WHAT WE BELIEVE

 

 

In the New Testament the word faith is used with two different meanings. First, it means the action of believing (Rom. 5:1; Eph. 2:8; Heb. 11:1). We have faith in the Lord Jesus, and this is the action of believing. This is the subjective meaning of the word faith. There is also the second meaning, that is, the objective meaning of the word faith. Faith used in this way refers to the things in which we believe, the object of our faith, our belief (Titus 1:4; Rev. 14:12; 2 Tim. 4:7). This is what we call our Christian faith.

 

The Bible

The Bible is the Word of God, written under His inspiration word by word (2 Tim. 3:16), and is the complete and only written divine revelation of God to man (Deut. 4:2; 12:32; Prov. 30:5-6; Rev. 22:18-19). Every word in the Scriptures comes to us through the action of the Holy Spirit to bear the word of God through human writers (2 Pet. 1:21). The Holy Scriptures are fully sufficient to lead people to salvation and to guide them into glory.

 

God

There is one God (Deut. 6:4; 1 Cor. 8:4b; Isa. 45:5a), who is triune-the Father, the Son, and the Spirit (Matt. 28:19)-coexisting (Matt. 3:16- 17; 2 Cor. 13:14) and coinhering (John 14:10- 11) in three persons, or hypostases, distinct but never separate, from eternity to eternity. We can believe and enjoy the mysterious Trinity of God as the apostle Paul encourages us: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all" (2 Cor. 13:14).

 

Christ

Christ, the only begotten Son of God (John 1:18; 3:16), even God Himself (John 1:1), became a genuine man through incarnation (John 1:14), having both the divine and human natures (Rom. 9:5; 1 Tim. 2:5), the two natures being combined in one person and being preserved distinctly without confusion or change and without forming a third nature. Christ is the complete God and perfect man.

 

The Work of Christ

Christ died for our sins and was raised bodily from the dead (1 Cor. 15:3-4; Acts 4:10; Rom. 8:34), has been exalted to the right hand of God as Lord of all (Acts 5:31; 10:36), and will return as the Bridegroom for His bride, the church (John 3:29; Rev. 19:7), and as the King of kings to rule over the nations (Rev. 11:15; 19:16).

 

Salvation

Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone (Eph. 2:5, 8) and in His completed work, resulting in our justification before God (Rom. 3:24, 28; Gal. 2:16) and in our being born of God to be His children (John 1:12-13).

 

The Church

The church as the unique Body of Christ, the issue of the work of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23), is composed of all genuine believers in Christ (Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 12:12) and, according to the New Testament revelation, is manifested in time and space in local churches, each of which includes all the believers in a given city, regardless of where they meet or how they may otherwise identify themselves (1 Cor. 1:2; 1 Thes. 1:1; Rev. 1:11).

 

The New Jerusalem

All the believers in Christ will participate in the divine blessings in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth for eternity (Rev. 21:1—22:5).

 

We commit to and embrace these points as essential items of the common faith. Beyond these, numerous other teachings and doctrines on other items are of interpretation where there has historically been room for disagreement among Christians.

We don't contend for things other than the common faith of all believers (cf. Jude 3).