DOCTRINE IS IMPORTANT

Sadly, doctrine is seen by many as something negative, legalistic, divisive or irrelevant. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sound doctrine is essential for both the growth and the unity of the Church. By “doctrine” we mean simply the teaching of Scripture and without the sound teaching of Scripture, the Church would be crippled and exposed to real spiritual danger.

To minimise its importance is to ignore the significance that Scripture itself gives to it and diminishes the authority and priority of God’s Word. The sound teaching of God’s Word is important for equipping believers to serve God faithfully (2 Timothy 3:16-17) and to identify and expose error (2 Timothy 4:2-4). Since faith is built upon the Word of God (Romans 10:17), without the sound teaching of Scripture Christians are malnourished, weak and shallow.

Doctrine is important and relevant and thus, at Grace Baptist Church, we place a strong emphasis on God’s Word and the believer’s relationship to it (Psalm 1:1-3).

The following doctrinal summary of what we believe does not exhaust the extent of our faith.  The Bible itself is the basis and final authority of all we believe and teach.  However, we believe that our doctrinal position, as it is provided here, accurately represents the teachings of the Bible. For those looking to “get a general feel” for where we stand doctrinally on key issues, we are non-calvinist, non-arminian, pretribulational, premillennial and cessationist.

(1) We believe the Holy Scriptures, in the original manuscripts, consisting of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, to be the verbally (every word) and plenary (all the Scriptures as a whole) inspired Word of God such that every word and every teaching are wholly God’s and originate from Him.  Men, selected and called of God, wrote down the Scriptures, in their own respective styles and personality, as they were moved or borne along by the Holy Spirit so that every word and tittle is God’s, without error or falsehood. Thus to reject or disobey any word of Scripture is tantamount to rejecting and disobeying God who gave them. As God’s revealed Word the Scriptures are the truth, being completely trustworthy (infallible) and wholly true (inerrant) in everything it says and is the final standard and authority of what is true in all matters of faith, doctrine, creation, history, science, philosophy and reason.

Matthew 5:18; Luke 16:17; 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:19-21; 2 Samuel 23:1-2; Jeremiah 1:9; Matthew 1:22; Matthew 22:32; Acts 3:18; 1 Corinthians 2:13; John 17:17; 2 Samuel 7:28; Psalm 19:7-11; Psalm 119:151; Proverbs 30:5; Titus 1:2

(2) We believe the Scriptures are essential for humanity’s salvation, sanctification and wholly sufficient for the instruction and equipping of the saints for Godly ministry and service. They are thus indispensable and relevant for every man, woman and child, and require no further addition, supplementation or subtraction until all that is written therein are fulfilled.

John 15:3; John 17:17; Ephesians 5:26; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; Hebrews 4:12; James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23

(3) We believe that the canon of Scripture is complete and therefore closed, consisting of thirty-nine books of the Old Testament and twenty-seven books of the New Testament respectively, being recognised as authoritative and inspired through the witness and testimony of the Scriptures themselves, the Jews, the Prophets, Jesus Christ, the Apostles and the early Church. Anyone who adds to or takes away from this completed revelation will be judged by God.

Exodus 24:4; Joshua 1:7-8; Isaiah 1:10; Jeremiah 1:2; Ezekiel 3:16; Ezra 1:1; Malachi 1:1; Matthew 1:22; Matthew 5:18; Matthew 21:42; Luke 4:4; Luke 4:21; Luke 24:44; John 14:26; John 16:13; 1 Corinthians 2:12-13; 1 Corinthians 11:23; 14:27; 1 Timothy 5:18 (cf. Deuteronomy 25:4, Luke 10:7); 2 Peter 3:1-2; 3:15-16; Acts 2:16; Acts 2:30; Romans 3:10; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; Galatians 3:18; 1 Peter 1:15-16; Revelation 22:18–19

We believe in the one true God who is the eternal, immutable, self-existent, personal and perfect Spirit, through whom the heavens and the earth were made and all therein, and by whom all things consist and have their being. God is within His divine essence perfect, without limit in holiness, righteousness, power, knowledge, wisdom, presence, sovereignty, goodness, faithfulness, love, mercy and truth, and subsists eternally, wholly and indivisibly in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Genesis 1:1-2; Genesis 17:1; Exodus 3:14; Exodus 34:6-7; Deuteronomy 6:4; Deuteronomy 7:9-10; Deuteronomy 32:4; Job 5:9; Psalm 33:6-9; Psalm 90:2; Psalm 147:4-5; Isaiah 6:3; Isaiah 44:6; Isaiah 45:5-6; Isaiah 46:9-10; Jeremiah 10:11-12; Jeremiah 32:17; Daniel 4:34-35; Malachi 3:6; Matthew 3:13–17; Matthew 5:48; Matthew 19:26; Matthew 28:19; John 1:1-3; John 4:24; John 14:6; 1 Corinthians 1:9; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Colossians 1:15-17; Colossians 2:9; James 1:17; 1 John 4:8; Revelation 1:8; Revelation 15:3

(1)  We believe that Jesus Christ is the immutable Son of God, the second Person of the Godhead, who has existed from all eternity, co-equal with the Father and for whom and through whom all things subsist; He, of His own volition, made Himself of no reputation, emptying Himself of all the rights and privileges that are duly His as God, and took on flesh being born of a virgin according to the Scriptures, through the working and power of the Holy Spirit, in order that He might reveal God and redeem humanity from their sin.

Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 9:6-7; Micah 5:2; Matthew 1:16, Matthew 20:28; 18; Luke 1:35; John 1:1-3; John 1:14; John 1:15; John 3:13; John 3:16-17; John 5:23; John 6:40; John 8:58; John 10:17-18 (cf. John 2:19-22); John 10:27-30; John 16:28; John 17:5; John 20:31; Galatians 4:4-5; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 1:15-17; Colossians 2:3; Colossians 2:9; Titus 2:13-14; Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 2:14; Hebrews 13:8; Revelation 1:8; 17; 22:13 (cf. Isaiah 44:6)

(2)  We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through his death on the cross as a representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice; and, that our justification is made sure by His literal, bodily resurrection from the dead.

Acts 2:18-36; Romans 3:24-25; 1 Peter 2:24; Ephesians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:3-5

(3)  We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven, and is now exalted at the right hand of God, where, as our High Priest, He fulfils the ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate.

Acts 1:9-10; Hebrews 9:24; 7:25; Romans 8:34; 1 John 2:1-2

(1)  We believe that the Holy Spirit is God, the Third Person of the Godhead, who has existed from all eternity, co-infinite and co-equal with God the Father and God the Son,  who convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; and, that He is the supernatural agent in regeneration, baptizing all believers into the body of Christ, indwelling and sealing them unto the day of redemption.

Genesis 1:1-2; Acts 5:3-4; Psalm 139:7-8; 1 Corinthians 2:10-11; John 3:5-7 (cf. John 1:12-13; Titus 3:5; 1 John 3:9); Romans 8:11; Matthew 28:19; 1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 2 Samuel 23:2-3; Isaiah 40:13; Hebrews 9:14; John 16:8-11; Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 12:12-14; 2 Corinthians 3:6; Ephesians 1:13-14

 (2)  We believe that He is the Divine Teacher who assists believers to understand and appropriate the Scriptures and that the believer has a responsibility and an obligation to surrender and submit to the Spirit’s work in their lives. This responsibility is set forth by three commands expressly given to the believer through the Word of God to (1) be filled with the Spirit, surrendering complete control to His will and leading, (2) not grieve the Spirit, by willfully yielding to temptation and sin, and (3) not quench the Spirit, stifling the preaching of His Word and its application to our lives.

1 Corinthians 2:14; Ephesians 1:17-18; 4:30; 5:18-21; 1 Thessalonians 5:19–22; 1 John 2:20, 27

(3)  We believe that God is sovereign in the bestowal of spiritual gifts to every believer.  God uniquely uses evangelists, pastors, and teachers to equip believers in the assembly in order that they can do the work of the ministry.

Romans 12:3-8; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, 28; Ephesians 4:7-12

(4)  We believe that the miraculous sign gifts of the Holy Spirit, including tongues, healing and prophecy, given by the Holy Spirit to individual believers and churches alike, during the time of the Apostles, were temporary and have ceased from being normative for the church today.  We believe that speaking in tongues was never the common or necessary sign of the baptism or filling of the Holy Spirit and that the ultimate deliverance of the body from sickness or death will be accomplished at the consummation of our salvation at the resurrection or rapture of the saints. However, God may choose to answer the prayers of believers for physical healing in accordance with His will and infinite power.

1 Corinthians 1:22; 13:8; 14:21-22; 2 Corinthians 12:7-9

We believe that the account of creation in the book of Genesis is neither allegory nor myth, but a literal, historical account of the purposeful, direct and immediate creative work of God by which He created the universe and all therein in six literal, 24-hour  days apart from any naturalistic or evolutionary process. We, therefore, reject evolution, the Gap Theory, the Day-Age Theory, and Theistic Evolution as unscriptural theories of origin. Since creation was made by God and for God, creation’s purpose and satisfaction can only be found in its service to its Creator

Genesis 1:1-2:3 (cf. Exodus 20:8-11; Exodus 31:16-17), Genesis 1:31, Isaiah 43:7; Psalm 19:1-2; Revelation 4:11, Genesis 8:22; Nehemiah 9:6; Psalm 36:6; Acts 17:25, 28; Hebrews 1:3; Job 12:10; Colossians 1:16; Psalm 148:1-5; Psalm 90:2; Jeremiah 10:12, 16; John 1:3; Colossians 1:16; Romans 11:36; Hebrews 2:10; Hebrews 11:3

We believe that Satan or the Devil is a person, an angelic being, who was created by God in beauty, perfection and honour, but who through his own pride and wickedness rebelled against God. He is the author of sin and was the chief instigator in the fall of Man. He is the open and declared enemy of God and mankind, and will be eternally condemned and tormented in the Lake of Fire, which was created for him and his angels who have followed him.

