We teach that God has revealed Himself to mankind by two methods; General Revelation, and Special Revelation. The former is His revealing Himself continuously to all people through His works and actions in the creation and governance of the universe. (Rom 1:20, Ps 19:1, Dan 4:35, Rev 4:11) The latter, Special Revelation, is God’s revealing Himself through His Word. This has been delivered in an inerrant and complete form by the Holy Spirit to certain people, as the very word of God. (II Pet 1: 21). It has been written or orated and supernaturally preserved and faithfully produced in the sixty six canonical books of the Bible. Today we have the infallible, inerrant Word Of God in these sixty six books and it is the final authority for faith and practice for all believers (II Tim 3:16-17).

In Old Testament time God spoke to people by voice (Gen 3:8-9, 13:14), Theophany plus voice (Gen 17:1), dreams (Gen. 28:12-13) and visions (Gen 46: 1-4). He spoke indirectly through human agents (Jer 18:18) that included Holy Prophets (Heb 1:1), high priests (Num. 27:21) and certain wise men (Dan 5:11).

In the New Testament, God revealed Himself through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ (Heb 1:1-2, I Tim 3:16), dreams and visions (Mt 2:12;22, Acts 10:10-16) and through men who were called and chosen. (Eph 4:20-21, Jn 16: 12-15, Rev:1:1-2).

Today, God speaks to us through His Living Word, which is divine in its origin and faithfully preserved (Heb. 1:1-3; Jn. 1:1-2, II Pet. 1:19).

We teach that there is only one God (Duet 6:4) and that He is not dependant upon anything outside of Himself for His existence. (Ex 3:14). He is the source of all life (Ps 36:9) and the creator and sustainer of all natural life. (Ps 104, Acts 17:24-28). He is also the source of all spiritual life (I Jn 5:11).

God has revealed the following attributes of Himself:

He is immutable in His substance (Ps 102: 25-27), in His will and purpose (Rom. 11:25) and in His Word (Num. 23:19).

He is perfect (Mtt. 5:48). He is eternal (Is 57:15, I Tim. 1:17) and limitless in His immensity (Is. 66: 1, Acts 7:48-49). He is omnipresent (Ps 139:7-10), omnipotent (Ps. 33:6-9, Is. 40:26) and omniscient (Job 37:16, Ps 147:5, Acts 15:18).

God is absolute in Truth (Jer. 10:10, I Jn. 5:20), and faithfulness (Ps 119:86; 138, Heb. 10:23). God is Holy (Is. 57:15, Ex. 5:11, I Sam 2:2) and completely apart from and without sin (Hab. 1:12-13, I Jn. 1:5) This means He is completely Righteous (Rom. 3:26, I Jn 2:29) and Just (Dan. 9:14, II Tim. 4:8). There is no contradiction in the fact that God is good (Nah. 1:7), in that He is Merciful (I Tim. 1:12-13), Gracious (Rom. 5;15, Tit. 2:11) and yet has a righteous hatred of sin (Ps. 5;5; 11:5, Rom.9:13). God is long-suffering (Ex 34:6, Rom. 2:4) and is Sovereign over all and in all His ways (Ps. 103:19; 47:2; Is. 46:10).

Though God is one (Duet. 6:4), he exists within the unity of the Godhead as three distinct, eternal and co-equal persons (Gen. 1:26, Matt. 28:19, I Jn. 5:7). This is known as the trinity. Each person of the trinity is God and is distinct in its personhood. These are:
The Father (Jn. 6:27), The Son (Jn. 20:28) and the Holy Spirit (Matt 12:28).

The known works of God are His Creation (Jn. 1:3), His Preservation of His creation (Heb. 1:3), His predestination, which is His determining of what will come to pass (Eph. 1:4) and His providence, which is his continuous work whereby He makes all things work out for His purpose (Jn. 5:17).

