1. There is one sovereign God, all holy, wise, powerful and loving. He is revealed as echad (a composite oneness): Father, Son (Yeshua the Messiah), and Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) (Deut. 6:4, Zech. 14:9).
2. God has fully and completely revealed Himself and His
plan to humanity through the Scriptures (comprised of the Tanach
(Hebrew Scriptures) and Brit Hadashah (New Testament)), which are
divinely inspired, completely inerrant in the original writings
and of supreme and final authority in all matters of faith and life.
We recognize the value of other Jewish and Christian literature,
but only where it is supported by or conforms to Scripture (2 Tim.
3:16).
3. God created the universe and all it contains, seen and
unseen, physical and spiritual, and purposes that His creation be
in union with Him, holy and sanctified. God has continued to be
active throughout history and His purposes will be accomplished
in this world (Isa. 43:10-13, 44:6-8}. God, through His Spirit,
is also active in our personal lives. At the same time, humans have
free will and our choices matter (Deut. 20:15-20,Josh. 24:14-15,
Pr. 1:28-33).
4. The creation became tarnished
by sin and impacted by death. As a result, all human beings, with
the exception of Yeshua the Messiah, are sinners by nature (Rom.
3:23-24).
5. God chose the Jewish
people to receive His perfect Law (Torah) and show forth His righteousness
to the nations, bringing blessing into the world. He has made a
special covenant with the Jewish people, which is permanent and
irrevocable (Gen. 17:7-9, Jer. 31:35-37, Jer. 33:20-26, Ex. 19:5-8,
Ex. 24:3, Isa.42:1-8, Rom. 11:28-29).
6. Yeshua the Messiah was
pre-existent as God. As a Jew, he lived a sinless life. He died
for our sins, according to the Scriptures, as a representative and
atoning sacrifice. Yeshua was buried, rose from the dead and ascended
into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father, making
intercession for us as the great high priest (Pr. 30:4, John 1:1-5,
John 1:14-15, Heb.5:5-10).
7. All who believe in Yeshua
are justified, not by their own works of righteousness, but by Yeshua's
perfect righteousness and atoning blood. There is no other name
under heaven by which we may be redeemed (Jer. 33:14-18, Ps. 2,
Isa. 53, Isa. 49, John 14:6, Acts 4:12).
8. Jews and Gentiles who
acknowledge Yeshua as Messiah and Redeemer are part of God's universally
covenanted people. Two key practices by believers in Yeshua are:
undergoing the mikveh (water immersion) upon confession of faith
in Yeshua as Messiah and participation in remembrance of Yeshua's
last Passover seder (Matthew 26:26-29, 28:19). The mikveh symbolizes
both one's faith in Yeshua as well as one's own death to sin and
rebirth to new life (Acts 8:26-39, Rom. 6:3-5). Remembrance of Yeshua's
last Passover seder commemorates the covenant sealed through Yeshua's
atoning death and our living relationship with him. Though we seek
to be obedient to God in these practices, we do not regard either
as a means of salvation.
9. Yeshua will return at
the end of time in power and glory to rule the earth. Then will
occur the bodily resurrection of the just and the unjust, the everlasting
blessedness of those who believe in Yeshua and the everlasting separation
from God of those who reject Yeshua. |