The Scriptures are God’s “heart” revealed to mankind. The reason God wants us to know His heart and the truth is so we can live it and share it with others. God wants us to be “imitators” of Him, and His chief characteristic is love. We believe the following are crucial teachings of Scripture:
- That the Scriptures are “God-breathed,” perfect in their original writing, without flaw or contradiction, and provide the only sure and steadfast basis for faith and worship.
- There is one God, eternally existent in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That He is “the only true God”(John 17:3),[1] holy and separate from all His creation. He is a personal God who has committed Himself to us in writing in the Holy Bible.
- That Jesus Christ is fully man and fully God. Jesus was manifest in the flesh, and is the perfect expression of God’s love (John 1:1).[2] Jesus Christ is the “last Adam,” the only-begotten Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary, lived a sinless life, completed numerous divine miracles, suffered and died as a payment for all men’s sins, was buried and raised (bodily resurrected) from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the father; is involved in an ongoing mediation work for mankind, and will personally return in power and glory.
- That the Lord Jesus Christ is the Head over all matters to the Church, His Body, and there is spiritual unity of the believers in the Lord Jesus.
- That God provides forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life eternal. That there is resurrection of both the saved and the lost, those saved unto the resurrection of life, and those lost unto the resurrection of damnation.
- That salvation is a free gift of God, apart from the works of the law. That for the salvation of lost and sinful men, rebirth of the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.
- That the present ministry of the Holy Spirit dwelling in each and every Christian enables us to live a godly life.
[1] John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
[2] 2 John 1:1 in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
