Elder Confession of Faith
*Other reformed confessions that will also be received as an accepted expression of Biblical doctrine for eldership are as follows: 1689 Second London Baptist Confession; New Hampshire Confession 1833; The Abstract Principles and other Reformed Baptist Confessions.
1. SCRIPTURE, THE WORD OF GOD WRITTEN
1.1 We believe that the Bible, consisting of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, is the infallible Word of God, verbally inspired by God, and without error. It is God’s special revelation to mankind and is the supreme authority and only sufficient rule in all matters of life, faith and practice. The authority of the Holy Scripture depends not upon the testimony of any man or church, but wholly upon God, its author, and is therefore it is to be received because it is the Word of God.
The sixty-six books which are the Word of God are as follows:
OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
Genesis - Exodus - Leviticus - Numbers - Deuteronomy - Joshua - Judges - Ruth - 1 Samuel - 2 Samuel - 1 Kings - 2 Kings - 1 Chronicles - 2 Chronicles - Ezra - Nehemiah - Esther - Job - Psalms - Proverbs - Ecclesiastes - The Song of Solomon - Isaiah - Jeremiah - Lamentations - Ezekiel - Daniel - Hosea - Joel - Amos - Obadiah - Jonah - Micah - Nahum- Habakkuk - Zephaniah - Haggai - Zechariah - Malachi.
*OF THE NEW TESTAMENT**
Matthew - Mark - Luke - John - Acts - Romans - 1 Corinthians - 2 Corinthians - Galatians - Ephesians - Philippians - Colossians - 1 Thessalonians - 2 Thessalonians - 1 Timothy - 2 Timothy - Titus - Philemon - Hebrews - James - 1 Peter - 2 Peter - 1 John - 2 John - 3 John - Jude - Revelation.
2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21; 2 Peter 3:16; 1 Corinthians 14:37; 1 Corinthians 2:13; Matthew 22:43-44; John 14:26; John 16:13-14; Proverbs 30:5; Numbers 23:19; Psalm 12:6; Hebrews 6:18; Matthew 24:35; Titus 1:2; John 17:17; Matthew 22:291.2 We believe that God’s intentions, revealed in the Bible, are the supreme and final authority in testing all claims about what is true and what is right. In matters not addressed by the Bible, what is true and right is assessed by criteria consistent with the teachings of Scripture.
1.3 We believe God’s intentions are revealed through the intentions of inspired human authors, even when the authors’ intention was to express divine meaning of which they were not fully aware, as, for example, in the case of some Old Testament prophecies. Thus the meaning of Biblical texts is a fixed historical reality, rooted in the historical, unchangeable intentions of its divine and human authors. However, while meaning does not change, the application of that meaning may change in various situations. Nevertheless it is not legitimate to infer a meaning from a Biblical text that is not demonstrably carried by the words which God inspired.
1 Peter 1:10-11; John 11:51; 2 Peter 3:16; Matthew 4:6-71.4 Therefore, the process of discovering the intention of God in the Bible (which is its fullest meaning) is a humble and careful effort to find in the language of Scripture what the human authors intended to communicate. Limited abilities, traditional biases, personal sin, and cultural assumptions often obscure Biblical texts. Therefore the work of the Holy Spirit is essential for right understanding of the Bible, and prayer for His assistance belongs to a proper effort to understand and apply God’s Word.
1 Corinthians 2:12-16; Psalm 119:18; Psalm 119:12; Ephesians 1:182. THE TRINITY, ONE GOD AS THREE PERSONS
2.1 We believe in the one and only living, true, sovereign, all-glorious God, eternally existing in three infinitely excellent and admirable Persons: God the Father, fountain of all being; God the Son, eternally begotten, not made, without beginning, being of one essence with the Father; and God the Holy Spirit, also of full divine essence, proceeding eternally as a Person from the Father and the Son. Thus each Person in the Godhead is fully and completely God, whose essence cannot be comprehended by any but Himself.
Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 16:16; 2 Corinthians 6:16; 1 Timothy 4:10; Hebrews 3:12; Revelation 7:2; Job 42:2; Psalm 115:3; Daniel 4:25; Daniel 4:34-35; Ephesians 1:11; James 4:15; Psalm 138:5; Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14; John 1:18; John 5:18; John 6:46; John 20:17; Acts 2:33; Romans 1:7; Romans 15:6; 1 Peter 1:3; Philemon 1:3; 1 Corinthians 8:6; John 20:31; John 1:1-3; John 5:18; John 6:46; Matthew 1:23; Matthew 11:27; John 10:30; John 10:38; John 12:45; John 14:7; Romans 9:5; Colossians 2:9; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 1:8 ; 2 Peter 1:1; Revelation 22:13; Colossians 1:15-16; Hebrews 1:5-6; John 1:14, 18; John 1:1; Colossians 2:9; Acts 5:3-4; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 2:10-11; Romans 8:27; John 14:26; John 15:26; John 16:13-14; 1 Corinthians 12:11; Ephesians 4:302.2 We believe that God having all life, goodness, blessedness, in and of Himself is alone and unto Himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of anything created or uncreated. Neither does He derive his glory from the creature, but rather is completely glorious and satisfied in the fellowship of the Trinity, each Person beholding and expressing His eternal delight in the all-satisfying perfections of the triune God.
