I believe in the Holy Trinity—one God existing in three persons—God the Father (Creator, Sovereign), God the Son (Jesus Christ—Mediator, Redeemer, Lord and Savior), and God the Holy Spirit (Sanctifier—making us holy). The coexistence of this divine essence cannot be explained through human logic (just like the mysteries of the endless universe), but it can be grasped through our informed faith as “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen” (Hebrews 11:1).

In this same way, I also believe that Jesus Christ, as our “mediator” (1 Timothy 2:5), is both fully God and fully human, representing God to humanity and humanity to God. We have direct access to pray to God the Father through Jesus Christ. “He was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6–8). Being fully God, he led a sinless life to ultimately provide a pure sacrifice. Being fully human he was able to die as a sacrifice for our redemption and salvation. And being fully God he was resurrected to glory as a victory over sin and death.  

I believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God as an authoritative source for faith and life, including stories of God’s relationship with humanity. Unlike some religions and denominations, we do not believe that the Bible is “inerrant”. It was not intended to be a scientifically accurate history book. It was written by humans who, although inspired by the Holy Spirit, reflected some of their own personal biases, flawed understandings, ambiguous languages, metaphors, and cultural norms of the time. This knowledge allows us to distinguish between timeless truths versus texts based on misunderstandings or societal norms of the ancient world that no longer apply, such as archaic scientific beliefs or gender roles.

I believe that the Old Testament lays the groundwork for its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. The Old Testament is also known as the Hebrew Bible or the “Law and the Prophets”. The “Law” (or “Torah”) refers to the first five books, Genesis through Deuteronomy, of the Old Testament. Including the 10 Commandments, these books contain 613 Old Testament laws. Other books in the Old Testament are collectively known as the “Prophets”, containing proclamations, poems, prayers, and prophesies that ultimately point to God’s will and the coming messiah, Jesus Christ, as revealed in the New Testament. 

The Old Testament includes many prophesies of the birth, ministry, sacrifice, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Old Testament’s prophesy of fulfilment in Jesus Christ is stated in Jeremiah 31:31-34, saying, “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant… It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke… But this is the covenant that I will make… I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people… for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more”. 

I believe that the New Testament is the fulfillment of the Old Testament, achieving its ultimate promises. It is our primary source for teaching and understanding our Christian faith. The New Testament includes the Gospel (the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) telling about the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, along with other books that address Christian faith. The Gospel is the “good news” that God offers unconditional love, forgiveness of sins, and salvation through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, received for us by grace alone through faith.

The New “Testament” also refers to the New Covenant that fulfills the Old Testament laws. The words “Testament” and “Covenant” both refer to a solemn promise between God and humanity. The New Covenant shifted the promised relationship with God from one that required strict adherence to external Old Testament laws, replacing it with an internal devotion of faith, fulfilled by grace-given salvation and a Spirit-led life, empowered by the law of love written in our hearts.

At the Last Supper, Jesus took the cup of wine, “gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins’” (Matthew 26:27-28). Leading up to this event, Jesus’ teachings had laid the groundwork for the new covenant. Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17). He also said, “In everything, treat others as you would want them to treat you, for this fulfills the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12).

In describing the fulfillment of God’s greatest commandment, Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The entire Law and all the demands of the Prophets depend on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40). In Jesus’ parable of The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), He made it clear that a “neighbor” is anyone that you may encounter, including those with different cultures and ways of life—Jesus calls us to resist our primal instincts for our own “tribalism”. This is consistent with Jesus’ command to “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34). This extends to radical love, with Jesus saying, “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:44). In the New Testament, Jesus calls for us to “turn the other cheek” when assaulted by an enemy (Matthew 5:36), instead of retaliating with injury for injury as per the Old Testament law saying to take an “eye for an eye” (Exodus 21:23-27). Jesus also said, “all who draw the sword will die by the sword” (Matthew 26:52), a metaphor meaning that wrath begets wrath, violence begets violence. Only love can ultimately conquer the cycles of hate and violence. Like God’s unconditional love, He calls us to grow in love, compassion, empathy, and respect, living our life through Christ’s example.   

