IPHC Doctrinal Amplification Page One

We are trinitarian, as opposed to unitarian, in our faith. We do not believe in "three Gods" as the unitarians, or "Jesus only," teaching maintains that we do; but we believe there are "three persons, of one substance, of eternal being, and equal in holiness, justice, wisdom, power, and dignity; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost." Not three Gods, but one God, subsisting in three persons, the Trinity in unity (Matthew 3:16, 17; 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14; 1 John 5:7).

We believe in the incarnation of Christ through the virgin birth, which we hold without question, as written in the Word of God (Isaiah 7:14; 9:6; Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 2:26-35). We believe that He was a perfect sinless human being in whom dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9), that He was very God and perfect man. We believe that He lived a sinless life and died upon the cross as an all-sufficient atonement for our sins, for our personal transgressions, and also for original sin.

We believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ, in His triumphant ascension into heaven, and that He (in His glorified body, as a complete human being, with all things appertaining to the perfections of man's nature) now sits at the right hand of heaven's Majesty until He shall return to judge the world at the last day. Perfect, sinless humanity is at the heart of the moral universe, participating in the government of creation and interceding for His saints, until He shall come to judge the living and the dead in the end of the age.

We believe the Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son, is of one substance, majesty and glory with the Father and the Son, very and eternal God. We believe that the Holy Ghost-or Holy Spirit-is a person and that He is the executive agent of the Godhead in the dispensation of grace; that He anoints the preaching of the Word, convicts of sin and applies the benefits of the atonement; that He is our Teacher, Comforter, and Guide, taking the things of Christ and revealing them to us, glorifying Christ, guiding us into all truth, and showing us things to come; that all of these ministries are based upon and function in accordance with the written Word of God (John 14:16, 17, 26; 15:26; 16:7-11, 13-15).

The Pentecostal Holiness Church has from its inception believed the Bible to be the inspired, inerrant and authoritative Word of God (2 Timothy 3:15-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21; John 10:35). For many years we carried a statement respecting the Bible in our General Rules. Then, in 1965, the Fifteenth General Conference voted to include the language of paragraph 5 in our Articles of Faith, and this action was duly ratified by our local churches.