3. GOD’S ETERNAL PURPOSE AND ELECTION
3.1 We believe that God, from all eternity, in order to display the full extent of His glory for the eternal and ever-increasing enjoyment of all who love Him, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His will, freely and unchangeably ordain and foreknow whatever comes to pass. His eternal counsel, purpose and holy decrees are unchangeable and not conditioned upon anything that He may have foreseen.
2 Timothy 1:9; Ephesians 3:11; Ephesians 1:4; 1 Peter 1:20; Revelation 13:8; Romans 11:36; see also Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14; Isaiah 60:21; see also 43:7; John 12:27-28; John 17:1; John 17:4; Philippians 2:11; Psalm 37:4; Philippians 4:4; Matthew 25:23; Revelation 21:4; 1 Corinthians 2:9; Romans 8:28; Ephesians 1:113.2 We believe that God upholds and governs all things – from galaxies to subatomic particles, from the forces of nature to the movements of nations, and from the public plans of politicians to the secret acts of solitary persons – all in accord with His eternal, all-wise purposes to glorify Himself, yet in such a way that He never sins, nor ever condemns a person unjustly, nor does violence to the will of the creature; but that His ordaining and governing all things is compatible with the moral accountability of all persons created in His image.
Job 9:7; Isaiah 40:26; Matthew 10:29-30; Colossians 1:16-17; Job 37:6-13; Psalm 147:15-18; Mark 4:39-41; Psalm 33:10-11; Amos 3:6; Lamentations 3:37-38; Genesis 50:20; Revelation 17:16-17; Proverbs 21:1; Proverbs 16:33; Proverbs 20:24; Proverbs 16:9; Psalm 104:24; Romans 16:27; 1 Corinthians 1:21; Deuteronomy 32:4; 1 John 1:5; James 1:13; Romans 3:4; Romans 1:20; Romans 2:11-12; Daniel 4:37; Romans 3:193.3 We believe that God’s election is an unconditional act of free grace which was given in His Son Christ Jesus before the world began. By this act God freely chose, before the foundation of the world, without any consideration to the will, works, or efforts of the sinner, those who would be saved from sin and brought to repentance and saving faith, thus inheriting eternal life in His Son Christ Jesus. These He predestined to adoption to Himself by Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace. The rest of mankind he has left to act according to the sinful determinations of their own hearts to their just and eternal damnation. This He has done to the praise of the glory of His justice.
Romans 9:11-18; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31; John 10:25-29; John 17:6; John 6:37-39; Romans 8:28-30; Romans 11:5-8; 2 Timothy 1:9; Ephesians 1:4; Romans 6:17; Romans 8:2; 2 Timothy 2:24-25; Acts 11:18; John 6:44; John 6:65; Philippians 1:29; Ephesians 2:8-9; Matthew 11:27; Matthew 16:17; Acts 16:144. GODS CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE AND MAN
4.1 We believe that God created the universe, and everything in it, out of nothing, by the Word of His power, all things visible and invisible, in the space of six days. Having no deficiency in Himself, nor moved by any incompleteness in His joyful self-sufficiency, God was pleased in creation to display His glory for His own name’s sake and the everlasting joy of the redeemed, from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
Genesis 1:1; Psalm 24:1-2; Hebrews 11:3; Hebrews 1:2; John 1:1-3; Exodus 3:13-14; Psalm 50:9-15; Acts 17:25; Isaiah 43:7; Isaiah 35:10; Matthew 25:23; Revelation 5:9; Revelation 7:9-104.2 We believe that God directly created Adam from the dust of the ground and Eve from his side. We believe that Adam and Eve were the historical parents of the entire human race; that they were created male and female equally in the image of God, without sin; that they were created to glorify their Maker, Ruler, Provider, and Friend by trusting His all-sufficient goodness, admiring His infinite beauty, enjoying His personal fellowship, and obeying His all-wise counsel; and that, in God’s love and wisdom, they were appointed differing and complementary roles in marriage as a type of Christ and the church.
