100 CHAPTER I – ARTICLES OF FAITH
We believe the following are true to God’s Word and are the confessions of our Faith:
101 OF GOD
There is but one true and living God, an eternal Being, a Spirit without body, indivisible, of infinite power,
wisdom, and goodness, the Creator and Preserver of all things, visible and invisible. In this Godhead there is a
Trinity, of one substance and power, and coeternal, namely, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
102 OF JESUS CHRIST
The Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only begotten Son of God, was born of the Virgin Mary, grew into perfect
manhood and became acquainted with all the infirmities, temptations, and sorrows of men. In Him dwelt all the
fullness of the Godhead, so that, uniting Deity and humanity in one Christ, He is sole Mediator between God and
man. He gave His life a ransom for all and by His death on the cross made a full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice, and
redemption for the sins of the whole world. He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, wherein He abides, our
great High-Priest and King, and must reign until all things are put in subjection under Him.
103 OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
The Holy Spirit, proceeding from the Father and the Son, and of the same eternal nature, power, and glory, is
everywhere present with men to convict of sin, work newness of life in them that believe, and lead them into all
truth.
104 OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES
God has spoken the words in the Scripture, both Old and New Testament (39 Old Testament / 27 New
Testament canonical books), through the writing of human authors inspired by the Holy Spirit. As the inspired Word
of God, the Bible is without error in its original writing. It is the complete revelation of His will for salvation and the
ultimate authority by which every realm of human knowledge and endeavor should be judged. Therefore, it is to be
believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises.
105 OF HUMAN DEPRAVITY
All men have sinned, and they inherit a depravity of nature that is continually propagated in the entire race of
Adam. This corruption of nature so far removes them from the original righteousness of man that of themselves they
have no ability to recover from their fallen condition but are continually inclined to that which is evil.
106 OF ATONEMENT
We believe that Jesus Christ, by His sufferings, by the shedding of His own blood, and by His death on the
Cross made a full atonement for all human sin, and that this Atonement is the only ground of salvation, and that is
sufficient for every individual of Adam’s race.
107 OF SALVATION THROUGH CHRIST
Salvation is found in no one else but Jesus Christ, through the shedding of His blood, for there is no other name
under heaven, given to man, by which we must be saved.
108 OF REPENTANCE
Repentance is sorrow for sin, convicted in the heart by the power of the Holy Spirit. The awakened sinner is
thereby made to recognize the holiness of God, the righteousness of His law and the guilt and shame of his own
perverse nature. Thus deeply humbled, he turns unto God, asks forgiveness and forsakes his sins.
109 OF JUSTIFICATION
Justification is that act of God by which, when we yield ourselves in full confidence to our Savior, Jesus Christ,
we are freely acquitted from the guilt of sin and accounted righteous in His sight. We are accordingly justified, not
by works which we perform, but by faith in Him who died for us.
110 OF REGENERATION
Regeneration is that work of the Holy Spirit that instills in us the divine nature and newness of life in Christ
Jesus. The believer is born again, becoming a child of God, receives the spirit of adoption, and is made an heir of the
kingdom of heaven.
111 OF THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT
The witness of the Spirit is an inward impression on the soul, whereby the Spirit of God, the heavenly
Comforter, immediately convinces the regenerate believer that he has passed from death unto life, that his sins are
all forgiven, and that he is a child of God.
112 OF SANCTIFICATION
Sanctification is whereby believers have been set apart and made holy through Christ. They are called to
continue to mature and strive for holiness, cooperating with the indwelling Holy Spirit until they enjoy complete
conformity to Christ.
113 OF GOOD WORKS
The Holy Spirit instills within man love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. These show themselves in numerous outward acts displaying evidence of a living faith. Although such good
works cannot put away sin, they are pleasing and acceptable in the sight of God.
114 OF IMMORTALITY
The soul of man is immortal and, on its separation from the body at death, continues in a conscious state of
existence in the Spiritual realm. It either enters into Heaven or undergoes torment (Hell), according to its character
as formed and fixed in the present life.
115 OF THE RESURRECTION
Christ did truly rise from the dead and took again his own body and ascended into heaven. Likewise, all the
dead shall be raised up by the power of God through Christ, both the just and the unjust; but those who have
accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior shall come forth unto an eternal life of glory, and those who have not
accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior shall be condemned to everlasting punishment.
116 OF THE FINAL JUDGMENT
God has appointed a day in which He will judge all men by Jesus Christ, to whom is committed the judgment of
this world. We must all, accordingly, appear before the judgment seat of Christ who will judge in righteousness in
accordance with the gospel and our response thereto.
117 OF HEAVEN
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has provided for those who are redeemed by His grace a heavenly and eternal
rest, into which He purposes ultimately to gather them and dwell with them in unspeakable glory. There shall be no
more sorrow, pain, or death, and the glorified saints shall see God and walk in His light forever.
