earth;^a whose subsistence is in and of himself,^b infinite in being and perfection; whose essence cannot be comprehended by any but himself, a most pure spirit, invisible, immortal, dwelling in unapproachable light, immutable, immense, eternal, almighty, infinite, most holy, most wise, most absolute, working all things according to his own immutable counsel and righteous will for his own glory.^c This divine and infinite Being has revealed himself in three Persons, namely, The Father, The Word or Son, and The Holy Spirit.^d Three Persons yet of one nature, substance, power, and eternity; each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided as the Father is neither begotten nor proceeding, the Son is eternally begotten of the Father, and the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son.^e

Gen. 1:1; 1 Cor. 8:4, 6; Deut. 6:4

Jer. 10:10; Isa. 48:12

Exod. 3:14; John 4:24; 1 Tim. 1:17; Deut. 4:15-16; Mal. 3:6; 1 Kings 8:27; Jer. 23:23; Ps. 90:2; Gen. 17:1; Isa. 6:3; Ps. 115:3; Isa. 46:10; Prov. 16:4; Rom. 11:36.

1 John 5:7; Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14.

Exod. 3:14; John 14:11; 1 Cor. 8:6; John 1:14,18; 15:26; Gal. 4:6.

We believe and confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, being very and eternal God, the brightness of the Father’s glory, of one substance and equal with him who made, upholds, governs and sustains all things he created; this Jesus, in the fullness of time humbled himself in taking on the human nature with all the essential properties,^a yet without sin,^b being conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the virgin Mary, was born to save his people from their sin.^c This Jesus, God the Father, in his pleasure and eternal purpose chose to ordain the only begotten Son, in accordance with the covenant made between both, to be the mediator between God and man;^d he is the Prophet,^e Priest,^f and King;^g he is the head and savior of the church, the heir of all things, and judge of the world;^h he who knew no sin was made sin and a curse for us;ⁱ he suffered in his body, was crucified, and died, who for three days remained in the state of the dead, yet saw no corruption,^j but on the third day he arose from the dead with a resurrected body,^k with which he ascended into heaven and there sits at the right hand of his Father interceding for us, and he shall return to judge the living and the dead at his second coming.^l

John 1:1,14; Gal. 4:4; Philip. 2:5-11

Rom. 8:3; Heb. 2:14, 16-17, 4:15.

Matt. 1:20-23; Lk. 1:30-33, 35.

Isa. 42:1; 1 Pet. 1:19-29;

Acts 3:22

Heb. 5:5-6

Ps. 2:6; Lk. 1:33

Eph. 1:22-23

2 Cor. 5:21

Matt. 26:67; 27:28-31, 46; Lk. 22:44; 23:26-43

John 20:25, 27; 1 Cor. 15:3-4

Mark 16:19; Acts 1:9-11, 10:42; Rom. 8:34, 14:9-10; Heb. 9:24; 2 Pet. 2:4

We believe and confess that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, one substance with the Father and the Son; he eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son,^a he is the giver of life,^b he dwells in the hearts of believers, effecting their regeneration monergistically and operating in their sanctification synergistically.^c

John 15:26; Gal. 4:6.

John 6:63; 2 Cor. 3:6

John 3:5-8; Titus 3:5-6

We believe and confess that it pleased God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for the revelation of his eternal power, wisdom, and goodness to create or make the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, visible or invisible, rational or irrational, and he declared all very good; he preserves, sustains, and governs all his creatures and all their actions according to his holy, wise, and powerful providence.^a

Gen. 1:1-31; Job 26:13; John 1:2-3; Rom. 1:20; Heb. 1:2

We believe and confess that God created man as male and female, with reasonable and immortal souls,^a so that they may live unto God for which they were created; God created man in the image of God in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, and with the freedom of the will; God gave man the mandate to have dominion over irrational creature; God gave Adam and Eve the command to not eat of the tree of the foreknowledge of good and evil, which so far as they obey, they will enjoy communion with God and not die.

Gen. 1:26-28, 2:7, 3:6; Eccles. 7:29

We believe and confess that God created man in his image, upright and without sin, however, the Devil, in the appearance of a serpent, deceived Eve and Adam against the law of God to not eat of the forbidden tree, and both of them willfully transgressed the law of God; by so doing, Adam and Eve fell from their original righteousness and communion with God, consigning their posterity to a state of moral corruption, moral inability, and estrangement from their Creator, and receiving death, physically and spiritually, an eternal perdition as consequence for their disobedience; thus, all persons are dead in sin and totally depraved in all the faculties and parts of the soul and body.^a

Gen. 2:16-17; 3:12-13; 6:5; 2 Cor. 11:3; Rom. 3:23; 5:12; Titus 1:15; Jer. 17:9; Rom. 3:10-19.

We believe and confess that because in Adam all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and all are subjected to eternal perdition, atonement must be made for man to be reconciled to God. Therefore, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, made complete atonement for his people by giving himself up as sacrifice for sin with his blood on the cross; by his shed blood, a substitutionary atonement for sin, he fully satisfied God’s justice; thereby, sinners are justified as a free grace from God, so that God might be glorified in the justification of sinners.^a

Rom. 3:23, 26, 8:32; Heb. 10:14; 1 Pet. 1:18-19; Isa. 53:5-6; 2 Cor. 5:21; Eph. 1:6-7, 2:7

We believe and confess that the natural or moral law of God is binding to all human beings, believers and unbelievers, forever.^a This law, God wrote in our hearts as testimony to his perfect rule of righteousness; true believers are no longer under the curse of the law nor are they justified by the works of the law,^b but by Jesus Christ’s perfect fulfilment of the law;^c however, the law becomes beneficial for them as it plainly reveals the will of God for righteousness, so that they may walk uprightly and humbly examine themselves by it, thereby, clearly perceiving their need for the Savior and his imputed righteousness; the law of God does not run contrary to the gospel of grace, but by the empowerment of the Spirit of Christ, believers freely and cheerfully live in obedience to the law of God to the glory of God in Christ.^d

Gen. 1:27; Rom. 2:14-15

Gal. 3:10, 12

1 Cor. 5:7; Col. 2:14, 16-17; Eph. 2:14, 16; Gal. 2:16; Rom. 8:1, 10:4

Matt. 5:17-19; Rom. 3:31, 6:12-14, 13:8-10; James 2:8, 10-12; 1 Pet. 3:8-13 Gal. 3:21

We believe and confess that the universal church, with Christ as her head,^a consists of persons, past, present, and future, who are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone to the glory of God alone, and that the church as an institution is the visible or local congregation of saints who have professed their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation,^b living in obedience unto God in Christ, and are called to live together in holy community for mutual edification in the power of the Holy Spirit, through corporate worship, submitting themselves under the authority and sufficiency of the Holy Scripture, preaching of the gospel of Christ, administering the holy sacraments, and exercising church discipline for restoration to the glory of God alone.^c

Col. 1:18; Eph. 1:10, 22-23, 5:23,27,32

Acts. 11:26; 1 Cor. 1:2

Matt. 18:15-20; 28:18-20; Acts 2:41-42, 6:4; 1 Cor. 5:4-5, 13; 2 Cor. 2:6-8; Eph. 4: 2-3, 11-12; 1 Thess. 5:14; James 5:19-20.