Genesis 2:7; Genesis 1:27; Genesis 2:21-22; 1 Corinthians 15:22; 1 Corinthians 15:45; Romans 5:14; Genesis 1:27; Genesis 9:6; James 3:9; Genesis 1:31; Revelation 5:9; Revelation 7:9-10; Ephesians 5:22-33; Genesis 2:185. MAN’S SIN AND FALL FROM FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD
5.1 We believe that, although God created man morally upright, he was led astray from God’s Word and wisdom by the subtlety of Satan’s deceit, and chose to take what was forbidden, and thus declare his independence from, distrust for, and disobedience toward his all-good and gracious Creator. Thus, our first parents, by this sin, fell from their original innocence, and communion with God.
Ecclesiastes 7:29; Genesis 3:1; Genesis 3:13; 2 Corinthians 11:3; Genesis 2:17; Genesis 3:6; Genesis 3:7-8; Romans 5:12; 1 Corinthians 15:215.2 We believe that, as the head of the human race, Adam‘s fall became the fall of all his posterity, in such a way that corruption, guilt, death, and condemnation belong properly to every person. All persons are thus corrupt by nature, enslaved to sin, and morally unable to please God and overcome their own proud inclinations toward the fleeting pleasures of self-rule and sin.
Romans 5:12-19; Ephesians 2:2-3; Romans 6:16, 20; 1 Corinthians 2:14; Romans 8:7-8; Deuteronomy 29:45.3 We believe God has subjected the creation to futility, and the entire human family is made justly liable to untold miseries of sickness, decay, calamity, and loss. Thus all the adversity and suffering in the world testifies and serves as a witness to the exceedingly great evil of moral depravity in the heart of mankind. Yet notwithstanding God continues to display His forbearance by withholding the full display of His righteous judgement and wrath, thus manifesting His goodness and longsuffering, and by it, leading sinners to repentance.
Romans 8:20; Romans 8:23; 2 Corinthians 4:16; Romans 8:35-36; 1 Thessalonians 4:13; Romans 2:46. JESUS CHRIST, THE INCARNATE SON OF GOD
6.1 We believe that in the fullness of time God sent forth His eternal Son as Jesus the Messiah, of seed of Abraham and of David, conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary. We believe that, when the eternal Son became flesh, He took on a fully human nature, so that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures were inseparably joined together in one Person, without confusion or mixture. Thus the Person, Jesus Christ, was and is truly God and truly man, yet one Christ and the only Mediator between God and man.
Galatians 4:4; John 3:16-17; Matthew 16:16; Luke 1:34-35; Matthew 1:23; Luke 1:34-35; John 1:14; Hebrews 2:14; Hebrews 2:17; John 1:1; Philippians 2:6-8; 1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 4:156.2 We believe that Jesus Christ lived without sin, though He endured the common infirmities and temptations of human life. He preached and taught with truth and authority unparalleled in human history. He worked miracles, demonstrating His divine right and power over all creation: casting out demons, healing the sick, raising the dead, stilling the storm, walking on water, multiplying loaves, and foreknowing what would befall Him and His disciples, including the betrayal of Judas and the denial, restoration, and eventual martyrdom of Peter.
John 7:46; Mark 1:27; Matthew 22:16; Mark 1:27; Matthew 4:23; Matthew 11:4-6; Mark 4:39; Matthew 14:25; Matthew 14:19-20; John 13:19; John 6:64; John 13:21; John 13:26; Matthew 26:2; John 13:27; Luke 22:31-34; John 21:18-196.3 We believe that His life was governed by His Father‘s will and providence with a view to fulfilling all Old Testament prophecies concerning the One who was to come, such as the Seed of the woman, the Prophet like Moses, the Priest after the order of Melchizedek, the King as the Son of David, and the Suffering Servant
Luke 24:25-26; Genesis 3:15; Romans 16:20; Deuteronomy 18:18; Acts 3:20-23; Psalm 110:4; Hebrews 5:5-6; Isaiah 9:7; Matthew 1:1; Matthew 22:42; Isaiah 52:13, 53:3-6; Mark 10:456.4 We believe that Jesus Christ suffered willingly in fulfillment of God’s redemptive plan, that He was crucified under Pontius Pilate, that He died, was buried and on the third day rose from the dead to vindicate the saving work of His life and death and to take His place as the invincible, everlasting Lord of glory. During forty days after His resurrection, He gave many compelling evidences of His bodily resurrection and then ascended bodily into heaven, where He is seated at the right hand of the Father, interceding for His people on the basis of His all-sufficient sacrifice for sin, and reigning until He puts all His enemies under His feet.
