Who is God?
God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. There is but one only God, the living and true God. There are three persons in the Godhead: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.
Who are we?
God created man male and female, after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures. When God had created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him, upon condition of perfect obedience; forbidding him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, upon the pain of death. Our first parents, being, being left to the freedom of their own will, fell from the estate wherein they were created, by sinning against God.
What is sin?
Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God. The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself, but for his posterity; all mankind, descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him, in his first transgression. The fall brought mankind into an estate of sin and misery. The sinfulness of that estate where into man fell consists in the guilt of Adam's first sin, the want of original righteousness, and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called original sin; together with all actual transgressions which proceed from it.
What is grace?
God's gospel alone addresses our deepest need.
God, having out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the state of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer. Justification is an act of God's free grace, where he pardons all our sins and accepts us as righteous in his sight only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone. Through this, we are adopted by God's free grace, where we are recieved into the number, and have a right to all the privileges, of the sons of God.
Who is Jesus?
God's gospel is made known supremely in the Person of Jesus Christ.
Christ, the son of God, became man, by taking to himself a true body, and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and born of her, yet without sin. Christ, as our Redeemer, executes the office of a prophet by revealing to us by his word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation. Christ executes the office of a priest in his once offering up of himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice, and reconcile us to God; and in making continual intercession for us. Christ executes the office of a king in subduing us to himself in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies.
How do
God's gospel is accomplished through the work of Christ.
We believe that Jesus Christ, as our representative and substitute, shed His blood on the cross as the perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice for our sins. His atoning death and victorious resurrection constitute the only ground for salvation and being made right with God. (Rom. 3:21-26; Eph. 1:27; Heb. 7:22-28)
