We believe that all "Scripture is given by inspiration of God," by which we understand the whole Bible is inspired in the sense that holy men of God "were moved by the Holy Spirit" to write the very words of Scripture. We believe that the whole Bible in the originals is therefore without error to the smallest word and inflection of word. We also believe that all the Scriptures were designed for our practical instruction. (Mark 12:26, 36; 13:11; Luke 24:27; John 5:39; Acts 17:2-31;8:28; 26:22-23; 28:23; Romans 15:4; 1Cor. 10:1; 1 Tim. 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21).
We believe that the Godhead eternally exists in three persons-the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit-and that these three are one God, having precisely the same nature, attributes, and perfection, and worthy of precisely the same homage, confidence, and obedience. (Mark 12:29; John 1:1-14; Acts 5:3-4; 2 Cor. 13:14; Heb. 1:1-3; Rev. 1:4-6).
We believe that man was originally created in the image and after the likeness of God, and that he fell through sin, and, as a consequence of this sin, lost his spiritual life, becoming dead in trespasses and sins, and that he became subject to the power of the devil. We also believe that this spiritual death, or total depravity of human nature, has been transmitted to the entire human race of man, the Man Christ Jesus alone being excepted, and hence that every child of Adam is born into the world with a nature which not only possesses no spark of divine life but is essentially and unchangeably bad apart from divine grace. (Gen. 1:26; 2:27; 6:5; Ps. 14:1-3; 51:5; Jer. 18:9; John 3:7; 5:40; 6:35; Rom. 3:10-19,8:6-7; Eph. 2:1-3; 1 Tim. 5:7; 1 John 3:8).
We believe that, owing to universal death through sin, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless born again and that no degree of reformation, however great, can help the sinner to take even one step toward heaven; but a new nature imparted from above, a new life implanted by the Holy Spirit through the Word, is absolutely essential to salvation, and can be accomplished solely by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who was born of a virgin and lived a sinless life, and was made to be sin in our stead. No faith, no good resolutions, no sincere efforts, no submissions to the rules and regulations of any church can add in the very least degree to the value of the blood or to the merit of the finished work wrought for us by Him. (Lev. 18:11; Matt. 26:28; Rom. 5:6-9; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3:13; Eph. 1:7; 1 Pet. 1:18-19).
We believe that the new birth of the believer comes only through faith in Christ and that repentance is a vital part of faith but is no way, in itself, a separate and independent condition of salvation, nor are any other acts, such as confession, baptism, prayer, or faithful service to be added to believing as a condition of salvation. (Luke 1:34-35; John 1:12; 3:16, 18, 36; 5:24; 6:29; 8:46; Acts 13:39; 16:31; Rom. 1:16-17; 3:22, 26; 4:5; 10:4; Gal. 3:22).
We believe that because of the eternal purpose of God toward the objects of His love, because of His freedom to exercise grace toward the meritless on the ground of the propitiatory blood of Christ, because of the very nature of the divine gift of eternal life, because of the present and unending intercession and advocacy of Christ in heaven, and because of the regenerating, abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of all who are saved, we all, true believers everywhere once saved shall be kept saved forever. We believe that God is a holy and righteous Father and that, since He cannot overlook the sin of His children, He will, when they persistently sin, chasten them and correct them in infinite love; but having undertaken to save them and keep them forever, apart from all human merit, He, Who cannot fail, will in the end present everyone of them faultless before the presence of His glory and conformed to the image of His son. (John 5:24; 10:28; 13:1; 14:16-17; 17:11; Rom. 8:29a; 1 Cor. 6:19; Heb. 7:25; 1 John 2:1-2; 5:13; Jude 24).