Job 1:6-7; Isaiah 14:12-17; Ezekiel 28:12-17;  Matthew 4:2-11; 25:41; Revelation 20:10

(1) We believe that humanity is the direct, immediate and purposeful creation of God, who, according to the counsel of His own will, made man, male and female, in His own image and likeness to rule and exercise dominion over His creation for His glory. As God’s image-bearer, man was made perfect and upright, being declared in the sight of God as “very good.” In accordance with God’s design and mandate “to be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth,” all the nations and peoples of the earth descend, through natural procreation, directly from Adam and Eve, whom the Scriptures uphold as our literal and historical parents.

Genesis 1:26-31; Genesis 2:7, 21-22; Genesis 4:1, 25-26; Genesis 5:1-32; Genesis 9:18-19; Matthew 19:4; Luke 3:23-38; Acts 17:26; Romans 5:12-19; 1 Corinthians 11:8-9; 1 Timothy 2:13-14

(2) We believe that the fall of man into sin, as recorded in Genesis chapter 3, was a literal and historical event, in which Adam and Eve, being tempted of Satan, wilfully chose to rebel against God and disobeyed. As a consequence of their transgression, Adam and Eve became sinful and corrupt beings under the judgement and condemnation of God, experiencing spiritual and physical death, losing dominion over God’s creation, being expelled from the Garden of Eden, suffering hardship and pain in life and childbirth, and marring their complementary relationship with one another. These judgements were not isolated to their own individual persons but extended to their entire posterity, who inherited the moral corruption of sin through natural procreation and who bear the guilt and condemnation of Adam’s sin through divine imputation.

Genesis 2:16-17; Genesis 3:1-24; Genesis 5:1-31; Job 31:33; Romans 5:12-19; Psalm 51:5; Psalm 58:3; Ephesians 2:3

(3) We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, but that in Adam’s sin the human race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God; and, that man is totally corrupted, and, of himself, unable to remedy his lost condition.

Genesis 1:26-27; Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 3:10-12; 22-23; 5:12; 6:23; Ephesians 2:1-3; Ephesians 4:17-19

We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, Whose precious blood was shed on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins.

John 1:12; Ephesians 1:7; 2:8-10; 1 Peter 1:18-19

 (1) We believe that in order to be saved, sinners must be born again; that the new birth is not a process; that in the new birth through the Holy Spirit, the one dead in trespasses and in sins is made partaker of the divine nature and receives eternal life, the free gift of God; that its proper evidence appears in the holy fruits of repentance and newness of life.

John 3:1-8; 2 Peter 1:4; Titus 3:5; Ephesians 2:1; Romans 6:23; 2 Corinthians 5:19-21; Colossians 2:13

 (2) We believe that justification is the judicial act of God whereby He declares us to be righteous through faith in Jesus Christ; that justification includes the pardon of sin and the imputation of God’s righteousness; that it is bestowed, not by any work which we have done, but solely through faith in Christ’s blood.

Acts 13:39; 2 Corinthians 5:18-21; Romans 3:21-4:8; 5:1, 8, 9; 8:1; Ephesians 1:7

(3) We believe that sanctification is an act and a process whereby God sets apart all believers unto holiness. He then conforms them to the image of Christ, completing the process of sanctification at the return of Christ for His church. We believe that when Christ comes for the church, all believers will be changed in the twinkling of an eye and will become like Christ at His appearing and that our corruptible bodies will become incorruptible.

Romans 8:29; Ephesians 1:3-4; 4:11-13; 1 John 3:2; 1 Corinthians 15:51-54; 1 John 3:2

 (4)  We believe that all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God’s power and are thus secure in Christ forever. We believe that 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 for the flesh.

John 6:37-40; 10:27-30; Romans 8:1, 38-39; 1 Corinthians 1:4-8; 1 Peter 1:4-5; Romans 13:13-14; Galatians 5:13; Titus 2:11-15; 1 Peter 2:16

(1)  We believe that the Church is the body and the espoused bride of Christ and is solely made up of born-again persons.

