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What is faith without understanding?
Every church is built upon certain beliefs—foundations that shape its message, its people, and its purpose.
But have you ever paused to ask: What does the Church of the Nazarene truly believe?
How do its teachings reflect Scripture, tradition, and Christian living?
At the core of the Church of the Nazarene are 16 Articles of Faith— statements that outline its identity, theology, and mission.
Understanding these principles can offer clarity, guidance, and inspiration.
In this article, we will walk through each of the 16 Articles of Faith—unpacking their meaning, biblical basis, and significance in everyday life.
1. The Triune God
Manual ¶1
We believe in one eternally existent, infinite God, Sovereign Creator and Sustainer of the universe; that He only is God, holy in nature, attributes, and purpose. The God who is holy love and light is Triune in essential being, revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
2. Jesus Christ
Manual ¶2
We believe in Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Triune Godhead; that He was eternally one with the Father; that He became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and was born of the Virgin Mary, so that two whole and perfect natures, that is to say the Godhead and manhood, are thus united in one Person very God and very man, the God-man.
We believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins, and that He truly arose from the dead and took again His body, together with all things appertaining to the perfection of man’s nature, wherewith He ascended into heaven and is there engaged in intercession for us.
3. The Holy Spirit
Manual ¶3
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Triune Godhead, that He is ever present and efficiently active in and with the Church of Christ, convincing the world of sin, regenerating those who repent and believe, sanctifying believers, and guiding into all truth as it is in Jesus.
4. The Holy Scriptures
Manual ¶4
We believe in the plenary inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, by which we understand the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, given by divine inspiration, inerrantly revealing the will of God concerning us in all things necessary to our salvation, so that whatever is not contained therein is not to be enjoined as an article of faith.
5. Sin, Original and Personal
Manual ¶5
We believe that sin came into the world through the disobedience of our first parents, and death by sin. We believe that original sin differs from actual sin in that it constitutes an inherited propensity to actual sin for which no one is accountable until its divinely provided remedy is neglected or rejected.
We believe that actual or personal sin is a voluntary violation of a known law of God by a morally responsible person. It is therefore not to be confused with involuntary and inescapable shortcomings, infirmities, faults, mistakes, failures, or other deviations from a standard of perfect conduct that are the residual effects of the Fall.
6. Atonement
Manual ¶6
We believe that Jesus Christ, by His sufferings, by the shedding of His own blood, and by His death on the Cross, made a full atonement for all human sin, and that this Atonement is the only ground of salvation, and that it is sufficient for every individual of Adam’s race.
7. Prevenient Grace
Manual ¶7
We believe that the grace of God through Jesus Christ is freely bestowed upon all people, enabling all who will to turn from sin to righteousness, believe on Jesus Christ for pardon and cleansing from sin, and follow good works pleasing and acceptable in His sight.
8. Repentance
Manual ¶8
We believe that repentance, which is a sincere and thorough change of the mind in regard to sin, involving a sense of personal guilt and a voluntary turning away from sin, is demanded of all who have by act or purpose become sinners against God.
9. Justification, Regeneration, and Adoption
Manual ¶9
We believe that justification is the gracious and judicial act of God by which He grants full pardon of all guilt and complete release from the penalty of sins committed, and acceptance as righteous, to all who believe on Jesus Christ and receive Him as Lord and Savior.
We believe that regeneration, or the new birth, is that gracious work of God whereby the moral nature of the repentant believer is spiritually quickened and given a distinctively spiritual life, capable of faith, love, and obedience.
We believe that adoption is that gracious act of God by which the justified and regenerated believer is constituted a son of God.
10. Entire Sanctification
Manual ¶10
We believe that sanctification is the work of God which transforms believers into the likeness of Christ. It is wrought by God’s grace through the Holy Spirit in initial sanctification, or regeneration (simultaneous with justification), entire sanctification, and the continued perfecting work of the Holy Spirit culminating in glorification.
We believe that entire sanctification is that act of God, subsequent to regeneration, by which believers are made free from original sin, or depravity, and brought into a state of entire devotement to God, and the holy obedience of love made perfect.
11. The Church
Manual ¶11
We believe in the Church, the community that confesses Jesus Christ as Lord, the covenant people of God made new in Christ, the Body of Christ called together by the Holy Spirit through the Word.
God calls the Church to express its life in the unity and fellowship of the Spirit; in worship through the preaching of the Word, observance of the sacraments, and ministry in His name; by obedience to Christ, holy living, and mutual accountability.
12. Baptism
Manual ¶12
We believe that Christian baptism, commanded by our Lord, is a sacrament signifying acceptance of the benefits of the atonement and incorporation into the Body of Christ.
Baptism is a means of grace proclaiming faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. It is to be administered to believers indicating their full purpose of obedience in holiness and righteousness.
13. The Lord’s Supper
Manual ¶13
We believe that the Memorial and Communion Supper instituted by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is essentially a New Testament sacrament, declarative of His sacrificial death, through the merits of which believers have life and salvation and promise of all spiritual blessings in Christ.
It is distinctively for those who are prepared for reverent appreciation of its significance, and by it they show forth the Lord’s death till He come again
14. Divine Healing
Manual ¶14
We believe in the Bible doctrine of divine healing and urge our people to seek to offer the prayer of faith for the healing of the sick.
We also believe God heals through the means of medical science.
15. Second Coming of Christ
Manual ¶15
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ will come again; that we who are alive at His coming shall not precede them that are asleep in Christ Jesus; but that, if we are abiding in Him, we shall be caught up with the risen saints to meet the Lord in the air, so that we shall ever be with the Lord.
16. Resurrection, Judgment, and Destiny
Manual ¶16
We believe in the resurrection of the dead, that the bodies both of the just and of the unjust shall be raised to life and united with their spirits—‘they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.’
We believe in future judgment in which every person shall appear before God to be judged according to his or her deeds in this life.
We believe that glorious and everlasting life is assured to all who savingly believe in, and obediently follow, Jesus Christ our Lord; and that the finally impenitent shall suffer eternally in hell.
Did this article deepen your understanding of the Church of the Nazarene’s beliefs?
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