The Bible
As Baptists, we believe that the Bible is our sole authority for faith and practice. We believe in the verbal plenary inspiration of the Bible by God’s Holy Spirit, through the agency of godly men, as declared in Scripture[i] and set forth in the London Baptist Confession of 1689. We believe in the authority and canonicity of the sixty-six books of the Bible, and reject the authority and canonicity of the apocryphal books. We believe that God has preserved his Word in every generation[ii] and use the Authorized Version of Scripture, the Greek Textus Receptus and the Hebrew Ben Chayyim Masoretic text in our services.
The Godhead
As Trinitarians, we believe in the triune Godhead as declared in Scripture[iii] and expressed in the London Baptist Confession of 1689.
Angels
We believe that Angels are ministering spirits created by God on the first day of Creation for his own pleasure[iv] and glory[v] and for the protection and aid of the saints.[vi]
Satan
We believe in the personality of Satan,[vii] who is called Lucifer,[viii] the Wicked One,[ix] the prince of this world,[x] the prince of the power of the air, [xi]the Devil,[xii] the great dragon and that old serpent,[xiii] whom the Bible describes as the great adversary of the saints, the accuser of the brethren,[xiv] and the deceiver of the whole world.[xv] We believe that a great multitude of the angelic host kept not their first estate,[xvi] but followed Lucifer, the anointed cherub,[xvii] in pride and in rebellion against God.[xviii] We believe that Satan deceived the first woman in the Garden of Eden[xix] and through the fall of man obtained the power of death, thereby subjecting mankind to bondage through the of the fear of death.[xx] We believe that Satan and his fallen angels, called devils,[xxi] unclean spirits[xxii] and principalities and powers,[xxiii] are active in deceiving and tempting mankind[xxiv] and at times in afflicting men and women with physical infirmities and with mental illness.[xxv] We believe that Satan and his angels have been defeated[xxvi] and cast out of Heaven[xxvii] through the atoning work of Christ on the cross of Calvary and that, while they remain active in their work of deceiving mankind,[xxviii] yet they are bound[xxix] and limited as a result of Christ’s atoning work on the cross of Calvary[xxx] and can be overcome by the steadfast resistance of God’s people in faith[xxxi] through the blood of the Lamb and through the word of his testimony.[xxxii]
Man
As Covenantal Baptists, we believe that God created Adam, the first man, in his own image on the sixth day of Creation[xxxiii] as the federal head of the human race,[xxxiv] and that he entered into a covenant of life with him and his posterity, the condition of which was his perfect obedience to God’s commandment.[xxxv] We believe that by transgressing God’s commandment, Adam, as federal head of the human race, brought sin into the world, and death by sin,[xxxvi] and that consequently, the human race has inherited a corrupt, depraved sinful nature which is enslaved by the bondage of sin[xxxvii] and is at enmity with God[xxxviii] and unable to perceive the things of God because they are spiritually discerned.[xxxix] We believe, with the Scriptures and our Lord Jesus Christ, that no man can come unto the Lord Jesus Christ, except the Father draw him,[xl] but that all whom the Father giveth to the Son will assuredly come unto him.[xli]
The Law
As Covenantal Baptists, we believe that the Law was given, not as a viable Covenant of Life for mankind as a whole,[xlii] but as a schoolmaster[xliii] to make sin exceedingly sinful and to bring fallen, sinful men and women to Christ for salvation by revealing their totally depraved condition.[xliv] We believe that while the ordinances of the Mosaic Law were but shadows,[xlv] now fulfilled in Christ and abolished,[xlvi] the Ten Commandments specifically identified as the Covenant in Exodus 34: 28, have not been abolished or made void, but are established by faith[xlvii] and remain authoritative and in full effect, condemning the lost[xlviii] and guiding the saved.[xlix] We believe that in the New Covenant, God writes his Law anew and afresh in the hearts of his Elect,[l] not as a means or condition of salvation, but as a perfect Law of liberty, a guide and rule of life, called in Scripture the Law of Christ.[li]
Jesus Christ
