What We Teach 10.26.23
What We Teach 10.26.23
What We Teach 10.26.23
TEACH
THE PRIMARY
DOCTRINES OF
THE CHRISTIAN
FAITH
WHAT WE TEACH
THE HOLY
GOD MAN SALVATION
SCRIPTURES
WHAT IS MEANS
LAST THINGS
CHURCH ANGELS TO BE A
(ESCHATOLOGY)
CHRISTIAN
THE HOLY SCRIPTURE
• THE BIBLE IS GOD’S WRITTEN REVELATION TO MAN, THUS THE 66
BOOKS OF THE BIBLE GIVEN TO US BY THE HOLY SPIRIT
CONSTITUTE THE PLENARY WORD OF GOD.
1 CORINTHIANS 2:7-14
2 PETER 1:20-21
• THE WORD OF GOD IS AN OBJECTIVE, PROPOSITIONAL REVELATION
1 THESSALONIANS 2:13
• VERBALLY INSPIRED IN EVERY WORD, ABSOLUTELY INERRANT IN
THE ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS, INFALLIBLE AND GOD-BREATHED
2 TIMOTHY 3:16
THE HOLY SCRIPTURE
• WE TEACH THE LITERAL, GRAMMATICAL-HISTORICAL
INTERPRETATION WHICH AFFIRMS THE BELIEF THAT THE
OPENING CHAPTERS PRESENT CREATION IN 6 LITERAL DAYS.
GENESIS 1:31 EXODUS 31:17
• WE TEACH THAT THE BIBLE THE ONLY INFALLIBLE RULE OF
FAITH AND PRACTICE.
MATTHEW 5:18 MATTHEW 24:35 JOHN 10:35
1 CORINTHIANS 2:13 2 TIMOTHY 3:15-17
HEBREWS 4:12
THE HOLY SCRIPTURE
• WE TEACH THAT GOD SPOKE IN HIS WRITTEN WORD BY A
PROCESS OF DUAL AUTHORSHIP. THE HOLY SPIRIT
SUPERINTENDED THE HUMAN AUTHORS THAT THROUGH THEIR
INDIVIDUAL PERSONALITIES AND DIFFERENT STYLES OF
WRITING, THEY COMPOSED AND RECORDED GOD’S WORD TO
MAN WITHOUT ERROR IN THE WHOLE OR IN THE PART.
MATTHEW 5:18 2 TIMOTHY 3:16
THE HOLY SCRIPTURE
• WE TEACH THAT THERE MAY BE SEVERAL
APPLICATIONS OF ANY GIVEN PASSAGE OF SCRIPTURE
THERE IS BUT ONE TRUE INTERPRETATION. IT IS THE
RESPONSIBILITY OF BELIEVERS TO ASCERTAIN
CAREFULLY THE TRUE INTENT AND MEANING OF THE
SCRIPTURE. THE TRUTH OF THE SCRIPTURE STANDS IN
JUDGMENT OF MEN, NEVER DO MEN STAND IN
JUDGMENT OF IT.
JOHN 7:17 ; JOHN 16:12-15 1 COR. 2:7-15 1 JOHN 2:20
GOD
• We teach that there is but one living and true God (
Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 45:5-7; 1 Corinthians 8:4), an
infinite, all knowing Spirit (John 4:24), perfect in all His
attributes, one in essence, eternally existing in three
Persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19;
2 Corinthians 13:14)—each equally deserving worship and
obedience.
GOD THE FATHER
• We teach that God the Father, the first Person of the Trinity,
orders and disposes all things according to His own purpose
and grace (Psalm 145:8-9; 1 Corinthians 8:6)
• He is the Creator of all things (Genesis 1:1-31; Ephesians 3:9)
• As the only absolute and omnipotent Ruler in the universe, He is
sovereign in creation, providence, and redemption (Psalm 103:19;
Romans 11:36)
GOD THE FATHER
His fatherhood involves both His designation within the Trinity and His
relationship with mankind:
• He saves from sin all who come to Him through Jesus Christ; He
adopts as his own all those who come to Him; and He becomes,
upon adoption, Father to His own (John 1:12; Romans 8:15;
Galatians 4:5; Hebrews 12:5-9).
GOD THE SON
• We teach that Jesus Christ, the second Person of the Trinity, possesses all
the divine excellencies, and in these He is coequal, consubstantial, and
coeternal with the Father (John 10:30; 14:9).
• We teach that God the Father created according to His own will, through
His Son, Jesus Christ, by whom all things continue in existence and in
operation (John 1:3; Colossians 1:15-17; Hebrews 1:2).
GOD THE SON
• We teach that in the incarnation the eternal Son, the second Person
of the Trinity, without altering His divine nature or surrendering
any of the divine attributes, made Himself of no reputation by
taking on a full human nature consubstantial with our own, yet
without sin (Philippians 2:5-8; Hebrews 4:15; 7:26).
GOD THE SON
We teach that He was conceived by the Holy Spirit
in the womb of the virgin Mary (Luke 1:35) and
thus born of a woman (Galatians 4:4-5), so that two
whole, perfect, and distinct natures, the divine and
the human, were joined together in one person,
without confusion, change, division, or separation.
He is therefore very God and very man, yet one
Christ, the only mediator between God and man.
GOD THE SON
• We teach that in His incarnation, Christ fully possessed
His divine nature, attributes, and prerogatives (
Colossians 2:9; cf. Luke 5:18-26; John 16:30; 20:28).
MATTHEW 28:19
ACTS 5:3-4 28:25-26
1 CORINTHIANS 12:4-6
2 CORINTHIANS 13:14
JEREMIAH 31:31-34
HEBREWS 10:15-17
GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT
WE TEACH THAT IT IS THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT TO
EXECUTE THE DIVINE WILL WITH RELATION TO MANKIND:
• God created man with the idea that he would honor God, enjoy
God's company, spend his life in accordance with God's will, and
thereby fulfill God's purpose for man in the world
(Isaiah 43:7; Colossians 1:16; Revelation 4:11).
MAN
The disobedience of Adam to God's revealed will and Word resulted in
losing his innocence, incurring the penalty of spiritual and physical
death, coming under the wrath of God, becoming naturally corrupt,
and being completely unable to choose or act in a way that is
acceptable to God without the help of divine grace. Man is completely
lost because he lacks the ability to regain himself. As a result, the
salvation of man is entirely the result of God's grace via the atoning
work of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(Genesis 2:16-17; 3:1-19; John 3:36; Romans 3:23; 6:23;
*We teach that justification before God is an act of God (Rom. 8:33) by which He
declares righteous those who, through faith in Christ, repent of their sins (Luke
13:3; Acts 2:38; Acts 3:19; Acts 11:18; Rom 2:4; 2 Co 7:10; Isa 55:6-7) and
confess Him as sovereign Lord (Rom 10:9-10; 1 Cor 12:3; 2 Cor 4:5; Phil 2:11).
This righteousness is apart from any virtue or work of man (Rom 3:20; Rom 4:6)
and involves the imputation of our sins to Christ (Col 2:14; 1 Pet 2:24) and the
imputation of Christ’s righteousness to us (1 Cor 1:30, 2 Cor 5:21) . By this
means God is enabled to “be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in
Jesus (Rom 3:26)
THE FORENSIC REALITIES THAT FLOW OUT OF JUSTIFICATION: