Basis of faith

We affirm:

• The unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in the Godhead.

• The sovereignty of God in creation, revelation, redemption and final judgement.

• The divine inspiration and infallibility of Holy Scripture as originally given, and its supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct.

• The universal sinfulness and guilt of human nature since the fall, rendering all men and women subject to God’s wrath and condemnation.

• The full deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God; His virgin birth and real and sinless humanity; His death on the cross, bodily resurrection and present reign in heaven and earth.

• Redemption from the guilt, penalty and power of sin only through the sacrificial death once for all time of our representative and substitute, Jesus Christ, the only mediator between God and men and women.

• Justification as God’s act of undeserved mercy, in which sinners are pardoned all their sins, and accepted as righteous in God’s sight, only because of the righteousness of Christ imputed to them, this justification being received by faith alone.

• The need for the Holy Spirit to make the work of Christ effective to individual sinners, granting them repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ.

• The indwelling of the Holy Spirit in all those thus regenerated, producing in them an increasing likeness to Christ in character and behaviour, and empowering them for their witness in the world.

• The one holy universal Church, which is the Body of Christ, and to which all true believers belong.

• The future personal return of the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge all men and women, executing God’s just condemnation on the impenitent and receiving the redeemed to eternal glory.