|
PREAMBLE
In order that we may preserve our
God-given heritage, the faith once delivered to the saints,
especially the doctrine and experience of entire sanctification as
a second work of grace, and also that we may cooperate effectually
with other branches of the Church of Jesus Christ in advancing
God’s kingdom, we, the ministers and lay members of the Church of
the Nazarene, in accordance with the principles of constitutional
legislation established among us, do hereby ordain, adopt, and set
forth as the fundamental law or Constitution of the Church of the
Nazarene the Articles of Faith, the General Rules, and the Articles
of Organization and Government here following, to wit:
ARTICLES OF FAITHs
I. The Triune God
1. We believe in one eternally
existent, infinite God, Sovereign of the universe; that He only is
God, creative and administrative, holy in nature, attributes, and
purpose; that He, as God, is Triune in essential being, revealed as
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
(Genesis 1;
Leviticus 19:2; Deuteronomy 6:4-5; Isaiah 5:16; 6:1-7; 40:18-31;
Matthew 3:16-17; 28:19-20; John 14:6-27; 1 Corinthians 8:6; 2
Corinthians 13:14; Galatians 4:4-6; Ephesians 2:13-18)1
1Scripture
references are supportive of the Articles of Faith and were placed
here by action of the 1976 General Assembly but are not to be
considered as part of the Constitutional text.
II. Jesus Christ
2. We believe in Jesus Christ, the
Second Person of the Triune Godhead; that He was eternally one with
the Father; that He became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and was
born of the Virgin Mary, so that two whole and perfect natures,
that is to say the Godhead and manhood, are thus united in one
Person very God and very man, the God-man.
We believe that Jesus Christ died
for our sins, and that He truly arose from the dead and took again
His body, together with all things appertaining to the perfection
of man’s nature, wherewith He ascended into heaven and is there
engaged in intercession for us.
(Matthew
1:20-25; 16:15-16; Luke 1:26-35; John 1:1-18; Acts 2:22-36; Romans
8:3, 32-34; Galatians 4:4-5; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians
1:12-22; 1 Timothy 6:14-16; Hebrews 1:1-5; 7:22-28; 9:24-28; 1 John
1:1-3; 4:2-3, 15)
III. The Holy Spirit
3. We believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Third Person of the Triune Godhead, that He is ever present and
efficiently active in and with the Church of Christ, convincing the
world of sin, regenerating those who repent and believe,
sanctifying believers, and guiding into all truth as it is in
Jesus.
(John 7:39;
14:15-18, 26; 16:7-15; Acts 2:33; 15:8-9; Romans 8:1-27; Galatians
3:1-14; 4:6; Ephesians 3:14-21; 1 Thessalonians 4:7-8; 2
Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2; 1 John 3:24; 4:13)
IV. The Holy Scriptures
4. We believe in the plenary
inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, by which we understand the 66
books of the Old and New Testaments, given by divine inspiration,
inerrantly revealing the will of God concerning us in all things
necessary to our salvation, so that whatever is not contained
therein is not to be enjoined as an article of faith.
(Luke 24:44-47;
John 10:35; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; 1 Peter
1:10-12; 2 Peter 1:20-21)
V. Sin, Original and
Personal
5. We believe that sin came into
the world through the disobedience of our first parents, and death
by sin. We believe that sin is of two kinds: original sin or
depravity, and actual or personal sin.
5.1. We believe that original sin,
or depravity, is that corruption of the nature of all the offspring
of Adam by reason of which everyone is very far gone from original
righteousness or the pure state of our first parents at the time of
their creation, is averse to God, is without spiritual life, and
inclined to evil, and that continually. We further believe that
original sin continues to exist with the new life of the
regenerate, until [eradicated] the heart is fully cleansed by
the baptism with the Holy Spirit.2
5.2. We believe that original sin
differs from actual sin in that it constitutes an inherited
propensity to actual sin for which no one is accountable until its
divinely provided remedy is neglected or rejected.
5.3. We believe that actual or
personal sin is a voluntary violation of a known law of God by a
morally responsible person. It is therefore not to be confused with
involuntary and inescapable shortcomings, infirmities, faults,
mistakes, failures, or other deviations from a standard of perfect
conduct that are the residual effects of the Fall. However, such
innocent effects do not include attitudes or responses contrary to
the spirit of Christ, which may properly be called sins of the
spirit. We believe that personal sin is primarily and essentially a
violation of the law of love; and that in relation to Christ sin
may be defined as unbelief.
