The Bible
The entire Bible in its original writings is verbally inspired of God and is of plenary authority (II Tim. 3:16,17; II Pet. 1:21).

The Godhead
There is one God, eternally existing in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Deut. 6:4; I Tim. 2:5; Eph. 4:4-6; Matt. 28:19; II Cor. 13:14). God is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. His omnipotence means He is all-powerful over all of creation and He is able to do whatever He wills (Gen. 18:14; Job 42:2; Ps. 93:1; Mk. 10:27; Eph. 3:20). His omnipresence means that He is everywhere present at all times (I Ki. 8:27; Ps. 139:7-12; Jer. 23:23-24). His omniscience means that He has knowledge of all things, knowledge that is all inclusive, extending to all of creation throughout all time and all things both actual and possible, including the thoughts and actions of His created beings, past, present, and future (Job 40:2a; Ps. 139:16; 145:5; Isa. 40:13-14).

The Person of Christ
Jesus Christ was begotten by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, and is true God and true Man, and lived a sinless life in obedience to the Father (Luke 1:35; Phil. 2:6-9; Rom. 1:3,4; II Cor. 5:21; Col. 2:9; Heb. 4:15).

The Condition of Lost Mankind
All human beings are by nature dead in trespasses and sins and are, therefore, totally unable by their own wisdom or strength to do anything pleasing to God (Eph. 2:1-3; Rom. 3:9-18; Rom. 8:7; I Cor. 1:18-31).

Salvation

God justifies ungodly sinners by His Grace upon the ground of the shed blood of Christ, through the means of personal faith. This complete salvation is bestowed as a free gift of God apart from man’s works (Rom. 3:24-28; 5:1,9; Eph. 2:8,9).

Eternal Security
All the saved are eternally secure in Christ (Col. 3:1-4; Phil. 1:6; Rom. 8:1; 8:29-39; Eph. 1:13,14).

Personality and Work of the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is a Person Who convicts individuals of sin and Who regenerates, baptizes, seals, indwells, enlightens, and empowers believers (Titus 3:5; I Cor. 12:13; Eph. 1:13,17,18; 3:16).

The Church
In the present Dispensation there is only one true Church, called the Body of Christ (I Cor. 12:13; Eph. 1:22,23; 3:1-6), separate and distinct from the prophesied, earthly kingdom of Christ. The Body of Christ began with the Apostle Paul before he wrote his first epistle (I Thess. 2:14-16 cf. Acts 13:45,46; Phil. 1:5,6 cf. Acts 16; I Cor. 12:13,27 cf. Acts 18).

Gifts
The spiritual gifts necessary for the ministry of the Body of Christ are those enumerated in Ephesians 4:7-16. Of these, only the gifts of evangelists, pastors, and teachers are in operation today. The gifts of ministry, teaching, exhortation, giving, and showing of mercy as listed in Romans 12:7 and 8 as well as the gifts of helps and governments from I Corinthians 12:28 may also be considered operational today. All the sign gifts of the Acts period, such as tongues, prophecy, and healing (I Cor. 12:1-31), being temporary in character, have ceased (I Cor. 13:8-11).

Walk
By reason of Christ’s victory over sin and of His indwelling Spirit, all of the saved may and should experience deliverance from the power of sin by obedience to Romans 6:11. We deny that man’s sinful nature is ever eradicated during this life (Rom. 6:6-14; Gal. 5:16-25; Rom. 8:37; II Cor. 2:14; 10:2-5). As saints (Lit. “set-apart ones”) and members of the true Church (Lit. “called out ones”), we are to maintain a Christ-honoring testimony, separate from all forms of worldliness and apostasy, and to demonstrate obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ and love to all men (Rom. 12:1,2,9; II Cor. 6:14-18; Eph. 5:11; I Tim. 6:20,21).

Baptism
All saved persons have been made members of the Body of Christ by one divine baptism (I Cor. 12:13). By this one baptism, every member of the Body of Christ is identified with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. In light of the statement concerning the one baptism in Ephesians 4:5, the statements concerning baptism in Colossians 2:12 and Romans 6:3,4, and Paul’s statement in I Corinthians 1:17 that “Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel,” we affirm that water baptism has no place in God’s spiritual program for the Body of Christ in this Dispensation of Grace.

The Lord’s Supper
The communion of the Lord’s Supper as revealed through the Apostle Paul in I Corinthians 11:23-26 is for members of the Body of Christ to observe “until He comes.” There is no place in Scripture where the Lord’s Supper and water baptism are linked together as ordinances or as sacraments for the Church.

Resurrection
Jesus Christ was resurrected bodily from the dead (Luke 24:39-43). Based on I Corinthians 15:21, all men will have a bodily resurrection (Acts 24:15): the saved to everlasting glory and the unsaved to everlasting punishment (John 5:29; Rev. 20:11-15).

