About Us

home about us doctrinal statement seminars products contact us

DOCTRINAL STATEMENT

We believe in sola Scriptura, that is, Scripture is the ONLY sole infallible rule of faith for the church. Scripture is sufficient above all things, hence the ultimate authority and starting point for spiritual life and all theology. All truth necessary for salvation is taught implicitly or explicitly in Scripture alone (cf. 2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 3:16).

We believe the biblical and historical doctrine of the Trinity: Scripture presents that there is one God (cf. Deut. 6:4; 4:35; Isa. 44:6, 8). Scripture also presents that there are three Persons or Selves that are presented and called God/YHWH: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom. 1:7; John 1:1c: theos ēn ho logos, “God was the Word”; Dan. 7:9-14; Acts 5:3-4; Titus 2:13; Heb. 1:8). Additionally, Scripture presents that

1. Each of the three Persons are self-aware Subjects, cognizant of their own existence, and have eternally existed in a loving relationship with each other (cf. John 1:1b; 17:5).

2. Each of the three Persons share the nature or essence of the one God (cf. Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14; Heb. 1:3: charaktēr tēs hupostaseōs autou, lit., “[the Son is the] exact representation of the nature of Him [the Father]”).

3. Each of the three Persons are differentiated (distinct) from each other (cf. Matt. 28:19; John 5:31-32; 2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 2:18; Titus 3:5-7).

4. The Being of God is unquantifiable, inseparable, and indivisible. Hence, the one eternal God revealed Himself in three distinct coequal, coeternal, and coexistent Persons or Selves.

We believe that Jesus Christ, the Son, is the eternal God (distinct from the Father) (cf. John 1:1a, 18; 5:17-18; 8:24; 8:58; 10:30; 20:20; Phil. 2:6-11; Col. 2:9; Titus 2:13; Heb. 1:3, 8; Rev. 22:13). He was worshiped as God (cf. Dan. 7:14; Matt. 14:33; Heb. 1:6; Rev. 5:13-14 ). He is the Creator of all things (cf. John 1:3; Col. 1:16-17; Heb. 1:2, 10). He is of the same substance (homoousios) as the Father (cf. Heb. 1:3). “The Word became flesh” (John 1:14; cf. 1 Cor. 2:8). “Perfect in Godhead and also Perfect in manhood; very God and very man” (Chalcedonian Creed; cf. John 1:1, 14; Rom. 1:3-4; Col. 2:9; Phil. 2:6-7).

We believe the distinct Person of God the Holy Spirit is co-equal, co-eternal, and co-existent with God the Father and God the Son (cf. Acts 5:3-4; Heb. 3:7; 10:15-18). He sanctifies and empowers the church for works of service (cf. Acts 1:8; Titus 3:5-7).

We believe in Original sin, which is the result of the first sin in the Garden. The unregenerate man is dead, morally corrupt, and incapable of saving himself (cf. Ps. 51:5; Rom. 5:12; 8:7-8; Eph. 2:1-10). He no ability to please or submit to God (cf. John 6:44; Rom. 8:7-8).

We believe in the atonement by means of one sacrifice on the cross. By Jesus’ obedience and death, He fully satisfied/paid the debt of sin of all those who are justified (cf. Rom. 3:26; 8:32; 2 Cor. 5:21). Jesus Christ the divine Mediator provided the propitiation of sins on behalf of His people (cf. John 10:14, 26-30; Rom. 8:32; Heb. 10:11ff.). The atoning cross-work of God the Son was not a vague non-specific universal work for which no one is actually saved (only made savable), but rather it was a definite atonement and according His perfect sovereignty and pleasure of His own will (cf. Eph. 1:4-5, 11).

We believe God saves infallibly. Salvation is solely by grace alone through faith alone and by Christ alone. Totally depraved man can only be regenerated by means of the Holy Spirit-- nothing in himself is redemptive or savable, he is not able to please God (John 6:44; Rom. 8:7-8). Saving faith and repentance are gifts that are granted by God (cf. Acts 5:31; 13:48; Phil. 1:29; 2 Tim. 2:25), by God's sovereign will (John 6:37ff.). Man can never merit or add to his justification. Justification is the work of God alone (cf. Rom. 8:33). Through faith alone, the sinner is credited or reckoned as righteous or just (dikaios). Thus, the righteousness of Christ was imputed (not infused or imparted) to the sinner at faith--thus, a "declarative justification." The perfect obedience of Christ (viz. His perceptive and penal obedience) constitutes the righteousness that believers possess (cf. 2 Cor. 5:21). Further, this righteousness is a totally foreign or alien righteousness (extra nos), not of the sinner, but from Jesus Christ, which is imputed through faith alone apart from any additions or modifications. Blessed is the man “whom God credits [imputes] righteousness apart from works [logizetai dikaiosunēn chōris ergōn]” (cf. Rom. 4:4-8; 5:1; Gal. 2:16).

Christians are permanently justified in Christ Jesus (cf. John 5:24; 10:28; Rom. 4:8). Justification is a one-time declaration; sanctification (progressive) is ongoing in the believers’ life. Justification is a declarative act where God pronounces the guilty sinner “just” or “righteous.” Justification is simply the gracious act of God the Father through the perfect work of Christ (cf. John 6:37-44; Rom. 5:1). Works are the fruit, not the cause, of salvation (cf. Eph. 2:8-10).

We believe that Jesus Christ was physically resurrected (cf. John 2:19-22; 1 Cor. 15:3ff.).

We believe in a literal eternal Hell for the unregenerate whereby they eternally absorb God's wrath due to them because of sin (cf. Matt. 25:46; John 3:36; Rev. 14:10, 11).

We believe that Jesus Christ will physically come again in which He will gather His elect to be with Him forever (cf. 1 Thess. 4:14-18; Titus 2:13).

We believe The universal Church, which can be invisible (in respect of the internal work of the Spirit and truth of grace) consists of the entire number of the elect, all those who have been, who are, or who shall be gathered into one under Christ, Who is the Head. This universal Church is the wife, the body, the fullness of Him Who fills all in all. All people throughout the world who profess the faith of the Gospel and obedience to Christ on its terms, and who do not destroy their profession by any errors which contradict or overthrow Gospel fundamentals, or by unholy behavior, are visible saints and may be regarded as such. All individual congregations ought to be constituted of such people. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church. In Him, by the appointment of the Father, is vested in a supreme and sovereign manner all power for the calling, institution, order, or government of the Church. The Pope of Rome cannot in any sense be head of the Church, but he is that antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, who exalts himself in the church against Christ and all that is called God, who the Lord shall destroy with the brightness of His coming. The members of these churches are saints because they have been called by Christ, and because they visibly manifest and give evidence of their obedience to that call by their profession and walk. . . .

Because the work of pastors is to apply themselves constantly to the service of Christ in His churches by the ministry of the Word and prayer, and by watching for their souls as they that must give an account to Him, the churches to which they minister have a pressing obligation to give them not only all due respect, but also to impart to them a share of all their good things, according to their ability. All believers are bound to join themselves to particular churches when and where they have opportunity so to do, and all who are admitted into the privileges of a church, are also under the censures and government of that church, in accordance with the rule of Christ (adopted from the 1689 BCF).

Athanasius

If any new heresy has risen since the Arian, let them tell us the positions, which it has devised, and who are its inventors? . . . for divine Scripture is sufficient above all things; but if a Council be needed on the point, there are the proceedings of the Fathers, for the Nicene Bishops did not neglect this matter, but stated the doctrine so exactly, that persons reading their words honestly, cannot but be reminded by them of the religion towards Christ announced in divine Scripture (Athanasius De Synodis 6).