John 10:18; Acts 2:23; Acts 4:27-28; John 19:30; 1 Corinthians 15:3; John 19:40-41; 1 Corinthians 15:4; Matthew 28:6; Romans 4:25; Philippians 2:9-11; Acts 17:31; Acts 1:3; Acts 1:9-11; Luke 22:69; Acts 2:33; Acts 5:31; Colossians 3:1; Romans 8:34; Hebrews 4:14; 1 John 2:1; 1 Corinthians 15:25; Hebrews 1:137. THE SAVING WORK OF CHRIST
7.1 We believe that by His perfect obedience to God and by His suffering and death as the immaculate Lamb of God, Jesus Christ obtained forgiveness of sins and the gift of perfect righteousness for all who trusted in God prior to the cross and all who would trust in Christ thereafter. Through living a perfect life and dying in our place, the just for the unjust, Christ took upon Himself our punishment, appeased the wrath of God against us, vindicated the righteousness of God in our justification, and removed the condemnation of the law against us.
Romans 5:18-19; 1 Corinthians 15:3; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Peter 3:18; Romans 3:24-25; 2 Corinthians 5:14; Romans 5:6; Romans 8:34; Romans 14:9; Galatians 2:21; John 1:29; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14; Acts 13:38; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 3:9; Romans 3:21-22; Romans 4:3; Romans 3:25-26; Romans 3:26; Romans 3:28; Galatians 2:16; Romans 8:1, 3; Galatians 3:13; Ephesians 2:3-6; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; Romans 5:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:9; Romans 3:25-26; Colossians 2:13-14; Galatians 3:137.2 We believe that the atonement of Christ for sin warrants a free and universal offering of the gospel to all persons, so that to every person it may be truly said,―God gave His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him might not perish but have eternal life. Whosoever will may come for cleansing at this fountain, and whoever does come, Jesus will not cast out.
John 3:16; Matthew 28:19; Colossians 1:23; Acts 1:8; Revelation 22:17, KJV; John 4:14; John 6:377.3 We believe, moreover, that the death of Christ did obtain more than the free offer of the gospel for all; it also obtained the New Covenant mercy of a new heart for God’s elect, thus securing their repentance and faith. Therefore the death of Christ should be understood as meritoriously sufficient for all, but only efficient for God’s elect. Consequently Christ is to be proclaimed as the world’s only Saviour, although in His death, He expressed a special covenant love to His friends, His sheep, and His bride. As High Priest He made atonement for the sins of His people purchasing for them the effectual working of the Spirit, Who shall call them to life, raise them from the dead, triumph over their hardness, and shall bring them to saving faith.
Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25; Hebrews 8:6; Hebrews 9:15; see also 12:24; Hebrews 13:20-21; John 15:13; John 10:14-15; Ephesians 5:25; Revelation 5:9; John 17:6, 9, 19; John 11:51-52; Romans 8:328. THE SAVING WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
8.1 We believe that the Holy Spirit has always been at work in the world, sharing in the work of creation, giving faith to the remnant of God’s people, performing signs and wonders, giving triumphs in battle, empowering the preaching of prophets and inspiring the writing of Scripture. Yet, when Christ had made atonement for sin, and ascended to the right hand of the Father, He inaugurated a new era of the Spirit by pouring out the promise of the Father on His Church. We believe that the newness of this era is marked by the unprecedented mission of the Spirit to glorify the crucified and risen Christ. This He does by giving the disciples of Jesus greater power to preach the gospel of the glory of Christ and by transforming them as they behold the glory of Christ in the New Covenant.
Psalm 104:30; Gen. 1:2; Romans 8:7-9; Judges 14:6; Judges 3:10; 1 Samuel 10:6; 2 Peter 1:21; Matthew 22:43; Psalm 110:1; Luke 24:49; Acts 2:33; John 16:13-14; John 7:39; John 16:13-14; Romans 15:18-19; Acts 16:14; John 3:8; 2 Corinthians 3:17-188.2 We believe that the Holy Spirit permanently indwells believers, and empowers them for life and service. He illuminates God’s Word to his people, assures them of God’s love, comforts them with His presence, intercedes on their behalf, and sanctifies them in conforming them to the image of Christ. The Spirit is the bond of our union with Christ, the seal of our salvation, the firstfruits of our redemption, and the guarantee of our inheritance. The Spirit also displays His presence and power by manifesting Himself through spiritual gifts. These He freely and sovereignly distributes to believers, as he wills, (all the gifts recorded in Scripture including those found in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10) for the purpose of edifying the body of Christ and the confirmation of His Word.
