What We Believe About...
1. God: There is one God in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They are the same in substance and equal in power and glory. God the Father is the maker of all things. He reveals Himself in His creation, in His word the Bible and most perfectly and completely in Jesus His eternal Son
2. The Lord Jesus Christ: Jesus is fully God and fully man. He was born of a virgin and although subject to all the temptations we too encounter, He lived a totally sinless life. Jesus is the only mediator between mankind and God. He died on the cross and was buried, by God’s power He was raised bodily from the dead and is now reigning with God.
3. The Holy Spirit: The Spirit comes from both the Father and the Son and His work is to glorify Jesus. He makes the saving work of Christ on the cross effective for individual sinners, enabling them to turn from their sin to God and to trust in Jesus Christ. Day by day it is the Holy Spirit who empowers Christians to live for Jesus.
4. The Bible: The Bible, made up of the Old and New Testaments – 66 books in all, is the inspired word of God and is the only infallible rule of faith, and practice. It regulates what we believe as a church and tells us how Christians ought to live. It is the supreme standard of the Church.
5. Human beings: We have been made in God’s likeness however through the rebellion of the first people, Adam and Eve, sin entered the world. Today every person is sinful in God’s sight, and because of that is an enemy of God, separated from Him and needing reconciliation. Though without God we may try to live good lives, the human nature is innately sinful and we cannot reform ourselves.
6. Forgiveness and Salvation: We as sinful human beings are redeemed from the guilt, penalty and power of sin and are reconciled to God only through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ God’s Son once and for all time.
7. Faith: Those who believe in Jesus Christ have their sins pardoned and are accepted in God's sight only because of the righteousness of Christ credited to them. Though people receive salvation by grace alone, through the exercise of faith in Jesus alone, those who come to trust Him must also follow Him daily.
8. Eternity: The return of Jesus Christ is the central hope of the New Testament. His second coming will be sudden, personal and visible to the whole world at a time no-one can predict. He will judge everyone both the living and those who have died. This final judgement will forever fix the final state of men and women in heaven or in hell. Those who have not turned to God and repented of sin will suffer just and endless punishment. Those who have believed in Him will be welcomed into God’s presence and will live in endless joy forever.
9. The Presbyterian Church in Ireland is a reformed church and as a witness for Christ has adopted subordinate standards. These are a witness for the truth and against error, and serve as a bond of union between our members.
10. The subordinate standards of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland are “The Westminster Confession of Faith” and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms prepared by the Westminster Assembly in 1647.
2. The Lord Jesus Christ: Jesus is fully God and fully man. He was born of a virgin and although subject to all the temptations we too encounter, He lived a totally sinless life. Jesus is the only mediator between mankind and God. He died on the cross and was buried, by God’s power He was raised bodily from the dead and is now reigning with God.
3. The Holy Spirit: The Spirit comes from both the Father and the Son and His work is to glorify Jesus. He makes the saving work of Christ on the cross effective for individual sinners, enabling them to turn from their sin to God and to trust in Jesus Christ. Day by day it is the Holy Spirit who empowers Christians to live for Jesus.
4. The Bible: The Bible, made up of the Old and New Testaments – 66 books in all, is the inspired word of God and is the only infallible rule of faith, and practice. It regulates what we believe as a church and tells us how Christians ought to live. It is the supreme standard of the Church.
5. Human beings: We have been made in God’s likeness however through the rebellion of the first people, Adam and Eve, sin entered the world. Today every person is sinful in God’s sight, and because of that is an enemy of God, separated from Him and needing reconciliation. Though without God we may try to live good lives, the human nature is innately sinful and we cannot reform ourselves.
6. Forgiveness and Salvation: We as sinful human beings are redeemed from the guilt, penalty and power of sin and are reconciled to God only through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ God’s Son once and for all time.
7. Faith: Those who believe in Jesus Christ have their sins pardoned and are accepted in God's sight only because of the righteousness of Christ credited to them. Though people receive salvation by grace alone, through the exercise of faith in Jesus alone, those who come to trust Him must also follow Him daily.
8. Eternity: The return of Jesus Christ is the central hope of the New Testament. His second coming will be sudden, personal and visible to the whole world at a time no-one can predict. He will judge everyone both the living and those who have died. This final judgement will forever fix the final state of men and women in heaven or in hell. Those who have not turned to God and repented of sin will suffer just and endless punishment. Those who have believed in Him will be welcomed into God’s presence and will live in endless joy forever.
9. The Presbyterian Church in Ireland is a reformed church and as a witness for Christ has adopted subordinate standards. These are a witness for the truth and against error, and serve as a bond of union between our members.
10. The subordinate standards of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland are “The Westminster Confession of Faith” and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms prepared by the Westminster Assembly in 1647.
