Christianity is a divine revelation, communicated to mankind through Christ; its saving truths are to be learned from the Bible and tradition, the former having been written and the latter maintained uncorrupted through the influence of the Holy Spirit; the interpretation of the Bible belongs to the Church, which is taught by the Holy Spirit, but every believer may read the Scriptures.
According to the Christian revelation, God is a Trinity; that is, the Divine Essence exists in Three Persons, perfectly equal in nature and dignity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father only. Besides the Triune God there is no other object of divine worship, but homage (ὑπερδουλία) may be paid to the Virgin Mary and reverence (δουλία) to the saints and to their pictures and relics.
Man is born with a corrupt bias which was not his at creation; the first man, when created, possessed immortality, perfect wisdom, and a will regulated by reason. Through the first sin Adam and his posterity lost immortality, and his will received a bias towards evil. In this natural state man, who, even before he actually sins, is a sinner before God by original or inherited sin, commits manifold actual transgressions; but he is not absolutely without power of will towards good, and is not always doing evil.
Christ, the Son of God, became man in two natures, which, internally and inseparably united, make one Person, and, according to the eternal purpose of God, has obtained for man reconciliation with God and eternal life, inasmuch as He, by His vicarious death, has made satisfaction to God for the world's sins, and this satisfaction was perfectly commensurate with the sins of the world.
