"586 Revival" accepts the Holy Scriptures as the revealed word of God and the all-sufficient rule of faith and practice. The following list of fundamentals is but a brief overview and does not include the full breadth or depth of their reality and teaching. For maintaining general unity it adopts the following Statement of Fundamental Truths:
Section One – Bible
We believe and accept the entire Bible as the infallible Word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit. It is the only and perfect order of our faith and manner of living. This faith is the power of God unto salvation to the believer. The Bible is superior to conscience and reason. Nothing can be added or taken away from its content. 2 Pet 1:20; 2 Tim 3:16,17; Rom 1:16.
Section Two – God
We believe in the One True God, perfect and infinite in His being, holiness, love, wisdom and power. He is transcendent above the world as its Creator, yet immanent in the world as the Preserver of all things. God is self-existent and self revealing in the three divine Persons of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. They are equal in power, glory and nature. Eph 4:6, Matt 28:19, Acts 5:3-5, John 1:1, Isa 6:1-1, Psa 90.
Section Three – Jesus
We believe that the historical Jesus of Nazareth is the eternal Son of God, and Messiah. He is the image of the invisible God made flesh through the virgin birth. Being true God and true man these two natures are without confusion, without change, without division and without separation. He lived a sinless life in which He taught and wrought mighty works, wonders and signs exactly as revealed in the four Gospels. He gave Himself in death upon the Cross as the Lamb of God not only for original sin imputed to man, but also for the actual sins of man. He bore sin and its penalty in our stead.
After three days Jesus was raised and glorified in the same body in which He had suffered and died. He ascended as our Lord and Savior into Heaven and is at the right hand of the Father where He is head of the Church and intercedes for believers. Jesus Christ will come again personally and visibly to raise and translate His waiting Church. He shall establish His Kingdom upon the earth over all nations. He will raise and judge those both alive and dead. John 1:14; Acts 1:11; Heb 1:1-4; Rev 19-21; 1 Cor 15:24-28.
Section Four – Spirit
We believe the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead, the divine Life-giver and Artist in creation, history and redemption. He indwells, baptizes, seals, empowers, guides, teaches and perfects all those who become children of God through Christ. Acts 1:8, 5:3-5; John 14,16; Eph 4:30; Rom 8.
Section Five – The Fall of Man
We believe man was the direct creation of God made in His divine image. By transgression man became a fallen creature, alienated from the life of God, universally sinful by nature and practice, and has within himself no means of recovery. Gen 1:27; Gen 3; 1 Cor 15:20-23.
Section Six – Salvation
We believe that salvation is by grace through faith in the atoning work of Jesus Christ. Jesus was a perfect sacrifice for sin. He redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. Therefore on the simple and single ground of His shed blood we are saved and justified. Perfect righteousness and every spiritual blessing needed for life and godliness are entirely apart from good works, baptism, Church membership or man’s effort. The forgiveness of sins, the impartation of a new nature, the adoption into the family of God and the hope of eternal life are all received through the grace of God. Eph 2:3-10; Rom 3:25; 2 Cor 5:21; Eph 1:7; 1 John 1:7.
The believer is assured of his/her salvation by the inward witness of the Holy Spirit. The outward evidence is a progressive life of righteousness and true holiness in confession and action. Godly love is the identifying mark of the Christian life. Rom 10:9-10; Heb 12:14; 1 Tim 2:2; Rom 5:5; Rom 8:16.
Section Seven – Sanctification
We believe the Christian is credited with Christ’s righteousness while in daily pursuit of righteous living. By the power of the Holy Spirit the Christian can live separate from voluntary sin, though not free from the temptation to sin. Rom 7, 8.
Section Eight – The Church Body
We believe the true Church of Christ is both a universal and local body of Christians that exists inter-denominationally but consists exclusively of those persons who through the New Birth are in Christ. The Church has been divinely commissioned as a holy priesthood to offer true worship to God. As ambassadors of His Kingdom it is called to show mankind the way of the Lord. Matt 13:24-30; Rev 2:1; John 3:3,5; 1 Pet 2:5; John 4:23,24; Matt 5:13-16; Acts 1:8; 2 Cor 5:30.
Section Nine – Ministry
We believe in the priesthood of all believers and the gifting of each believer for edification and ministry within the body. Jesus uniquely commissions some to leadership, but not lordship over the flock of God. Because of this calling, leaders should receive the love, honor, respect, deference, and material support of the people of God. All believers are called to be witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ to all people everywhere. 1 Pet 2:5, 5:2; 1 Thes 5:12,13; Heb 13:17; Gal 6:6; Eph 4:8-12; 1 Cor 9:7,14,12.
