Article 1:
The Scriptures teach and we affirm in the ever-living God, who is a Spirit and the Father of our spirits; infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His being and perfections; the Lord Almighty, most just in all His wisdom and plenteous in mercy, full of love and compassion, and abundant in goodness and truth, We worship Him, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three persons in one Godhead, one in substance and equal in power and glory.
Article 2. The Bible
The Scriptures teach and we affirm that God is revealed in nature, in history, and in the heart of man; that He has made gracious and clearer revelations of Himself to men of God who spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit; and that Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, is the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of His person. We gratefully receive the Holy Scriptures, given by inspiration, to be the faithful record of God’s gracious revelations, and the sure witness to Christ, as the Word of God, the only infallible, inerrant rule of faith and life.
Article 3. Eternal Purpose
The Scriptures teach and we affirm that the eternal, wise, holy, and loving purpose of God embraces all events, so that while the freedom of man is not taken away nor us God the author of sin, yet in His providence He makes all things work together in the fulfillment of His sovereign design and the manifestation of His glory, wherefore, humbly acknowledging the mystery of this truth, we trust in His protecting care and set our hearts to do His will.
Article 4. Creation
The Scriptures teach and we affirm that God is the creator, upholder, and governor of all things; that He is above all His works; and that He made man in His own image, equipped for fellowship with Him, free and able to choose between good and evil, and forever to be responsible to his Maker and Lord.
Article 5. The Sin of Man
The Scriptures teach and we affirm that our first parents, being tempted, chose evil, and so fell away from God and came under the power of sin, the penalty of which is eternal death; and we confess that, by reason of this disobedience, we and all men are born with a sinful nature, that we have broken God’s law, and that no man can be saved but by His grace.
Article 6. The Grace of God
The Scriptures teach and we affirm that God, out of His great love for the world, has given His only begotten Son to be the Savior of sinners and in the Gospel freely offers His all-sufficient salvation to all people. We praise Him for indescribable grace wherein He has provided a way of eternal life for all mankind.
Article 7. Election
The Scriptures teach and we affirm that God, from the beginning, in His own good pleasure, gave to His Son a people, and innumerable multitude, chosen in Christ unto holiness, service, and salvation; we believe that all who come to the age of accountability can receive this salvation only through faith and repentance; and we believe that all who die in infancy, and all others given by the father to the Son who are beyond the reach of the outward means of grace, are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit, who works when and where and how He pleases.
Article 8. Our Lord Jesus Christ
The Scriptures teach and we affirm in and confess the Lord Jesus Christ, the only mediator between God and man, who, being the Eternal Son of God, for us and for our salvation became truly man, being conceived without sin by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, without sin; unto us He has revealed the Father, by His Word and Spirit making known the perfect will of God; for us He fulfilled all righteousness and satisfied eternal justice, offering Himself a perfect sacrifice upon the cross to take away the sin of the world; for us He rose from the grave bodily and ascended into heaven, where He ever intercedes for us: in our hearts, joined to Him by faith, He abides forever as the indwelling Christ; over us, and over all for us. He rules; wherefore, unto Him we render love, obedience, and adoration as our Profit, Priest, and King forever.
Article 9. Faith and Repentance
The Scriptures teach and we affirm that God pardons our sins and accepts usas righteous solely on ground of the perfect obedience and sacrifice of Christ receivedby faith alone; and that this saving faith is always accompanied by repentance, where we confess and forsake our sins with full purpose of, and endeavor after, a newobedience to God. There is salvation in none but Christ alone.
Article 10. The Holy Spirit
The Scriptures teach and we affirm in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life,who moves everywhere upon the hearts of people, to restrain them from evil and toincite them unto good, and whom the Father is ever willing to give unto all who askHim. We believe that He has spoken by holy men of God in making known His truthsto men for their salvation; that, through our Savior, He was sent forth in power toconvict the world of sin, to enlighten men’s minds in the knowledge of Christ, and topersuade and enable them to obey the call of the Gospel; and that He abides with theChurch, dwelling in every believer as the Spirit of truth, of holiness, and of comfort.
Article 11. The New Birth and The New Life
The Scriptures teach and we affirm that the Holy Spirit only is the author of thenew birth; we rejoice in the new life, wherein He is given unto us as the seal ofsonship in Christ, and keeps loving fellowship with us, helps us in our infirmities,purges us from our faults, and ever continues His transforming work in us until we areperfected in the likeness of Christ, in the glory of the life to come.
Article 12. The Resurrection and the Life to Come
The Scriptures teach and we affirm that in the life to come the spirits of the just,at death made free from sin, enjoy immediate communion with God and the vision ofHis glory; and we confidently look for the general resurrection in the last day, when the bodies of those who have died in Christ shall be fashioned in the likeness of the glorious body of their Lord, with whom they shall live and reign forever.
Article 13. The Law of God
The Scriptures teach and we affirm that the law of God, revealed in the Ten Commandments, and more clearly disclosed in the words of Christ, is foreverestablished as true, holy, and just. We believe that God requires of every person to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God. We believe that the law was never meant to justify anyone, but to reveal that just character of God, the utter sinfulness of man and the helplessness to affect his own salvation.
Article 14. The Church and the Ordinances
The Scriptures teach and we affirm in the one true church of Jesus Christ in which Christ is the only head. We believe that the Church Invisible consists of all the redeemed, and that the Church Visible embraces all who profess biblical Christianity. We receive into our communion all who confess and obey Christ as their divine Lord and Savior, and we hold fellowship with all believers in Him. We receive the ordinances of Believer’s Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, alone divinely established, and committed to the Church; made effectual only by the Holy Spirit, and always to be used by Christians with prayer and praise to God.
Article 15. The Last Judgment
The Scriptures teach and we affirm that the Lord Jesus Christ will come again in glorious majesty to judge the world and make a final separation between the righteous and the wicked. In hell, the wicked shall receive the eternal wages of their sins, and in Heaven the Lord will manifest the glory of His mercy in the salvation of His people and their entrance upon the full enjoyment of eternal life.
Article 16. Christian Service and The Final Triumph
The Scriptures teach and we affirm that it is our duty, as servants and friends of Christ, to strive to do good unto all men, to maintain the public and private worship of God, to hallow the Lord’s day, to preserve the sanctity of the family as biblically defined, to uphold the just authority of the State, to speak out against all unrighteousness, and so to live in all honesty, purity, and charity, that our lives shall testify of Christ. We joyfully receive the word of Christ, bidding His people to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, and declare unto them that God was inChrist reconciling the world unto Himself, and that He desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. We confidently trust that by His power and grace, all His enemies and ours shall be finally overcome, and the kingdoms of this world shall be made the kingdom of our God and of His Christ. In this faith we abide; in this service we labor; and in this hope we pray. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.