I believe the 66 books of Old and New Testament are the plenary, verbally inspired, infallible word of God; and as such are the absolute authority for faith, life and practice. I believe the Scriptures through the ages were preserved by God from the corruptions of men, and that the Authorized Version (KJV) is the preserved word of God available for use in English today.
I believe in a single omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent God eternally co-existing in three distinct co-equal persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, commonly known as the Trinity. The first person of the Trinity is the Father, the second person is the Son, and the third person is the Holy Spirit. All things come from the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit, which is why, among other things, the three persons of the singular Godhead are all attributed with: being called God, the work of Creation, the resurrection of Christ, working together in the salvation of men.
I believe God the Father is sovereign of all, draws sinners to Christ, was not on the cross, has never been seen by man, and has transferred all judgment to the Son.
I believe that the eternal Son of God, visible in both Old and New Testament, was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin, took on human flesh, merging God and man in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ; being both fully God and fully man. The merging of these two natures (commonly known as the hypostatic union) was a requirement in the mediator to bridge the gap and reconcile God to man. The role of mediator between God and man was singularly and entirely fulfilled in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I believe that the Holy Spirit convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment to come; and is the Comforter, illuminating the scriptures. Upon enlightening the sinner enabling their trusting of Christ, the Holy Spirit regenerates the hearts of, and then indwells, believers; sealing them unto the day of redemption.
I believe that man is born totally depraved having inherited a sin nature from the first man Adam who through the fall brought death upon all men. Man is naturally without desire for God or the things of God, and left to himself is utterly unable to remedy his lost condition.
I believe in the sovereignty of God in the salvation of man, and the corresponding responsibility of man for his own condition.
I believe that salvation is entirely the gift of God, bestowed by grace and received by faith in the atoning blood of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Having trusted Christ alone as the propitiation for our sin, it is by the bodily resurrection of Christ that we can know for certain that our sin debt has been fully paid, meaning that at the cross the wrath of God on the believer’s sin was entirely satisfied.
I believe that repentance is a change of mind about Christ, about self, and about sin, that turns from denying these things to trusting them to be true personally. In essence it is a turning of mind from unbelieving to believing. A repentant person believes the record God bore of His Son, believes the record God bore of himself, and trusts what God has done about it is true in their own case. Once renewed, the regenerated heart will do all that it is able to do in fleeing from sin through a higher motive than self-preservation, a bringing forth of 'fruits meet for repentance'. However, along with the new nature imparted in Christ, the old sin nature will still remain and is to be put to death daily until his earthly tabernacle is shed.
I believe that a Christian is to have a full assurance that they presently have eternal life, by believing the promise of God, born witness to by the resurrection of Christ, and that life being eternal, it can never end. To be without this is to trample on the blood of Christ, and can only mean that one is not honestly trusting that their sin debt has been fully paid.
I believe the Christian will grow into higher thoughts of Christ, lower thoughts of self, along with an ever growing measure of power over sin, all made possible by the work of the Holy Spirit. The motive for sanctification of a regenerate soul is at least threefold: 1) Christ having paid their sin debt, out of love for Him they no longer want to heap sin on Him, 2) Having a new Father comes with new desires, chief of which is to glorify God, for which the saint will now enjoy but a small taste of heaven, 3) Knowing they are partaking in the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, they take full advantage of all purifications offered by the King, in preparation for the wedding day.
I believe there is a personal enemy to the souls of men whose name is Satan or Lucifer. As a fallen angel he is much more powerful than man, but much less powerful than God. What he is allowed to do must first have the permission of God. Satan has his own counterfeit for many of the things of God (IE presumption vs assurance, remorse vs repentance, self-righteousness vs sanctification), but by comparing them to scripture they are all quite easily determined.
I believe the literal creation account of Genesis; that all was created in six literal twenty-four hour days, approximately six thousand years ago.
I believe that God uses men in weakness not in strength, that He alone may be glorified; and that there are more important things to concern ourselves with than whether we have some particular gift.
I believe that Christ’s second coming is imminent, and will be in two parts: 1) A secret rapture of the saved prior to the time of God’s wrath known as the tribulation period, 2) A return in power and glory after this period to set up His millennial reign for the duration of the seventh millennium.
I believe in a bodily resurrection of the saved and the lost; the saved to a literal, blessed, eternal life in heaven with Christ; the lost to a literal, fiery, eternal torment in the lake of fire separated from Christ.
For further clarification, please refer to The Fundamentals