| Doctrine | Comments |
| Primary Essentials |
| Authority of the Bible | - The Bible is the inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word of God.
- No other writings, revelations or prophecies are to be considered as an authoritative source of truth and/or interpretation of the Bible.
- No organization, individual and/or group of individuals is to be considered as
- a – or the – primary source of Bible interpretation;
- inspired on a par with those who, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote the Scriptures, nor as
- apostles on a par with the apostles mentioned in the Bible.
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| The Deity of Christ | - Jesus is both fully God and fully Man.
- This essential teaching addresses the nature of God, and includes the doctrine of the Trinity – one God in three distinct persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
- “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:5-8)
- “Jesus was not only fully God – He was also fully man, fully human. This is a vital aspect of the person of Christ. If He were not fully human, He could not have represented us on the cross. Also, He could not be the High Priest who comforts and strengthens us. As a man, He has gone through our human experience (Heb 2:16-18), and He is fully able to understand and sympathize with us. That is an astonishing truth. Though His conception was supernatural, Jesus’ birth was that of a normal child born of a human mother (Matt 1:18). He is spoken of as being born of the seed of the woman (Gen 3:15) and of the seed of Abraham (Heb 2:16, KJV). In this way, through the virgin birth, “the Word became flesh” (John 1:14).” (Paul E. Little, Know What You Belief”
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| Man is sinful and in need of salvation | - The Bibles says that “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23).
- “[T]he wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)
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| Jesus died a substitutionary atoning death for our sins; and rose bodily from the dead | - Jesus died in our place for our sins, and physically rose from the dead.
- The Bible teaches that the faith of those who deny Jesus physically rose from the dead is useless (1 Cor. 15:14,17).
- According to the Bible, the Gospel (‘Good News’) is this: the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. (1 Cor. 15:1-4; Gal. 1:8-9)
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| Salvation is by grace through faith | - Salvation is a gift from God.
- It cannot be earned by good works or any other efforts on our part.
- The Bible says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
- It is obtained by faith – not by works, nor by baptism (an act of obedience that symbolizes ones commitment to God). The Bible says, “[I]f you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)
- “[H]e saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy…” (Titus 3:5a)
- “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.” (Romans 3:21-25).
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