We believe that the Bible is the divinely inspired written Word of
God. Human authors, carried along and directed by the Holy Spirit,
produced God’s perfectly intended Word to mankind. God has given us
His Word as a gift of special revelation, whereby Christians, aided by
the Holy Spirit, are to understand it, follow its teachings, and apply
them to their daily lives.

The canon of Scripture consists of the sixty-six books of the Old and
New Testaments and is infallible and without error in the original
manuscripts. Scripture is wholly and objectively true and trustworthy
in all it affirms and teaches. It is the supreme and final authority
in all matters of faith and conduct. It is the standard by which all
claims of truth, righteousness, and goodness are measured. In those
matters not directly addressed by the Scriptures, what is true, what
is right, and what is good are measured and judged by the principles
and teachings of Scripture, rightly interpreted.

(2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21; Psalms 119:16; John 17:17; Hebrews 4:12; Matthew 24:35)

We believe that there is but one living and true God, eternally
existing in three coequal and consubstantial Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each is fully divine in all attributes, eternal,
uncreated, and distinct, but without division of nature, essence, or
being; each fully and equally deserving worship, obedience, and glory.

(Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14; John 14:16-17; 1 Corinthians 12:4-6; Ephesians 4:4-6; Matthew 3:16-17; John 15:26)

We believe in God the Father, the first Person of the Trinity, who is
the Creator of all things. He is sovereign, good, and reigns with
providential care over all creation. He is holy, eternal, all-knowing,
all-wise, all-powerful, and self-existent, yet personal and merciful
in His dealings with mankind. As a gracious Father, He saves and
adopts as sons and daughters those who come to Him through faith in
His Son, Jesus Christ.

(Isaiah 64:8; Psalm 103:13; Matthew 6:9; Ephesians 1:5; Romans 8:15; Colossians 1:16-17; Ephesians 4:6)

We believe in Jesus Christ, the second Person of the Trinity, who is
eternal God and possesses all the divine perfections and attributes.
He is God’s only begotten Son, conceived of the Holy Spirit and born
of the Virgin Mary. In Him, two whole, perfect, and distinct
natures—the divine and the human—were joined together in one person.
He is, therefore, fully God and fully man, yet one Christ.

He is the one and only mediator between God and man. Apart from Him,
no one will be saved. We believe in His substitutionary atoning death,
His bodily resurrection and ascension, and His future visible return
to earth.

(Colossians 2:9; John 1:14; 1 Timothy 2:5; Philippians 2:6-8; Acts 4:12; Matthew 24:30)

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity, who is
fully God and possesses all the divine perfections and attributes of
God. The Holy Spirit is not merely a force or a power but a distinct
divine Person who thinks, wills, speaks, directs, and can be grieved
and resisted.

He is the sovereign One who regenerates and renews the souls of
people, baptizing them into the body of Christ. He indwells every
believer in Christ and guides, teaches, leads, gifts, empowers,
sanctifies, and conforms them to the image of Christ.

(ohn 14:26; Titus 3:5; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Galatians 5:22-23; Romans 8:14; Ephesians 4:30)

We believe that man was created by God in His own image, establishing
mankind as unique in all of creation. Through one man, Adam, sin
entered the world and corrupted all of humanity. All human beings are
thus born with a sinful nature and are sinners by nature and by
choice, Jesus Christ being the one exception.


As sinners, man incurs the penalty, or wages, of sin, which is
death—both physical and spiritual—and is under the wrath of God. In
his sinful state, man is condemned and lost and, in his own power
apart from God’s grace, is unable to be reconciled or redeemed.


But God, being merciful and full of grace, made a way of salvation
through the perfect life and atoning sacrifice of His Son, Jesus
Christ. Salvation is wholly of God’s grace through the redemptive work
of Jesus Christ on the cross and not based on any merit or works of
man.

We believe that all who repent of their sin and believe in Jesus
Christ, trusting Him alone for their salvation, will be saved. They
are made a new creation, called from darkness into His marvelous
light, and will inherit the joy and blessings of eternal life.

(Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 3:23-24; Romans 6:23; 2 Corinthians 5:17; John 3:16-17; 1 Peter 2:9)

We believe God has ordained the family as the foundational institution
of human society. It is composed of people related to one another by
blood, marriage, or the gift of adoption.


Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in a covenant
relationship for a lifetime. The husband and wife are of equal worth
before God, as both are created in God’s image.


A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. He has the
God-given responsibility to protect, provide for, and lead his family.
A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of
her husband, even as the church willingly submits to the headship of
Christ. She has the God-given responsibility to respect her husband
and to serve as his helper in managing the household and nurturing the
next generation.