(Original sin:
Genesis 3; 6:5; Job 15:14; Psalm 51:5; Jeremiah 17:9-10; Mark
7:21-23; Romans 1:18-25; 5:12-14; 7:1-8:9; 1 Corinthians 3:1-4;
Galatians 5:16-25; 1 John 1:7-8)
(Personal sin:
Matthew 22:36-40 {with 1 John 3:4}; John 8:34-36; 16:8-9; Romans
3:23; 6:15-23; 8:18-24; 14:23; 1 John 1:9-2:4; 3:7-10)
VI. Atonement2
6. We believe that Jesus Christ,
by His sufferings, by the shedding of His own blood, and by His
[meritorious] death on the Cross, made a full atonement for all
human sin, and that this Atonement is the only ground of salvation,
and that it is sufficient for every individual of Adam’s race.
The Atonement is graciously efficacious for the salvation of the
irresponsible and for the children in innocency but is efficacious
for the salvation of those who reach the age of responsibility only
when they repent and believe.
(Isaiah 53:5-6,
11; Mark 10:45; Luke 24:46-48; John 1:29; 3:14-17; Acts 4:10-12;
Romans 3:21-26; 4:17-25; 5:6-21; 1 Corinthians 6:20; 2 Corinthians
5:14-21; Galatians 1:3-4; 3:13-14; Colossians 1:19-23; 1 Timothy
2:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 2:9; 9:11-14; 13:12; 1 Peter 1:18-21;
2:19-25; 1 John 2:1-2)
VII. [Free Agency] Prevenient
Grace2
7. We believe that the human
race’s creation in Godlikeness included ability to choose between
right and wrong, and that thus human beings were made morally
responsible; that through the fall of Adam they became depraved so
that they cannot now turn and prepare themselves by their own
natural strength and works to faith and calling upon God. But we
also believe that the grace of God through Jesus Christ is freely
bestowed upon all people, enabling all who will to turn from sin to
righteousness, believe on Jesus Christ for pardon and cleansing
from sin, and follow good works pleasing and acceptable in His
sight.
We believe that all persons,
though in the possession of the experience of regeneration and
entire sanctification, may fall from grace and apostatize and,
unless they repent of their sins, be hopelessly and eternally lost.
(Godlikeness
and moral responsibility: Genesis 1:26-27; 2:16-17; Deuteronomy
28:1-2; 30:19; Joshua 24:15; Psalm 8:3-5; Isaiah 1:8-10; Jeremiah
31:29-30; Ezekiel 18:1-4; Micah 6:8; Romans 1:19-20; 2:1-16;
14:7-12; Galatians 6:7-8
Natural
inability: Job 14:4; 15:14; Psalms 14:1-4; 51:5; John 3:6a; Romans
3:10-12; 5:12-14, 20a; 7:14-25
Free grace and
works of faith: Ezekiel 18:25-26; John 1:12-13; 3:6b; Acts 5:31;
Romans 5:6-8, 18; 6:15-16, 23; 10:6-8; 11:22; 1 Corinthians 2:9-14;
10:1-12; 2 Corinthians 5:18-19; Galatians 5:6; Ephesians 2:8-10;
Philippians 2:12-13; Colossians 1:21-23; 2 Timothy 4:10a; Titus
2:11-14; Hebrews 2:1-3; 3:12-15; 6:4-6; 10:26-31; James 2:18-22; 2
Peter 1:10-11; 2:20-22)
2Constitutional
changes adopted by the 2001 General Assembly are in the process of
ratification by the district assemblies at the time of printing.
Where changes are being made, words in italics are new words and
words in brackets [] are words being deleted.
VIII. Repentance
8. We believe that repentance,
which is a sincere and thorough change of the mind in regard to
sin, involving a sense of personal guilt and a voluntary turning
away from sin, is demanded of all who have by act or purpose become
sinners against God. The Spirit of God gives to all who will repent
the gracious help of penitence of heart and hope of mercy, that
they may believe unto pardon and spiritual life.
(2 Chronicles
7:14; Psalms 32:5-6; 51:1-17; Isaiah 55:6-7; Jeremiah 3:12-14;
Ezekiel 18:30-32; 33:14-16; Mark 1:14-15; Luke 3:1-14; 13:1-5;
18:9-14; Acts 2:38; 3:19; 5:31; 17:30-31; 26:16-18; Romans 2:4; 2
Corinthians 7:8-11; 1 Thessalonians 1:9; 2 Peter 3:9)
Part
2 >>>>
|