Ephesians 1:17-18; 1 Corinthians 2:12-14. Romans 5:5; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 3:16-19; John 16:7; Acts 9:31; 2 Corinthians 3:17-18; 13:14; Romans 8:26-27; John 16:7; Romans 8:13; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Galatians 5:22-23; Ephesians 4:3; 1 Corinthians 12:12-13; Galatians 4:6; 2 Corinthians 1:21-22; Ephesians 1:13; 4:30; Romans 8:23; 1 Corinthians 15:20, 23; Ephesians 1:13-14; cf. 2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5.1 Corinthians 12:7-10; Hebrews 2:4; Acts 1:8; Acts 4:31; Jeremiah 31:33-34.8.3 We believe that, apart from the effectual work of the Spirit, no one would come to faith, because all are dead in trespasses and sins; that they are hostile to God, and morally unable to submit to God or please Him, because the pleasures of sin appear greater than the pleasures of God. Thus, for God‘s elect, the Spirit triumphs over all resistance, awakens the dead, removes blindness, and manifests Christ in such a compellingly beautiful way through the Gospel that He becomes irresistibly attractive to the regenerate heart.
Ephesians 2:4-6; Romans 8:7-8; Mark 4:19; Romans 6:17; Romans 8:7-9; 2 Corinthians 4:4-6; Acts 16:14; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 4:4, 6; John 16:148.4 We believe the Holy Spirit does this saving work in connection with the presentation of the Gospel of the glory of Christ. Thus neither the work of the Father in election, nor the work of the Son in atonement, nor the work of the Spirit in regeneration is a hindrance or discouragement to the proclamation of the gospel to all peoples and persons everywhere. On the contrary, this divine saving work of the Trinity is the warrant and the ground of our hope that our evangelization is not in vain in the Lord. The Spirit binds His saving work to the gospel of Christ, because His aim is to glorify the Christ of the Gospel. Therefore we do not believe that there is salvation through any other means than through receiving the gospel by the power of the Holy Spirit, except that infants and people with severe intellectual disabilities and minds physically incapable of comprehending the gospel may be saved.
Acts 4:12; 1 Timothy 2:5; Romans 3:19-22; Ephesians 3:6; Romans 1:5; Acts 17:30-31; Romans 10:13-159. THE JUSTIFYING ACT OF GOD
9.1 We believe that in a free act of righteous grace God justifies the ungodly by faith alone apart from works, pardoning their sins, and reckoning them as righteous and acceptable in His presence. Faith is thus the sole instrument by which we, as sinners, are united to Christ, whose perfect righteousness and satisfaction for sins is alone the ground of our acceptance with God. This acceptance happens fully and permanently at the first instant of justification. Thus the righteousness by which we come into right standing with God is not anything worked in us by God, neither imparted to us at baptism nor over time, but rather is accomplished for us, outside ourselves, and is imputed to us.
Titus 3:5-7; Romans 3:28; Romans 3:23-24; Romans 4:4-5; Galatians 2:16; Romans 5:1; Galatians 3:24; Galatians 5:4; Philippians 3:8-9; Romans 4:6-8; Romans 3:28; Romans 4:4-59.2 We believe, nevertheless, that the faith, which alone receives the gift of justification, does not remain alone in the person so justified, but produces, by the Holy Spirit, the fruit of love and leads necessarily to sanctification. This necessary relation between justifying faith and the fruit of good works gives rise to some Biblical expressions which seem to make works the ground or means of justification, but in fact simply express the crucial truth that faith that does not yield the fruit of good works is dead, being no true faith.
Romans 5:18-19; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 3:9; Jeremiah 23:5-6; Romans 5:1; Galatians 5:22-23; Galatians 5:6; 1 Timothy 1:5; Colossians 1:4-5; 1 John 3:14; 1 John 4:8, 20; 1 John 4:16; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Acts 26:18; 2 Thessalonians 1:11; 1 Thessalonians 1:3; James 2:17; James 2:26; Acts 15:9; 1 John 2:3-4; 1 John 5:1; Hebrews 12:14; Romans 8:13-14; Galatians 5:21; Galatians 6:8-9; John 5:28-29; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Matthew 18:34-35; James 2:21-25; James 2:17-20, 26; Acts 26:18; Acts 15:9; James 2:17-20, 2610. GOD’S WORK IN FAITH AND SANCTIFICATION
10.1 We believe that justification and sanctification are both brought about by God through faith, but not in the same way. Justification is an act of God’s imputing and reckoning; sanctification is an act of God‘s imparting and transforming. Thus the function of faith in regard to each is different. In regard to justification, faith is not the channel through which power or transformation flows to the soul of the believer, but rather faith is the occasion of God‘s forgiving, acquitting, and reckoning as righteous. But in regard to sanctification, faith is indeed the channel through which divine power and transformation flow to the soul; and the sanctifying work of God through faith does indeed touch the soul and change it into the likeness of Christ.
