1. The Scriptures
The Holy Bible was written by men divinely
inspired and is God's revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect
treasure of divine instruction. All Scripture is totally true and
trustworthy.
Psalms 19:7-10; 119:11,89,105,140; Isaiah 34:16;
40:8; Jeremiah 15:16; 36:1-32; Matthew 5:17-18; 22:29; Romans 15:4;
16:25-26; 2 Timothy 3:15-17
2. God
There is one and only
one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal
Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. The
eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of
nature, essence, or being.
A. God the Father
God as
Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures,
and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes
of His grace. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all
wise. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God
through faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in His attitude toward
all men.
Genesis 1:1; 2:7; Psalm 19:1-3; Matthew 28:19; Romans
8:14-15; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 4:6; Colossians
1:15; 1 Timothy 1:17; Hebrews 11:6; 12:9; 1 Peter 1:17
B. God the Son
Christ
is the eternal Son of God. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of
God, taking upon Himself human nature with its demands and necessities
and identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without sin. In His
substitutionary death on the cross He made provision for the redemption
of men from sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and
appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His
crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right
hand of God where He is the One Mediator, fully God, fully man, in
whose Person is effected the reconciliation between God and man.
Genesis
18:1ff.; Psalms 2:7ff.; 110:1ff.; Isaiah 7:14; 53; Matthew 1:18-23;
John 1:1-18,29; Colossians 1:13-22; 2:9; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18; 1
Timothy 2:5-6; 3:16; Titus 2:13-14; Hebrews 1:1-3; 2 John 7-9;
Revelation 1:13-16
C. God the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit
is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired holy men of old to
write the Scriptures. Through illumination He enables men to understand
truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness, and
of judgment. He calls men to the Saviour, and effects regeneration. At
the moment of regeneration He baptizes every believer into the Body of
Christ. He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and
bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church.
He seals the believer unto the day of final redemption. He enlightens
and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and
service.
John 16:7-14; Acts 2:1-4,38; 8:9-11,14-16,26-27;
Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30; 5:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:19; Hebrews 9:8,14; 2
Peter 1:21; 1 John 4:13; 5:6-7; Revelation 1:10; 22:17.
3. Man
Man
is the special creation of God, made in His own image. In the beginning
man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with freedom of
choice. By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into
the human race. Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy
fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God.
Genesis
1:26-30; Isaiah 6:5; Romans 1:19-32; 3:10-18,23; 5:6,12,19; 6:6;
7:14-25; 8:14-18,29; 1 Corinthians 1:21-31; 15:19,21-22; Ephesians
2:1-22; Colossians 1:21-22; 3:9-11.
4. Salvation
Salvation
involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all
who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, who by His own blood
obtained eternal redemption for the believer. There is no salvation
apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.
Matthew
7:22-28:6; Luke 1:68-69; 2:28-32; John 3:3-21,36; 5:24; Romans 3:23-25;
4:3ff.; 5:8-10; 6:1-23; 8:1-18,29-39; 10:9-10,13; 13:11-14; 1
Corinthians 1:18,30; 6:19-20; 15:10; 2
5. The Church
The
church is the body of Christ on earth, empowered by the Holy Spirit to
continue the task of leading others to faith in Christ and teaching
followers of Christ to obey and serve Him. Involvement in a local
church is critical to individual growth, fellowship, and support for
life’s day-to-day challenges.
Matthew 28:19-20; I Corinthians 12:12-27; Ephesians 4:1-16; Ephesians 2:19
6. Baptism and the Lord's Supper
Christian baptism is the
immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the
believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the
believer's death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the
resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. The Lord's
Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church,
through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize
the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.
Matthew
3:13-17; 26:26-30; 28:19-20; John 3:23; Acts 2:41-42; 8:35-39;
16:30-33; 20:7; Romans 6:3-5; 1 Corinthians 10:16,21; 11:23-29;
Colossians 2:12.
7. Last Things
God, in His own time
and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end.
According to His promise, Jesus Christ will return personally and
visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ will
judge all men in righteousness. The unrighteous will be consigned to
Hell, the place of everlasting punishment. The righteous in their
resurrected and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will
dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord.
Isaiah 2:4; 11:9; Matthew
16:27; 18:8-9; 19:28; 24:27,30,36,44; 25:31-46; 26:64; Mark 8:38;
9:43-48; John 14:1-3; Acts 1:11; 17:31; Romans 14:10; 1 Thessalonians
4:14-18; 5:1ff.; 2 Thessalonians 1:7ff.; 2; James 5:8; 2 Peter 3:7ff.;
Revelation 1:18; 3:11; 20:1-22:13.
8. Evangelism and Missions
It
is the duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and of every
church of the Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to make disciples of all
nations. The Lord Jesus Christ has commanded the preaching of the
gospel to all nations. It is the duty of every child of God to seek
constantly to win the lost to Christ by verbal witness undergirded by a
Christian lifestyle, and by other methods in harmony with the gospel of
Christ.
Isaiah 6:1-8; Luke 10:1-18; 24:46-53; John 14:11-12;
15:7-8,16; 17:15; 20:21; Romans 10:13-15; Ephesians 3:1-11; 1
Thessalonians 1:8; 2 Timothy 4:5; 1 Peter 2:4-10; Revelation 22:17.
9. The Family
God
has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human
society. It is composed of persons related to one another by marriage,
blood, or adoption.
Marriage is the uniting of one man and one
woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is God's unique gift to
reveal the union between Christ and His church and to provide for the
man and the woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship,
the channel of sexual expression according to biblical standards, and
the means for procreation of the human race.
The husband and
wife are of equal worth before God, since both are created in God's
image. The marriage relationship models the way God relates to His
people. A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. He
has the God-given responsibility to provide for, to protect, and to
lead his family. A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant
leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the
headship of Christ. She, being in the image of God as is her husband
and thus equal to him, has the God-given responsibility to respect her
husband and to serve as his helper in managing the household and
nurturing the next generation.
Children, from the moment of
conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord. Parents are to
demonstrate to their children God's pattern for marriage. Parents are
to teach their children spiritual and moral values and to lead them,
through consistent lifestyle example and loving discipline, to make
choices based on biblical truth. Children are to honor and obey their
parents.
Genesis 1:26-28; Joshua 24:15; Psalms 51:5; 78:1-8;
127; 128; 139:13-16; Proverbs 1:8; 5:15-20; 6:20-22; 12:4; 13:24; 14:1;
17:6; Matthew 5:31-32; 18:2-5; Mark 10:6-12; Romans 1:18-32; 1
Corinthians 7:1-16; 1 Timothy 5:8,14; 2 Timothy 1:3-5; Hebrews 13:4; 1
Peter 3:1-7.
For further details about our beliefs, please see the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message.