Statement of Faith

The statement of faith that I adhere to (and share below), is from my local church Hespeler Baptist where I am a member and involved regularly in ministry and corporate worship.

I also adhere to the Apostles Creed as part of historical, biblical Christianity.

The Bible
(2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:3-4)

We believe the Bible to be the complete Word and final revelation of God; that the sixty-six (66) books, as originally written and comprising the Old and New Testaments were verbally inspired by the Spirit of God and therefore entirely free from error; that the Bible is the final authority for all matters of faith and practice.

God
(Deuteronomy 6:4-5)

We believe in one true and living God; that He is the Creator of all; that He is infinitely holy, loving, compassionate, just, sovereign, eternal and perfect in all His attributes; that He possesses Omniscience (all knowledge), Omnipotence (all power) and Omnipresence (everywhere present); and exists in three equal Persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

(a) Trinity (Deut. 6:4-5; Matthew 28:18-20; 2 Cor. 13:14)
We believe in the Trinity, the union in one Divine Being of three persons; the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. These three are One God.God the Father (Genesis 1:1-31; Rom. 8:14-17; 1 Cor. 8:5-6; 1 John 3:1-2)
We believe in the absolute and essential deity of God the Father; that He is a personal Spirit being, eternal and perfect in all of His attributes; that He orders all things according to His sovereign will; that He is the Creator and sustainer of the universe; and that only regenerate persons can truly call Him their Father.

(b) God the Son (Christ) (John 1:1-5; 1 Corinthians 15:3-5)
We believe in the absolute and essential deity of the Lord Jesus Christ; that He is the Co-creator and the Co-sustainer of the universe with the Father. We believe in His eternal existence with the Father in pre-incarnate glory; in His virgin birth, sinless life, substitutionary death, bodily resurrection, triumphant ascension, present intercession and His personal and bodily return.

(c) God the Holy Spirit (John 14:16-17; 16:7-8; Acts 5:3-4)
We believe in the absolute and essential deity and personality of the Holy Spirit; that He is the divine agent in the sinners’ regeneration and the believers’ sanctification; that it is He who convinces of sin, of righteousness and of judgment; that it is He who illuminates and comforts the believers, and that He is the giver of spiritual gifts to believers, for the edification of the church.

Spiritual Beings

We believe that a vast host of personal spiritual beings exists, created in perfection by God for His own purposes, seldom perceived by humanity, these creatures do exert some influence on the affairs of earth.

(a) Angels (Hebrews 1:13,14)
We believe that angels are personal spiritual beings created in perfection by God and have not fallen from their perfect estate; they exist to serve God and His interests among His people; while angels worship God, they are not to be worshipped by humans.

(b) Demons (Mark 5:1-20; Jude 6)
We believe that some of the angels who were created in perfection by God fell from that state into disobedience and now are reserved in their ungodly state, awaiting the final judgment. Now called demons, these evil angels serve the wishes of their master, Satan, and work to oppose God and His interests among His people; While demons are powerful they were defeated by Christ at Calvary and are subject to His sovereignty.

(c) Satan (Job 1 & 2; Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:11-15)
We believe Satan is a personal spiritual being who, through pride, fell from his original position as one of the mightiest of the created order, was cast out of heaven and now devotes his energies to opposing God and His work. Satan is the father of lies, a deceiving tempter who blinds the minds of human people to God’s truth. Satan is not to be honored by God’s children in any way, but is to be resisted through the defenses provided the believer in Christ. Satan is not divine, he opposes God but is under God’s sovereign control. Satan’s ultimate eternal ruin will be in the Lake of Fire accompanied by all of his demonic underlings.

Human Beings
(Genesis 1:26, 31; Romans 3:23; 5:12-19)

We believe that God created Adam and Eve perfect in His image but that through their voluntary act of disobedience to God in succumbing to Satan’s temptation, they became sinners, the image of God in them was marred, and they incurred physical death and spiritual separation from God. Since Adam was the representative head of the human race, all subsequent human beings have been rendered sinful by nature and by practice in the totality of their being. We believe, therefore, that sin is the universal problem of the human race.

Sin
(Isaiah 53:6; 59:2; Romans 3:10-18; 1 John 3:4)

We believe that sin is the transgression of God’s law and that, in addition to being born in sin, all human beings have deliberately rebelled against God in thought, word, and deed and are subject to eternal punishment unless redeemed by Christ.

Salvation
(John 3:1-21; Romans 6:23; Galatians 4:4-5; Ephesians 2:8-9)

We believe that, since God’s punishment for sin is death, human beings can only be reconciled to God through the death of a perfect substitute. The only perfect substitute was God’s Son, Jesus Christ, who voluntarily died on the cross, taking the place of sinners, and, by His shed blood, cleansing from their sins all who believe. By His death, Jesus Christ fully satisfied the holy demands of God for sin, and God accepted His sacrifice by raising Him from the dead and glorifying Him in heaven.

We believe that salvation involves repentance for sin and turning to God by faith alone in that all-sufficient sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, that those who so trust Christ are sovereignly chosen and effectually called by God for salvation and shall be divinely preserved and finally perfected in the image of the Lord.

Sanctification
(1 Thessalonians 4:3-7; 1 Peter 1:15-16; 2 Peter 3:18)

We believe that all Christians are expected to “grow in grace” and to “be holy, as I am holy”. This is the essence of sanctification, and is a past, present and future work of God within the heart and life of the true believer. It begins at the time of our salvation, through faith in the atoning work of Christ, and continues throughout a believer’s life, through the work of the Holy Spirit, and will be completed in the believer’s glorification upon his death, or the return of Christ.

Future Things
(1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; Revelation 20:11-15)

We believe in the personal, bodily and glorious return of the Lord Jesus Christ, at a time known only to God, and in the bodily resurrection of the saved and the unsaved; the saved to eternal blessedness in heaven, and the unsaved to judgment, and eternal conscious punishment in hell.

Local Church
(Acts 2:42-47; Ephesians 5:23-27; 1 Timothy 3:1-15)

We believe a New Testament local church to be a company of baptized believers, called out from the world; separated unto the Lord Jesus Christ, voluntarily associated for worship, the ministry of the Word, mutual edification of believers, the propagation of the faith, and observance of the ordinances. We believe that the church has two offices – that of elders (also referred to as pastors and overseers) and deacons. We believe the local church to be autonomous under the Lordship of Christ, the great Head of the Church.

Ordinances

We believe there are only two (2) church ordinances - baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

(a) Baptism (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 8:36-38)
We believe baptism to be the immersion in water of a believer, whereby he is baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as he obeys Christ’s command and sets forth his testimony of union by faith with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection.

(b) The Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:23-32)
We believe the Lord’s Supper to be a memorial wherein the believer symbolically partakes of the bread and wine giving testimony of his faith in the efficacy of the death of Christ and His shed blood, purchasing the believer’s salvation. This ordinance is to be observed from time to time “till He come”.

Civil Government
(Acts 5:29; Romans 13:1-7; 1 Timothy 2:1-2)

We believe that civil government is of Divine appointment for the interest and good order of society and that officials of the government are to be prayed for, conscientiously honored and obeyed, except only in those instances when they may be in conflict with the conscience of believers and their wish to be obedient to the Word of God, the Scriptures. We believe in religious liberty for everyone, the right to believe according to the dictates of conscience, without coercion or molestation, and the right to propagate that faith.