Romans 4:3; Romans 4:5; Luke 7:29; Luke 7:35; Luke 16:15; Galatians 3:5; Romans 8:7-9; Judges 14:6; Judges 3:10; 1 Samuel 10:6; 2 Peter 1:21; Matthew 22:43; Psalm 110:110.2 We believe that the reason justifying faith necessarily sanctifies in this way is fourfold:
First, justifying faith is a persevering, that is, continuing, kind of faith. Even though we are justified at the first instant of saving faith, yet this faith justifies only because it is the kind of faith that will surely persevere. The extension of this faith into the future is, as it were, contained in the first seed of faith, as the oak in the acorn. Thus the moral effects of persevering faith may be rightly described as the effects of justifying faith.
Second, we believe that justifying faith trusts in Christ not only for the gift of imputed righteousness and the forgiveness of sins, but also for the fulfillment of all His promises to us based on that reconciliation. Justifying faith magnifies the finished work of Christ’s atonement, by resting securely in all the promises of God obtained and guaranteed by that all-sufficient work.
Third, we believe that justifying faith embraces Christ in all His roles: Creator, Sustainer, Savior, Teacher, Guide, Comforter, Helper, Friend, Advocate, Protector, and Lord. Justifying faith does not divide Christ, accepting part of Him and rejecting the rest. All of Christ is embraced by justifying faith, even before we are fully aware of, or fully understand, all that He will be for us. As more of Christ is truly revealed to us in His Word, genuine faith recognizes Christ and embraces Him more fully.
Fourth, we believe that receiving Christ is not a mere intellectual assent, or a mere decision of the will, but is also a heartfelt, Spirit-given commitment to all that God is for us in Jesus. Therefore, the change of mind and heart that turns from the moral ugliness and danger of sin, and is sometimes called “repentance,” is included in the very nature of saving faith.
1 Peter 1:2; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; 1 Thessalonians 4:7; Romans 6:19, 22; Philippians 1:6; Philippians 2:12-13; Romans 4:3; Genesis 15:6; Romans 4:19-22; Genesis 17:17; James 2:21-23, Genesis 22:10; Philippians 3:9; Romans 3:21-22; Acts 10:43; Romans 4:20-22; Colossians 1:23; Hebrews 11:1; Hebrews 3:6; Romans 6:8; 1 Timothy 1:16; 2 Corinthians 1:20; Romans 10:9; 1 John 3:23; Acts 20:21; Galatians 2:16; Colossians 1:4; Colossians 2:5; 2 Timothy 3:15; John 20:31; Philippians 1:29; John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3; Luke 2:11; John 13:13; Acts 16:7; John 14:18; John 14:27; 2 Corinthians 1:5; Philippians 1:19; John 15:13-15; 1 John 2:1; 2 Thessalonians 3:3; Romans 10:9; Philippians 3:15; John 6:35; 1 John 5:1-4; John 3:19-21; Hebrews 11:1; Hebrews 11:24-26; Matthew 3:8; Hebrews 6:1; Galatians 5:610.3 We believe that this persevering, future-oriented, Christ-embracing, heart-satisfying faith is life-transforming, and therefore renders intelligible the teaching of the Scripture that final salvation in the age to come depends on the transformation of life, and yet does not contradict justification by faith alone. The faith which alone justifies, cannot remain alone, but works through love.
2 Thessalonians 2:13; Romans 8:29-30; Ephesians 2:8-9; 1 Corinthians 1:26-29; Romans 15:18; 1 Corinthians 1:30-31; 1 Corinthians 15:10; 1 Corinthians 4:7; Hebrews 13:21; Romans 11:36; Galatians 3:5; John 16:13-14; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Philippians 3:12; 1 John 1:8-10; 1 John 2:1; Matthew 6:11-12; Romans 6:11-13; Galatians 5:16-18; Romans 6:14; Romans 6:17; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 Corinthians 1:18; Hebrews 10:14; 2 Peter 3:18; Galatians 5:16-18; 1 Peter 2:11; Hebrews 3:12-13; 1 Timothy 6:12; 2 Timothy 4:7-8; Mark 13:22; Luke 22:31-32; John 10:27-30; Romans 8:30; Hebrews 3:14; 1 John 2:19; 1 Corinthians 1:8-9; Philippians 1:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; 2 Timothy 1:12; 1 Peter 1:5; Jeremiah 32:4011. LIVING GOD’S WORD BY MEDITATION AND PRAYER
11.1 We believe that faith is awakened and sustained by God’s Spirit through His Word and prayer. The good fight of faith is fought mainly by meditating on the Scriptures and praying that God would apply them to our souls.
Romans 10:17; Mark 9:24; Luke 22:31-32; Ephesians 1:18-19; 2 Thessalonians 3:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:11; Ephesians 6:17-18; Hebrews 4:12; Psalm 1:1-3; Psalm 119:36; Psalm 119:18; Psalm 86:1111.2 We believe that the promises of God recorded in the Scriptures are suited to save us from the deception of sin by displaying for us, and holding out to us, superior pleasures in the protection, provision, and presence of God. Therefore, reading, understanding, pondering, memorizing, and savoring the promises of all that God will be for us in Jesus are primary means of the Holy Spirit to break the power of sin’s deceitful promises in our lives. Therefore it is needful that we give ourselves to such meditation day and night.