Jesus also said to his disciples, “…in me you may have peace. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world” (John 16:13). Jesus overcame the world, which had been disassociated from God, by fulfilling the New Covenant, uniting us with God, giving us inner peace through the Holy Spirit, and providing comfort during times of trouble. Trouble, evil, and suffering exist because sin entered the world through human free will, impacting all creation as nature takes its course. “We know that the whole of creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” (Romans 8:22). We don’t live in paradise. God created our brains and bodies to evolve and solve problems, overcome hardships, and endure suffering. Humans require these challenges as a fundamental part of our development and survival. 

Although our primal instincts may want to compel us to self-indulgence and sin, our conscience and the Holy Spirit lead us to love one another, resist evil, and endure suffering. “Not only that, but we appreciate our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, character produces hope, and hope will not disappoint, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:3-5). God “comforts us when we are in trouble, so that we can share this same comfort with others in trouble” (2 Corinthians 1:4). “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18). “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:20-21).

I believe that it is through faith in Jesus Christ and his redemptive sacrifice that we receive salvation through God’s grace as a free, unearned gift. “We are saved by grace through faith, not by works, as a gift from God” (Ephesians 2:8-9). “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:16). We are all sinners in our primal nature, and no number of good deeds or prayers can be redeemed for the forgiveness for our sins. Instead, in faith we believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ—that through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, God became one of us and, although sinless himself, took upon himself the sin and suffering of the world. Christ the Mediator, the Redeemer, paid the price for our sins.

Jesus knew he would be fulfilling Old Testament scripture as the “spotless lamb” (Leviticus 4:32). Up until that time, Old Testament laws required a sacrificial offering, such as a spotless lamb, as substitutionary atonement for human sins. John the Baptist recognized Jesus as the “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). At that time, as foretold in Old Testament prophecy, John was baptizing people as a sign of repentance in preparation of the coming Messiah. After John baptized Jesus, he said “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I hadn’t known he was the one, but when God sent me to baptize with water, he told me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descend and rest is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit’. I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God” (John 1:32-34).

And when Jesus was ultimately crucified, he suffered, physically and spiritually, as he bore the sins of humanity on the cross, and then saw the “light of life” in his victory over sin and death and the new life to come through his resurrection. He knew that he did not suffer in vain as he fulfilled his mission to redeem humanity (as foretold in Isaiah 53:11). God did this to show his unconditional love for us, and through his grace we receive salvation by this redemption for our sins.

I believe that through faith and grace we also receive God’s gift of the Holy Spirit, and the New Covenant law of love is fulfilled in us. “When you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1:13). “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:3-5). “Love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10) and “the law is written in our hearts” (Romans 2:15—as foretold in Jeremiah 31:33). “The just requirement of the law should be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh (our sinful nature in our primal instincts) but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:4). The Apostle Paul also prayed that God “grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love” (Ephesians 3:16). “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). This type of love, or “agape”, refers to selfless, sacrificing, and unconditional love. “If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25). 

I believe that Jesus established the New Covenant through his sacrificial blood, replacing the Old Testament’s sacrificial system with himself as the ultimate sacrifice. The New Covenant is God’s promise of salvation by grace through faith in the Gospel, including Christ’s redemptive sacrifice and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, empowering us to live in accordance with God’s will. 

I believe that New Covenant fulfills and effectively replaces the Old Testament laws. The moral laws are fulfilled in us as we are led by the Holy Spirit to love God and love one another. Other laws in the Old Testament can no longer be used to denounce others. The New Covenant cancels Old Testament laws not grounded in love-based morality, including ancient sacrificial systems and rituals, dietary and purity laws, and ancient civil laws. However, even though we are led by the Spirit, we cannot ignore the sinful nature in our primal instincts. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, God who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8-9). Forgiveness of sins is granted solely by God’s grace through faith in Christ. 

I believe that Christians are called and empowered by the Holy Spirit to love one another. Through acts of love, worship, ministry, and service, we share God’s boundless love with our local community and the world. Through Christ, we are united with other Christians. We also work alongside them, as well as interfaith partners from other religions, in advocacy and service for crisis relief, human rights, and environmental stewardship.