Doctrine & Ethics

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1. The Holy Scriptures
We believe that the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, constitute the Holy
Scriptures (The Bible), and is verbally and plenarily inspired. The canon of Scripture is
complete. We believe that God is the Divine Author of the Scriptures and is without
error. Therefore, the Scriptures are authoritative in all that they teach and in all the
matters they touch. God used Holy men of God to pen His words as they were moved by
the Holy Spirit. God’s Word has been preserved for humankind and is forever settled in
Heaven. The Scriptures alone constitute the only infallible guide for faith and life. (Ps.
12:6; 119:89; Mt. 5:18; 15:4-6; Mk. 12:36; Jhn. 10:34-35; Acts 1:16; Rom. 3:1-4; Gal.
3:16; 2 Tim. 3:16; Heb. 4:12; 1 Pt. 1:19-21; Rev. 22:18-19).

2. The Trinity
We believe there is on, true and living God; that there is indivisible unity in the Godhead,
yet existing in three separate persons – The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – equal in
every divine perfection, of the same essence and executing distinct, but harmonious,
offices in the great work of both creation and redemption. (Mt. 3:16-17; 28:19; Jhn: 6:27;
Acts 5:3-4; 1 Cor. 1:9-13; 2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 4:6; Heb. 1:8).

3. God the Father
We believe God, the Father, is a spirit infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in all of His
being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. He is the Creator, Sustainer,
and Ruler of the universe, Giver of all life in sovereign authority over all created beings.
(Ps. 139:7-10; Is. 46:9; Rom. 11:33; Rev. 19:6).

4. God the Son
We believe that Jesus Christ is God’s One and Only Son. He is the second Person of the
Trinity; He possesses all the Divine attributes of God, and He is co-equal with the Father
and the Spirit. The Lord Jesus Christ in concert with the Father, and the Holy Spirit
created all things. In the fullness of time He was conceived of by the Holy Spirit and born
of the virgin Mary. Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. He lived a life of absolute sinlessness
and in His death made a full and vicarious atonement for our sins. Jesus Christ suffered
and died upon the Cross of Calvary for the sins of the world. He was buried in a
borrowed tomb and rose again on the third day and ascended into Heaven. He now sits at
the right hand of the Father as our High Priest, interceding and preparing a place for us.
He shall appear in the air to rapture His saints, and after the Tribulation, shall come again
with the saints to set up the throne of David and establish His millennial Kingdom.
Believers past, present, and future await the return of the King of Kings and the Lord of
Lords. (Mt. 1:18-25; 28:6; Jhn. 1:1; 14:3; 20:27; Acts 15:16; 1 Cor. 15:4; 1 Thess. 4:16; 2
Thess. 2:6-8; Heb. 7:25; 8:6; 12:2; 1 Pt. 2:22; 3:18; 1 Jhn. 2:1; Rev. 3:21).

5. God the Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine Person possessing all the attributes of
personality and of deity. He is co-equal with the Father and the Son and is of the same
nature. We believe that Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and

HBC Statement of Belief judgment. He is the agent of the new birth, and His work among believers includes His
sealing, indwelling, guiding, and teaching us the ways of righteousness. (Jhn. 7:39;
14:16-17, 26; Acts 1:5; Rom. 12:3-8; 1 Cor. 12:8-13, 28-31; 13:8-12; Eph. 1:13-14; 4:7-
11; Heb. 9:14; Rev. 22:18-19).

6. Creation
We believe the Genesis Account of creation as being neither allegory nor myth, but a
literal, historical account of the direct, immediate creative acts of the Trinity in six literal,
24-hours periods, and without any evolutionary process. We reject evolution, the Gap
Theory, the Day-Age theory, and Theistic Evolution as unscriptural theories of origin.
(Gen. 1-2; Ps. 33:9; Jhn. 1:3; Col. 1:16-17; Heb. 1:2).

7. Man
We believe the Scriptures teach that man was created by a direct act of God on the sixth
day and not from any previously existing form of life; and that all men are descended
from the historical Adam and Eve, first parents of the entire human race. First God
formed man by the dust of the ground, secondly, breathed into his nostrils the breath of
life, and he became a living soul. We believe that man was created in the image and
likeness of God. We believe that Adam because of his voluntary transgression incurred
the penalty of spiritual, physical, and eternal death. This death has passed onto all men
for that all have sinned. Because of sin man is corrupt, condemned, and hopelessly lost.
(Gen. 1:27; Is. 63:6; Jhn. 3:18; Rom. 3:23; 5:12-19).

8. Salvation
We believe the Scriptures teach that Jesus Christ died for the whole world and that
salvation of sinners is divinely initiated, wholly of grace, and accomplished only through
the mediatorial work of the Son of God. It is wholly apart from works and is upon the
sole condition of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and never without genuine repentance. In
order to be saved the sinner must be born again, personally trusting Christ as Savior,
being regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit through faith in God’s Word and
becoming the recipient of a new nature. The gospel blessing which Christ secures for
those who believe in Him is justification, that judicial act of God accompanied by the
pardon of sin and the imputation of divine righteousness, not because of any works of
righteousness on our part, but solely through faith in the Redeemer’s shed blood. The
believer who has exercised personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is completely justified
and in possession of eternal life, which is eternally secure. (Jhn. 1:12; 3:3-7, 16; 10:28-
29; Rom. 3:22-30; Eph. 2:8-10; 1 Tim. 2:5-6; 1 Pt. 1:18-23).

