1. Concerning the Scriptures
We believe that the Scriptures, which consist of the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments as originally written, were God-breathed, both verbally and in every part. We believe God, who is Truth, communicated through Spirit-controlled men and women so that the Scriptures are without error and therefore authoritative in all they teach and in all matters they touch. We believe the Bible is the supreme revelation of God’s will for man and constitutes the only infallible guide for faith and life.
2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:19-21
2. Concerning the True God
We believe in one God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, manifesting Himself in three coexistent persons, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, equal in power and glory and executing distinct and harmonious offices in the great work of redemption. Among the things He has revealed of Himself are: He is all loving and always just; sovereign and righteous; He is Love, Truth, Grace and Mercy. He hates sinfulness because He is pure and holy; He is an active communicator; He is all-knowing; everywhere present and all-powerful. He is eternal and the self-existent One.
Exodus 20:2-3; 1 Corinthians 8:6
3. Concerning the Lord Jesus Christ
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was conceived supernaturally by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He is very God of very God, being “God manifest in the flesh”. He lived a life of absolute sinlessness and in His death He made a full and vicarious atonement for our sins, dying not a martyr’s death, but as a voluntary substitute in the sinner’s place. He rose again from the dead on the third day and ascended bodily into Heaven. He is coming again to this world to establish His kingdom and to set up the throne of David. His coming will be personal and is imminent and premillennial.
Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18-25; John 1:1; 1 Peter 2:22; 1 Peter 3:18; John 14:3; Matthew 28:6; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; Acts 15:16
4. Concerning the Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine person possessing all the attributes of personality and of deity. He is equal with the Father, and with the Son and is of the same nature. His relation to the unbelieving world is that He convicts of sin, righteousness and judgment. His work among believers is that He seals, indwells, infills, guides, and teaches them the ways of righteousness as He glorifies Christ.
John 14:16-17, 26; Hebrews 9:14; Ephesians 1:13-14
5. Concerning Mankind
We believe that the Scriptures teach that mankind was created by God in innocence but that mankind by voluntary transgression fell from that sinless state. In consequence, all mankind are now sinners not by constraint but by choice and therefore under the just condemnation to eternal ruin without defence or excuse.
Genesis 1:27; Isaiah 53:6; Romans 5:12-19; Romans 3:23
6. Concerning Salvation
We believe the Scriptures teach that Salvation of sinners is wholly of grace through the mediatorial work of the Son of God; it is totally unrelated to works and is upon the sole condition of repentance and faith in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ; that in order to be saved the sinner must be born again, being regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit and becoming the recipient of a new nature; that the great Gospel blessing which Christ secures for everyone who believes in Him is justification which includes pardon of sin and the impartation of divine righteousness solely through faith in the Redeemer’s Blood; that having exercised personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the believer is completely justified and is in possession of a salvation which is eternally secure.
Ephesians 2:8-9; John 3:3-6; 2 Peter 1:4; Acts 13:39; John 10:28-29
7. Concerning the Church
We believe the Scriptures teach that a visible church of Christ is a congregation of baptised believers, associated by a covenant in the faith and fellowship of the Gospel, observing the ordinance of Christ, governed by His laws, and exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His word; that its Scriptural offices are: Bishops or Pastors, and Deacons; qualifications, claims, and duties are defined in the epistles of Timothy and Titus.
Matthew 26:19, 20; Acts 2:41-42; Titus 1
8. Concerning Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
We believe the Scriptures teach that Christian baptism is the immersion in water of a believer to show forth in a solemn and beautiful emblem, our faith in the crucified, buried, risen Saviour, with its effect in our death to sin and resurrection to a new life; that it is prerequisite to the privileges of a church relation. We believe that the Lord’s Supper is the commemoration of His death until He comes and shall be preceded always by solemn self-examination.
Acts 8:36-39; Romans 6:3-5; 1 Corinthians 11:23-28
9. Concerning the Eternal State
We believe the Scriptures teach that all those who through faith are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ will spend eternity in full enjoyment of God’s presence and that those who through impenitence and unbelief refuse to accept God’s offer of mercy will spend eternity in everlasting punishment.
Psalms 16:11; John 14:2; Matthew 26:46
10. Concerning Satan
We believe the Scriptures teach that there is a real and personal devil who is ‘the god of this age’, the ‘prince of the power of the air’, who is full of all subtlety, and who seeks continually to ensnare mankind and to continually frustrate the purpose of God.
Ephesians 2:2 2; Corinthians 4:4; Revelation 12:9; 2 Corinthians 11:13, 15