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We believe that all Scripture is given by inspiration of
God. We believe that this divine inspiration extends equally
and fully to all parts of the Scriptures as appeared in
the original manuscripts. We believe that the whole Bible
in the originals is therefore without error. We also believe
that all the Scriptures were designed for our practical
instruction (Rom. 15:4; 1 Cor. 2:13, 10:11; 2 Timothy 3:16;
2 Peter 1:21).
We believe that the Godhead eternally exists in three persons
– the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit –
and that these three are one God, having precisely the same
nature, attributes, and perfections, and worthy of precisely
the same homage and obedience (Matthew 28:18-19; John 1:1;
Acts 5:3-4; 2 Cor. 13:14; Heb. 1:1-3; Rev. 1:4-6).
We believe that God created an innumerable
company of sinless, spiritual beings, known as angels; that
one, Lucifer, son of the morning – the highest in
rank – sinned through pride, thereby becoming Satan;
that a great company of the angels followed him in his moral
fall, some of whom became demons and are active as his agents
and associates in the execution of his unholy purposes,
while others who fell are reserved in everlasting chains
under darkness unto the judgment of the great day (Isa.
14:12-17; Ezek. 28:11-19; 1 Tim. 3:6; 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6).
We believe that man was originally created
in the image and after the likeness of God, and that he
fell through sin, and, as a consequence of his sin, lost
his spiritual life, becoming dead in trespasses and sins,
and that he became subject to the power of the devil. We
also believe that this spiritual death, or total depravity
of human nature, has been transmitted to the entire human
race (Gen. 1:26; Rom. 3:10-19; Eph. 2:1-3; 1 Tim. 5:6; 1
John 3:8).
We believe that in the prophecies of
the Scriptures, the eternal Son of God came into this world
that He might manifest God to men, fulfill prophecy, and
become the Redeemer of a lost world. To this end He was
born of the virgin, and received a human body and a sinless
human nature. We believe that, on the human side, He became
a perfect man, but sinless throughout His life; yet He retained
His absolute deity, being at the same time very God and
very man (Luke 2:40; John 1:1-2; Phil. 2:5-8). We believe
that, according to the eternal counsels of God, He gave
His life as a ransom for all (John 1:11; Acts 2:22-24; 1
Tim. 2:6). He voluntarily accepted His Father’s will
and became the divinely provided sacrificial Lamb and took
away the sin of the world, being the holy judgments against
sin which the righteousness of God must impose. His death
was therefore substitutionary in the most absolute sense
– the just for the unjust – and by His death
He became the Savior of the lost (John 1:29; Rom. 3:25-26;
2 Cor. 5:14; Heb. 10:5-14; 1 Pet. 3:18). We believe that,
according to the Scriptures, He arose from the dead in the
same body, though glorified, in which He had lived and died,
and that His resurrection body is the pattern of that body
which ultimately will be given to all believers (John 20:20;
Phil 3:20-21).
We believe that the new birth of
the believer comes only through faith in Christ and not
according to any measure of human works, such as confession,
baptism, prayer, or faithful service (John 1:12, 3:16,18,
36; Rom. 1:16-17; Gal. 3:22; Eph. 2:8-9). We believe that
when an unregenerate person exercises faith in Christ, that
person passes immediately out of spiritual death into spiritual
life. The saved one possesses every spiritual blessing and
is absolutely complete in Christ, and is therefore in no
way required by God to seek a so-called second blessing,
or a second work of grace (John 5:24, 17:23; Acts 13:39;
Rom. 5:1; 1 Cor. 3:21-23; Eph. 1:3; Col. 2:10; 1 John 4:17,
5:11-12).
We believe that all true believers everywhere, once saved
shall be kept saved forever. We believe, however, that God
is a holy and righteous Father and that, since He cannot
overlook the sin of His children, He will, when they persistently
sin, chasten them and correct them in infinite love; but
having undertaken to save them and keep them forever, apart
from all human merit, He, who cannot fail, will in the end
present every one of them faultless before the presence
of His glory and conformed to the image of His Son (John
5:24, 10:28, 13:1, 14:16-17, 17:11; Rom. 8:29; 1 Cor. 6:19;
Heb. 7:25; 1 John 2:1-2, 5:13; Jude 24).
We believe that the Holy Spirit, the Third Person
of the blessed Trinity, though omnipresent from all eternity,
took up His abode in the world in a special sense on the
day of Pentecost according to the divine promise, dwells
in every believer, and by His baptism unites all to Christ
in one body, and that He, as the Indwelling One, is the
source of all power and all acceptable worship and service.
(John 14:16-17, 16:7-15; 1 Cor. 6:19; Eph. 2:22, 4:30, 5:18).
We believe that water baptism and
the Lord’s Supper are the only sacraments and ordinances
of the church and that they are a scriptural means of testimony
for the church in this age (Matt. 28:19; Luke 22:19-20;
Acts 10:47-48, 16:32-33, 18:7-8; 1 Cor. 11:26).
We believe that we are called with a holy calling, to walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, and so to live
in the power of the indwelling Spirit that we will not fulfill
the lust of the flesh. (Rom. 6:11-13, 8:2, 4, 12-13; Gal.
5:16-23; Eph. 4:22-24; Col. 2:1-10).
We believe that divine, enabling gifts for
service are bestowed by the Spirit upon all who are saved.
While there is a diversity of gifts, each believer is energized
by the same Spirit, and each is called to his own divinely
appointed service as the Spirit may will (Rom. 12:6; 1 Cor.
12:4-11; Eph. 4:11). We believe that rewards are promised
according to the faithfulness of each believer in his service
for his Lord, and that these rewards will be bestowed at
the judgment seat of Christ after He comes to receive His
own to Himself (1 Cor. 3:9-15, 9:18-27; 2 Cor. 5:10).
We believe that
the translation of the church will be followed by the fulfillment
of Israel’s seventieth week during which the church,
the body of Christ, will be in heaven (Dan. 9:27; Rev. 6:1-19:21).
We believe that the period of great tribulation in the earth
will be climaxed by the return of the Lord Jesus Christ
to the earth as He went, in person on the clouds of heaven,
and with power and great glory to introduce the millennial
age, to bind Satan and place him in the abyss, to lift the
curse which now rests upon the whole creation, to restore
Israel to her own land and to give her the realization of
God’s covenant promises, and to bring the whole world
to the knowledge of God (Matt. 24:15-25:46; Rev. 20:1-3).
*Adapted from Dallas Theological Seminary’s
Belief Statement.
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