1 Corinthians 12:12-14; 2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 1:22-23; 5:25-27

(2)  We believe that the establishment and continuance of local churches are clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures. We believe in the autonomy of the local church, being free of any external authority or control.

Acts 14:27; 20:17; 28-32; 1 Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11; Acts 13:1-4; Acts 15:19-31; Acts 20:28; Romans 16:1, 4; 1 Corinthians 3:9, 16; 5:4-7, 13; 1 Peter 5:1-4

(3)  We recognize water baptism by immersion and the Lord’s Supper as the Scriptural ordinances of obedience for the Church in this age.

(3.1)  We believe that Baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which sets forth in a picture the essential facts in redemption − the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We believe that it gives testimony to what has taken place in the heart of the believer − death to sin and resurrection to walk in newness of life. Baptism after salvation is an act of obedience and is a prerequisite for local church membership.

Matthew 28:18-20; Romans 6:4; Acts 2:41; 8:12, 26-39

(3.2) We believe that the Lord’s Supper is a commemoration of the Lord’s death to be observed till He comes; that the elements − the bread and the fruit of the vine − are only symbols of His broken body and shed blood, and that our observance of it is a pictorial testimony of the believer’s fellowship with the crucified Saviour and should be preceded by solemn heart-searching and self-judgment.

Matthew 26:26-30; 1 Corinthians 10:16-21; 11:17-34

 (4)  We believe that every Christian, as a steward of that portion of God’s wealth entrusted to him, is obligated to support his local church financially giving sacrificially and cheerfully to the support of the Church, the relief of those in need, and the spread of the Gospel.  We believe that a Christian relinquishes all rights to direct the use of the tithe or offering once the gift has been made.

Genesis 14:20; Proverbs 3:9-10; Acts 4:34-37; 1 Corinthians 16:2; 2 Corinthians 9:6-7; Galatians 6:6; Ephesians 4:28; 1 Timothy 5:17-18; 1 John 3:17

(1)  We believe in that “blessed hope,” the personal, imminent return of Christ Who will rapture His Church prior to the seven-year tribulation period.  At the end of the Tribulation, Christ will personally and visibly return, with His saints, to establish His earthly Messianic Kingdom (a 1,000 year reign upon the earth) which was promised to the Nation of Israel.

Psalms 89:3-4; Daniel 2:31-45; Zechariah 14:4-11; Titus 2:13; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 3:10; 19:11-16; 20:1-6

 (2)  We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal life, and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment.

Matthew 25:46; John 5:28, 29; 11:25-26; Revelation 20:5-6, 12-13

(3)  We believe that the souls of the redeemed are, at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord, where in conscious bliss they await the first resurrection, when spirit, soul, and body are reunited to be glorified forever with the Lord.

Luke 23:43; 2 Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23; 3:21; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; Revelation 20:4-6

(4)  We believe that the souls of unbelievers remain, after death, in conscious punishment and torment until the second resurrection, when with soul and body reunited they shall appear at the Great White Throne of Judgment, and shall be cast into the Lake of Fire, not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting conscious punishment and torment.

Daniel 12:2; Matthew 25:41-46; Mark 9:43-48; Luke 16:19-26; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; Jude 6-7; Revelation 19:10; 20:11-15

We believe that God has ordained and created all authority consisting of three basic institutions:  1) the home; 2) the Church, and 3) the state.  Every person is subject to these authorities, but all (including the authorities themselves) are answerable to God and governed by His Word.  God has given each institution specific Biblical responsibilities and balanced those responsibilities with the understanding that no institution has the right to infringe upon the other.

Romans 13:1-7; Ephesians 5:22-24; Hebrews 13:17; 1 Peter 2:13-14

We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity should be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman.  We believe that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery, and pornography are sinful perversions of God’s gift of sex.

Genesis 2:24; Genesis 19:5, 13; Genesis 26:8-9; Leviticus 18:1-30; Romans 1:26-29; 1 Corinthians 5:1; 6:9; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8; Hebrews 13:4

We believe that human life begins at conception and that the unborn child is a living human being.  Abortion constitutes the unjustified, unexcused taking of unborn human life.  Abortion is murder.  We reject any teaching that abortions of pregnancies due to rape, incest, birth defects, gender selection, birth or population control, or the mental well-being of the mother are acceptable.

Job 3:16; Psalms 51:5; Psalms 139:14-16; Isaiah 44:24; 49:1, 5; Jeremiah 1:5; 20:15-18; Luke 1:44

We believe that God has given the Church a Great Commission to proclaim the Gospel to all nations so that there might be a great multitude from every nation, tribe, ethnic group, and language group who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.  As ambassadors of Christ, we must use all available means to go to the foreign nations and not wait for them to come to us.

Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-48; John 20:21; 2 Corinthians 5:20; Acts 1:8