The Second Coming of Christ
The Rapture of the Church “which is His Body” and the Second Coming of Christ will be pre-millennial. He will come first to receive the members of His Body to Himself (I Thess. 4:13-18; Phil. 3:20,21), and later to receive His Millennial Kingdom, over which He will reign (Zech. 14:4,9; Acts 1:10,11; Rev. 19:11-16; 20:4-6). Because of the distinctive nature of the Body of Christ, the resurrection and Rapture of the Church which is His Body will take place before the Tribulation (Jer. 30:7; Matt. 24:15-31) at His appearing in the air (I Thess. 4:13-18; Phil. 3:20,21; Titus 2:13,14; I Cor. 15:51-53). The resurrection of the other saved dead will occur after the Tribulation (Rev. 20:4-6).

State of the Dead
Nowhere does Scripture extend any hope of salvation to the unsaved dead but instead reveals that they will ever continue to exist in a state of conscious suffering (Luke 16:23-28; Rev. 14:11; 20:14,15; Col. 3:6; Rom. 1:21-32; Phil. 3:19; II Thess. 1:9). The teachings of universalism, of probation after death, of annihilation of the unsaved dead, and of the unconscious state of the dead, saved or unsaved (Luke 16:23-28; Phil. 1:23; II Cor. 5:6-8), are to be opposed as being thoroughly unscriptural and dangerous doctrines.

Mission
The mission and commission of the Church which is His Body is to proclaim the message of reconciliation (II Cor. 5:14-21) and to preach Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the Mystery (Rom. 16:25; Eph. 3:8,9) with all boldness. In this we should follow the example of the Apostle Paul (I Cor. 4:16; 11:1; Phil. 3:17; 4:9; I Tim. 1:11-16). That distinctive message which the Apostle of the Gentiles (Rom. 11:13; 15:16) calls “my gospel” (Rom. 2:16; 16:25) is also called “the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). We, like Paul, must preach the entire Word of God in the light of “this gospel” (II Tim. 4:2; Gal. 1:8,9) and strive to reach those in the regions beyond where Christ is not yet named (Rom. 15:20; II Cor. 10:16).

Human Sexuality
We believe that for the good of mankind God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage relationship between a man and a woman, and that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, incest, fornication, adultery, or pornography are sinful perversions of God’s gift of sex and therefore unacceptable behavior for anyone professing to be saved through personal faith in Jesus Christ (Gen. 2:24; 19:5,13; 26:8,9; Lev. 18:1-30; Rom. 1:26-29; I Cor. 5:1; 6:9; Gal. 5:19; Eph. 5:1-7; Col. 3:2-5; I Thess. 4:1-8; Titus 2:11-14; 3:3-8; Heb. 13:4).

Gender

We believe as stated in Scripture that God creates each new life as either male or female (Genesis 5:2; Mt. 19:4). A person’s gender is documented at birth and is the biological sex of that person that God intended throughout his or her life (Psalm 139:13-16).

Marriage 

We believe that the only legitimate marriage relationship is the joining together of one man and one woman as husband and wife (Gen. 2:24; Rom. 7:2; I Cor. 7:10; Eph. 5:22,23).

Spiritual Authority

We believe that men and women are spiritually equal in position before God but that God has ordained distinct and separate spiritual functions for men and women. Husbands are to be the leaders in the home and men are to be the leaders in evangelism, pastoring, and teaching. Accordingly, only men are to be leaders and serve as directors of the Berean Bible Institute or be eligible for licensure to the Gospel ministry by the Institute (Gal. 3:28; Col. 3:18; I Tim. 2:8-15; 3:4,5,12).

Abortion
Human life begins at conception and the unborn child is a living human being. Abortion constitutes the unjustified, unexcused taking of unborn human life and is therefore considered to be murder. We reject any teaching that abortions of pregnancies due to rape, incest, birth defects, gender selection, birth or population control, or the mental well-being of the mother are acceptable (Job 3:16; Ps. 51:5; 139:14-16; Isa. 44:24; 49:1,5; Jer. 1:5; 20:15-18; Luke 1:44).

Lawsuits Between Believers
Believers are prohibited by Scripture from bringing civil lawsuits against other believers to resolve personal disputes and that any such disputes should be resolved by the individuals involved according to the governing principles found in the Bible (I Cor. 6:1-8; Eph. 4:31,32).

Giving
All believers, as stewards of that portion of God’s wealth entrusted to them, are expected by God to financially support other ministries and/or organizations of similar beliefs, whose purpose is compatible with the purpose of any such local church, through offerings that are freely given with a willing and cheerful attitude. We also believe that upon transfer of any offering or gift to a local church or compatible ministry or organization, the believer relinquishes all rights to direct the use of such offerings or gifts except that of general furtherance of the work of the local church or compatible ministry or organization (I Cor. 16:1-3; II Cor. 9:6,7; Gal. 6:6; Eph. 4:28; I Tim. 5:17,18).