Biblical Foundation Statement

Paine College was founded in 1882 through a cooperation of two Methodist bodies: the Colored Methodist Episcopal (CME) Church (now the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church) and the Methodist Church South (now The United Methodist Church). Paine was the brainchild of Bishop Lucius Henry Holsey, who asked leaders in the Methodist Episcopal Church South to help establish a school to train Negro teachers and preachers so that they might in turn appropriately address the educational and spiritual needs of the people newly freed from the evils of slavery. Leaders in the ME Church South agreed, and Paine Institute came into being. As a Methodist institution, Paine College ascribes to the beliefs and tenets of the Wesleyan tradition as practiced in the Methodist Church. Methodism has its roots as an evangelical renewal movement and a deep commitment to personal and social holiness.

The "Articles of Religion," the historic confessions of faith (i.e. both the "Apostles' Creed" and the "Nicene Creed"), in addition to the sermons and teachings of John Wesley, all state with unequivocal clarity, the profound truths that are inextricably connected to our Methodist heritage. At Paine College among our spiritual values is an appreciation for our Methodist heritage in the fulfillment of our mission and educational philosophy.

The Bible Is the Word of God

We affirm that the Bible is the Word of God and "contains all things necessary to salvation." The Bible is primary, authoritative, and informative in all matters of faith and practice. There is nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Every part of Scripture is God-breathed, showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, and training us to live God's way. Through God's Word we are delicately crafted and equipped for salvation. (Article V)

The Triune Nature of God

"There is but one living and true God, everlasting", who is the creator of everything that is, and that God is made manifest in "three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity - the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost." (Article I)

God the Father

God the Father is the Creator, who is the maker of heaven and earth, and everything that is seen and unseen. It is God's nurture that enabled us to have life.

Sin

Sin is the "corruption of the human nature of every person that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam, whereby [humanity] is very far gone from original righteousness, and of [their] own nature inclined to evil, and that continually." (Article VII)

Free Will

The natural human condition "after the fall of Adam is such that man cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and works, to faith, and calling upon God. We have no power to do good works, acceptable to God, without the grace of God in Christ preventing us, that we may have a good will, and working with us, when we have good will." (Article VIII)

Sanctification

"Sanctification is that renewal of our fallen nature by the Holy Ghost, received through faith in Jesus Christ, whose blood of atonement cleanest from all sin; whereby we are not only delivered from the guilt, but washed from the pollution, saved from its power, and are enabled, through grace, to love God with all our hearts to walk in his holy commandments blameless." (Article XXV)

Justification

Our "righteousness is accounted before God only for the merit of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or deservings. Wherefore, that we are justified by faith, only, is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort." (Article IX)

Eschatology

We believe that Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world, was buried and rose again on the third day. In the last days, he shall come again to "judge the quick and the dead" (Apostles Creed).

Satan

"The devices whereby the subtle god of this world (Satan) labors to destroy the children of God - or at least to torment whom he cannot destroy, to perplex and hinder them in running the race which is set before them – are numberless as the stars of heaven or the sand upon the seashore." (Sermons 42 "Satan's Devices")

Heaven and Hell

"All persons stand under the righteous judgment of Jesus Christ, both now and in the last day. We believe in the resurrection of the dead; the righteous to life eternal and the wicked to endless condemnation." (Article XII)