2 Peter 1:3-4; Hebrews 10:34; Hebrews 11:24-26; Hebrews 13:13-14; Ephesians 3:4; Ephesians 5:17; 2 Timothy 2:7; Psalm 119:11; Psalm 37:4; Psalm 34:8; Psalm 1:211.3 We believe that God has ordained to bless and use His people for His glory through the means of prayer, offered in Jesus’ name by faith. All prayer should seek ultimately that God’s name be hallowed, and that His kingdom come, and that His will be done on earth as it is done in heaven. God’s sovereignty over all things is not a hindrance to prayer, but a reason for hope that our prayers will succeed.
Philippians 4:6-7; Matthew 7:7-11; Romans 15:30-31; Ephesians 6:19; Matthew 9:38; John 14:13;15:16; 16:23-24, 26; James 1:5-8; Matthew 6:9-10; Ezekiel 36:37-38; Psalm 119:36; Psalm 119:18; Ephesians 1:18; Psalm 90:14; Ephesians 3:14-16; Colossians 1:9-11; 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13; Matthew 9:38; 2 Thessalonians 3:112. CHRIST’S CHURCH AND HER ORDINANCES
12.1 We believe in the one universal Church, composed of all those, in every time and place, who are chosen in Christ and united to Him through faith by the Spirit in one Body, with Christ Himself as the all-supplying, all-sustaining, all-supreme, and all-authoritative Head. We believe that the ultimate purpose of the Church is to glorify God in the everlasting and ever-increasing gladness of worship.
Colossians 1:18; Ephesians 1:22; Ephesians 3:6; Ephesians 4:15-16; Ephesians 5:23; Ephesians 3:10; Matthew 5:14-16; Revelation 5:9-1212.2 We believe it is God’s will that the universal Church find expression in local churches in which believers agree together to hear the Word of God proclaimed, to engage in corporate worship, to practice the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, to build each other‘s faith through the manifold ministries of love, to hold each other accountable in the obedience of faith through Biblical discipline, and to engage in local and world evangelization. The Church is a body in which each member should find a suitable ministry for His gifts; it is the household of God in which the Spirit dwells; it is the pillar and bulwark of God’s truth in a truth-denying world; and it is a city set on a hill so that men may see the light of its good deeds—especially to the poor—and give glory to the Father in heaven.
Acts 8:1; 1 Corinthians 16:19; Ephesians 4:11-12; 2 Timothy 4:1-2; Ephesians 5:18-20; Colossians 3:15-16; Matthew 28:19; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; 1 Corinthians 12:4-7; 1 Corinthians 14:26; Romans 12:6-8; Galatians 6:1; James 5:19-20; 1 Corinthians 5:7, 11-13; 2 Thessalonians 3:14-15; Colossians 4:5-6; Romans 15:24; 3 John 7-8; Matthew 28:18-20; 1 Corinthians 12:13-18; Ephesians 2:20-22; 1 Timothy 3:15; Galatians 2:10; Romans 15:26; Luke 14:13-14; Matthew 5:14-1612.3 We believe that baptism is an ordinance of the Lord by which those who have repented and come to faith express their union with Christ in His death and resurrection, by being immersed in water in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. It is a sign of belonging to the new people of God, the true Israel, and an emblem of burial and cleansing, signifying death to the old life of unbelief, and purification from the pollution of sin.
Colossians 2:12; 1 Peter 3:21; Galatians 3:26-27; Acts 2:38; Acts 18:8; Matthew 3:6; Romans 6:3-4; Acts 8:36-39; John 3:23; Romans 6:4; Romans 2:28-29; Romans 4:16; Galatians 3:7; Mark 1:4-5; Hebrews 10:2212.4 We believe that the Lord’s Supper is an ordinance of the Lord in which gathered believers eat bread, signifying Christ’s body given for His people, and drink the cup of the Lord, signifying the New Covenant in Christ‘s blood. We do this in remembrance of the Lord, and thus proclaim His death until He comes. Those who eat and drink in a worthy manner partake of Christ‘s body and blood, not physically, but spiritually, in that, by faith, they are nourished with the benefits He obtained through His death, and thus grow in grace.
1 Corinthians 10:16-17; John 6:53-57, 63; 1 Corinthians 11:17-20, 22
12.5 We believe that each local church should recognize and affirm the divine calling of spiritually qualified men to give leadership to the church through the role of pastor-elder in the ministry of the Word and prayer. Women are not to fill the role of pastor-elder in the local church, but are encouraged to use their gifts in appropriate roles that edify the body of Christ and spread the gospel.