Children, from the moment of conception, are fellow image-bearers of
God and a blessing and heritage from the Lord. Parents are to model
Christlikeness in their marriage as an example for their children to
follow. They are to teach them the Scriptures and all of its
principles, raising them up in the discipline and instruction of the
Lord. Children are to honor and obey their parents in the Lord.

We believe that mankind was created by God as either male or female,
distinct sexes that are biologically defined and divinely imparted to
each individual at conception. Attempting to confuse the two sexes is
an abomination to God.

(Genesis 1:27-28; Matthew 19:4-6; Ephesians 5:22-25; Psalm 127:3; Ephesians 6:4; Deuteronomy 22:5; Ephesians 6:1-3)

We believe that all who are saved by grace through faith in Jesus
Christ are baptized by the Holy Spirit into one spiritual body called
the church. The church is the body of Christ and the Bride of Christ,
with Christ as its Head and supreme authority. The church exists to
serve and glorify Jesus Christ, to represent Him on the earth, and to
advance the gospel and the Kingdom of God.


The church gathers regularly in local assemblies to learn and teach
the Word of God, worship together, practice the ordinances established
for the church, enjoy fellowship, and exercise spiritual gifts,
building one another up in love.


All believers are given spiritual gifts by the Holy Spirit to glorify
Jesus Christ and to build up His church. There are various gifts
listed in the New Testament that are distributed as the Holy Spirit
wills. Though the gifts are available to all, God has reserved the
role of elder (overseer, shepherd, pastor) for men alone.

(Ephesians 1:22-23; 1 Corinthians 12:12-13; Ephesians 5:25-27; Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 2:42; 1 Peter 4:10-11)

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has established two ordinances
for the local church: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We believe that
Christian baptism is the immersion of the believer in water in the
name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is an act of faith and
obedience to Christ, symbolizing the death of the believer to sin and
their resurrection to new life in Christ.


We believe that the Lord’s Supper was instituted by Christ for the
commemoration and proclamation of His death. It should always be
preceded by careful and sober self-examination to avoid taking it in
an unworthy manner. In the Lord’s Supper, the elements represent the
body and blood of Christ, but in the consumption of those elements,
the believer comes into real communion with the risen Christ who
dwells in all believers and is present with them. These two ordinances
should be observed and administered by the church until Christ
returns.

(Matthew 28:19; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; 1 Corinthians 11:28; John 6:56; Matthew 26:29)

We believe in the personal and visible return of the Lord Jesus Christ
to earth and the establishment of His kingdom for eternity. We believe
in the resurrection of the dead: of the righteous in Christ to eternal
life, and of the wicked unbeliever to eternal death and separation
from God.

God will bring about this day in His own time according to His perfect
will. No one knows the day or hour but the Father.

(Matthew 24:30; Acts 1:11; John 5:28-29; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; Matthew 24:36; Revelation 20:12-13)

These five statements of the evangelical faith lay at the center of what distinguished the theology of the Reformation from the theology of the Roman Catholic church in the 16th century. Sola scriptura is the belief that because Scripture is God’s inspired Word, it is the only inerrant, sufficient, and final authority for the church. Solus Christus is the assertion that Christ alone is the basis on which the ungodly are justified in God’s sight. Sola fide maintains that the believer receives the redemption Christ has accomplished only through faith. Sola gratia proclaims that all of our salvation, from beginning to end, is by grace and grace alone. Because of these things, the Reformers held fast to the phrase soli Deo gloria, that only God receives glory for our salvation.

The five solas form the nucleus of the evangelical faith. They not only capture the gospel of Jesus Christ and explain how that gospel takes root in the sinner, but they also define where the authority of that gospel resides and to what end that gospel is preached and proclaimed. Although the phrase “five solas” may be more recent in its usage, the concepts are rooted in the 16th century Reformation. These five solas distinguished Reformers like Martin Luther, Philip Melanchthon, John Calvin, and so many others from the teachings of Rome. But at the heart of this divide was not merely a theological dispute, but a celebration of the gospel itself. The reformers were willing to lay their lives down for these solas first and foremost because they believed the gospel itself was at stake.

Sola Scriptura

Sola scriptura, sometimes referred to as the formal principle of the Reformation, is the belief that “only Scripture, because it is God’s inspired Word, is our inerrant, sufficient, and final authority for the church” (God’s Word Alone, 23). Notice, the basis of sola scriptura is Scripture’s inspired nature. As Paul says, “All Scripture is breathed-out by God” (2 Tim. 3:16–17). That cannot be said of church tradition, councils, or church leaders, as important as they all may be. While Scripture may have many human authors, it has one divine author. The Holy Spirit, Peter tells us, carried along the biblical authors so that what they said, God himself said (2 Pet. 1:21), down to the very words.

