Articles of Faith and Doctrine, pdf

To be interpreted as expressed in and according to the Natural and Literal meaning of the respective passages of the
Word of God referred to under each Article.

I The Inspiration and Authority of Scripture

We believe the Holy Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, as originally given by God are divinely inspired, without error, entirely trustworthy, and constitute the only supreme authority in all matters of faith, teaching and behaviour.
II Peter 1:21, Mark 12:26-36, II Timothy 3:16-17
Acts 1:16, Hebrews 4:12

II The Trinity of the Godhead

We believe that the Godhead eternally exists in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and that these three are one God, having precisely the same nature, attributes and perfections, and are worthy of precisely the same homage, confidence and obedience.
Genesis1:26; 3:22; 11:6-8, John 1:1-4, Isaiah 63:8-10,
Matthew 28:19-20, Mark12:2,9 Revelation 1:4-6, Hebrews 1:1-3

III The Deity and the Virgin Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ

We believe in the essential deity of our Lord Jesus Christ and His total humanity through the virgin birth, and that all
the Scriptures from first to last centre about Him, His person and work, His sacrificial death upon the cross and His
coming again.
Acts 26:22-23, John 5:39, Matthew 1:18-23, Luke 1:35: 24:44,
Acts 17:2-3; 18:28 Isaiah 7:14, Acts 28:23, Acts 1:11

IV The Personality, Deity and Present Mission of the Holy Spirit

We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine personality–the eternal third Person of the Trinity–who is now, throughout this Age of Grace, here present in the true Church, having been sent for the express purpose of revealing Christ Jesus to the members of the Church, that they may be comforted, instructed, and built up in their most holy faith, and to the world that sinners may be convicted of sin, of righteousness and of judgment.
John 7:38-39; 14:16-17; 15:26 John 16:13-15 Acts 1:8; 2:1-4

V The Fall of Humanity

We believe that human beings, originally created in the image and after the likeness of God, fell from their high and holy estate through disobedience, by eating the forbidden fruit, and in consequence, the threatened penalty of death was then and there inflicted, so that they totally lost all spiritual life, becoming dead in trespasses and sins, and subject to the power of the devil.
Genesis 1:26; 2:17 Isaiah 64:6 Ephesians 2:1-3 I John 3:8 I Timothy 5:6 John 5:40; 6:53

VI The Total Depravity of Humans

We believe that this spiritual death, or total corruption of human nature, has been transmitted to the entire race of human beings, the man Christ Jesus alone excepted; and hence that every child of Adam is born into the world with a sinful nature.
Genesis 6:5 Jeremiah 17:9 John 3:6 Psalms 14:1-3; 51:5 Romans 5:12-19

VII Salvation by Grace through Faith

We believe that sinners are saved by grace through faith alone and that not of themselves, it is the gift of God, not of works. We further believe that every saved person is “justified from all things from which he could nor be justified by the law of Moses.”
Acts 13:39, Ephesians 2:8-9 Romans 5:1; 3:25-26 Titus 2:11-14

VIII The Atonement of the Blood of Christ

We believe that our redemption has been accomplished solely by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was made to be sin, and made a curse for us, dying in our place, a Sacrifice acceptable to God and effectual for every sinner who receives Him.
Leviticus 17:11 Galatians 3:13 Matthew 26:28 Ephesians 1:7 John 1:12 I Peter 1:18-19; 2:24
II Corinthians 5:21 Romans 5:6-9

IX Regeneration by the Holy Spirit

We believe that, owing to the universal depravity and death in sin, no one can see or enter the kingdom of God unless born of the Spirit whereby he becomes a new creation, sealed unto the day of Redemption.
John 3:5-8 James 1:18 Galatians 6:15 I Peter 1:23
Ephesians 1:13 I John 5:1 Titus 3:5

X The Believer’s Eternal Salvation

We believe in the eternal salvation of all who are actually born again by the Spirit of God through faith in Christ as revealed in the Scriptures, and that it is the privilege of all such to be assured of their present salvation and eternal life.
John 5:24 Hebrews 10:24 John 10:28-29 Romans 8:28-39
I John 5:11-13 Philippians 1:6

