I. THE BIBLE
A. Its Inspiration and Inerrancy. We believe in the authority and sufficiency of the Holy Bible, consisting of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments (Genesis through Revelation); that the Bible is a completed revelation; that the process of its Divine inspiration has never been, nor will it ever be, duplicated; that the entire Bible was originally written by a process of the plenary, verbal, inspiration of God; that the Bible is infallible and of unlimited inerrancy in the areas of creation, science, geography, chronology, history, and in all other matters of which it speaks (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:21; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; John 17:17); that the books known as the Apocrypha are not the inspired Word of God in any sense whatever; that, as the Bible uses it, the term "inspiration" (or the process of being "Godbreathed") refers to the original writings, not to the writers (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 1 Corinthians 2:13); and that the writers are spoken of as being "holy men of God" who were "moved" (or "carried" or "borne" along) by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21; Acts 1:16) in such a definite way that their writings were supernaturally, plenarily, and verbally inspired, free from any error, infallible, and inerrrant, as no other writings have ever been or ever will be inspired (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
B. Its Supreme Standard. We believe that all the Scriptures center about the Lord Jesus Christ in His person and work in His first and second coming; that no portion, even of the Old Testament, is properly read or understood, until it leads to Him (Luke 24:27, 44; John 5:39; Acts 17:2-3; 18:28; 26:22-23; 28:23); that all the Bible was designed for our practical instruction (Mark 12:26; 36; 2 Timothy 3:16-17); that the Bible is to be the true center of Christian unity (John 17:17); that is is the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and opinions shall be tried (2 Corinthians 5:10; Revelation 20:12); and that the subjects of this judgment include all groups and individuals.
C. Its Preservation. We believe God has promised in both the Old and New Testaments to preserve His Words as given to us in the original Hebrew/Aramaic and Greek texts (Psalm 12:6-7; 78:1-8; 119:89, 111, 152, 160; Isaiah 30:8; 40:6-8; Ecclesiastes 3:14; Matthew 4:4; 5:17-18; 24:35; 28:20; John 10:35; Colossians 1:17; 1 Peter 1:23-25; 2 John 1:2, and elsewhere); that, by His Providential care, God has kept His Word pure down through the ages as He promised; and we believe what our Baptist forefathers wrote in their London Baptist Confession of 1677 and 1689, which states in part;
"The Old Testament in Hebrew, (which was the native language of the people of God of old), and the New Testament Greek (which at the time of the writing of it was most generally known to the nations) BEING IMMEDIATELY INSPIRED BY GOD, and BY HIS SINGULAR CARE AND PROVIDENCE KEPT PURE IN ALL AGES, are therefore AUTHENTICAL; ..."
D. It's Proper Original Language Texts. We believe that the original language Texts which have been Providentially preserved and are the closest to the original autographs of the Bible are the Old Testament Traditional Masoretic Hebrew Text that underlies the King James Bible, and the New Testament Traditional Greek Text that underlies the King James Bible (as found in the Greek Text Underlying the English Authorized Version of 1611 as published by the Trinitarian Bible Society in 1976).
E. Its Faithful English Translation.
1. The Superiority of the King James Bible. We believe that the King James Bible (or Authorized Version) of the English Bible is a true, faithful and accurate translation of these two Providentially preserved Texts, which in our time has no equal among all of the other English Translations; that the translators did such a fine job in their translation task that we can without apology hold up the King James Bible and say "This is the WORD OF GOD in English!"; that, in some verses, we must go back to the underlying original language Texts for complete clarity; and that we must compare Scripture with Scripture.
2. The Use of the King James Bible. We believe that the King James Bible should be used in all preaching services, in the Sunday School, in all Christian literature and publications, in all memory work, and in all other places; that all the verses in the King James Bible belong in the Old and the New Testaments because they represent words that were in the original Texts; and that, though there might be other renderings from the original languages which could also be acceptable to us today, for an exhaustive study of any of the words or verses in the Bible, the student should return directly to the Traditional Masoretic Hebrew Test and the Traditional Received Greek Text rather than to any other translations for help.