Doctrinal Statement

The Tri-une God

I believe in one God, that he’s eternally existing in three equally divine Persons: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who know, love, and glorify one another. This living God is infinitely perfect in both love and holiness. He is the Creator of all visible and invisible things, and is worthy to receive all glory and adoration. Immortal and eternal, he knows exhaustively the end from the beginning, sustains and sovereignly rules over all things, and brings about his eternal good purposes to redeem a people for himself and restore his fallen creation, to the praise of his glorious grace (Psalm 90:2; Proverbs 16:4; Isaiah 44:6; Jeremiah 10:10; Matthew 3:17; Mark 12:29; Luke 9:35; John 1:14, 4:24, 10:30, 15:26; 1 Corinthians 8:4-6; Ephesians 1:11, 2:18; 1 Thessalonians 1:9; 1 Timothy 1:17; Hebrews 1:1-3; 1 John 5:7; Revelation 4:8, 11).

Creation

I believe the Genesis account of creation is neither allegory nor myth, but the literal, historical account of the direct, immediate creative acts of God without any evolutionary process. I believe that man was created by a direct work of God and not from previously existing forms of life, and that all men are descended from the historical Adam and Eve, first parents of the entire human race (Genesis 1 & 2; John 1:3; Colossians 1:16-17).

The Plan of God

I believe that from all eternity God determined in grace to save a great multitude of guilty sinners from every tribe, language, people and nation, and to this end foreknew them and chose them. I believe God justifies and sanctifies those who by grace have faith in Jesus, and he will one day glorify them–all to the praise of his glorious grace. In love, God commands and implores all people to repent and believe; having set his saving love on those he has chosen, and having ordained Christ to be their Redeemer (John 3:16; Romans 8:30; Ephesians 1:11-14; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 3:4-5; Revelation 5:9).

The Gospel

I believe the gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ, but utter folly to the world. It is the power of God to those who are being saved, but centers on the cross and resurrection as the only means for salvation. It’s biblical (according to the Scriptures), theological (Christ died for our sins to reconcile us to God), historical (if the saving events did not happen, our faith would be worthless), apostolic (the message was entrusted to the apostles, witnesses of these saving events), and intensely personal (for each individual who receives, believes, and holds firmly to this truth). Matthew 26:47-28:20; Mark 14:43-16:20; Luke 22:47-24:53; John 18:1-25; 1 Corinthians 1:18, 23-24; Galatians 4:4-5; Philippians 2:8-11; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; Hebrews 9:14; 1 Peter 3:18; 1 John 3:16.

The Redemption of Christ

I believe that the eternal Son was moved by love and obedience to his Father to become human, and is referred to as the Word which became flesh in John 1:1-13. He was fully God and fully human being, the promised Messiah of Israel, was conceived through the miraculous conception of the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary. He perfectly obeyed his heavenly Father, lived a sinless life, performed miraculous signs, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, rose from the dead on the third day, and ascended into heaven. I believe that by his incarnation, life, death, resurrection and ascension, Jesus Christ acted as our representative and substitute. He did this so that in him I might become the righteousness of God: on the cross he cancelled sin, propitiated God, and, by bearing the full penalty of our sins, reconciled to God all those who believe. By his resurrection Christ Jesus was vindicated by his Father, broke the power of death and defeated Satan who once had power over it, and brought everlasting life to all his people. By his ascension he has been forever exalted as Lord and has prepared a place for us to be with him. I believe salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name given under heaven by which I must be saved. Because God chose the lowly things of this world, the despised things, the things that are not, to nullify the things that are, no human being can ever boast before him. Christ Jesus has become for us wisdom from God–that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption (Isaiah 9:6; Mark 10:45; John 1:1-3, 14; 20:27-29; Acts 20:28, 29:28; Romans 3:23-25; 1 Corinthians 1:30, 6:20, 7:23; Galatians 3:13-14, 4:4-7; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:13-14; 1 Timothy 2:6; Titus 2:12b-14; Hebrews 9:12-15; 1 Peter 1:18-19; Revelation 5:9-10).

Baptism and the Lord’s Supper

I believe believer’s baptism and the Lord’s Supper are ordained by the Lord Jesus himself. Baptism is connected with entrance into the new covenant community; the Lord’s Supper with ongoing covenant renewal. Together they are simultaneously God’s pledge to us, divinely ordained means of grace, our public vows of submission to the once crucified and now resurrected Christ, and are anticipations of his return and of the consummation of all things. They are meant only for those who first trust in Christ’s finished work on the cross as the only means to their salvation, and are not meant to “make up for” any guilt or sin (Matthew 3:11; 26:27-28; 28:19-20; Romans 6:3-6, 14; 7:18, 23-25; 1 Corinthians 6:11; 10:16, 21; 11:23-26; 12:13; 2 Corinthians 7:1; Galatians 3:27; 5:17, 24; Ephesians 3:16-19; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Titus 3:5; 1 Peter 2:11; 1 John 1:10).

