I Believe
The Doctrine of Scripture
To say that the Bible is inerrant is to say that there are no errors or mistakes in the Bible. The doctrine of inerrancy is inseparable from the doctrine of inspiration. It’s quite simple actually. If God told Moses to write something down and God is the author, then there can be no mistake because God is perfect.
The word canon comes from the Hebrew word for a rod. A rod is the thing by which we measure or judge everything else. When talking about the canon of scripture we are referring to the accepted collection of writings that make up the authoritative Bible.
2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that “all scripture is breathed out by God” and therefore God is the ultimate author and source of every word in scripture. There were over forty authors writing with their own unique styles and yet every one of them was guided by the Holy Spirit.
The Doctrine of God
It is seemingly impossible for finite beings to wrap their minds around a infinite God. In fact everything we know about God is limited and only a fraction of his immense being. All that we know about God is what God himself has chosen to reveal to us. Without God revealing himself to us we would not know him at all. He is incomprehensible. God has made himself knowable in part through general revelation as we look at his creation and he has made himself known more fully though special revelation as we read his word.
The Doctrine of Jesus Christ
An important phrase from the reformers is solus christus, which means Christ alone. In John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus is very clear that he is the only way to salvation.
Jesus, on trial before the high priest, said, “you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven” (Mt 26:64, Mk 14:62, Lk 22:69). Jesus makes two claims about his future. The latter claim refers to his second coming.
The resurrection of Jesus is not simply a spiritual metaphor but a physical reality and moment in history. The evidence for this is clear. First, there is an empty tomb (Lk 24:2). The tomb was guarded so that one one could steal the body (Mt 27:66). Jesus was clearly dead before being sealed inside (Jn 19:33-34).
There are many things that give significance to the death of Christ. Here are seven important aspects to his death. First, Jesus’ death was prophesied. The very first prophecy in the Bible is found in Genesis 3:15. God says to the Serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
It is clear that Jesus is God (Jn 1:1). The question that must be addressed is whether or not there is a hierarchy within the Trinity. Is Jesus co-equal with the Father and the Spirit? As mentioned previously in another section, all three persons of the Trinity are God, and as such are worthy of worship and praise.
Because Jesus is God, the same attributes of perfection, holiness and impeccability also apply to him. We can also see his sinlessness clearly laid out in the scriptures. First, we have no examples of Jesus sinning. Rather, we have examples of Jesus resisting temptation altogether (Mt 4:1–11, Mk 1:12–13, Lk 4:1–13).
It was important that Christ be born of a virgin for five primary reasons. First it was a fulfillment of prophecy. Isaiah 7:14 says, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit
The existence of angels and demons is clearly seen throughout the text of scripture. Both angels and demons interacted with people in historical narratives. Jesus gave his disciples the authority to cast demons out (Matt 10:1), and we see examples later of his followers doing the same (Acts 5:16).
As the Spirit works in the life of the believer, the most clear evidence of that work is the fruit that will be produced in the person’s life. Paul describes the fruit in Galatians 5:22-23 as, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”
In John 16:8-9 Jesus spoke of the coming of the Holy Spirit and he said, “when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me.” So even before someone has the indwelling of the Spirit, the Spirit is already working in their life. The first thing the Spirit does is convict someone of their sin.
As mentioned before, after the Spirit indwells the believer he begins the process of sanctification. We see the sanctification of the Spirit referenced in 2 Thessalonians 2:13. Paul puts it this way in 2 Corinthians 3:18 when he writes…
As people in the New Testament (prior to the ministry of Jesus) came to John the Baptist they heard his message of repentance and participated in baptism. This single immersion into the water represented their repentance from their old life and their desire to follow after God. John, speaking of Jesus said in Matthew 3:11, “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
In Romans 8:9 Paul writes, “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.” Therefore anyone who belongs to Christ has the Spirit of God within them. How then do we belong to Christ?
The first mention of the Holy Spirit is in Genesis 1:2 which says that, “the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”The Spirit was present and active in creation. After this we see the Spirit of God at work in the lives of various people, helping to carry out the will of God.
The Doctrine of the Church
By the time of the establishment of Israel, divorce was already cultural reality. The first mention of divorce in scripture is in telling the priests of Israel that they may not marry a woman who has been divorced (Lev 21:7).
As the church, we are a royal priesthood (1 Pet 2:9). This implies that all believers share in the work of the ministry. The great commission and therefore the mission of the church is for all believers. With that said, however, the roles we play as men and women are different.
The mission of the church is to carry out the mission of God. Jesus came to seek and save the lost (Lk 19:10). He told us to make disciples, baptize them and teach them to obey his commands (Mt 28:19-20). What did he command?
Communion, like baptism, as another ordinance of the church, also has a long history of various methodologies. The same preface I made about baptism would also apply to the practice of communion. So what then is the theology of communion and what is the most biblical practice?
Baptism is an outward sign of an inward change. It is symbolic, yet also carries with it a spiritual component. Baptism is a practice of the church which employs a variety of methods which differ between various denominations.
To become part of the church one simply has to be a believer. To be born again is to be born into the body of Christ. This inclusion is automatic, however as part of the body, a person needs to fully engage in the life of the church to experience all the benefits of the church.
They're many images used to describe the church to help us as believers understand our role and function in the world. The church is described in scripture as the Body of Christ. Paul writes in Romans 12:4-5…
The word church in the Greek is the word ekklesia (ἐκκλησία) which can mean assembly or church. It is used to describe the entirety of those who make up the Body of Christ. In Matthew 16:18 Jesus says, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
The Doctrine of Man
First of all it is important to acknowledge that the events recorded about Adam and Eve are actual historical events. Therefore the consequences of their actions have physical and spiritual effects, rather than just metaphorical, on the world and all of humanity as their descendants.
In the Genesis record of creation, God spoke everything into existence with one exception. In Genesis 2:7 we are told that, “the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”
The Doctrine of End Times
After all of the events of the tribulation Satan will be locked up for 1,000 years (Rev 20:2-3). John then describes in Revelation 20:4, seeing “the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God…
Jesus describes the moment of his return as being similar to the flood that came unexpectedly upon the people of Noah’s day. He then goes on in Matthew 24:40-42 to say, “Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left.
The question everyone is wondering is, “when will Jesus return?” Jesus said, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” So only God the Father know when it will be.
The Doctrine of Salvation
It has already been made clear that we are saved and justified by faith alone. Works then is the fruit of our salvation. Faith, which is an active trust in Jesus, will show itself through obedience to Christ. Jesus said in John 14:21, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.”
The only way that a person can be glorified is if they continue in their faith (Col 1:23) to the very end (Mt 10:22). This does not mean, however, that someone can lose their salvation. Rather, it means that genuine faith will prove the test of time.
At the moment of Salvation there's an immediate change that takes place in the life of the believer. There is a legal status change that has taken place by which the believer is now in right standing with God and therefore justified.
Ephesians 1:4 tells us that, “he chose us in him before the foundation of the world.” You cannot miss the fact that the Bible clearly teaches that God has chosen us. Jesus in multiple places refers to the, “the elect, whom he chose” (Mk 13:20).
An important phrase from the reformers is solus christus, which means Christ alone. In John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus is very clear that he is the only way to salvation.
As mentioned in the section dealing with the depravity of man, it is only through the grace of God that we can be saved. Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us that, "by grace you have been saved through faith." Not only is it grace alone, but it's also faith alone, or Sola Fide, as the reformers put it.
After God had chosen his people Israel, and rescued them from slavery he gave them instructions for the ordering of their nation in regards to family life, cultural practices, worship and government. Part of that system revolved around the ideas of clean and unclean.