ARTICLES OF FAITH
OVERVIEW
A BIBLE BAPTIST BY DEFINITION
A Bible Baptist is one who believes in a supernatural Bible, which tells of a supernatural Christ, who had a supernatural birth, who spoke supernatural words, who performed supernatural miracles, who lived a supernatural life, who died a supernatural death, who rose in supernatural powers, who ascended in supernatural splendour, who intercedes as a supernatural priest, and who will one day return in supernatural glory to establish a supernatural kingdom on this earth.
THE BIBLE AS VERBALLY AND PLENARY BY THE HOLY SPIRIT
The Bible is the only complete and final revelation of the will of God to man as the only basis of our faith and practice. We maintain that the whole Bible (all 66 books) in its original text is supernaturally inspired and that we have the preserved text today through the Authorized Version (KJV) still infallible, accurate and without error (2 Timothy 3:16-17, 2 Peter 1:19-21, Psalm 119). The Bible attests to its Divine Authorship through:
- Its inexhaustibleness and freshness. The Bible is like a spring of water that never runs dry;
- The unmistakable honesty of the writers. The Bible is unique in its treatment with history and biographies of men;
- The character of its teaching. It speaks of the person and work of Christ;
- Its fulfilled prophecies (Isaiah 41:21-22, 2 Peter 1:19);
- The typical significance of the Scriptures. It speaks of the person and work of Christ;
- The wonderful unity of the Bible;
- The marvellous influence of the Bible to the world and government;
- The miraculous power of the Word of God;
- The completeness of the Bible;
SALVATION BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST ALONE AND REPENTANCE OF SINS
We believe in justification by faith in Christ through the preaching of the Gospel. We also believe in the new birth wrought by the Holy Spirit in the work of regeneration, through grace and grace alone—plus nothing, minus nothing. The Bible never taught, baptismal regeneration, justification by works, church membership, and other means of salvation invented by men or religion (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 3:22-26, 5:1; Galatians 3:1-13; Romans 10:13-17);
THE VIRGIN BIRTH
OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was born of a virgin conceived by the Holy Spirit and lived a perfect, sinless and blameless life, thus becoming sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23; 2 Corinthians 5:21). We reject the poisonous doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary.
ATONEMENT THROUGH
THE SHED BLOOD OF CHRIST
We believe in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ as the only hope and power for the cleansing and forgiveness of sins. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins (Isaiah 1;18, 1 John 1:7, Hebrews 9:22, Revelations 1:5, 5:9; Romans 3:25, 5:9). We reject the belief that physical healing is through the blood of the Lord.
The Character of the One True God, the God of the Bible
We believe that there is one and only living and true God. He is an infinite, intelligent Spirit, the Maker and Supreme Ruler of heaven and earth. He is inexpressibly glorious in holiness and worthy of all possible honor, confidence and love. We believe that in the unity of the Godhead there are three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, equal in every divine perfection, and executing distinct but harmonious offices in the grace work of redemption.
THE PERSON AND WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe that the Holy Spirit is a Divine Person, equal with God the Father and God the Son, and of the same nature. We believe that He was active in creation, and that in His relation to the unbelieving world He restrains the evil one until God’s purpose is fulfilled. We also believe that He convicts men and the world of sin, of judgment and of righteousness. The Holy Spirit also bears witness to the truth of the Gospel in preaching and testimony, and that He is the Agent in the new birth. He seals, endues, guides, teaches, witnesses, sanctifies and helps the believer (John 16:7-11; Genesis 1:1-3; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:26-27; II Thessalonians 2:13).
THE PERSONALITY OF SATAN AND THE REALITY OF SIN
We believe that Satan was once holy and enjoyed heavenly honors, but through pride and ambition to be as the Almighty, fell and drew after him a host of angels. He is now the malignant prince of the power of the air, the unholy god of this world. We hold him to be man’s great tempter, the enemy of God and his Christ, the accuser of the saints, the author of all the power of darkness destined however to final defeat at the hands of God’s Dear Son, and the judgment of an eternal justice in the lake of fire, a place prepared for him and his angels (Isaiah 14:12; Ezekiel 28:14-17; Revelations 12;10, 20:1-3);
THE CREATION AND FALL OF MAN
We believe that man was created in innocence, without the sin nature and was made in the image and likeness of God. He was the crowning glory of God’s creation and was given the command to multiply and have dominion over all creation. But through the temptation of Satan, man fell into sin and as a result placed the whole human race and the earth under the curse. However, because of the mercy and grace of God, a plan of salvation for man and the restoration of the earth was provided in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ through His redemptive work (Genesis 1:26-30, 2:18-25, 3:1-24; Romans 5:8-17, 8:19-25; Galatians 3:10-13);
THE PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED IN THE LAKE OF FIRE AND THE ETERNAL HAPPINESS OF THE RIGHTEOUS IN HEAVEN
We believe that there is a radical and essential difference between the righteous and the wicked, that such only as through faith are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and sanctified by the Spirit of God, are truly righteous in His esteem. On the other hand, all such as continue in impenitence and unbelief are in His sight wicked and under the curse. This distinction holds among men both in and after death in the everlasting felicity of the saved and the everlasting conscious suffering of the lost (Romans 6:17-18; 1 Corinthians 15:22; Acts 10:34-35, Galatians 3:10; 2 Thessalonians 2:12-13; revelations 20:12-15, 21:8;
THE BIBLE-BELIEVING BAPTIST CHURCH AS THE ONLY KIND OF CHURCH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST ESTABLISHED
We believe that the founder of the church is the Lord Jesus Christ during His personal earthly ministry. We believe that this church was in Jerusalem and that it is of the local and visible kind (if not for the use of the terms “invisible” and “universal,” these terms are no longer needed). We believe that the church’s commission and mission is to: a) preach the Gospel (make disciples out of nations); b) baptize those who believe (make Baptists out of them); and c) teach the members the whole counsel of God (Matthew 16:18, 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8).
