What We
Believe
Statement of
Faith*
The sole basis of our
beliefs is the Bible, God's infallible written
Word, the 66 books of the Old and New
Testaments. We believe that it was uniquely
verbally and fully inspired by the Holy Spirit
and that it was written without error in the
original manuscripts. It is the supreme and
final authority in all matters on which it
speaks. (II Timothy 3:16, 17; II Peter 1:21; I
Corinthians 2:13; 10:11; John 10:35)
We explicitly affirm our
belief in basic Bible teachings as follows:
There
is one true God, eternally existing in three
persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Each of
these possesses equally all the attributes of
deity and thus the characteristics of
personality. (Matthew 28:19; John 10:30; Acts
5:3,4; II Corinthians 13:14)
God the Father sent the
Son to obtain satisfaction for divine justice
and proclaim reconciliation. The Holy Spirit
sent to teach truth. He is spoken of as the
Father of all creation, of angels, of Israel, of
believers, and of Christ. (John 14-17; 20:17;
Job 1:16; Psalm 103:13)
Jesus is God, the living
Word, who became flesh through His miraculous
conception by the Holy Spirit and His virgin
birth. Hence, He is perfect deity and true
humanity united in one person forever. He lived
a sinless life and voluntarily atoned for the
sins of men by dying on the cross as their
substitute, thus satisfying divine justice and
accomplishing salvation for all who trust in Him
alone. He rose from the dead in the same body,
though glorified, in which He lived and died. He
ascended bodily into heaven and sat down at the
right hand of God the Father, where He, the only
Mediator between God and man, continually makes
intercession for us. (Matthew 1:16, 20, 23; Luke
1:34; Hebrews 4:15; II Corinthians 5:21; I
Corinthians 15; Acts 1:9-11; I Peter 2:5-9; I
John 2:1)
The Holy Spirit has come
into the world to reveal and glorify Christ and
to apply the saving work of Christ to men. He
convicts and draws sinners to Christ, imparts
new life to them, continually indwells them from
the moment of spiritual birth, and seals them
until the day of redemption. He is the source
and power of all acceptable worship and service,
the infallible interpreter of the infallible
Word and seeks to occupy us with Christ and not
with ourselves or our experiences. (John
16:8-11; Titus 3:5; I Corinthians 6:19; Romans
8:9b; I Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 5:18;
Galatians 5:22, 23; John 16:13,14; I Corinthians
2:12-14; Romans 8:26,27)
Man was originally created
in the image of God. He sinned by disobeying
God; thus, he was alienated from his Creator.
That historic fall brought all mankind under
divine condemnation. Man's nature is corrupted,
and he is thus totally unable to please God.
Since man is unable to save himself, he is in
need of regeneration and renewal by the Holy
Spirit. He cannot see nor enter the kingdom of
God until he is born again. A new life,
implanted by the Holy Spirit through the Word,
is absolutely essential to salvation. (Genesis
1:26,27; Ephesians 2:1; Romans 1:18; 3:20;
7:21-25; 5:12; John 3:3, 6, 7; Titus 3:5,6)
The salvation of man is
wholly a work of God's free grace and is not the
work, in whole or in part, of human effort or
goodness or religious ceremony. God imputes His
righteousness to those who put their faith in
Christ alone for their salvation and thereby
justifies them in His sight. (Romans 6:23;
Ephesians 2:8,9; John 3:16; Titus 3:5-8)
Jesus Christ became the
sinner's substitute before God and died as a
propitiating sacrifice for the sins of the whole
world. Nothing can be added to the finished work
of Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection
on behalf of sinners. (Hebrews 2:9; Colossians
1:13, 14, 20, 21)
It is the privilege of all
who are born again of the Spirit to be assured
of their salvation from the very moment in which
they trust Christ as their Savior. This
assurance is not based upon any kind of human
merit, but is the testimony of God in His
written Word. The Holy Spirit's fullness, power,
and control are appropriated in the believer's
life by faith (Romans 5:9,10; 8:1, 29-30, 38-39;
John 5:24; 10:27-30; 14:16; I Timothy 1:12;
Philippians 1:6; Hebrews 7:25; Jude 24)
Every believer is called
to live so in the power of the indwelling Spirit
that he will not fulfill the lust of the flesh,
but will bear fruit to the glory of God. The
Scriptures set out the principles and rules of
the Christian life. (Romans 12:1,2; Galatians
5:16-26; II Corinthians 6:14)
Jesus Christ is the head
of the Church, His Body, which is composed of
all men, living and dead, who have been joined
to Him through saving faith. Every believer,
whether Jew or Gentile, is baptized into the
Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit, and having
thus become members of one another, all are
responsible to keep the unity of the Spirit in
the bond of peace, loving one another fervently
with pure hearts. God admonishes His people to
assemble together regularly for worship, for
participation in ordinances, for edification
through the Scriptures, and for mutual
encouragement. (I Corinthians 12:12,13;
Colossians 1:18; Ephesians 2:15, 16; 4:1-3;
2:19-22; Romans 12:4,5; Hebrews 10:25)
At physical death, the
believer enters immediately into the eternal,
conscious fellowship with the Lord and awaits
the resurrection of his body to everlasting
glory and blessing. (I Corinthians 15:12ff; II
Corinthians 5:1-10; Philippians 1:23; John
12:26)
At physical death, the
unbeliever enters immediately into eternal,
conscious separation from the Lord and awaits
the resurrection of his body to everlasting
judgment and condemnation. (Ephesians 2:12;
Romans 3:23; 5:12; Matthew 25:31-46; Revelation
20:11-15)
Jesus Christ will come
again to the earth, personally, visibly, and
bodily, to consummate history and the eternal
plan of God. (Revelation 19:11-16; Zechariah
14:4-11; I Thessalonians 1:10)
The Lord Jesus Christ
commanded all believers to proclaim the Gospel
throughout the world and to disciple men of
every nation. The fulfillment of the great
commission requires that all worldly and
personal ambitions be subordinate to a total
commitment to "Him who loved us and gave
Himself for us." (Matthew 28:19; Mark
16:15; Luke 24:47-48)
Satan is a person and the
author of sin. He is the open and declared enemy
of God and man, and he shall be eternally
punished in the Lake of Fire. His work today is
to thwart the plan of God and to create
confusion among Christians, deceiving the whole
world. (Isaiah 14:12-17; I Thessalonians 1:10;
Revelation 12:9; 19:11-16; 20:1-6; I Peter 5:8;
Ephesians 6:11,12)
*Statement
of faith provided by Scope
Ministries, International, Inc.
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