01 | God.
There is only one living and true God. He eternally exists, as one God, in three persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

REFERENCES | Matthew 3: 16-17; 1 John 5:7

01.1 | God the Father. God the Father reigns with providential care over His universe, creatures, and the flow of human history. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving, and all-wise.

REFERENCES | Genesis 1:1; Exodus 3:14; Psalm 19:1–3; John 4:24

01.2 | Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son is Himself God and man. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, lived a sinless life, was crucified, died, as an atoning sacrifice for our sins, and resurrected from the dead, on the third day. Jesus appeared to His disciples, with a glorified body, as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. Jesus ascended into Heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father, where He intercedes for His people, as the eternal High Priest. Jesus will return, bodily and visibly, in power and glory to judge the world and consummate His redemptive mission. He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever present Lord.

REFERENCES | Matthew 1:18–25; Luke 1:26–38; John 1:1; 20:28; Romans 9:5; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:21–23; John 20:30–31; Acts 1:11; Romans 5:6–8; 6:9–10; Hebrews 7:25; 9:28; 1 Timothy 3:16

01.3 | The Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God and is fully divine. He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures, God’s word, the Bible.  He proceeds from the Father and the Son to regenerate and indwell believers. He enables us to understand truth and His purpose is to exalt Jesus Christ, to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He cultivates Christian character, grants spiritual gifts, and constitutes the church, as God’s family, the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit also sanctifies believers and seals them for the final day of redemption.

REFERENCES | John 4:24; Acts 1:8; 2:1–4; Romans 8:9–11; Ephesians 1:13–14; 2 Timothy 1:14; 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21; 1 John 4:13; 5:6–7

02 | The Scriptures.
 The Bible is God’s word, written by men divinely inspired by God. The Bible is God’s revelation of Himself to mankind; it is composed of the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, fully inspired and without error in the original manuscripts. The Bible is the only sufficient, certain, and final authority on all matters of faith and practice. There are no other writings similarly inspired by God.

REFERENCES | Psalm 19:7; John 8:31-32; Acts 20:32; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; Peter 1:10-12; 2 Peter 1:20-21; Matthew 5:17-20

03 | The Church.
 I believe the universal church is a living, spiritual body of persons where the Jesus Christ is the head and all regenerated persons are its members. The local church, which consists of a smaller group of believers in Jesus Christ, baptized on a credible profession of faith, associate for worship, fellowship, education, and service. God has given responsibility to the members of the local church the primary task of spreading the good news about Jesus Christ, starting with where they live, to a lost world.

REFERENCES | Matthew 16:18-19; Acts 2:41-42; 6:3-6; 14:23, 27; 20:28; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 3:16; Colossians 1:18; 1 Timothy 2:12; 3:1-15; Ephesians 1:22-23; 2:19-22; Hebrews 10:23-25; 1 Peter 5:1-4

04 | Mankind. Mankind is the special creation of God, made in His image for His glory, as both male and female. Therefore every person possesses dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love. The first man and the first woman were created innocent of sin, but rebelled against God and thus introduced sin into the human race. Ever since, people are born with a sinful nature. Only God’s grace in Christ can restore people to a right relationship with God.

God has ordained the family, as the foundational institution of human society. Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. The husband is to be the head of the wife, which entails loving nurture and spiritual leadership. The wife is to respect her husband and to submit to him willingly, as unto the Lord. Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing from the Lord. They are to obey their parents in the Lord. Parents are to raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The Bible opposes all forms of sexual immorality, including adultery, homosexuality, and pornography.

REFERENCES | Genesis 1:26–30; 2:5–7, 15–25; Deuteronomy 6:4–9; Joshua 24:15; Romans 1:19–32; 3:10–18, 23; 1 Corinthians 1:21–31; Ephesians 2:1–22; 5:21–6:3; Colossians 1:21–22; 3:9–11

05 | Salvation.
Salvation is offered to all people and comes by grace alone through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It entails justification through spiritual adoption and regeneration, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end.

REFERENCES | John 1:12,13; Ephesians 2:4–10; Romans 3:23–24; Romans 8:28-39; 2 Corinthians 5:17–20; 1 John 3:2

06 | God’s Creation of All Things. I believe God created the universe, and everything in it, out of nothing, by His word, as described in the Book of Genesis. Having no deficiency in His nature, nor moved by any incompleteness in Himself, God was pleased in His creation to display His glory for the everlasting joy of the redeemed, from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

REFERENCES | Genesis 1:1; Exodus 3:13-14; Psalm 24:1-2; 50:9-15; Isaiah 35:10; 43:7; Matthew 25:23; Acts 17:25; Hebrews 1:2; 11:3; 1 John 1:1-3; Revelation 5:9; 7:9-10

07 | Last Things. I believe God, in His own timing and way, will bring the world to an appropriate end. According to His promise in the Bible, I believe in the personal, visible, and bodily return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth and the fulfillment of His Kingdom. I believe in the resurrection of the body, the creation of new heavens and new earth, the final judgment, the eternal happiness of the righteous and the endless suffering of the wicked.

REFERENCES | Matthew 16:27; Mark 14:62; John 14:3; Acts 1:11; 1 Corinthians 15:20-28; Philippians 3:20; Thessalonians 4:13-5:11; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10; 2 Timothy 4:1; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 9:27-28; James 5:7-8; 2 Peter 3:4-10; 1 John 2:28; 3:2; Jude 14-16; Revelation 3:11; 20:1-22:11

NOTE: I also affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message,  biblical convictions expressed more recently in The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy and The Danvers Statement on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.

Updated: July 31, 2017