New Birmingham Statement of Faith

THE FOUNDATION -- That the book currently known as the Bible, consisting of the Scriptures of Moses, the prophets, and the apostles, is the only source of knowledge concerning God and His purposes at present extant or available in the earth, and that the same were wholly given by inspiration of God in the writers, and are consequently without error in all parts of them, except such as may be due to errors of transcription or translation. (This paragraph was added in 1886.)

2 Tim. 3:16; 1 Cor. 2:13; Heb. 1:1; 2 Pet. 1:21; 1 Cor. 14:37; Neh. 9:30; John 10:35.

1 That the only true God is He Who revealed Himself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob through angelic visitations and visions, to Moses at the burning bush and at Sinai, and most fully in the Lord Jesus Christ. This God is the supreme self-existent Deity, the ONE FATHER, who dwells in unapproachable light but is not an abstract or purely spiritual being. Rather, He is corporeal, possessing a tangible and substantial form. While He is omnipresent through His Spirit, which is a unity with His corporeal person in heaven, His essence is beyond human comprehension. Out of His own underived energy, He created heaven and earth and all that is within them.

Isa. 40:13-25; 43:10-12; 44:6-8; 45:5; 46:9-10; Job 38-40; Deut. 6:1-4; Mark 12:29-32; 1 Cor. 8:4-6; Eph. 4:6; 1 Tim. 2:5; Neh. 9:6; Job 26:13; Psa. 124:8; 146:6; 148:5; Isa. 40:25-27; Jer. 10:12-13; 27:5; 32:17-25; 51:15; Acts 14:15; 17:24; 1 Chron. 29:11-14; Psa. 62:11; 145:3; Isa. 26:4; 40:26; Job 9:4; 36:5; Psa. 92:5; 104:24; 147:4-5; Isa. 28:29; Rom. 16:27; 1 Tim. 1:17; 2 Chron. 16:9; Job 28:24; 34:21; Psa. 33:13-14; 44:21; 94:9; 139:7-12; Prov. 15:3; Jer. 23:24; 32:19; Amos 9:2-3; Acts 17:27-28; Psa. 123:1; 1 Kings 8:30-39, 43, 49; Matt. 6:9; 1 Tim. 6:15-16.

2 That Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God, begotten of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit, without the intervention of man, and afterwards anointed with the same Spirit, without measure, at his baptism. Matt. 1:23; 1 Tim. 3:16; Acts 2:22-24, 36; Matt. 1:18-25; Lk. 1:26-35; Gal. 4:4; Isa. 7:14; Matt. 3:16-17; Isa. 11:2; 42:1; 61:1; John 3:34; 7:16; 8:26-28; 14:10-24.

3 That the appearance of Jesus of Nazareth on the earth was necessitated by the position and state into which the human race had been brought by the circumstances connected with the first man, Adam. While death was inherent in human nature, the moral consequences of Adam's transgression required a divine plan of redemption, which Jesus fulfilled."

4 "That the first man was Adam, whom God created out of the dust of the ground as a living soul, or natural body of life, 'very good' in kind and condition, yet mortal and subject to decay and corruption. God placed him under a law through which the continuance of life was contingent on obedience and access to the Tree of Life

5 "That Adam broke this law, and was adjudged unworthy of immortality, and sentenced to return to the ground from whence he was taken. This sentence affirmed the intrinsic mortality of his nature, which, due to his exclusion from the Tree of Life, ensured that death became the inevitable outcome for him and all his posterity including Jesus.

6 That God, in His kindness, conceived a plan of restoration which, while upholding the natural law of sin and death as the principle of decay and mortality, provides a way to ultimately overcome death through the resurrection of the faithful to a state of incorruption and eternal life."

7 That He inaugurated this plan by making promises to Adam, Abraham, and David, and later elaborated it in greater detail through the prophets."

8 "That these promises referred to Jesus Christ, who was to be raised up from the line of Abraham and David, and who, though sharing their condemned mortal nature, would obtain a title to resurrection through perfect obedience. By his sacrificial death and resurrection, he would overcome the law of sin and death and offer redemption to all who believe and obey him."

9 "That it was this mission that necessitated the miraculous begetting of Christ by a human mother, enabling Him to bear our condemnation as a representative of the human race and to be a sinless bearer of that condemnation. Through His perfect obedience and sacrificial death, He fulfilled the righteousness of God and obtained the right to resurrection, offering a path to redemption for all who believe and obey Him."

10 That being begotten of God and inhabited and used by God through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, Jesus was Emmanuel, God with us, God manifested in the flesh—yet was, during his natural life, of like nature with mortal man, being made of a woman of the house and lineage of David. Therefore, He experienced the sufferings common to humanity, including mortality, which was a fundamental aspect of human nature even before Adam's transgression." His mission was to overcome the inherent mortality and offer the hope of eternal life through his perfect obedience and sacrificial death."

11 That the message Jesus delivered from God to his kinsmen, the Jews, was a call to repentance from every evil work, a declaration of his divine sonship and rightful claim to the Jewish kingship, and the proclamation of the good news that God would restore their kingdom through him and fulfill all that was written in the prophets."

12."That for delivering this message, he was put to death by the Jews and Romans, who were instruments in the hands of God for accomplishing His predetermined plan. This plan involved the condemnation of sin in the flesh through the offering of Jesus’ body once for all, as a propitiation to declare the righteousness of God. This was established as a basis for the remission of sins. All who approach God through this crucified, but risen, representative of humanity are forgiven. Therefore, by a figure, his blood cleanses from sin. This sacrificial act addresses the inherent mortality and sinfulness present in humanity since the creation, affirming God’s righteous judgment and the hope of reconciliation.”