We believe there is one and only one living and true God, the Creator and Supreme Ruler of heaven and earth. God is inexpressibly glorious in holiness and worthy of all possible honor, confidence, and love. In the unity of the Godhead there are three persons: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, equal in every divine perfection and executing distinct but harmonious offices in the great work of redemption. (Exodus 20:2-3; 1 Corinthians 8:6, Revelation 4:11)
God the Father: We believe God the Father, the first Person of the Trinity, orders and accomplishes all things according to His own purpose and grace (Psalm 145:8-9; 1 Corinthians 8:6). As the only absolute and omnipotent Ruler in the universe, He is sovereign in creation, providence, and redemption (Psalm 103:19; Romans 11:36). His fatherhood involves both His designation within the Trinity and His relationship with mankind. As Creator, He is Father to all humanity (Ephesians 4:6), but He is spiritual Father only to believers (Romans 8:14, 2 Corinthians 6:18). He has decreed for His own glory all things that come to pass (Ephesians 1:11). He continually upholds, directs, and governs all creatures and events (1 Chronicles 29:11). He has graciously chosen from eternity past, those whom He would have as His own (Ephesians 1:4-6). He saves from sin all who come to Him through Jesus Christ. He adopts as His own all those who come to Him, and He becomes, through adoption, Father to His own (John 1:12, Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:5; Hebrews 12:5-9).
God the Son: We believe Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God. He was not created but is the eternal Second Person of the Trinity (John 1:1-2; Colossians 1:16-17; John 8:58). He came into this world, as foretold in the Scriptures, to manifest God to mankind and to be the Redeemer of the sinful world (Genesis 3:15; Micah 5:2). Jesus took upon Himself human flesh and a sinless human nature through the supernatural conception by the Holy Spirit in a virgin, Mary (Isaiah 7:14; Luke 1:30-35). Jesus is both fully God and fully man (Philippians 2:5-11). He came to die for the sin of the world—the just for the unjust. Jesus Christ alone is the full and complete propitiation for sin—the full satisfaction of the Father’s justice regarding sin (Isaiah 53; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Romans 3:25-26). He rose from the dead, according to the Scriptures, retaining the same body, though glorified (John 20:20). His bodily resurrection and ascension into heaven, where He now serves as the High Priest for the redeemed of God and head over the Church, gives proof to the fact that His sacrificial death was fully acceptable to the Father for sin. (Hebrews 1:3; 2:17; 4:14-15; 7:25; 10:1-14).
God the Holy Spirit – We believe the Holy Spirit is a divine Person, equal with God the Father and God the Son and of the same nature. He was active in the creation. He restrains the evil one until God’s purpose is fulfilled (2 Thessalonians 2:5-7). He convicts of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He bears witness to the truth of the Gospel in preaching and testimony, and He is the agent in the new birth. He seals, guides, watches, witnesses, sanctifies, and helps the believer (Genesis 1:1-3; Matthew 28:19; John 14:16-17; 16:8-11; Hebrews 9:14). The Holy Spirit empowers the Church through which the members serve one another and the world (Romans 12:6). Before the death of the Jesus’ 11 Apostles, Matthias from Acts 1, and the Apostle Paul, revelatory gifts such as prophecy, a word of knowledge, tongues, and interpretation were normative manifestations of the Holy Spirit. These gifts were specifically given to guide the infant church until the Apostles doctrine was established and the church was founded (Acts 2:42; 1 Corinthians 13:8; Ephesians 2:19-20; Ephesians 4:7-16; Colossians 1:25-29). We acknowledge that God is sovereign and may choose to empower whomever He wishes to accomplish His will in the present and into the future. We believe that God has fully revealed His will, through His Spirit, in the form of the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments.