The Doctrinal Statement of Grace Church, hereinafter referred to as the “Doctrinal Statement,” is available in its entirety by clicking this link and, although occasionally printed separately, is a part of this Constitution and may be amended only as mentioned in Article XXIII. The basis upon which the Doctrinal Statement has been written and upon which all future amendments will be made is that Grace Church believes that the Bible is the verbally (every word) and plenary (completely) inspired Word of God as contained in the original manuscripts; that all portions of Scripture are equally inspired and contain no contradiction; that the Scriptures are to be the only rule of faith and practice for the believer in Jesus Christ; that Scripture possesses a definite meaning anchored in the author’s intent (both the human author[s] and the divine Author), and therefore we must attend carefully to the simplest and most natural, normal, and customary sense of the words from the author’s and original audience’s perspective, realizing that context, genre, or related passages of Scripture may indicate that the words are being used in another manner; that our responsibility as students of the Word is to do everything humanly possible to discover the true meaning of the written text, but when that meaning is discovered, that meaning stands in judgment of us, never do we ever stand in judgment of it; and that the Canon, the sixty-six books of the Bible, is complete, and nothing shall be added to it nor taken from it.