As Trinitarian Covenantal Baptists, we believe that Jesus Christ was the promised seed of Abraham and the seed of David,[lii] born of the virgin Mary through the miraculous power of God the Holy Spirit,[liii] and that he was both fully God and fully man,[liv] without sin or a sinful nature.[lv] We believe that he was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin[lvi] and that his sinless life perfectly fulfilled the demands of God’s law and obtained the blessings of life promised therein, and that his substitutionary suffering, blood-shedding and death was representative in nature, satisfying God’s wrath, justice and legal penalties for the sins of all who would believe upon him and him alone as their Saviour.[lvii] We believe that Christ rose again from the dead on the third day,[lviii] has been exalted to the right hand of the Father in Heaven,[lix] where he ever lives and intercedes as the high priest,[lx] prophet[lxi] and king[lxii] of all of God’s Elect in every generation. We believe that Christ will return at the end of time to judge the world.[lxiii]
The Holy Spirit
As Trinitarians, we believe in the full deity and personality of the Holy Spirit. We believe that the Holy Spirit participated in the Covenant of Redemption in eternity past[lxiv] and in the six-day Creation of the universe,[lxv] and that he is the Author of the Scriptures,[lxvi] inspiring holy men of old as vessels to transcribe accurately the very words of God[lxvii] and that those very words are recorded and eternally preserved in the Bible.[lxviii] We believe that the Holy Spirit was the Divine Agent that miraculously caused the virgin Mary to conceive the Lord Jesus Christ in her womb apart from any human agency or act of conception,[lxix] that he uniquely anointed the Lord Jesus Christ in a measureless degree distinct from any previous or future anointing,[lxx] and that he came after the Ascension and Exaltation of Christ upon the Church as a permanent gift[lxxi] and resident,[lxxii] quickening,[lxxiii] adopting,[lxxiv] anointing,[lxxv] sealing[lxxvi] and progressively sanctifying the Elect,[lxxvii] consecrating the bodies of believers as the Temple of God[lxxviii] and producing his fruit in their lives.[lxxix] We believe that Scripture teaches cessationism[lxxx] and reject Pentecostalism and the Charismatic Movement.
Salvation
As Covenantal Baptists, we believe that God’s plan of salvation is covenantal[lxxxi] and federal,[lxxxii] rather than dispensational, progressive in its revelation and fulfillment,[lxxxiii] but unchanging in its means.[lxxxiv] We believe that in eternity past, God the Father gave an Elect or chosen people to his Son,[lxxxv] Jesus Christ who, as the federal head or representative of his Elect people,[lxxxvi] perfectly satisfied the demands of God’s law in his sinless life, shed his blood as the blood of the New Covenant or Everlasting Covenant on the cross of Calvary, and that he suffered and died on that cross as the substitutionary sacrifice for the sins of all who would believe upon him and him alone as their Saviour[lxxxvii] in every period of history.[lxxxviii] We believe that the infinitely precious blood[lxxxix] of Christ can never be exhausted of its salvific all-sufficiency, no matter how many may be saved by it, but that it is applied exclusively to those who repent and trust Jesus Christ alone as their Saviour, apart from any works or merit of themselves or of any other, and in this respect of actual salvific application, we believe that Christ’s Atonement is limited.[xc] We deny and repudiate the heretical dispensationalist teaching that lost men and lost women are in their natural state covered by the blood of Christ, included in the Atonement or under grace, and assert, with the Scriptures, that the wrath of God abideth on them unless and until they repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour.[xci] We believe that faith and repentance are the gifts of God[xcii] and that they are the only conditions of the New Covenant[xciii] and that all who are born again are salvifically and eternally adopted[xciv] into God’s family[xcv] and kept by the power of God and cannot fall away or be lost,[xcvi] but produce the peaceable fruit of righteousness throughout their lives as a result of the sanctifying grace of God’s Holy Spirit[xcvii] and the Father’s purging[xcviii] and chastening.[xcix] As adopted sons,[c] believers have a responsibility to obey the word of God, including the Law of God, and to live holily, separate from sin and unspotted from worldliness and lust,[ci] not as a means of keeping their own salvation, but out of love to God and the filial duty of sons to their Father.[cii]
The Church
As Baptists we believe in the sole authority of Scripture for faith and practice,[ciii] in the priesthood of all believers,[civ] in individual soul liberty,[cv] in believer’s baptism by immersion in water,[cvi] in the autonomy of the local church and in the separation of church and state.[cvii] We believe that the Lord’s Table or Supper is memorial in character and deny the heretical doctrines of transubstantiation and consubstantiation.[cviii] We believe that the Church Universal is the body of Christ made up of true believers throughout the whole world and in heaven[cix] and that a biblical local church is a congregation of individuals baptized by immersion in pure water upon their profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone as Saviour, apart from any works or merits of themselves.[cx]