118 OF HELL
The irredeemable sinner, having rejected Christ and all the offers and opportunities of grace, is without God and
without hope in the world and makes himself a child of Satan. When he dies, his soul awakes to the torment of hell,
from which there is no promise or hope of deliverance, but the sentence of everlasting punishment prepared for the
devil and his angels.
119 OF THE CHURCH
The holy general church consists of the body of believers who confess the Lord Jesus Christ and have life in
Him. The individual church is a congregation or society of Christian believers, in which the pure worship of God is
maintained, His holy word is preached, and His commandments and ordinances are sacredly observed.
120 OF THE MINISTRY
The ministry of the gospel is a sacred office and calling, ordained by Christ for the proclamation of His truth in
all the world and for the orderly administration of the sacraments, the worship, and the Discipline of Cedarville
Emmanuel Church. No man may assume this office without the conviction of a divine call thereto and the
recognition and ratification of that call by the church.
121 OF BAPTISM
The sacrament of baptism is the formal application of water to a regenerate believer, in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, as a visible sign and seal that the person so consecrated stands in a holy
covenant relation to God and His people.
122 OF THE LORD’S SUPPER
The Lord’s Supper is not merely a token of love and union that Christians ought to have among themselves but
is a sacrament instituted in memory of the sufferings and death of Christ. The bread is the symbol of the body of
Christ and the cup is the symbol of the blood of Christ. Those who rightly and worthily receive these elements
acknowledge that the believer's salvation is solely through the broken body and the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
123 OF CHURCH POLITY
The Lord Jesus Christ ordained no particular form of government for His church, so that whatever form of
structure, rules, regulations, rites, and ceremonies are adopted and approved by common authority, and are not
repugnant to the Word of God, may be acknowledged as sufficient to constitute a true church of the living God.
Such structure, rules, rites, and ceremonies may be lawfully changed from time to time, as needed.
124 OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT
Civil government is an ordinance of God, grounded in the necessities of human nature and essential to the
maintenance of public order, the security of personal rights, and the punishment of evil-doers. It is the duty of all
men to be subject to the supreme authority of the country in which they reside and to respect and honor the civil
magistrates.
125 OF THE EVANGELIZATION OF THE WORLD
The gospel is designed for all nations, its field of operation is the whole world, and the church and people of
God are under solemn obligation to make known its saving truth and power to all non-believers. To this great work
we are impelled and encouraged by the command of the Lord and the promises and prophecies of the Holy
Scriptures.
We believe the following are true to God’s Word and are the confessions of our Faith:
101 OF GOD
There is but one true and living God, an eternal Being, a Spirit without body, indivisible, of infinite power,
wisdom, and goodness, the Creator and Preserver of all things, visible and invisible. In this Godhead there is a
Trinity, of one substance and power, and coeternal, namely, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
102 OF JESUS CHRIST
The Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only begotten Son of God, was born of the Virgin Mary, grew into perfect
manhood and became acquainted with all the infirmities, temptations, and sorrows of men. In Him dwelt all the
fullness of the Godhead, so that, uniting Deity and humanity in one Christ, He is sole Mediator between God and
man. He gave His life a ransom for all and by His death on the cross made a full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice, and
redemption for the sins of the whole world. He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, wherein He abides, our
great High-Priest and King, and must reign until all things are put in subjection under Him.
103 OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
The Holy Spirit, proceeding from the Father and the Son, and of the same eternal nature, power, and glory, is
everywhere present with men to convict of sin, work newness of life in them that believe, and lead them into all
truth.
104 OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES
God has spoken the words in the Scripture, both Old and New Testament (39 Old Testament / 27 New
Testament canonical books), through the writing of human authors inspired by the Holy Spirit. As the inspired Word
of God, the Bible is without error in its original writing. It is the complete revelation of His will for salvation and the
ultimate authority by which every realm of human knowledge and endeavor should be judged. Therefore, it is to be
believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises.
105 OF HUMAN DEPRAVITY
All men have sinned, and they inherit a depravity of nature that is continually propagated in the entire race of
Adam. This corruption of nature so far removes them from the original righteousness of man that of themselves they
have no ability to recover from their fallen condition but are continually inclined to that which is evil.
106 OF ATONEMENT
We believe that Jesus Christ, by His sufferings, by the shedding of His own blood, and by His death on the
Cross made a full atonement for all human sin, and that this Atonement is the only ground of salvation, and that is
sufficient for every individual of Adam’s race.
107 OF SALVATION THROUGH CHRIST
Salvation is found in no one else but Jesus Christ, through the shedding of His blood, for there is no other name
under heaven, given to man, by which we must be saved.
108 OF REPENTANCE
Repentance is sorrow for sin, convicted in the heart by the power of the Holy Spirit. The awakened sinner is
thereby made to recognize the holiness of God, the righteousness of His law and the guilt and shame of his own
perverse nature. Thus deeply humbled, he turns unto God, asks forgiveness and forsakes his sins.
