We believe in one God, and within the unity of that Godhead co-exist "three Persons of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost" (WCF, 2:3). Each Person is fully God, yet the Godhead is indivisible in Being. All that God wills will come into being, having declared "the end from the beginning," and "from ancient times things not yet done," saying through the prophet Isaiah: "My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose" (Isa 46:10). From the beginning God decreed all things, yet "He does not become in any sense the author of sin, nor does He share responsibility for sin with sinners" (BCF, 3:1).
We believe in the Father, Who is not begotten nor proceeding.
We believe in the Son, Who is begotten of the Father. At the Incarnation the Son "became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14) and "being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:8). Christ "suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit" (1 Pet 3:18). He was crucified, died, and rose again in three days in a spiritually glorified body. He ascended into heaven and was seated at the right hand of the Father. He is our sole source of salvation, being "the way, and the truth, and the life," and no one is able to come to the Father but by Him (John 14:6).
We believe in the Holy Spirit, Who proceeds from the Father through the Son. It was through Him that the prophets of old spoke (cf. Eph 3:5, 1 Thess 4:8, 2 Pet 1:21). He gives words and comfort to suffering believers (cf. Mark 13:11), teaches all things concerning the word of God (John 14:26), is given by God (cf. 1 Cor 6:19), and blasphemy against Him will not be forgiven (cf. Luke 12:10, Acts 5:3).
We believe in the invisible and universal church, made up of the elect and saints, of whom Christ is the cornerstone and head (Eph 2:20; Col 1:18). The Church is the bride of Christ, for whom He "gave himself up...that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word" (Eph 5:25-26).
We believe that before salvation man is "dead" in his "trespasses and sins...following the course of this world" and are "by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind" (Eph 2:1-3). Mankind lives in a depraved state unable to seek after the true God, as scripture says: "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one" (Rom 3:10-12).
We believe that God has chosen to effectually call those He predestined for "sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth" (2 Thess 2:13), given "not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began" (2 Tim 1:9). For it depends "not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy" (Rom 9:16). Others God has chosen to leave to their sins, so that His justice may be known along with His mercy. As the apostle Paul writes: "So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills" (Rom 9:18). And again: "What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory" (Rom 9:22-23).
We believe that those God has effectually called shall not fall from a state of grace, for it is they "who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Pet 1:5). Although periods of sin may rise and fall in a person's life, the Spirit of Christ will assist enables the believer to gain victory in the end. As the apostle Paul writes: "speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ" (Eph 4:15). And again: "For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace" (Rom 6:14).
We believe that God "has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead" (Acts 17:31). That man is Jesus Christ, whom God has given authority to execute judgment (cf. John 5:27). This day has been appointed by God for "the manifestation of the glory of His mercy" as well as "His justice" (WCF 33:2). On this day "the righteous go into everlasting life, and receive that fullness of joy and refreshing, which shall come from the presence of the Lord; but the wicked who know not God, and obey not the Gospel of Jesus Christ, shall be cast into eternal torments, and be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power" (ibid). The time and day of this coming judgment "no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only" (Matt 24:36).
And...
We believe and reaffirm the five solas of the Reformation: Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, Soli Deo Gloria, and Solus Christus.