Baptism
As Covenantal Baptists, we believe that baptism by immersion in pure water is a symbolic washing[cxi] and the sign of the New Covenant, the conditions of which are repentance and faith in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ and Christ alone for salvation, and as such, is not to be administered to infants or to anyone who has not professed their faith in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ and Christ alone for salvation.[cxii] We believe that baptism by immersion in pure water symbolizes the baptism of the believer by the Holy Spirit into one body, the Church, at salvation,[cxiii] in which the believer is circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, being buried with him, quickened, born again and raised to walk in newness of life.[cxiv] As such, we believe that immersion in pure water represents pictorially the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and of the believer with him and is anticipatory of the resurrection of the dead, when our mortal bodies shall put on immortality[cxv] in the last day.[cxvi]
The Lord’s Supper
As Baptists, we believe that the Lord’s Supper was instituted by Christ as memorial of his substitutionary suffering, blood-shedding and death on the cross of Calvary[cxvii] and of our partaking of that substitutionary suffering, blood-shedding and death for salvation.[cxviii] We believe that the Lord’s Supper is representative of our spiritual union with Christ through faith in his substitutionary suffering, blood-shedding and death and of our union with one another in Christ as members of his body, for which cause it is called in I Corinthians 10: 16 “the communion of the blood of Christ”.[cxix] We believe that the Lord’s Supper is also prophetic in nature symbolizing our anticipation of Christ’s return for his Elect, and that a man is to partake of it reverently and soberly, examining himself beforehand and afterwards partaking of it with all solemnity.[cxx]
The Lord’s Day
We believe that God has sanctified unto himself one day in seven in which secular responsibilities and enjoyments are to be set aside for the purposes of worship, edification, exhortation, devotion, meditation, works of charity and rest.[cxxi] We believe that the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the first day of the week[cxxii] has consecrated that day for these purposes and that both New Testament example[cxxiii] and the Scriptural designation of that day[cxxiv] as the Lord’s Day in Revelation 1: 10 affirm the sacred nature of that day, confirming to us that it is not to be profaned for secular purposes or ends.
Congregational Singing
We believe that the New Testament has ordained the practice of corporate congregational singing as part of the Church’s worship,[cxxv] and that it is to be participatory for the entire congregation present and not to be abolished or replaced with praise teams, worship teams or other entertainment or spectator-oriented music.[cxxvi] We believe that congregational singing must include songs, hymns and spiritual songs sung melodiously with the lips from the heart[cxxvii] and must harmonize both a joyful[cxxviii] and a reverential tone,[cxxix] and that music that fails to incorporate both aspects of Biblical praise is unacceptable to God.[cxxx]
Prophecy
As Covenantal Post-Millenialists, we deny the dispensational errors of a “Pre-Tribulation Rapture”, “seven-year Tribulation Period” and a subsequent thousand-year Millenial reign of Christ as unorthodox, heretical and foreign to the Word of God.[cxxxi] In conformity with God’s Word and with the London Baptist Confession of 1689, we believe in the general resurrection and judgment of mankind at the end of the world.[cxxxii] We believe that God’s Word promises victory for the Church[cxxxiii] and that Christ will return after his Millenial reign when all of his enemies have been made his footstool.[cxxxiv]
Evangelism and World Missions
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has commanded his church to go into all the world and preach the Gospel, and that every believer has a responsibility to participate in this work of global evangelism.[cxxxv] We believe that personal one-on-one evangelism is a Scriptural imperative that every believer must participate in,[cxxxvi] but that the primary emphases in the New Testament is upon the public preaching of the gospel as God’s primary agency of saving souls,[cxxxvii] rather than on interpersonal faith witnessing.