Revelation

God has graciously disclosed his existence and power in the created order, and has revealed himself to fallen human beings in the person of his Son, the incarnate Word. He is also a speaking God who by his Spirit has disclosed himself in human words. I believe God inspired the words in the Scriptures, preserved in the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testament. These writings alone constitute the verbally inspired Word of God, which are the record and means of his saving work in the world, and are authoritative, without error in the original writings. I believe they are complete in their revelation of God’s will for salvation, sufficient for all that God requires us to believe and do, and final in its authority over every domain. I confess both our human limitations and sinfulness prevent us from knowing God’s truth exhaustively, but I believe that, enlightened by the Spirit of God, I can know God’s truth on all that matters most, for our eternal well-being and for how to live lives pleasing to God. I believe the Bible should be the center of true Christian unity and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds and opinions should be tried (John 6:63, 10:25; Romans 1:19-22, 2:12-16; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21; 1 John 4:1).

The Fall

I believe Adam, made in the image of God, distorted that image and lost his original blessings–for himself and all his descendants–by falling into sin. As a result, all human beings are alienated from God and corrupted in every aspect of their being (e.g. physically, mentally, volitionally, emotionally, spiritually). This means they’re all condemned to eternal death apart from God’s own gracious intervention. The supreme need of all human beings is to be reconciled to the God under whose just and holy wrath we stand. The only hope of all human beings is the undeserved love of this same God, who alone can rescue us and restore us to himself. And this means mankind is destined for the wrath of God (Genesis 3:6-8, 6:5; Isaiah 64:6; Jeremiah 17:9; Matthew 25:41; Romans 3:10-18 and 23, 5:12, 18-19; Ephesians 4:18; 2 Thessalonians 1:9; Titus 1:15).

Death, Judgment and Hell

I believe all have sinned, that our sins have stopped God from hearing our prayers, and that we have been condemned to eternal death and separation from God. The wages of sin is death, it is appointed for man to die, and after that, there’s judgement for all. Those who don’t repent will spend eternity separated from God in the dreadful place the Bible calls Hell (Isaiah 13:11; 59:2; Matthew 12:36-37; 25:31-34; Mark 9:42-49; Romans 2:5-6, 12; 3:23, 6:23; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Hebrews 9:27; Revelation 21:27).

The Holy Spirit

I believe God’s salvation is applied to his people by the Holy Spirit. Sent by the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ, is present with and in believers. He convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment, and by his powerful and mysterious work regenerates spiritually dead sinners, awakening them to repentance and faith. He “baptizes” them into union with the Lord Jesus, so that they are justified before God by grace, through faith. By the Spirit believers are renewed, sanctified and adopted into God’s family; they participate in the divine nature and receive his sovereignly distributed gifts. The Holy Spirit is the down payment of the promised inheritance, and indwells, guides, instructs, equips, revives and empowers believers for Christ-like living and service (Isaiah 11:1-2; John 3:5-8, 14:16-17, 26; 15:26; 16:7-14; 20:22; Acts 1:5; 2:1-4; Romans 8:2-6, 9-11, 14; 15:3; 1 Corinthians 2:10-13; 12:1-11; Ephesians 1:13-14, 4:30; 1 John 2:20).

The Kingdom of God or of Heaven (used interchangeably in Matthew 19:23-24)

I believe those who have been saved by the grace of God through union with Christ by faith, and through regeneration by the Holy Spirit, enter the kingdom of God and delight in the blessings of the new covenant. These blessings are the forgiveness of sins, the inward transformation that awakens a desire to glorify, trust and obey God, and the prospect of the glory yet to be revealed. Good works constitute indispensable evidence of saving grace. Living as salt in a world that is decaying and light in a world that is dark, believers should neither withdraw into seclusion from the world, nor become indistinguishable from it. Recognizing whose created order this is, and because we are citizens of God’s kingdom, we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, do good to all, and especially to those who belong to the household of God. The kingdom of God, already inaugurated but not fully realized, is the exercise of God’s sovereignty in the world toward the eventual redemption of all creation. The kingdom of God is an invasive power that plunders Satan’s dark kingdom, regenerating and renovating through repentance and faith the lives of individuals rescued from that kingdom. It therefore inevitably establishes a new community of human life together under God (Matthew 3:2; 5:3, 10; 6:10; 13:24, 44-50; Mark 4:26-30; 14:25; Luke 19:11).

See also more about my database at: About Database or other links at the top of this page