XI Sanctification

We believe that all the members of the body of Christ are “sanctified ones” (saints), are perfected as to their standing forever by the one offering of the blood of Christ, and are one with Christ in sanctification. As to their state, they may be sanctified by the Word, by the blood of Christ, and by the inworking presence and power of the Holy Spirit which should issue in behaviour indicating the fruit of the Spirit.
Galatians 5:16-25 Ephesians 5:25-27 John 17:17-19
I John 1:7-9 Romans15:16 Jude 1 I Corinthians 6:11
Ephesians 4:22-24 Hebrews 2:11; 10:10; 13:12

XII The Baptism with the Holy Spirit

We believe that when the Holy Spirit came upon the whole company of believers on the Day of Pentecost as promised by Christ, they were collectively baptized into one body, which was the birth of the Church, the Body of Christ. Since that time this baptism occurs individually at the moment of salvation, at which time the believer is also indwelt by the Spirit.

We believe that the New Testament distinguishes between being indwelt by the Spirit, which is true of all believers, and being filled with the Spirit, which is the believer’s privilege and duty, producing power in Christian witness. There is one baptism with the Spirit, and it is into the Body of Christ, but there are many fillings.
John 14:15-18 I Corinthians 3:16 Romans 8:9
Matthew 3:11 I Corinthians 12:13 Ephesians 5:18
Acts 2:4: 4:8-31 Ephesians 1:13-14

XIII The Gifts of the Holy Spirit

We believe that the Holy Spirit administers spiritual gifts to the church to glorify Christ in the building of His body.
We believe that God, the Holy Spirit, is sovereign in the bestowing of His gifts for the perfecting of the saints for the work of their ministry, and that it is not God’s will that any one gift should be given to all believers, although all
believers have at least one gift.

We believe that whenever spiritual gifts are exercised, they should always be within the limits expressly given in the
Scriptures (e.g. I Corinthians 14:23-40). We believe that in the early church speaking in tongues (a human language unknown to the speaker), and the working of miracles were sign gifts demonstrated primarily to authenticate God’s revelation through the apostles and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We believe that today such signs are not necessary to give evidence of the baptism or of the filling of the Spirit, nor are they a mark of spiritual maturity. We believe that special divine revelation for authoritative Scripture ceased with the Apostolic Age.
Acts 2:1-13 Hebrews 2:3-4 I Corinthians 12-14 Ephesians 2:20 Romans 12:3-8 John 14:26 I Peter 4:7-11 Galatians 1:8-9 Ephesians 4:11-13 Revelation 22:18-29 II Corinthians 12:12

XIV The Unity of the True Church in the mystical Body of Christ

We believe that the Church is composed of all who are united by the Holy Spirit to the risen and ascended Son of
God, and that “by the same Spirit we are all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles”, thus being
members one of another and knit together in love.
Romans 12:5 Ephesians 4:3-10 I Corinthians 12:12-27 Colossians 2:19

XV The Pre-Millennial Coming of Our Lord

We believe that this present age will end with the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, first to receive His Church unto Himself, and then to establish the throne of David upon the earth and to reign in righteousness over it for a thousand years.
II Samuel 7:16 John 14:1-3 Psalms 72:7-8 Acts 1:10-11
Titus 2:13 Isaiah 9:6-7 Hebrews 9:28 Micah 5:2 I
Thessalonians 4:13-18 Luke 1:32-33

XVI The Resurrection of the Body

We believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, according to the Scriptures, in bodily form, and thus became the Firstfruits of them that sleep; that upon His return He will raise out from among the dead those that have died in Christ, this being the first resurrection; and that, after the thousand years, He will raise them that have died in unbelief from their graves to receive their sentence.
Psalms 90:3-4 John 5:28,29 Isaiah 26:19 I,br> Corinthians 15 Daniel 12:2 Romans 1:4; 8:23 Revelation 20:5-6

XVII The Eternal Blessedness of the Saved, and the Eternal Punishment of the Lost

We believe that the attitude either of reconciliation or enmity toward God is fixed eternally at death, and that the saints of all the ages will be forever with the Lord and will become joint heirs with Him as their Redeemer in His inheritance. We further believe that there is an appointed day for the judgment of the wicked when they will be cast into the Lake of Fire, there to remain forever and ever, in varying degrees of torment according to their works.
I Thessalonians 4:17 II Peter 2:9 Romans 8:17
Daniel 12:3: 7:22-27 Revelation 20:11-15; 21:8; 22:11

