1. God and the Trinity

We are Trinitarian, as opposed to Unitarian, in our faith. We do not believe in “three Gods” as the Unitarian, or “Jesus only,” teaching maintains that we do; but we believe there are “three persons, of one substance, of eternal being, and equal in holiness, justice, wisdom, power, and dignity; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.” Not three Gods, but one God, subsisting in three persons, the Trinity in unity (Matthew 3:16, 17; 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14; 1 John 5:7).

 

2. Christ

We believe in the incarnation of Christ through the virgin birth, which we hold without question, as written in the Word of God (Isaiah 7:14; 9:6; Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 2:26-35). We believe He was a perfect, sinless human being in whom dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9), that He was very God and perfect man. We believe He lived a sinless life and died upon the cross as an all-sufficient atonement for our sins, for our personal transgressions and also for original sin.

 

3. Christ’s Resurrection

We believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ, in His triumphant ascension into heaven, and that He (in His glorified body, as a complete human being, with all things appertaining to the perfections of man’s nature) now sits at the right hand of heaven’s Majesty until He shall return to judge the world at the last day. Perfect, sinless humanity is at the heart of the moral universe, participating in the government of creation and interceding for His saints, until He shall come to judge the living and the dead in the end of the age (Luke 24:1-7; Romans 1:4; 1 Corinthians 15:12-19).

 

4. The Holy Spirit

We believe the Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son, is of one substance, majesty and glory with the Father and the Son, very and eternal God. We believe the Holy Ghost – or Holy Spirit – is a person and that He is the executive agent of the Godhead in the dispensation of grace; that He anoints the preaching of the Word, convicts of sin, and applies the benefits of the atonement; that He is our Teacher, Comforter, and Guide, taking the things of Christ and revealing them to us, glorifying Christ, guiding us into all truth, and showing us things to come; that all of these ministries are based on and function in accordance with the written Word of God (John 14:16, 17, 26; 15:26; 16:7-11, 13-15).

 

5. The Holy Scriptures

The International Pentecostal Holiness Church has from its inception believed the Bible to be the inspired, inerrant, and authoritative Word of God (2 Timothy 3:15-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21; John 10:35). For many years we carried a statement respecting the Bible in our General Rules. Then, in 1965, the Fifteenth General Conference voted to include the language of paragraph 5 in our Articles of Faith. This action was duly ratified by our local churches.

 

6. The Future of Believers and Unbelievers

We believe we have eternal life through faith in Christ (John 3:14-16, 36); and that Christ has prepared a place for His own in Heaven (John 14:1-3). This is a “portion of the reward of the righteous,” though “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).

Dreadful as this truth may seem, we believe, and must so believe because of the consistent teaching of God’s Word, that “everlasting banishment from the presence of the Lord and unending torture (or punishment) in hell is the wages of the persistently wicked” (Psalm 9:17; Matthew 5:22, 29, 30; 18:9; 23:33; 25:41, 46; Mark 9:43-48; Luke 16:23-25; 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9; Revelation 14:9-11; 20:11-15; 21:7, 8).

 

7. Justification by Faith

We believe, teach and firmly maintain the scriptural doctrine of justification by faith alone (Romans 5:1; Ephesians 2:8, 9; Titus 3:4-7). We do not believe that any sort or degree of good works can procure or contribute toward our justification or salvation. This is accomplished solely and exclusively on the basis of our faith in the shed blood, the resurrection, and the justifying righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 4:23-25; 5:1-11, 20; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4).

But we do believe in good works as a fruit or product of salvation. We are not saved by, but unto, good works (Ephesians 2:10). When we believe on Jesus Christ as our Savior, our sins are pardoned, we are justified, and we enter a state of righteousness, not our own, but His, both imputed and imparted (Romans 4:22, 25; 8:1-4).

 

8. The Second Coming of Jesus

We believe in the imminent, personal, premillennial second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The word imminent means the second coming of Christ is near; it is impending, likely to occur at any moment (Matthew 25:29-44; Mark 13:32-37; Titus 2:13).

The word personal means “the Lord himself” shall return (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18); the “same Jesus” who was “taken up into heaven shall so come in like manner” as He was seen to “go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).

The word premillennial means He will come before the millennium during which the “blessed and holy” of the “first resurrection” will live and reign with Christ “a thousand years” (Revelation 20:4-6).

The second coming of Christ will occur in two stages; the first for the purpose of catching away His saints who are prepared for the Rapture before the Great Tribulation period (Matthew 24:40-44; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 3:10, 11; 4:1, 2); and the second at the end of the Great Tribulation, when He shall come back with His saints to destroy the armies of the Antichrist, to judge the nations of the world, and to inaugurate the millennial reign (Matthew 25:31-33; 2 Thessalonians 2:8; Revelation 19:11-21; 20:1-6).

The proper attitude of Christians toward the coming of Christ should be to love His appearing (2 Timothy 4:8), watch and pray always to be accounted worthy to escape the things that will come upon the earth during the Great Tribulation (Luke 21:36), pray for His coming (Matthew 6:10; Revelation 22:20), and faithfully “occupy” until He comes (Luke 19:13).

Many signs point to the soon coming of Jesus. The following Scriptures set forth several of these signs: Ezekiel 36 (the return of Israel to her land, etc.); Daniel 12:4; Nahum 2:3, 4; Joel 2:28-32; Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21:25-36; 1 Timothy 4:1-5; 2 Timothy 3:1-8, 13; 4:3, 4; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12; 2 Peter 2 and 3; and the Epistle of Jude.

 

9. The Great Commission

Our Lord’s last command on earth was to charge every believer with the responsibility of taking the gospel to all nations. We can never be content just experiencing God in Christ for ourselves. We must also be actively involved in spreading the gospel to others – to the ends of the earth.

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