ARTICLES OF FAITH
1. The Scriptures: The
Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and records God’s revelation of
Himself to man. It’s the infallible source of all divine truth. God is its
author, salvation its end and its contents are 100% accurate. It reveals the principles God uses to judge us
and will remain to the end of the world the ultimate standard used to evaluate
the correctness of all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions. Jesus
Christ is the foundation of all Biblical principles.
2. God: There is one
and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal
Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is
infinite in holiness and in all other perfections. To Him we owe the highest
love, reverence and obedience. The eternal God reveals Himself to us as Father,
Son and Holy Spirit with distinct personal attributes but without division of
nature, essence or being.
(a) God the Father:
God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures,
and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His
grace. He is all powerful, all loving, and all wise. God is Father in truth to
those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly
in His attitude toward all men.
(b) God the Son:
Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ, He was
conceived of Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed
and did the will of God, taking upon Himself the demands and necessities of
human nature and identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without sin.
He honored the divine law by His personal obedience and in His death on the
cross, He made provision for the redemption of men from sin. He was raised from
the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who
was with them before His crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now
exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, partaking of the
nature of God and of man, and in whose person is effected the reconciliation
between God and man. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and
to consummate His redemptive mission. He now dwells in all believers as the
living and ever present Lord.
(c) God the Holy
Spirit: The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. He inspired holy men of old to
write the Scriptures. Through illumination He enables men to understand truth.
He exalts Christ. He convicts of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He
calls men to the Savior, and effects regeneration. He cultivates Christian
character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they
serve God through His church. He seals the believer unto the day of final
redemption. His presence in the Christian is the assurance of God to bring the
believer into the fullness of the stature of Christ. He enlightens and empowers
the believer and the church in worship, evangelism and service.
3. Man: Man is the
special creation of God, made in His own image. He created them male and female
as the crowning work of His creation. The gift of gender is thus a part of the
goodness of God’s creation. In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was
endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice. Through the temptation of Satan
man transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original innocence;
whereby his posterity inherits a nature and an environment inclined toward sin.
Therefore as soon as they are capable of moral action, they become
transgressors and are under condemnation. Only the grace of God can bring man
into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God.
The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man in His
own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore every man possesses
dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love. (Amended 10-4-2006)
4. Salvation:
Salvation is only through personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord. Salvation
involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who
accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal
redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes
regeneration, sanctification, and glorification. (Amended 10-4-2006)
(a) Regeneration:
Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God’s grace whereby believers
become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the
Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in
repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith
are inseparable experiences of grace. Repentance is a genuine turning from sin
toward God. Faith is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and commitment of the
entire personality to him as Lord and Savior. Justification is God’s gracious
and full acquittal upon principles of His righteousness of all sinners who
repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer into a
relationship of peace and favor with God.
(b) Sanctification:
Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which the
believer is set apart to God’s purposes, and is enabled to progress toward
moral and spiritual perfection through the presence and power of the Holy
spirit dwelling in him. Growth in grace should continue throughout the
regenerate person’s life.
©) Glorification:
Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and
abiding state of the redeemed.
5. God’s Purpose of
Grace: Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He
regenerates, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners. It is consistent with the free
agency of man, and comprehends all the means in connection with the end. It is
a glorious display of God’s sovereign goodness and is infinitely wise, holy and
unchangeable. It excludes boasting and promotes humility.
6.All true believers
endure to the end. Those whom God accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His
Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to
the end. Believers may fall into sin through neglect, and temptation, whereby
they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, bring reproach on the
cause of Christ, and temporal judgments on themselves, yet they shall be kept
by the power of God through faith unto salvation.
7. The Lord’s Supper: The
Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby believers in Christ,
through partaking of the bread and of the fruit of the vine, memorialize the
death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming. (Amended 10-4-2006)
8. The Kingdom: The
Kingdom of God includes both His general sovereignty over the universe and His
particular kingship over men who willfully acknowledge Him as King.
Particularly the Kingdom is the realm of salvation into which men enter by
trustful, childlike commitment to Jesus Christ. Christians ought to pray and to
labor that the Kingdom may come and God’s will be done on earth. The full
consummation of the Kingdom awaits the return of Jesus Christ and the end of
this age.
11. Last Things: God,
in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate
end. According to His promise, Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly
in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised, and Christ will judge all men
in righteousness. The unrighteous will be consigned to hell, the place of
everlasting punishment. The righteous in their resurrected and glorified bodies
will receive their reward and will dwell forever in heaven with the Lord.
12. Marriage: Marriage
has been instituted by God and is defined by God as an exclusive covenantal
union of one man and one woman for a life time.
13. Human Sexuality:
Legitimate sexual relations are exercised solely within marriage.
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Pilgrim's Progress Today believes every Christian is given unique spiritual gifts and wisdom through the power of the Holy Spirit to perform specific tasks to fulfill God's purposes . We welcome comments that are spoken in Truth and Love that help build up the Body of Christ.
"Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work." (Ephesians 4:15-16)
We also welcome comments from non-believers on the condition that they are written in a respectful and courteous manner.