The Bible…
The inerrant, infallible Bible is the only and sufficient standard of faith.
God…
God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. There are three persons in the Godhead: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one true, eternal God, the same in substance, and equal in power and glory.
Creation…
God made all things out of nothing, in six days. God creates each person, in His image, as male or female. Rejection of one’s biological sex or gender is a rejection of God’s creation and natural law.
The Fall of Man, Sin, and Punishment…
When God created mankind, He made a Covenant of Works with him. If Adam obeyed God and did not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, he would live forever. If he ate the fruit, however, he would die. Because Adam and Eve ate of the fruit, they and everyone after them are under His just wrath and curse and so made liable to all miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell forever. All parts of every man and woman are warped from their original moral perfection such that they are hostile to God, do not wish to please Him, and are unable to do so.
The Gospel…
All people are born in sin and under God’s righteous judgment. God offers redemption and eternal life to all who confess and forsake their sin, seeking His mercy and forgiveness through faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ. All humanity is given the free offer of eternal life if they forsake their sin and believe in Jesus.
Christ Our Mediator…
The Lord Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. By his perfect obedience and his sacrifice of himself on the cross, He fully satisfied the justice of the Father and redeemed from God’s everlasting punishment all those who believe in Him, those whom the Father has elected to eternal life.
Justification and Sanctification…
Man is made right with God solely on the finished work of Jesus Christ. His righteous life is imputed to us, and we rest on Him and His righteousness by faith through the Holy Spirit’s work. Once a believer is called and justified, God places a new heart into that person. The Holy Spirit now lives in their hearts and slowly weakens the sin of their old nature. Sanctification is the process of being made holy, which will only happen fully in eternity.
The Law of God…
The summary of God’s Law is found in the Ten Commandments, which are to be lived out by all humanity, although the application of these commandments may change throughout the Bible.
Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day…
We worship God only in the way He commanded in His Word. God’s corporate, public worship should take place both mornings and evenings on Sunday, the day that God set aside from creation.
Marriage…
“Marriage” has only one meaning, one man and one woman brought together in a single, exclusive union. Sexual intimacy is meant to only happen between a man and a woman in marriage, and any form of sexual immorality outside of that is sinful and offensive to God.
The Church…
The invisible, universal church spans all of time, with Christ as its head. The visible church consists of those around the world who confess Jesus as God and Savior, along with their children. There are more pure and less pure churches, depending on how far they stray from God’s Word. Churches are meant to be governed by both teaching and ruling elders, with help from the deacons participating in ministries of mercy.
Sacraments…
Sacraments are the sign and seal of the Covenant of Grace, administered by a minister of the Gospel. There are only two sacraments: Lord’s Supper and Baptism. Baptism in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the entrance into the visible church, done only once to both believers and their children. The Lord’s Supper is celebrated in remembrance of Jesus’ death on the cross and seals the benefits of Christ’s death on a believer. Only communicant members in good standing should take the Lord’s Supper.
The Return of Jesus Christ…
Jesus will return at the end of this age with His physical body to judge all humanity.