Section Ten – Water Baptism
Conditions – We believe the ordinance of baptism by symbolic burial and resurrection with Christ should be observed by all who have repented of their sins and believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior. This is a public act of obedience and submission to Christ, displaying the work of salvation that has already taken place in the believer. Rom 6:3,4.
Administration – We believe immersion is the best illustration of our union into Christ’s death and that it should be administered in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit by a member of the Pastoral Staff. (Exceptions are made for physical or other handicaps.) Matt 28:19; Acts 10:47; Rom 6:4.
Section Eleven – The Lord’s Supper
We believe the ordinance of the Lord’s supper should be regularly observed. The elements of bread and the fruit of the vine are used to symbolize the body and blood of our Lord. This is a witness to the unity of all believers in Christ and a reminder of His coming Kingdom.
Section Twelve – Holy Matrimony
Marriage is a sacrament (or ordinance or rite) of the Church. [Alternative: Marriage has been ordained (or established or instituted) by God.] This Church defines “marriage” as the exclusive covenantal union of one man and one woman in which such union is a lifetime commitment. A civil government’s sanction of a union will be recognized as a legitimate marriage by the church only to the extent that it is consistent with the definition of “marriage” found in these Articles.
Section Thirteen – Spirit Life
We believe that all of the gifts of the Spirit are in operation today for the edification of the Church to operate decently and in order, so that the Church lacks nothing until the coming of Christ. 1 Cor 1:7, 1 Cor 14.
We believe that the Baptism in the Holy Spirit may be participated in by all believers for the endowment of divine power for life and service. This experience indicates that the believer at that moment has voluntarily surrendered his faculties to the Spirit’s control by speaking in tongues. Acts 1:4-8; 2:4,38-43; 10:44-46; 19:1-7; Jas 3:1-10; 1 Cor 12; 1 Cor 14.
Section Fourteen – Divine Healing
We believe healing and deliverance (including the services of a physician) are the will of God, provided for in the New Covenant as a privilege for all believers, and manifested according to God’s sovereign will. Healing may be administered consistent to New Testament precedent of anointing with oil by the elders and the laying on of hands, as well as through the believing prayers of the Church. Isa 53:4; Matt 8:16,17; Luke 17:14; John 9:6,7; Luke 18:42; Jas 5:14; Mark 16:18; Acts 19:12.
Section Fifteen – Christ’s Return
The Future We believe Jesus Christ will return to this world physically to receive His Bride (the Church) in the air. The dead in Christ shall rise first and those alive will be caught up to be changed instantly into His likeness with glorified bodies. This is the first Resurrection or Rapture of the Church. Acts 1:9-11; 1 Thes 4:16,17; 1 Cor 15:54; 1 Thes 5:9.
Section Sixteen – Millennial Reign
We believe that Jesus Christ and His followers will rule the world in righteousness for 1,000 years in fulfillment of God’s promise to David and the prophetic image of the rise and fall of nations revealed in Dan 2:44,45; after which the earth will be cleansed by fire and a new heaven and a new earth will be established for eternity. 2 Sam 7:16; 2 Pet 3:7,10; Rev 20:1-7.
Section Seventeen – Satan
We believe in the presence of a personal devil, who is himself a fallen angel of God. With a highly organized host of evil spirits he seeks the control of mankind through obvious and devious ways, against which the Christian must daily fortify himself. The Devil was defeated through the finished work of Jesus, who disarmed the powers and authorities and made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Satan and his hosts are destined for eternal punishment in the Lake of Fire. Isa 14:12; 2 Pet 2:4; Eph 6:11-18; Dan 10:12,13; 1 Pet 5:8,9; 2 Cor 11:14; Jas 4:7; Matt 25:41; Col 2:15.
Section Eighteen – The Lake of Fire
We believe the devil and his angels, the antichrist, the false prophet, and whosoever does not have their name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, shall be consigned to everlasting punishment in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. This is the second death. Rev 19:20, 20:10-15.
Section Nineteen – Eternity & New Creation
We believe in the eternal Kingdom of God where Christians shall eternally rule and reign together with Christ. Luke 1:33; 2 Pet 3:13; Rev 5:10; 2:26; 3:21; 21:1,4; 22:2.
Section Twenty – Human Sexuality
Legitimate sexual relations are exercised solely within marriage. Hence, sexual activities outside of marriage (referred to in the New Testament as “porneia”) including but not limited to: adultery, premarital sex, homosexuality, and pedophilia are inconsistent with the teachings of the Bible and the Church. Further, lascivious conduct, transgender behavior, and the creation and/or distribution and/or viewing of pornography, are incompatible with the biblical witness.