"But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us."
(Rom. 5:8)

"if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved."
(Rom. 10:9-10)

Presbyterians believe the Bible when it says that "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) Unlike crime, which involves the breaking of human law, sin is a condition of the heart or an expression of that condition where we are estranged from God and fail to trust in God. Sin expresses itself in particular acts. The Brief Statement of Faith of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) says:

"But we rebel against God; we hide from our Creator.
Ignoring God's commandments,
we violate the image of God in others and ourselves,
accept lies as truth, exploit neighbor and nature,
and threaten death to the planet entrusted to our care.
We deserve God's condemnation."  (Lines 33-39)

"Yet God acts with justice and mercy to redeem creation.
Loving us still, God makes us heirs with Christ of the covenant.
Like a mother who will not forsake her nursing child, like a father who runs to welcome the prodigal home, God is faithful still."  (Lines 40, 47-51)

We refuse to believe, however, that we really can rest our lives in God; we think we can do a better job of running things than God can. And so we strike out on our own, doing our best to protect ourselves from all the things that threaten our security. We seek control over other people's lives; we figure that is the only way we can really be sure of them. We "love" people jealously and possessively; if they belong to us, we assume, we will be secure. We want our group to dominate other groups; that makes us feel big and important and in charge.

It is a hopeless endeavor. It simply does not work. We turn away from the God of steadfast love, whom we can always count on, but we find that we cannot ultimately count on any human beings including ourselves for security. Painful as this is for us, it is infinite pain for the God who loves us. It is like the pain of a parent watching children doing self-destructive things; children must be free to grow up, but a parent weeps when they go astray. So God's heart is broken to see us being so much less than what God intends for us, to see us hurting each other and hurting ourselves, when we could be living together as neighbors and loved ones, in freedom and joy.

We have betrayed God, and so have cut ourselves off from divine companionship, from that "communion with God which is the very goal of our being." There must, then, be reconciliation, but we cannot bring it about: it is we who have destroyed the relationship. It is God who must create the conditions in which God and we can be brought back together again.

God has always been faithful to the people of Israel and to the church. Presbyterians believe God has offered us salvation because of God's loving nature. It is not a right or a privilege to be earned by being "good enough." No one of us is good enough on our own--we are all dependent upon God's goodness and mercy. From the kindest, most devoted churchgoer to the most blatant sinner, we are all saved solely by the grace of God.

Out of the greatest possible love and compassion God reached out to us and redeemed us through Jesus Christ, the only one who was ever without sin. Through Jesus' death and resurrection God triumphed over sin.

Presbyterians believe it is through the action of God working in us that we become aware of our sinfulness and our need for God's mercy and forgiveness. Just as a parent is quick to welcome a wayward child who has repented of rebellion, God is willing to forgive our sins if we but confess them and ask for forgiveness in the name of Christ.

God further sent the Holy Spirit to be our companion, counselor and guide in living a life of service to God.