9. The Church
We believer that all people who receive Christ as Savior are immediately baptized into
one living united spiritual body called the Body of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ founded
the church, is the Head of the church, is the Chief cornerstone of the church, is espoused
to the church, and gave Himself for the church. The Body-the Church will be presented to
Chris as His Bride. The Church began on Pentecost, and is a unique spiritual organism
made up of all born again believers in this present age. The Church is distinct from Israel,
a mystery not revealed until this age.

The local church is the gathering place for baptized believers to come together and
corporate worship God, fellowship in the gospel and doctrine, observe the ordinances of
Christ, and pray. Its scriptural officers are pastors, sometimes called bishops or elders,
and deacons, whose qualifications, claims and duties are defined in the epistles to
Timothy and Titus. The local church is responsible for training all members for the work
of the ministry. This definition of the local church leads to these scriptural distinctives;
a. Sole authority of the Scriptures for faith and practice;
b. Autonomy of the local church;
c. Believers’ baptism by immersion before church membership;
d. Two officers: pastors (elder, bishop) and deacon;
e. Two symbolic ordinances: baptism and the Lord’s Supper;
f. Individual priesthood of the believer and soul liberty;
(Mt. 16:16-18; Acts 2:1-4, 41; 1 Cor. 12:12-13; 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 2:20; 3:1-6; 5:25-32;
Col. 1:18; Rev. 19:7).

10. Ordinances
We believe the Scriptures teach that Christian baptism is the single immersion of a
believer in water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, to show forth in a
solemn and beautiful emblem his/her identification with the crucified, buried, risen
Savior, thus illustrating the believer’s death to sin and his/her resurrection to a new life. It
is a prerequisite to membership and privileges in a local church. We believe that
communion is the commemoration of His death until He comes and be should be
preceded by solemn self-examination and confession of known sin. (Acts 8:36-39; Rom.
6:3-5; 1 Cor. 11:23-28).

11. Angels
We believe in the personal existence of angels who were created by God to bring honor
and glory to His name and to serve Him. Although angels are a higher order or creation
than man, they are not to be worshipped. Those angels who kept their first estate minister
for those who are heirs of salvation. There were among the hosts those who fell with
Satan, the angels who kept not their first estate, who are presently functioning in Satan’s
counterfeit system as rulers of darkness, to be resisted by the believer through the armor
provided by God. (Is. 6; Eph. 6:11-12; Heb. 1:4, 6-7, 14; 2:6-7; 1 Pt. 1:12; Jude 6).

12. Satan
We believe the Scriptures teach that Satan is a created angel who through pride became
the enemy of his creator, who is “the god of this age” and “the prince of the power of the
air”, who is full of all subtlety, who is the author of sin and the cause of the fall of man,
who seeks continually to frustrate the purposes of God, to ensnare the sons of men, and to
deceive the nations. He is the open and declared enemy of God and man. He was
conquered by Christ on the cross and condemned to everlasting punishment in the Lake
of Fire. (Is. 14:12-15; Ezek. 28:11-19; Mt. 4:1-11; Lk. 10:18; 2 Cor. 4:4; 11:13-15; Eph.
2:2; Heb. 2:14; Rev. 12:9).

13. Last Things
A. The Righteous and the Wicked
We believe that there is a difference between the righteous and the wicked; that only
those who through faith are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
sanctified by the Spirit of our God, are truly righteous in His esteem; while all those
who continue in impenitence and unbelief are in His sight wicked, and under the
curse and this distinction holds among men both in life and after death, in the
everlasting joy of the saved and the everlasting conscious suffering of the lost. (Gen.
18:23; Mal. 3:18; Mt. 25:34-41; Jhn. 8:21; Rom. 6:17-18; 1 Jhn. 5:19).
B. The Rapture of the Church
We Believe in the “Blessed Hope”, the personal, imminent, bodily, appearance of the
Lord Jesus Christ to take His church from the earth, and to judge them according to
His righteousness. (1 Cor. 15:51-52; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; 2 Thess. 2:1-2; Titus 2:13; 1
Jhn. 3:2).
C. The Tribulation Period
We believe that following the removal of the Church from the earth, the righteous
judgments of God will be poured out upon an unbelieving world. This judgment
period will last for seven years and will culminate with Christ’s return. (Jer. 30:7;
Dan. 9:27; 12:1; 2 Thess. 2:7-12; Rev. 16).
D. The Judgment Seat of Christ
We believe that every saved person of the Church age will appear before the
“Judgment Seat” to be judged by the Lord in regard to his service and receive rewards
according to his works. (Mt. 6:2; Rom. 14:10; 1 Cor. 3:11-15; 2 Cor. 5:10).
E. The Millennial Kingdom
We believe that Christ will return to earth after the tribulation with His saints to
establish the Millennial Kingdom, which literally will be on earth and will be ruled by
Christ, for a literal thousand-year reign from the throne of David. It will lead into
everlasting reign in the new heavens and new earth. (Is. 9:6-7; Lk. 1:32; Acts 2:29-
30; Rev. 20:1-6).
F. The Eternal State
We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal life and the
unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment in the Lake of Fire. The souls of the
redeemed are, at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord where in
conscious bliss they await the first resurrection, when spirit, soul, and new body are
reunited to be forever glorified with the Lord. The souls of the unsaved, after death,
remain in conscious misery until the second resurrection, when the spirit, soul, and
body reunited they shall appear before the Great White Throne Judgment. The
unsaved will be separated from the kingdom of God and will be consigned forever to
a place of everlasting perdition. (Mt. 25:46; Lk. 16:19-26; Jhn. 5:28-29; 2 Cor. 5:8,
10; Phil. 1:23).