Seventh-day Adventists Believe... FILE: index.htm

	At Issue Index Doctrines Index Table of Contents

Seventh-day Adventists Believe ...
A Biblical Exposition
of 27 Fundamental Doctrines

Copyright 1988 by the Ministerial Association
General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
All rights reserved.

Printed in the USA by the
Review and Herald Publishing Association
Hagerstown, Maryland 21740

Reproduced on the At Issue site by permission.

This book is available wherever SDA books are sold,
or you may click here to
order online

A Word About the 27 Fundamental Beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists

Through the years Seventh-day Adventists have been reluctant to formalize a creed (in the usual sense of that word). However, from time to time, for practical purposes, we have found it necessary to summarize our beliefs.

In 1872 the Adventist press at Battle Creek, Michigan, published a "synopsis of our faith" in 25 propositions. This document, slightly revised and expanded to 28 sections, appeared in the denominational Yearbook of 1889. This was not continued in subsequent issues, but it was inserted again in the Yearbook in 1905 and continued to appear through 1914. In response to an appeal from church leaders in Africa for "a statement [that] would help government officials and others to a better understanding of our work," a committee of four, including the president of the General Conference, prepared a statement encompassing "the principal features" of belief as they "may be summarized." This statement of 22 fundamental beliefs, first printed in the 1931 Yearbook, stood until the 1980 General Conference session replaced it with a similar but more comprehensive, summarization in 27 paragraphs, published under the title "Fundamental Beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists."

The present volume, Seventh-day Adventists Believe..., is based on these short summaries. They appear at the beginning of each chapter. In this book we present for our members, friends, and other interested persons, in an expanded, readable, and practical manner, these doctrinal convictions and their significance for Adventist Christians in today's society. While this volume is not an officially voted statement—only a General Conference in world session could provide that—it may be viewed as representative of "the truth . . . in Jesus" (Eph. 4:21) that Seventh-day Adventists around the globe cherish and proclaim.— iv

Table of Contents


		We Gratefully Acknowledge . . .	v
		To the Readers of This Book . . .	vii
THE DOCTRINE OF GOD
	Chapter 1	The Word of God	4
	Chapter 2	The Godhead	16
	Chapter 3	God the Father	28
	Chapter 4	God the Son	36
	Chapter 5	God the Holy Spirit	58
THE DOCTRINE OF MAN
	Chapter 6	Creation	68
	Chapter 7	The Nature of Man	78
THE DOCTRINE OF SALVATION
	Chapter 8	The Great Controversy	98
	Chapter 9	The Life, Death and Resurrection of Christ	106
	Chapter 10	The Experience of Salvation	118
THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH
	Chapter 11	The Church	134
	Chapter 12	The Remnant and Its Mission	152
	Chapter 13	Unity in the Body of Christ	170
	Chapter 14	Baptism	180
	Chapter 15	The Lord's Supper	184
	Chapter 16	Spiritual Gifts and Ministries	206
	Chapter 17	The Gift of Prophecy	216
THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
	Chapter 18	The Law of God	232
	Chapter 19	The Sabbath	248
	Chapter 20	Stewardship	268
	Chapter 21	Christian Behavior	278
	Chapter 22	Marriage and the Family	294
THE DOCTRINE OF LAST THINGS
	Chapter 23	Christ's Ministry in the Heavenly Sanctuary	312
	Chapter 24	The Second Coming of Christ	332
	Chapter 25	Death and Resurrection	348
	Chapter 26	The Millennium and the End of Sin	362
	Chapter 27	The New Earth	374

		Subject Index	386

Unless indicated otherwise, the texts of Scripture quoted in this book are from The New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers.

Texts credited to KJV are from the King James Version.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977.

Texts credited to NEB are from The New English Bible. © The Delegates of the Oxford University Press and the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press 1961, 1970. Reprinted by permission.

Texts credited to NIV from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

Bible texts credited to RSV are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyrighted 1946, 1952 © 1971, 1973.

Bible texts credited to TEV are from the Good News Bible—Old Testament: Copyright American Bible Society 1976; New Testament: Copyright © American Bible Society 1966, 1971, 1976.

Verses marked TLB are taken from The Living Bible, copyright © 1971 Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, Ill. Used by permission.

The Ministerial Association of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists assumes full responsibility for the accuracy of the camera-ready copy of this book. Editing, copy editing, and proofreading for this book were done under the direction of the Ministerial Association. Due to technical limitations vowel points and diacritical marks have not been included when transliterating foreign words.

First Printing, May 1988: 80,000
Second Printing, June 1988: 100,000

R & H Cataloging Service
Seventh-day Adventists believe ...

1. Seventh-day Adventists—Doctrines. I. Seventh-day Adventists, General Conference
Ministerial Association. II. title.
286.73

At Issue Index Doctrines Index