What We Believe

The Bible

We believe that God has clearly revealed His goodness, wisdom, eternal power and deity to all men in the light of nature and in the works of creation and providence. Although man clearly perceives this revelation, he refuses to acknowledge or give thanks to God, preferring to worship the creature rather than the Creator, thus leaving him without excuse. Because this revelation in nature is insufficient to give man a full knowledge of the will of God and of the way to salvation, it has pleased God to reveal himself in a special way through all things necessary for salvation, faith and practice that are contained within the Holy Scriptures. Nothing may be added or taken away from this revelation either by a new revelation of the Spirit or by the tradition of men. The Holy Scriptures consist of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments. We are bound to read, search and interpret the Holy Scriptures under the guidance and inward illumination of the Holy Spirit,  so that our faith may rest on the testimony of the Holy Scriptures and not on that of tradition or the Church. The infallible rule of interpreting the Holy Scriptures is Scripture itself. The Holy Scriptures are the full and final authority in all matters of faith and practice. 

God

The Holy Scriptures teach that there is one true God who is indivisible, immutable, infinite, perfect, immense, almighty, eternal, absolute and self-existent. He is a pure-Spirit, all-knowing, wise, holy, and truthful. He is good, loving, gracious, merciful, faithful, and long-suffering. This God works all things according to His divine counsel and free will. He is just in His judgments, hates all sin, forgives iniquity and rewards those who seek Him.

The Trinity

In the unity of the Godhead  there are eternally three Persons, of one substance, inseparable and without confusion, distinguished as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The undivided essence of the Godhead belongs equally to each of the three Persons although their operation in the divine Being is marked by a certain definite order. The Father is neither begotten nor proceeds from any other person, the Son is eternally begotten of the Father, and the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son. The Trinity can be understood in some of its manifestations, but in its essential nature it transcends the understanding of the human mind and remains a mystery.

The Works of God

We believe that God from all eternity has sovereignly determined whatever will come to pass, and works His sovereign will in His entire creation, both natural and spiritual, according to His predestined plan. In the plan God has freely and graciously chosen the Saints whom He wills to save in the Lord Jesus Christ. He has done this without respect for the faith, good works or perseverance of men, but solely on the basis of His most wise and holy counsel. By this eternal decree some are called to everlasting life. As God has appointed the believers, so has He foreordained all the means by which they are saved and kept in Christ. All this has been done to the praise and glory of His most precious Name.

Creation

We believe that it pleased God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit  to create, out of nothing, the world and all things visible or invisible. After God had created the world and all creatures, He created man, male and female, in body and soul, with knowledge, free will, righteousness and holiness, after His own image. All this was good to God, who directs, upholds, and governs all His creation by His wise and holy providence. The end of all creation is to glorify God.

The Fall of Humanity

We believe our first parents, being seduced by Satan, sinned in eating the forbidden fruit. God permitted this sin although He is neither the author of sin nor approves of it, having purposed to order it to His own glory. By this sin they fell from their original state of righteousness and communion with God, became dead in sin, and were defiled in all parts of the body and soul. The guilt, death and natural corruption of this sin was imputed and conveyed to all their posterity, descending from them by ordinary generation. From this original corruption, all people are totally inclined to all evil and do actually transgress against God. Every sin, both original and actual, brings guilt upon the sinner, the wrath and punishment of God, death, misery and all the curses of the Law. The sinner has lost all ability to will any spiritual good accompanying salvation and is not able, by his own strength to convert himself.

Salvation

The first covenant made with man was a covenant of works in which life was promised to Adam and his posterity upon the condition of perfect and personal obedience. Because man by his fall had made himself incapable of life by that covenant, it pleased God to make a second covenant, a covenant of grace, in which He freely offered sinners life and salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that God in His eternal purpose and according to His divine promise chose and ordained the Lord Jesus Christ to be the only Mediator between God and man. When the fullness of time had come, this Son of God took upon Himself human nature, without original sin, being conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary so that the whole, perfect and distinct natures of the Godhead and manhead were inseparably joined together in one person, without confusion, change, division, or separation. In this way, the Word became flesh, the two natures existing in one person, being fully human and fully divine, the only Mediator between God and man. The Lord Jesus Christ was sanctified and anointed by the Holy Spirit. Full of grace and truth, He submitted Himself to all the demands of the Law and did perfectly fulfill it. He suffered under temptation, having become a curse for us, was crucified, died, and was buried. On the third day He arose from the dead, with the same body in which He suffered.

He later ascended into heaven  and now sits at the right hand of the Father making intercession for the elect. By the perfect obedience of His life and the perfect sacrifice of His death, He has fully satisfied the justice of God reconciling God to man.

He has purchased redemption, gained final victory over all enemies, and guaranteed inheritance in heaven for all those whom the Father has given Him, in all ages, from the beginning of the world. For this reason, there is no satisfaction for God’s justice and wrath but Christ alone.

We believe that all those whom God has called to life, and those only, He has effectually called to grace and salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ. God has done this by His external call, made to all men through the Church, and by His internal call, made to the believer, by which He changes the inner disposition of the soul, illuminates the intellect and arouses the emotion, enabling the believer to hear His call.