THE SOVEREIGN GRACE OF GOD
By SOVEREIGN we mean that God is absolutely free to act and to choose according to His won will; that He has the absolute right and prerogative; that man should believe in Him who is holy and just and is not in any position to question God’s prerogative although it is beyond human comprehension (Romans 9:12-33).
By GRACE we mean the goodness of God manifested toward the ill-deserving so that He authored the plan of Salvation for sinful man. We often define grace the unmerited favour of God to man (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 5:1-2; Titus 2:11-14).
Therefore, by SOVEREIGN GRACE we mean the act of God whereby He chooses men to be saved on the basis of His goodness according to His own will wholly on the merits and supreme sacrifice of His own Son on the cross, and that salvation is wholly of the Lord and that He calls men according to the pleasure of His own will (Ephesians 1-2; Romans 8:24-33; 11”5-6). This is Bible Doctrine. We reject any insinuation that this is “Calvinism.” To attribute this to man is to rob God of His glory and honor (Calvin, although a great reformer, was not a Baptist, and even, in fact, became a persecutor of the Baptists).
We speak of six Biblical points of the Sovereign Grace of God (with the acronym TULEPS):
Total Depravity of Man
Total depravity is not intended to signify that unregenerate man is wholly evil in everything he does, but rather that nothing he does is ever wholly good. Not all motives are equally sinful, but no motive is wholly pure. This fundamental impurity of motive is the reason for saying that man is totally depraved. In respect, unregenerate man is not merely sick but dead. There is nothing in man that will merit God’s salvation, therefore, there is nothing in man that is able to save him (John 1:13).
Unconditional Election
Unconditional election simply means that divine election is never conditioned on the merits of man nor his wishes or desires. God was under no necessity or obligation to elect anyone (John 15:16).
Divine election is a sovereign act of grace (Romans 11:5);
It took place in eternity (Ephesians 1:4);
It is based on the merits of Christ (Ephesians 1:4);
It is according to the foreknowledge (properly translated as of whom He was aware and loved beforehand) of God (Romans 8:29, 1 Peter 1:2);
Limited Atonement
Limited atonement signifies that the death of the Lord Jesus Christ though sufficient for all peoples in the world, is efficacious only for those who believe. The Bible did not emphasize the sufficiency of Christ’s blood to cleanse all men of sin, but of the efficacy of His blood to those who believe (Hebrews 9:14, 28; 1 John 1:7). However, let this be settled once and for all that the unregenerate dies in his own sin. He goes to hell because of his regeneration of the Gospel. This is what the Bible says.
Effectual Call
This means that the personal call of God to repent and believe is always effective and will never miss the mark. Nobody is saved by accident. God saves in His time and in his will. Whenever He personally calls, His sheep will respond (John 10:26-29; Romans 8:30).
Perseverance of the Saints
This is in relation to the eternal security of the believers. A more acceptable term is “the preservation of the saints.” The eternal security of the believer is bound in with the sovereignty of God, the unchangeableness of His purpose, and the constancy of His good pleasure. It is the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ and not the faithfulness of the believer that guarantees eternal security (Lamentations 3:22-23; 2 Timothy 2:10-13; Jude 24-24).
Soul Winning
Thsi is God’s sovereign command to His church. We are to go not to get all people saved but to preach His Word. God does the saving, we do the preaching (Romans 10:13-15). The preaching of the cross is the magnet that draws the lost sheep to Christ (Luke 19:10, John 12:32). When we go soul-winning, it is actually the Holy Spirit who wins the person to Christ because He is the one who convicts, convinces and converts. We do not believe in mass evangelism, emotional persuasion or power of suggestion. We believe wholly in the Scriptural mandate to go and not be “ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth,” and leave to the Holy Spirit the work of salvation (Romans 1:6, John 3:14-15, 6:44).