Christ is eternally pre-existent (Mic. 5:2, Is. 9:6). He was incarnated as a human through the miraculous conception via the working of the Holy Spirit (Lk. 1:35), through the virgin Mary (Gal 4:4). The purpose for this includes providing an example for human conduct (I Pet. 2:21), a clear revelation of God to man (Jn. 1:18), the provision of a sacrifice for sin (I Jn. 3:8), to defeat the works of the devil (Jn. 3:8). and to set humanity free from the bondage of sin (Jn. 8:36).

Christ, at his incarnation, and his 33 years upon the earth was unbroken and ceaseless in His Hypostatic Union in that He was fully man and fully God. (Heb 1:3). In His humanity, he was made up of body, soul and spirit (Matt. 26:38). He was completely unable to sin (Heb. 4:15).

Christ’s deity was proclaimed by Himself in His own statements of equality with God the Father (Matt 26:63). Scripture also ascribes names for the Father to Him: God (Jn 1:1), Son of God (Lk. 1:35), Lord (Isa. 40:3-4) and the Word (Jn. 1). Further, His works testify to His deity (Col. 1:17, Acts 17:31). This is further evidenced by His display of knowledge that can only be held by God. (Jn 1:48).

His work on earth culminated in His death upon the cross and subsequent burial and resurrection. This was the performance of that which He alone was able to do; provide atonement for sin and forgiveness for it. (Jn 3:16; Lk. 5:20-21; 7:47-47.) This act can be summarised by the following attributes:

• Vicarious punishment and suffering (I Peter 2:24)
• Propitiatory offering (Rom. 3:25)
• Sufficiency (I Tim. 4:10)
• Reconciliatory (Col. 2:14)
• Atoning (Rom. 5:1)
• Voluntary (Jn. 10:17)
• Bodily resurrection (I Cor. 15)
• Ascension (Acts 1:9-10; Eph. 8:4-10)

His present ministry includes the act of offering intercessory prayers for the saints as our High Priest at the right hand of the Father (Heb. 7:25), preparation of an eternal home for true believers (Jn. 14:3), building His Church which is His body (Mt. 16:18), answering the prayers of His saints (Jn. 14:14) and providing special help for our needs. (Heb. 4:16).
His work as Intercessor is preventative (Jn. 17:15) and as advocate is remedial (I Jn. 2:1-2). The combination of the two provide guarantee and security for a believer’s salvation (Heb. 7:25)

His future ministry will include the eradication of evil and His reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. (ITim. 1:17; 6:15)

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity and is in all points equal with the other members of the Godhead. The fact of His personhood is indicated by the personal pronouns used to describe Him (Acts 13:2) and the fact that He can be affected as only a person could by examples such as being lied to (Acts 5:3), being obeyed (Acts 10:19-21) and His being grieved (Eph 4:30). Further, personal works are ascribed to Him such as teaching (Jn. 14:26), convicting (Jn. 16:8), helping (Jn. 14:16) and bearing witness (Rom. 8:26).

His works include:

• Creation (Gen 1:2)
• Incarnation (Lk. 1:35)
• Resurrection of Christ (Heb. 9:14)
• Inspiration of scripture (II Pet. 1:21)
• Illumination (I Cor. 2:10-12)
• Conception of the Church (Acts 2:1-4)
• Conviction (Jn. 16:8-11)
• Regeneration (Tit. 3:5)
• Indwelling: Temporary in the Old Testament (Ps. 51:11) Permanent in New Testament (Jn. 14:16-17)
• Sealing (Eph. 1:13)
• Baptism (I Cor. 12:13)
• Filling (Eph. 5:18)
• Teaching (I Jn. 2:27)
• Prayer (Rom. 8:26, 27)
• Gifting (I Cor. 12:1-3)

In relation to the last point, the gifts that the Holy Spirit imparts to believers are for the intended purpose of service and ministry to one another through the Church. (Rom. 12:6-8; I Cor. 12-14; Eph. 3: 7-16; I Peter 4:10).

The gifts referred to as ‘sign gifts’ such as healing through human agents, tongues, apostleship and prophecy have ceased. (I Cor. 13:8-11).