Man

We teach that man was directly and immediately created by God in His image and likeness (Gen. 1:27: 2:7; 22). Man was created free of sin with a rational nature, intelligence, volition, self-determination, and moral responsibility to God (Matt. 12:36; I Thess. 5:23; I Peter 1:17).

We teach that the purpose of man’s creation was with the divine intention that he should glorify God (Is. 43:7; Rev. 4:11), enjoy God’s fellowship, live his life in the will of God, and by this accomplish God’s purpose for man in the world.

We teach that in Adam’s sin of disobedience to the revealed will and Word of God, man lost his innocence; incurred the penalty of spiritual and physical death (Gen. 2:16-17; 3:1-19; Romans 3:23; 5:12; 6:23); became inherently corrupt and utterly incapable of choosing or doing that which is acceptable to God apart from divine grace. With no recuperative powers to enable him to recover himself, man is hopelessly lost (I Cor. 2:14), apart from the salvation which is the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:5; 2:1-3; Titus 3:5-6).

We teach that all men were in the loins of Adam and that the sin nature as well as the consequences of that original sin have been transmitted (imputed) to all men of all ages (Romans 5:12), Jesus Christ being the exception. All men are thus sinners by divine declaration (Ps. 14:1-3; Romans 3:9-18, 23), by nature (Jeremiah 17:9; Matt. 15:19) and by choice (Is. 53:6; James 2:10).