XVIII The Personality of Satan

We believe that Satan is a person, the father of lies, a murderer from the beginning and the great deceiver of all nations; that he will be overcome by the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Seed of the woman, and cast into the Bottomless Pit for a thousand years, and finally committed to the Lake of Fire with all his angels to be tormented forever and ever.
II Corinthians 11:13-15 Job1:6-12 Genesis 3:15 John 8:44 Ephesians 6:12-16 Revelation 20:1-3,7-10

XIX Divine Healing of the Body

We believe that divine healing of the body is not in the Atonement in the sense that salvation and forgiveness of sins
are in the Atonement. The suffering and death of Christ according to the New Testament was substitutionary, penal and vicarious. It is nowhere taught in Scripture that Christ died for the effects of sin but for sin, and sickness is directly or indirectly the effect of sin.
Romans 4:25 I Corinthians 15:3 II Corinthians 5:21
I Peter 2:24; 3:18

XX Baptism

We believe that the New Testament clearly prescribes baptism for believing disciples as a symbol and proclamation of the believer’s death to sin and resurrection to new of life. Further we believe and practise immersion as the mode of baptism prescribed by the New Testament in accordance with its word meanings, examples, and symbolism.
Matthew 28:19-20 Acts 2:38; 8:12 Romans 6:3

XXI The Lord’s Supper

We believe that our Lord and Saviour clearly prescribed for His believing disciples the solemn rite of the Lord’s Supper as a memorial of the Lord’s death to be kept by His disciples until He comes again, according to His promise and the Father’s revealed plan.
I Corinthians 11:23-27, Luke 22:19-20

Contemporary Statement of Faith, pdf

(This is for popular circulation only and is intended to be interpreted in light of the official Statement of Faith and Doctrine of the AGC.)

We believe that the Bible is God speaking in man’s language, and in the original writings is exactly as He gave it, word for word without any error whatsoever. It has been preserved by God to be the authoritative standard for every age and every life.

We believe that God exists in three persons, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, that these three are eternal and are one. We also believe that God is the sole Creator of the universe.

We believe that Jesus Christ in the flesh was both God and man, that he was born of a virgin and that He lived a sinless life, in which He taught and did mighty works and signs exactly as revealed in the four gospels. We believe that He was crucified, dying as a penalty for our sins and was bodily raised from the dead on the third day as the Scriptures declare. Later, He ascended to heaven where He is Head of the Church and interceded for believers. From there He will come again personally and bodily and visibly to this earth to set up an earthly kingdom, afterward to reign forever as King in His universe.

We believe that all are sinners and are guilty before God, and as such are worthy of both physical and spiritual death.

We believe that since in His death the Lord Jesus Christ satisfied all the demands of God’s law, redeeming mankind by shedding His blood and assuming our curse, men and women can have a just standing before God. That is, they can become true Christians. The single basis for this standing is the death of Jesus Christ and an individual’s personal faith in Him.

We believe that salvation with its forgiveness of sins, includes the receiving of a new nature and the assurance of eternal life. It is entirely apart from good works such as baptism or church membership, but is purely by God’s grace.

We believe that a true believer cannot ever forfeit his standing with God. However, sin may interrupt the joy of his fellowship with God and bring the discipline of a loving Heavenly Father.

We believe that the Holy Spirit is a person, that He is God and has all the attributes of God. We also believe that He lives in all believers and that by His ministry every Christian is made to be part of God’s eternal family, is marked off as truly God’s possession, and is specifically and uniquely gifted for Christian service. The Holy Spirit also fills or empowers the believer, in response to confession of sin and yieldedness, then He teaches and guides the believer for effective Christian service.

We believe that all genuine believers are part of the true Church, which in Scripture is referred to as the body of Christ, and that a local church is intended to be a visible expression of this body.

We believe that Christians who die, depart to be with Christ in conscious blessedness. Someday Jesus will come again to take away His living people from the earth. Then, all Christians will have glorified bodies similar to His resurrected body and share in His glory. They will reign with Him forever.

We believe that Satan is a personality, the arch enemy of God and our defeated foe.

We believe that those who refuse the offer of God’s gracious gift of salvation are doomed to suffer eternal conscious separation from Him.