Ephesians 4:11-12; 1 Timothy 5:17; Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5; Acts 6:4; 1 Timothy 2:12-1313. THE GREAT COMMISSION OF CHRIST
We believe that the commission given by the Lord Jesus to make disciples of all nations is binding on His Church to the end of the age. This task is to proclaim the Gospel to every tribe and tongue and people and nation, baptizing them, teaching them the words and ways of the Lord, and gathering them into churches able to fulfill their Christian calling among their own people. The ultimate aim of world missions is that God would create, by His Word, worshippers who glorify His name through glad-hearted faith and obedience. Missions exists because worship doesn‘t. When the time of ingathering is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever. Worship, therefore, is the fuel and the goal of missions.
Matthew 28:18-20; Revelation 5:9; Acts 14:23; Romans 1:5; John 4:23; Romans 15:8-11; Hebrews 12:22-2314. DEATH, RESURRECTION, AND THE COMING OF THE LORD
14.1 We believe that when Christians die they are made perfect in holiness, are received into paradise, and are taken consciously into the presence of Christ, which is more glorious and more satisfying than any experience on earth.
Hebrews 12:22-23; Luke 23:43; Philippians 1:23; cf. 2 Corinthians 5:1-9; Revelation 6:9-11; 2 Corinthians 12:2-314.2 We believe in the blessed hope that at the end of the age Jesus Christ will return to this earth personally, visibly, physically, and suddenly in power and great glory; and that He will gather His elect, raise the dead, judge the nations, and establish His kingdom. We believe that the righteous will enter into the everlasting joy of their Master, and those who suppressed the truth in unrighteousness will be consigned to everlasting conscious misery.
Titus 2:13; Acts 1:9-11; Mark 14:61-62; Philippians 3:20-21; Luke 24:39-43; 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3; Luke 21:27; Matthew 24:31; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17; 1 Corinthians 15:22-24; 2 Timothy 4:1; Luke 22:28-30; Psalm 16:11; Matthew 25:23; Matthew 25:46; Matthew 19:29; John 3:16; Romans 6:23; Jude 24-25; Romans 1:18; Daniel 12:2; Matthew 3:12; 18:8; 10:28; 12:32; 25:41, 46; 26:24; Mark 3:29; 9:43-48; Luke 16:26; Jude 12-13; 2 Thessalonians 1:9; Revelation 14:11; see also 19:3; 20:1014.3 We believe that the end of all things in this age will be the beginning of a never-ending, ever-increasing happiness in the hearts of the redeemed, as God displays more and more of His infinite and inexhaustible greatness and glory for the enjoyment of His people.
Ephesians 2:6-7; Psalm 16:11; 1 Corinthians 13:12; 1 Corinthians 2:915. THIS AFFIRMATION AND THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH
15.1 We do not believe that all things in this affirmation of faith are of equal weight, some being more essential, some less. We do not believe that every part of this affirmation must be believed in order for one to be saved.
15.2 Our aim is not to discover how little can be believed, but rather to embrace and teach ―the whole counsel of God. Our aim is to encourage a hearty adherence to the Bible, the fullness of its truth, and the glory of its Author. We believe Biblical doctrine stabilizes saints in the winds of confusion and strengthens the church in her mission to meet the great systems of false religion and secularism. We believe that the supreme virtue of love is nourished by the strong meat of God-centered doctrine. And we believe that a passion for the glory of God in all things through Jesus Christ is sustained in an atmosphere of deep and joyful knowledge of God and His wonderful works.
Titus 1:1; 1 Timothy 6:3-5; 1 Timothy 4:1; Ephesians 4:13-14; 1 Timothy 1:5; Psalm 9:1015.3 We believe that the cause of unity in the church is best served, not by finding the lowest common denominator of doctrine, around which all can gather, but by elevating the value of truth, stating the doctrinal parameters of church or school or mission or ministry, seeking the unity that comes from the truth, and then demonstrating to the world how Christians can love each other across boundaries rather than by removing boundaries. In this way, the importance of truth is served by the existence of doctrinal borders, and unity is served by the way we love others across those borders.
Ephesians 4:4-6; John 13:34-35; 1 Corinthians 13:12; 2 Peter 3:1815.4 We do not claim infallibility for this affirmation and are open to refinement and correction from Scripture. Yet we do hold firmly to these truths as we see them and call on others to search the Scriptures to see if these things are so. As conversation and debate take place, it may be that we will learn from each other, and the boundaries will be adjusted, even possibly folding formerly disagreeing groups into closer fellowship.
Acts 17:11