Churches everywhere say they believe the Bible. Unitarian and pantheistic cults and even Muslims say they believe the Bible. So the question must arise: "When you say you believe the Bible, what do you mean? What is your interpretation of the Bible?" All churches, all preachers, all Sunday School teachers interpret the Bible; and they all do so in ways that fit with certain overarching interpretations they have of the whole. Many are less than forthright about those overarching interpretations that govern their thought, reading, teaching, preaching, and practice. Those who say, "We just believe the Bible" are not being very helpful, nor honest (perhaps even with themselves).
This is why creeds and confessions are so necessary and helpful. They serve to detail, in written (therefore public and enduring) form, the way that a certain church or preacher interprets the Bible. You can know up front, if you take the trouble to read, what is meant by, "We believe the Bible."
We are a confessional church, which means that we'll be right up front with you about what we believe the Bible teaches. Our spiritual forefathers wrote it down. Our officers must subscribe to our Confession, which means that they assert that with the possible exception of a few differences, judged to be of minor significance, they understand the Bible and believe it to teach what the Confession says.
So, if you really want to know "What we believe," you should read the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms. But, if you're pressed for time and want a quick short-cut, here's a bulleted list that hits some of the high points:
This is why creeds and confessions are so necessary and helpful. They serve to detail, in written (therefore public and enduring) form, the way that a certain church or preacher interprets the Bible. You can know up front, if you take the trouble to read, what is meant by, "We believe the Bible."
We are a confessional church, which means that we'll be right up front with you about what we believe the Bible teaches. Our spiritual forefathers wrote it down. Our officers must subscribe to our Confession, which means that they assert that with the possible exception of a few differences, judged to be of minor significance, they understand the Bible and believe it to teach what the Confession says.
So, if you really want to know "What we believe," you should read the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms. But, if you're pressed for time and want a quick short-cut, here's a bulleted list that hits some of the high points:
- We believe in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as verbally inspired by God and inerrant in the original manuscripts (2 Timothy 3:16). We believe that the Old and New Testaments no only contain the Word of God, but are the Word of God in their entirety, and are the final authority in faith and life (2 Peter 1:21, 2 Timothy 3:17).
- We believe in one God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:18-19, Mark 12:29, John 1:4).
- We believe that Jesus Christ was begotten by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary (Matthew 1:20-23), and is true God and true Man (John 1:1, 14).
- We believe that man was created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26), and that in the first Adam we all sin (Romans 5). The wages of sin are death (Romans 6:23) both physical and spiritual which is separation from God (Genesis 2:17, 3:6; Romans 5:12); that all human beings are born with a sinful nature and are sinners in thought, word and deed (Romans 3:10-23).
- We believe that salvation is by God's grace alone and through faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-9) as God sovereignly chooses those He will save. We believe that His choosing is based on His grace and not on any human individual merit or foreseen faith.
- We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for the sins of those whom God has called in order to satisfy divine justice (Romans 5:9), was buried and bodily rose from the dead according to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). We believe that He died as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice, and that all who believe in Him are justified by grace alone on the basis of His shed blood (John 3:16, Titus 3:5, Hebrews 7:25). We believe that those so justified are eternally preserved through the present ministries of our risen, ascended, glorified Lord Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spirit (John 10:27-29, Hebrews 7:25)
- We believe that all who receive by God's grace faith in the Lord Jesus Christ are born again and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and are called "sons of God." We believe that regenerate man must walk in dependence upon the Holy Spirit in order to please God (Galatians 5:16).
- We believe in "that blessed hope" - the personal return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (John 14:1-3, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) and in the bodily resurrection of the just and the unjust, the everlasting blessedness of the just and the everlasting punishment of the unjust (1 Corinthians 15:15-52, Revelations 20:11-15).
- We believe that the Church, composed of all those who truly believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, is the body and Bride of Christ. We believe that Christ is head of the body, the Church (Ephesians 1:22-5:22); that all believers are baptized into the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit and having thus become members of one another we are responsible to keep the uity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4:3)