109 OF JUSTIFICATION
Justification is that act of God by which, when we yield ourselves in full confidence to our Savior, Jesus Christ,
we are freely acquitted from the guilt of sin and accounted righteous in His sight. We are accordingly justified, not
by works which we perform, but by faith in Him who died for us.
110 OF REGENERATION
Regeneration is that work of the Holy Spirit that instills in us the divine nature and newness of life in Christ
Jesus. The believer is born again, becoming a child of God, receives the spirit of adoption, and is made an heir of the
kingdom of heaven.
111 OF THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT
The witness of the Spirit is an inward impression on the soul, whereby the Spirit of God, the heavenly
Comforter, immediately convinces the regenerate believer that he has passed from death unto life, that his sins are
all forgiven, and that he is a child of God.
112 OF SANCTIFICATION
Sanctification is whereby believers have been set apart and made holy through Christ. They are called to
continue to mature and strive for holiness, cooperating with the indwelling Holy Spirit until they enjoy complete
conformity to Christ.
113 OF GOOD WORKS
The Holy Spirit instills within man love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. These show themselves in numerous outward acts displaying evidence of a living faith. Although such good
works cannot put away sin, they are pleasing and acceptable in the sight of God.
114 OF IMMORTALITY
The soul of man is immortal and, on its separation from the body at death, continues in a conscious state of
existence in the Spiritual realm. It either enters into Heaven or undergoes torment (Hell), according to its character
as formed and fixed in the present life.
115 OF THE RESURRECTION
Christ did truly rise from the dead and took again his own body and ascended into heaven. Likewise, all the
dead shall be raised up by the power of God through Christ, both the just and the unjust; but those who have
accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior shall come forth unto an eternal life of glory, and those who have not
accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior shall be condemned to everlasting punishment.
116 OF THE FINAL JUDGMENT
God has appointed a day in which He will judge all men by Jesus Christ, to whom is committed the judgment of
this world. We must all, accordingly, appear before the judgment seat of Christ who will judge in righteousness in
accordance with the gospel and our response thereto.
117 OF HEAVEN
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has provided for those who are redeemed by His grace a heavenly and eternal
rest, into which He purposes ultimately to gather them and dwell with them in unspeakable glory. There shall be no
more sorrow, pain, or death, and the glorified saints shall see God and walk in His light forever.
118 OF HELL
The irredeemable sinner, having rejected Christ and all the offers and opportunities of grace, is without God and
without hope in the world and makes himself a child of Satan. When he dies, his soul awakes to the torment of hell,
from which there is no promise or hope of deliverance, but the sentence of everlasting punishment prepared for the
devil and his angels.
119 OF THE CHURCH
The holy general church consists of the body of believers who confess the Lord Jesus Christ and have life in
Him. The individual church is a congregation or society of Christian believers, in which the pure worship of God is
maintained, His holy word is preached, and His commandments and ordinances are sacredly observed.
120 OF THE MINISTRY
The ministry of the gospel is a sacred office and calling, ordained by Christ for the proclamation of His truth in
all the world and for the orderly administration of the sacraments, the worship, and the Discipline of Cedarville
Emmanuel Church. No man may assume this office without the conviction of a divine call thereto and the
recognition and ratification of that call by the church.
121 OF BAPTISM
The sacrament of baptism is the formal application of water to a regenerate believer, in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, as a visible sign and seal that the person so consecrated stands in a holy
covenant relation to God and His people.
122 OF THE LORD’S SUPPER
The Lord’s Supper is not merely a token of love and union that Christians ought to have among themselves but
is a sacrament instituted in memory of the sufferings and death of Christ. The bread is the symbol of the body of
Christ and the cup is the symbol of the blood of Christ. Those who rightly and worthily receive these elements
acknowledge that the believer's salvation is solely through the broken body and the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
123 OF CHURCH POLITY
The Lord Jesus Christ ordained no particular form of government for His church, so that whatever form of
structure, rules, regulations, rites, and ceremonies are adopted and approved by common authority, and are not
repugnant to the Word of God, may be acknowledged as sufficient to constitute a true church of the living God.
Such structure, rules, rites, and ceremonies may be lawfully changed from time to time, as needed.
124 OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT
Civil government is an ordinance of God, grounded in the necessities of human nature and essential to the
maintenance of public order, the security of personal rights, and the punishment of evil-doers. It is the duty of all
men to be subject to the supreme authority of the country in which they reside and to respect and honor the civil
magistrates.
125 OF THE EVANGELIZATION OF THE WORLD
The gospel is designed for all nations, its field of operation is the whole world, and the church and people of
God are under solemn obligation to make known its saving truth and power to all non-believers. To this great work
we are impelled and encouraged by the command of the Lord and the promises and prophecies of the Holy
Scriptures.