Civil Government
We believe that the civil authorities that be are ordained of God[cxxxviii] and that it is the responsibility of every believer to submit himself to the civil authorities that God has placed him or her under,[cxxxix] except in cases where civil authority conflicts with the Word of God, whose authority is greater and supersedes that of the civil government.[cxl] We believe that, except in such cases, defiance of civil government and refusal to submit to it brings God’s judgment upon the rebellious and disobedient believer.[cxli]
[i] II Timothy 3: 16; I Peter 1: 19 – 21.
[ii] Psalm 12: 6 – 7; Matthew 5: 18; 24: 35.
[iii] I John 5: 7; Matthew 3: 16 – 17; 28: 19 – 20; Mark 1: 10 – 11; Luke 3: 21 – 22; Genesis 1: 26 – 27.
[iv] Revelation 4: 10 – 11.
[v] Isaiah 6: 1 – 3; Revelation 4: 6 – 8.
[vi] Hebrews 1: 13 – 14; II Kings 6: 17.
[vii] Matthew 12: 24 – 29; II Corinthians 2: 11; James 4: 7; I Peter 5: 8 – 9.
[viii] Isaiah 14: 12 – 21.
[ix] Matthew 13: 19.
[x] John 12: 31.
[xi] Ephesians 2: 1 – 3.
[xii] Ephesians 6: 11; Revelation 12: 9.
[xiii] Revelation 12: 9.
[xiv] Revelation 12: 10.
[xv] Revelation 12: 9.
[xvi] Revelation 12: 3 – 4; Jude 1: 6.
[xvii] Ezekiel 28: 14.
[xviii] Revelation 12: 3 – 4; Jude 1: 6; Isaiah 14: 12 – 21.
[xix] Genesis 3: 1 – 6; I Timothy 2: 14.
[xx] Hebrews 2: 14 – 15.
[xxi] Matthew 4: 24; 9: 32 – 33; 12: 22 – 28; 17: 18; Luke 4: 33; 8: 27 – 33; 11: 14 – 20; James 2: 19.
[xxii] Luke 11: 24.
[xxiii] Ephesians 6: 12.
[xxiv] I Corinthians 7: 5.
[xxv] Luke 8: 27 – 33
[xxvi] Colossians 2: 13 – 15.
[xxvii] John 12: 31; Colossians 2: 13 – 15; Revelation 12: 8 – 10.
[xxviii] II Corinthians 4: 3 – 4.
[xxix] Matthew 12: 24 – 29; Luke 11: 15 – 22; Revelation 20: 1 – 2.
[xxx] John 12: 31; Colossians 2: 13 – 15; Revelation 12: 8 – 10.
[xxxi] James 4: 7; I Peter 5: 8 – 9.
[xxxii] Revelation 12: 10 – 11.
[xxxiii] Genesis 1: 24 – 27.
[xxxiv] Romans 5: 14 – 19; I Corinthians 15: 22, 45.
[xxxv] Genesis 2: 16 – 17; Romans 5: 12 – 19; I Corinthians 15: 21 – 22, 45.
[xxxvi] Romans 5: 14 – 19;
[xxxvii] Romans 6: 17.
[xxxviii] Romans 8: 7.
[xxxix] I Corinthians 2: 14.
[xl] John 6: 44, 65.
[xli] John 6: 37.
[xlii] Galatians 3: 11, 21.
[xliii] Galatians 3: 24.
[xliv] Romans 7: 7 – 13; Galatians 3: 24.
[xlv] Hebrews 8: 3 – 9: 10.
[xlvi] Hebrews 8: 3 – 9: 10.
[xlvii] Romans 3: 31; I Corinthians 9: 20 – 22.
[xlviii] Romans 3: 19; 7: 7 – 13.
[xlix] Romans 13: 8 – 10; I Corinthians 9: 20 – 22; James 1: 25; 2: 8 – 12.
[l] Hebrews 8: 7 – 11.
[li] Romans 13: 8 – 10; I Corinthians 9: 20 – 22; Galatians 6: 2; James 1: 25; 2: 8 – 12.
[lii] Matthew 1: 1; Romans 1: 1 – 7.
[liii] Isaiah 6: 14; Micah 5: 2; Matthew 1: 18 – 20; Luke 1: 26 – 35; Galatians 4: 3 – 5.