For that reason, Scripture is also inerrant, inerrancy being a corollary of inspiration. Inerrancy means that Scripture is true, without error, in all that it asserts. As the Holy Spirit carried along the biblical authors, he ensured that their human words reflected his own holy character. Hence Scripture is truth because God himself is truth. It is, after all, God’s Word. Inerrancy is essential not only because it provides warrant for our assurance, giving us every reason to believe Scripture is trustworthy, but inerrancy also distinguishes Scripture from all other fallible authorities. Scripture alone is our infallible, inerrant authority.

Last, sola scriptura means that only Scripture is our sufficient authority. Not only does Paul say all Scripture is God-breathed, but on that basis, Scripture is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” Or as the Belgic Confession says so well, “We believe that those Holy Scriptures fully contain the will of God, and that whatsoever man ought to believe unto salvation is sufficiently taught therein.”

Sola Scriptura teaches us, in the end, that all other authorities in the Christian life serve underneath Scripture, while Scripture alone rules over other authorities, for it alone is God’s inspired, inerrant, and sufficient word.

Solus Christus

Scripture, as the Christian’s final authority, is a gift from God. It is a gift because in Scripture we are given Jesus Christ himself. God would have been perfectly just and holy to leave us in our sin and condemnation. But our great God stooped down so low as to speak a saving word to us lost sinners, a word that reached its pinnacle in the living Word, the Lord Jesus himself (John 1:1).

Our temptation is to think, however, that there is something in ourselves, even in the slightest, that can contribute to our redemption. Perhaps it’s obedience to the law, or perhaps it’s good works that spring from faith itself. But Scripture counters: “None is righteous, no, not one” (Rom 3:10). God and God alone can save us.

The Father has done just that by sending his Son to “become flesh” (John 1:14) to represent us, substituting himself on our behalf. Whereas we failed to keep the law, Christ obeyed the law for us; whereas we deserve the penalty for breaking the law, Christ died for us. Christ fulfilled the law we could not keep, and he bore the wrath of God that we deserve (Rom. 3:21–26). And he did so in full. As that old hymn says, “Jesus paid it all.” That means, then, that the work of Christ, and Christ alone, is the basis on which the ungodly are justified in God’s sight.

Sola Fide

But how does the believer receive the redemption Christ has accomplished? Through faith and faith alone. Rather than trusting in ourselves, we trust in another: Jesus Christ.

The Reformers loved to talk about a “great, marvelous exchange.” Christ has taken our sin and its penalty on the cross. What have we received in exchange? The perfect, spotless, righteousness of Christ. Not only have we been forgiven, and our debt been paid in full but imputed to our account is Christ’s perfect record of obedience.

That means, then, that God declares us right with him not on the basis of something in us but only on the basis of an alien righteousness, a righteousness that is extra nos, outside ourselves. Of course, it is none other than the righteousness of Christ (2 Cor. 5:21; Phil. 3:9). Faith, then, is the instrument through which we receive this alien righteousness. Through faith in Christ that blessed status in Christ, which God alone can give, is reckoned to us. Hence Paul warns Christians that no one will be justified by works of the law but only through faith in Christ (Gal. 2:15–3:14).

Sola Gratia

If the work of Christ is the basis of our right standing before God, and if we are justified by God not on the basis of our works but only through faith in the works of his Son, then it follows that our salvation is by grace and by grace alone.

Sola gratia, however, is not limited to our justification, but spans all of salvation from start to finish. In fact, the grace that saves us is, as John Newton so famously sung, “amazing,” because it does not originate with us at all but stems from God’s mercy in eternity. As Paul says, God “chose us in him [Christ] before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4).

“But wait a minute,” you might say, “Surely my will and my choice must be the determining factor.” Not according to Paul: God’s election “depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy” (Rom. 9:16) His choice, in short, is not conditioned on us; that would give us reason to boast. Rather, his electing grace is unconditional.

And if his grace in eternity is so free, then so too must his grace be unconditional when applied by the Holy Spirit. The God who has chosen us by grace alone, is the one who alone can call us out of darkness into the light of his own Son (effectual calling; John 6) and raise us from spiritual death to spiritual life (regeneration; John 3). His grace is not synergistic, as if it depends on our will for its success. No, it is monergistic, for he alone works to bring us dead, lifeless sinners to new life in his Son. Moreover, he alone can grant us the faith that believes and work such belief within us so that we embrace Christ as our Savior and Lord (Acts 13:48–50; Eph. 2:8–10; Phil. 1:29–30; 2 Pet. 1:1).

Soli Deo Gloria

Only if our salvation is by grace alone will God alone receive all the glory. If there is something of our own we can claim, then we no longer boast in Christ alone. But if he is the author and finisher of our salvation then he alone is to be magnified for his sovereign grace. As Christians, these solas should cultivate an attitude of total humility. Whether it is in our secular vocations or our praise on a Sunday morning, to God alone be the glory.