|
THE SCRIPTURES
We believe in the verbal, plenary God breathed inspiration of the Bible, both the Old and New Testament, consisting of 66 books, inerrant in the original writings. ( II Tim. 3:16,17; Matt. 5:18; II Peter 1:21,22; John 16:12,13 )
THE TRIUNE GOD
We believe in one God, eternally existing in three Persons—Father, Son and Holy Spirit, co-identical in nature, coequal in power and glory. ( Deut. 6:4; John 1:1-4; 16:7-15; Luke 1:35; Matt. 3:16-17 )
GOD THE FATHER
We believe in God, who is Spirit and a person; infinite, eternal and unchangeable in being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth; sovereign. ( Duet. 4:15-18; John 4:24; Exodus 3:14; Num. 23:19 )
GOD THE SON
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man, without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinners. (John 1:1,2,14; Luke 1:30-35; Phil 2:5-8; Heb. 4:15; Matt. 1:18-25 )
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through the shedding of His blood in death on the cross as a representative, substitution sacrifice; and that our justification is made sure by His literal, physical, resurrection from the dead. ( Rom. 3:24-25; I Peter 2:24; Eph. 1:7; I Peter 1:3-5 )
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to heaven, and now exalted at the right hand of God, where, as our High Priest, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor and Advocate. (Acts 1:9-10; Heb. 7:25; 9:24; Rom. 8:34; I John 2:1-2)
GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine person, and not merely an influence; that He is the source and power of all acceptable worship and service. We believe that His work is to convince the world of sin, righteousness and judgment, to convict and regenerate sinners, to dwell in the hearts of believers, to guide, comfort, protect and sanctify them in this world, and to glorify Christ. We believe that He will never depart from the Church nor from the weakest believers. ( John 14:16-17,26; 16:13-15: Acts 1:8; 5:3-4; Rom. 8:2,16; I Cor. 6:19; 12:13; Gal. 5:22-23; Eph. 4:30; 5:18 ).
MAN
We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, but that in Adam's sin the race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God; and that man is totally depraved in the sense that his whole being is affected and cursed by sin so that he cannot, in this state, please God. We believe that he is unrighteous in an absolute sense and can only accomplish relative good. We believe that he is lost and, of himself, utterly unable to remedy his lost condition. (Gen. 1:26-27; Eph. 2:1-3, 12; Rom. 3:22; 5:12)
We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to man by grace and that man is justified by faith in Jesus Christ alone, and is thus given a new position of righteousness and holy standing before God, in which he becomes a son of God by spiritual rebirth, a new creation in Christ. (John 1:12; 8:1,38-39; I Cor. 1:14-15; 10:10; II Cor. 5:17)
We believe that all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God's power and are thus secure in Christ forever. (John 6:37-40; 10:27-30; Rom. 8:1,38-39; I Cor. 1:4-8; I Peter 1:5)
We believe it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God's Word, which, however, clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty as an occasion to the flesh. (Rom. 13:13-14; Gal. 5:13; Titus 2:11-14)
THE CHURCH
We believe that the church, which is the body and espoused bride of Christ, is a spiritual organism made up of all born again persons of this present age and is distinct from the nation of . (Eph. 1:22-23; 5:25-27; I Cor. 12:12-14; II Cor. 11:2)
We believe that the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures. (Acts 14:27; 20:17,28-32; I Tim. 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11)
CHRISTIAN TESTIMONY
We believe that Christians should bear a good testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ by living lives separated unto God, abstaining from worldly practices. (Rom. 12:1-2; I Cor. 3:16-17; 8:13; II Cor. 6:3,14-18; I Thess. 5:22; I John 2:15)
THE ORDINANCES
Baptism
We believe that every believer should follow the Lord Jesus Christ in believer's baptism. The mode of any new baptism, as practiced by the Trinity Baptist Church, shall be by immersion. (Matt. 28:19-20; Acts 10:48)
The Lord's Supper
We believe that all born again believers are to be invited to partake of the Lord's Supper. (Mark 14:22-25; I Cor. 11:23-24)
THE SECOND COMING
We believe in the personal, bodily, imminent and pre-tribulation return of our Lord Jesus Christ for His Bride, the Church, which constitutes the Blessed Hope set before us, for which we should be constantly looking. We believe that, following the rapture of the church, there will be period known as the Great Tribulation on earth. We believe that, at the conclusion of this period, Christ will come with His saints to set up the millennial reign over the restored nation of and the kingdom of the world. (Acts 1:11; I Thess. 4:16-17; 3:13; Col. 3:4; Rev. 19:11-16
BASIC BELIEFS ON TONGUES AND DIVINE HEALING
Tongues
We believe that the gift of tongues is not for this present church age, but was a temporary manifestation of God's power and blessing to validate the message of the gospel to Israel (I Cor. 14:21-22) and to establish the early Church.
The Scripture says that all true believers have been baptized into one body by the Holy Spirit (I Cor. 12:13) and that there is only one baptism. (Eph. 4:5)
The baptism of the Spirit is to be distinguished from the filling of the Spirit. The baptism of the Spirit is not an experience to be sought but is God's gift to every believer. It is a one time work of the Holy Spirit at the time of salvation.
Divine Healing
We believe that God can and does often heal, but that physical healing is not guaranteed here and now in this life by the Atonement. We further believe that God heals today only when it is His Sovereign will to do so and that, at times, it is not His will for sickness to be removed. (II Cor. 12:7-10; II Tim. 4:20; I Tim. 5:23: Job 2:1-8; I Cor. 14:22-33; Eph. 1:13; Gal. 5:22-26; I Cor. 12:7-13; Acts 2:4-11)
|
