We believe that God is the Creator of mankind, both male and female (Genesis 1:27; Deuteronomy 5:32; Isaiah 45:12; Matthew 19:4; Mark 10:6). We affirm that God created Adam—the first human male—from the dust of the ground and breathed life into his nostrils, and thus Adam became a living soul (Genesis 2:7; Job 33:4; Zechariah 12:1; Acts 17:24–25; 1 Corinthians 15:47). The first human female was created by God from Adam’s rib at a later point in time (Genesis 2:21–22; 1 Corinthians 11:12; 1 Timothy 2:13). We deny that humankind evolved from any other living beings or non-living objects. We equally deny that humans came into existence through any other means or processes.
We hold that the human nature comprises body, soul, and spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:23; Hebrews 4:12). The human body is the physical aspect of human nature. The soul consists of the human mind, emotions, will, and intellect. The spirit is what differentiates humankind from all animals and plants—mainly manifested in the human conscience and the desire to seek God. We hold that, as part of the creation process, God breathed his own image and likeness into man, and that is what enables humans to establish, develop, and maintain a relationship with God (Genesis 2:7).
We believe that humans are created in God’s own image and likeness (Genesis 1:26-27; Genesis 5:1; 9:6; 1 Corinthians 11:7; James 3:9) and that they are created to have an enduring, everlasting relationship with him (Psalms 16:3; Proverbs 8:31; Isaiah 43:7, 21; Micah 6:8; John 17:3; Colossians 1:10). This includes having a relationship with God here in this present life as well as the life to come, that is, after bodily death (Ecclesiastes 3:10-11; 12:7; Ephesians 2:10).
We strongly hold that the origin of human genders is God’s creation process and deny that human genders evolved or came into existence through any other means (Genesis 1:27; Matthew 19:4; Mark 10:6). We affirm that God created two, and only two, genders in mankind: male and female. We equally believe that God created woman to be man’s helper (Genesis 2:18, 20; 1 Corinthians 11:9), equal to him in her humanity, although different from him in many aspects. The role of the man is to be the head of the woman, that is, the leader of the household (1 Corinthians 11:3). His role also mandates that he love his wife as his own body (Ephesians 5:22-23). The woman’s role is to submit to her husband, to support him, and to be his companion (Colossians 3:18; 1 Peter 3:1). We deny that the presence of these roles abrogates, diminishes, or in any way renders inferior the independence, individuality, or value of the woman (1 Peter 3:7).
We uphold that sin entered this world and all of mankind for the first time through Adam’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:17; 3:1-24; Romans 5:12; 1 Corinthians 15:21). We believe that when Adam—as the first and head of humankind—fell from Paradise, this caused the rest of mankind—as his offspring—to be expelled from Paradise with him (Romans 5:14-18; 1 Corinthians 15:22). We assert that as a result of Adam’s sin, human nature became corrupted, leading to physical, moral, and spiritual death (Psalms 51:5). We deny that humans inherited the judgment of eternal death as a result of Adam’s sin—that is, we hold that humans who have not committed any sin (such as newborn babies) inherited the corrupted nature of Adam but not the ultimate wages of sin, that is, eternal death (Romans 6:23). Humans become sentenced to eternal death as a result of their own sins and not the sins of others, including Adam (Jeremiah 31:30; Ezekiel 18:4, 10-20; Galatians 6:5).
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