The Holy Scriptures. The Bible in its entirety (all 66 books of the Old and New Testaments) is the inspired word of God, inerrant in its original manuscripts, and the only infallible and sufficient authority for faith and Christian living. [II Timothy 3:16-17; II Peter 1:20-21; Hebrews 4:12; Psalm 119:11]
The Holy Trinity. The only true and living God exists eternally in three persons: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each having precisely the same divine nature attributes and perfections. [Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 28:19; John 10:30]
God's Being. God is a self-existent and transcendent spirit, who is incomprehensibly holy, righteous, good, just, omnipotent, omniscient, wise, omnipresent, loving, gracious, and faithful. He alone is worthy of, and requires, all worship. [John 4:24; Exodus 3:14; Exodus 20:3-6; Isaiah 6:3; Psalm 96:13; Psalm 139:3-10; I John 3:20; I John 4:7-8; Jeremiah 9:24; I Timothy 6:15-17]
God's Creative Works. God created the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them for His own good pleasure. He has absolute sovereign authority and control over all His creation, and sustains it by His gracious providence. Humans and each kind of organism resulted from God's distinct and supernatural creative intervention and did not result from a natural evolutionary process, nor from an evolutionary process that God secretly directed. In particular, God created man in a distinct and supernatural creative act, forming the specific man Adam from non-living material, and the specific woman Eve from Adam. The first man and woman were therefore the progenitors of all people, and humans do not share a common physical ancestry with earlier life forms. [Genesis 1:1-2:4; I Chronicles 29:11; Psalm 23; Psalm 104; Colossians 1:16-17]
Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, the promised Messiah and the Savior of the world. He humbled Himself by becoming fully human, while remaining fully God, was born of a virgin and lived a perfect, sinless life. Having redeemed us by His shed blood and death on our behalf, and having risen bodily from the dead, He later ascended into heaven. He now sits at the right hand of the Father as Lord and Head of His body, the church, awaiting the day when He will return bodily to earth. [John 1:1, 14; Luke 2:1-21; Galatians 4:4; Philippians 2:5-10; Colossians 1:13-20; Colossians 2:8-12; John 19-20; Acts 1:9-11; Revelation 20:1-6]
The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is fully God, the third person of the Holy Trinity, who convicts the world of its sin and guilt. He is the Comforter and Counselor who indwells all believers, teaching them, giving them the ability to seek after God, and interceding in their prayers. [John 14:15-27; John 16:7-15; Romans 8:1-27; Galatians 4:16-26]
Man. Mankind was created in the image of God, free from sin and death designed to glorify God and to enjoy a deep, personal fellowship with Him forever. However, sin entered the world when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and it is now inherent in the nature of all people. Although each person still carries the image of God, all are separated from God by their sin, and in need of salvation. Human life begins at conception; it is a gift from the Creator, sustained by His grace and to be taken only upon His authority. Abortion and euthanasia are sins and violations of the public good. [Genesis 1-3; Acts 17:28; Romans 3:23; Romans 5:12-14, 17-21; Romans 6:23; Genesis 9:6; Exodus 20:13; Psalm 139:13-16]
Salvation. God reconciles to Himself, redeems from sin, and freely gives eternal life to each person who repents of his sin, and places his faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. Christ's substitutionary death paid for the sin of mankind, once for all. Salvation is solely by grace, solely through faith in Jesus Christ alone; it is a free gift of God, not earned on the basis of human merit or works of any kind or degree. [John 1:12; John 3:16; Acts 17:30; II Peter 3:9; Ephesians 1:7-8; Ephesians 2:8-9; I Corinthians 15:20-22; II Corinthians 5:17-21; Romans 6:23; Hebrews 10:1-10; I John 5:11-13]
Sanctification. All those who have been saved from the penalty of sin are new creations in Christ, and have the privilege and obligation of growing in holiness, conformity to Christ, and obedience to His word, by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. [II Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 4:22-24; Romans 12:1-2; I Peter 1:13-2:3; Romans 8:5-17; Galatians 5:13-25; Philippians 3:7-14]
God has ordained three primary social institutions to order human affairs: the family, the church, and civil government. Each of these institutions honors God when it operates under the principles of His word within its God-given scope of authority:
Marriage and Family. The Lord is the author of the union of marriage, made evident when He provided a companion for the first man, Adam. This design resembles the unique relationship of Christ and His bride, the church. Therefore, marriage is a sacred God-made union between a man and a woman, which is to be separated by no man. It is to model the reverence, love, sacrifice, and respect exemplified by Christ for His bride. Husbands are the head of their wives just as Christ is the head of the church, and are to love their wives just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her. Human sexuality is a great blessing created by God to be enjoyed within the context of a monogamous marriage between a man and a woman; any sexual conduct outside the parameters of marriage is sin. One of the many blessings of marriage is children, a gift from the Lord. Children are given to parents to nurture and educate, for the primary purpose of teaching them to love God with all their hearts, and inculcating in them a desire to fulfill this same purpose in the next generation. Parents remain responsible before God for the training and upbringing of their children, even when they delegate some of that work to others. [Genesis 2:18-24; Ephesians 5:21-33; Isaiah 45:5; Exodus 20:14; Galatians 5:19-21; Romans 1:24-28; Psalm 127:3-5; Deuteronomy 11:18-21]
The Church. Christ's church has a unique role in society, which only it can fulfill. God requires the church to be salt and light to the world, bringing the message of salvation and discipleship to individuals, and ultimately to nations. This duty to promote godly values includes: boldly but respectfully speaking truth in power and love to encourage government to adhere to principles of biblical morality; and encouraging all citizens to practice charity, lawfulness, justice, mercy, and other civic virtues necessary for the government of free peoples. [Proverbs 29:2, 4, 14, 18; Proverbs 28:4, 19, 27; Proverbs 31:8-9; Micah 6:8; Matthew 16:18-19; Matthew 28:19-20]
Civil Government. God Himself has ordained government and commands that everyone must submit to government; moreover, there is no authority except that which God has established. [Romans 13:1-5] Consequently, he who rebels against lawful authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment upon themselves. It is necessary to submit to government, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. We are to pray for all who hold public office, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. [Proverbs 14:34-35; I Timothy 2:1-2] Some governments are not legitimate; some authorities are not lawful. [Hosea 8:1-4] These are governments that do not recognize or that choose to ignore that human beings are created in God's image and therefore are entitled to the enjoyment of certain rights and responsibilities that inhere in their nature. Such societies and such governments are under God's judgment. [Jeremiah 18:7-10] Nevertheless, there is a proper way to rectify this situation. In keeping with scriptural principles and the American Declaration of Independence, we recognize that "Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind is more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed." But when such a government 1) commands disobedience to God, 2) enjoins the right and duty of human beings to worship God, 3) denies other God-ordained rights by extreme oppression and tyranny, or 4) "when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object (tyranny), evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism" it is the right and duty of godly men and women "to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security." Importantly, this action must be taken in accordance with God's laws and in submission to other legitimate authorities, anarchy being as illegitimate as tyranny. [Jeremiah 32:32-35; Acts 5:29] While there are various types, scopes, and levels of government, there are some basic principles that God requires all general governments to follow. [Jeremiah 18:7-10] Moreover, there are other principles that, while not commanded, ought to be followed. All of these principles are derived from the tenor of the whole of scripture and from God-given reason, which makes plain the fact that human beings are created in God's image and should live as He intended human beings to live-in ordered liberty-and not as beasts subject to ownership and coercion; and that they should govern themselves in equal submission to the laws of nature and nature's God. [Genesis 1-2]
Therefore: governments must establish their legitimacy upon the will of a self-governing people; [Deuteronomy 17:4-10] government's first duty is to protect the life, property, and other God-ordained, inalienable rights of the citizenry; [Genesis 9:6; Exodus 20:13; Acts 5:1-4; Ezekiel 46:18; Genesis 34:10; Luke 10:7; I Timothy 5:18; Romans 4:4] governments must operate under the rule of law, diligently applying the same legal rules and sanctions without regard to any individual's power or stations in life; [Romans 2:11] and a national government, in order to defend self-governance, must be the highest level of legitimate human governance and must defend the sovereignty of the nation constituting it. [Genesis 11:1-9; Deuteronomy 17:14]
