Statement of Faith: Doctrinal Basis of the Bible League Trust

  1. The personal unity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in the Godhead.
  2. The sovereignty of God in creation, providence, revelation, redemption and final judgment.
  3. The divine inspiration, inerrancy, sufficiency and finality of Holy Scripture and its supreme authority in all matters of faith and practice.
  4. The total depravity of human nature in consequence of the fall in Adam.
  5. The incarnation, through virgin birth, by the Holy Spirit, of the Son of God; His sinless life, His atoning work on Calvary, His bodily resurrection from the dead, His sole mediatorial intercession and His endless reign.
  6. The justification of the repentant sinner by grace through faith in Christ alone, and his eternal security.
  7. The work of the Holy Spirit as essential to new birth and sanctification.
  8. The personal return of the Lord Jesus in glory, the resurrection of the body, the judgment of the world by Christ, the eternal blessedness of the righteous and the eternal conscious punishment of the wicked.

In view of the increasing apostasy of our times, the Trustees of the Bible League agreed at their meeting of 10th May 1993 that the words italicised above should be added for the purpose of clarification (although no power of amendment exists for making any change to the Trust Deed). On 9th May 1994 the trustees made the following declaration, which was reworded and approved by them on 9th May 2000. As Trustees, we state our absolute rejection of the Ecumenical and Charismatic Movements. The Ecumenical Movement encourages toleration of error and the maintaining of fellowship with those who deny revealed truth, while God's Word emphatically forbids such compromise, teaching us that the basis of unity is fidelity to the Scriptures and the system of doctrine taught by our Lord and his apostles (John 17:6,8,20,21; Acts 2:42,47; 2 Cor 6:16; 2 Thess 3:14; 2 John 1,2). The Charismatic Movement advocates a post-conversion baptism in the Spirit, evidenced in the miraculous gifts of tongues-speaking and prophecy; and it also lays claim to the extraordinary offices of Apostles and Prophets. According to God's Word, all believers are baptized in the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12:13; Titus 3:4-7). The miraculous gifts, conferred for the confirmation of the Apostles' testimony, passed out of the life of the church shortly after the completion of the New Testament canon (Acts 2:32,33; 8:14-19; Rom 15:18,19; 2 Cor 12:11,12; Heb 2:3,4). The extraordinary Apostolic and Prophetic offices were established for the special and temporary purpose of founding the Christian Church and those occupying these offices were divinely inspired and miraculously endowed infallibly to declare God's revealed Truth. That purpose accomplished, these extraordinary offices ceased (1 Cor 9:1; 13:2; Eph 2:20; 3:1-5; Rev 22:18). In view of the downgrade in English translations of Holy Scripture we affirm our belief, not only in the inspiration and inerrancy of the original manuscripts, but also in the providential preservation of the true and authentic texts underlying both Old and New Testaments, namely, the Hebrew Masoretic and the Greek Received Texts. We are united in our adherence to the Authorized Version of the Bible (1611) which faithfully and accurately translates these texts into the English language.