1.1 We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in one undivided divine essence eternally existing in three distinct hypostases: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three divine Persons are not three gods, nor three parts of God, nor merely three names or manifestations of one person, but the one true God who is tri-personal in His eternal being. We therefore confess the Trinity as consubstantial and undivided, one in essence, glory, power, majesty, and worship. (Deut. 6:4; Matt. 28:19; John 1:1–3; John 10:30; 2 Cor. 13:14)

1.2 We believe that the mystery of the Holy Trinity is not the product of philosophical speculation, but the revelation of God given in Holy Scripture, proclaimed in worship, and confessed in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. We therefore receive Trinitarian doctrine as the central doctrine of the Christian faith and as the living content of communion with God. The doctrine of the Trinity is not an abstract formula, but the faithful expression of the God who is known in salvation: from the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit. (Matt. 3:16–17; Matt. 28:19; John 14:16–17, 26; 2 Cor. 13:14)

1.3 We believe that the Father is unbegotten and is the personal source or cause within the Godhead, the Son is eternally begotten of the Father, and the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father. This preserves both the real distinction of the Persons and the unity of the one God. The Father’s monarchy does not imply inequality of essence or glory, but identifies the Father as the personal principle within the Trinity, while the Son and the Spirit are fully and eternally divine with Him. This presents the correct way to affirm both divine unity and personal distinction. (John 5:26; John 6:57; John 15:26; 1 Cor. 8:6; Eph. 4:4–6)

1.4 We believe that the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the eternal Word of God, begotten of the Father before all ages, true God of true God, begotten and not made, consubstantial with the Father. Through Him all things were made, and in the fullness of time He became incarnate for us and for our salvation without ceasing to be fully divine. We therefore reject every teaching that would reduce the Son to a creature, a secondary deity, or a temporary mode of divine revelation, and confess Him instead as the eternal Son who reveals the Father perfectly and redeems the world. (John 1:1, 14, 18; John 5:23; John 8:58; Col. 1:15–17; Heb. 1:1–3)

1.5 We believe that the Holy Spirit is the Lord and Giver of Life, fully divine, uncreated, consubstantial with the Father and the Son, and together worshiped and glorified with them. He is not a force, energy, or impersonal power, but the third divine Person of the Holy Trinity, sharing fully in the one divine essence and acting inseparably with the Father and the Son in creation, revelation, sanctification, and glorification. The Spirit is equal with the Father and the Son and is confessed as fully God. (Acts 5:3–4; 1 Cor. 2:10–11; 2 Cor. 3:17–18; 1 Cor. 3:16; Gal. 4:6)

1.6 We believe that, according to the words of Christ and the confession of the original Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father. For this reason, we reject the Filioque understood as altering the Creed to say that the Spirit proceeds “from the Father and the Son” as from a double source. At the same time, we affirm that the Spirit is sent into the world through the Son in the economy of salvation. (John 15:26; John 16:7; Gal. 4:6)

1.7 We believe that the one God acts inseparably in all divine works. The external works of God are undivided: the Father creates through the Son in the Holy Spirit; the Father saves through the Son in the Holy Spirit; and the Father sanctifies through the Son in the Holy Spirit. Thus, while the divine Persons are really distinct, they do not act independently or competitively, for the will, action, knowledge, and love of God are one. (Gen. 1:1–3; John 1:3; Ps. 104:30; 1 Cor. 12:4–6; Eph. 4:4–6)

1.8 We believe that the life of the Church is wholly Trinitarian and that salvation itself is participation in the life of the Holy Trinity. In baptism, the Lord’s Supper, prayer, and sanctification, believers are brought to the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. For this reason, the doctrine of the Trinity is not merely a proposition to be affirmed, but the living reality into which the faithful are incorporated. (Matt. 28:19; John 17:21–23; 2 Pet. 1:4; Eph. 2:18; 2 Cor. 13:14)