All this is done by a work of the Holy Spirit. Thus, man who comes freely and passively is effectually drawn to Jesus Christ. Man is made willing by His grace and becomes a new creation altogether, being made alive by a work of God without any aid or cooperation on the part of man. God then actively causes the regenerate sinner, in his conscious life, to turn to Him in repentance and faith, whereby the regenerate sinner repents in faith, puts away the old life, flees from sin, and strives for holiness of life. Infants dying in infancy and other persons who are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word are regenerated and saved by the Lord Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit who works when and where He pleases.

Justification

We believe that those whom God in His mercy effectually calls, regenerates, and converts, He also freely justifies. This justification is not by good works, imputed faith, or infused righteousness on the part of the believer, but solely by faith alone in Jesus Christ. God has decreed from all eternity that Christ by His obedience and death would pay the debt of all those that are justified and did make a proper, real, and full satisfaction to the Father on their behalf. Justification takes place once and for all in the life of the believer at the time when God declares the sinner not guilty under the curse and bondage of the Law, removes all guilt and every penalty, and forgives all sin, past, present, and future on the basis of the work and merit of the Lord Jesus Christ. The sinner then receives peace with God, assurance of salvation and the full inheritance among them that are justified. The justified are not without sin but remain both saint and sinner before the heavenly throne of God, being clothed in the righteousness of Christ, which removes all guilt and pays all debts. Faith alone is the sole means of receiving justification and saving work of Jesus Christ. Yet faith that remains alone is not true faith. True and genuine faith always produces good works. These good works are not the grounds for justification, but the fruit, which flows from it, and are the sign of all God’s elect. The justification of the elect in the Old Testament is the same in every respect with that of the believers in the New Testament.

Sanctification

Those who are justified, being declared “not guilty” and having a new heart and a new spirit are further sanctified by the Word and Spirit dwelling with them. Sanctification is a gracious and continuous operation of the Holy Spirit by which He delivers the justified sinner from the pollution of sin, renews his whole nature in the image of God  and enables him to do good works.

The justified sinner who is yet imperfect in his life actively seeks to express his true faith in genuine good works, confession of sin, a seeking after righteousness and a reliance upon the Word, Spirit, and Sacraments. He is constantly aware of the struggle within him between the flesh and spirit. Yet his trust is in the ultimate and final victory, which Christ has won for him over sin and death. Whereas justification is once and for all, sanctification is a process, which lasts throughout the lifetime of the believer.

The good works of sanctification are only such as God has commanded in His Holy Word, done in obedience to His ordinances and commandments, as the fruit and evidence of a true and genuine faith, not for the welfare of man but for the glory of God. The ability to do such good works rests entirely on the work of the Holy Spirit and no one can pride himself with either attaining perfection or having the ability within himself to pursue such an end.

Those who are effectually called, justified and sanctified can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end and be eternally saved through the continuous operation of the Holy Spirit, by which the works of divine grace that are begun in the heart are continued and brought to completion. This perseverance depends entirely upon the work of God and not upon any power, ability or good works on the part of the believer. For this reason, the justified, who truly love Christ and walk after Him, may in this life be certainly assured that they are in a state of grace and may hope in their future inheritance.

All this being so, we believe that the wrath of God no longer condemns the sinner and condemnation is no longer present before them. They have been freed from the vicious cycle of sin and been truly forgiven of sin, and have been adopted by God. They share in the glory of Christ, being assured of salvation, comforted in their trials, delivered from the hand of enemies, released from the sting of death, and freed from the bondage of sin. They love God, not out of a slavish fear but in a childlike obedience, in all holiness, righteousness and grace. For if God be for them, who can be against them. Their heart has been bound to the Word of God and no one shall be Lord of their conscience but God alone who has revealed His will in the Holy Scriptures. Thus, the believer is free at last and may rejoice in the hope of His glorious future. For He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, will He not also freely give us all things with Him.

The Church

We believe in the universal Church of which the Lord Jesus Christ is the only head. The universal Church is both a visible and invisible Church. The visible Church consists of all those throughout the world who profess the true religion. The invisible Church consists of the whole number of believers who have been or shall be gathered under Christ. Christ has given to the universal, visible Church all the ministry, oracles and ordinances of God necessary for the gathering and perfecting of the elect, the preaching of the Word, the administration of the sacraments, and the exercise of discipline. All this is made effectual by the presence and Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Sacraments

All believers are united with the Lord Jesus Christ by His Spirit and by faith, and have communion with one another, sharing their gifts and graces. The sacraments, of which only two are ordained by Christ in the Gospel, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, are the signs and seals of the covenant of grace, immediately given by God, to represent Christ and his benefits.

Eternal Life

We believe that the bodies of men after death return to dust, but their souls return to God who gave them. The souls of the righteous are received into heaven and the souls of the wicked are cast into hell. At the last day, Christ shall come again and all persons who have ever lived shall appear before Him to give an account of their lives and shall be judged accordingly. All this shall be done to the glory of God.

Christian Life

We believe that in the Holy Scriptures, God declares His love for the world and His desire that all men shall be saved. For this reason, Christ has called all believers to go into the world and make disciples of all nations. All believers are therefore commanded and obligated to observe the ordinances of the Christian faith and to contribute their prayers, gifts, and personal efforts to the advancement of the Kingdom of God. They are bound to preach good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives, set at liberty those who are oppressed and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. All this is to be done to the glory of God forever and ever, Amen.