[liv] Isaiah 6: 14; 9: 6 – 7; Micah 5: 2; John 1: 1 – 14; Philippians 2: 5 – 8; I Timothy 3:16; Hebrews 1: 1 – 2: 18.
[lv] Matthew 4: 1 – 11; Mark 1: 13; Luke 4: 1 – 13; Hebrews 2: 18; 4: 15.
[lvi] Matthew 4: 1 – 11; Mark 1: 13; Luke 4: 1 – 13; Hebrews 2: 18; 4: 15.
[lvii] Romans 5: 8, 15 – 21; Galatians 3: 10 – 4: 5.
[lviii] I Corinthians 15: 3 – 6.
[lix] Acts 2: 33 – 36.
[lx] Hebrews 7: 24 – 25.
[lxi] Acts 3: 22 – 23.
[lxii] John 18: 36 – 37; I Timothy 1: 17; Revelation 19: 11 – 16.
[lxiii] Acts 17: 30 – 31; Romans 2: 12 – 16; Revelation 10: 1 – 7.
[lxiv] I Peter 1: 18 – 20.
[lxv] Genesis 1: 2.
[lxvi] II Timothy 3: 16; I Peter 1: 19 – 21.
[lxvii] I Peter 1: 19 – 21.
[lxviii] Psalm 12: 6 – 7; Matthew 5: 18; 24: 35.
[lxix] Matthew 1: 18 – 20; Luke 1: 26 – 35.
[lxx] John 3: 34.
[lxxi] Acts 2: 33.
[lxxii] Romans 8: 9, 11, 15; Galatians 4: 3 – 6; I Corinthians 6: 19.
[lxxiii] Romans 8: 1 – 11; Ephesians 2: 1 – 3.
[lxxiv] Romans 8: 15; Galatians 4: 3 – 6.
[lxxv] II Corinthians 1: 21 – 22; I John 2: 20, 27.
[lxxvi] II Corinthians 1: 21 – 22; Ephesians 1: 13 – 14; 4: 30.
[lxxvii] II Corinthians 3: 18.
[lxxviii] I Corinthians 6: 19; Ephesians 2: 19 – 22.
[lxxix] Galatians 5: 22 – 23.
[lxxx] I Corinthians 13: 9 – 10.
[lxxxi] Hebrews 8: 6 – 13; 13: 20 – 21.
[lxxxii] Romans 5: 15 – 21; I Corinthians 15: 21 – 22, 45.
[lxxxiii] I Peter 1: 10 – 12.
[lxxxiv] Mark 16: 15; Luke 7: 22; Galatians 3: 8; Hebrews 4: 2.
[lxxxv] John 17: 6 – 24; I Peter 1: 18 – 20.
[lxxxvi] Romans 5: 15 – 21; I Corinthians 15: 21 – 22, 45.
[lxxxvii] Romans 5: 8, 15 – 21; Galatians 3: 10 – 4: 5; I Timothy 2: 5 – 6.
[lxxxviii] Mark 16: 15; Luke 7: 22; Galatians 3: 8; I Timothy 2: 5 – 6; Hebrews 4: 2.
[lxxxix] I Peter 1: 18 – 20.
[xc] John 3: 18, 36; 14: 6; Acts 4: 12; I Timothy 2: 5 – 6.
[xci] John 3: 18, 36.
[xcii] Acts 11: 18; Romans 12: 3; Ephesians 2: 8 – 9.
[xciii] Mark 1: 15; Acts 20: 18 – 21.
[xciv] Romans 8: 15; Galatians 4: 3 – 6.
[xcv] Ephesians 3: 14 – 19.
[xcvi] I Peter 1: 1 – 2.
[xcvii] Galatians 5: 22 – 23.
[xcviii] John 15: 2.
[xcix] Hebrews 12: 4 – 11.
[c] John 1: 12 – 13; Romans 8: 15; Galatians 4: 3 – 6; I John 3: 2.
[ci] II Corinthians 6: 14 – 18; I Peter 1: 13 – 16; II Peter 3: 11 – 12.
[cii] John 14: 15.
[ciii] Acts 4: 19; 5: 29.
[civ] I Peter 2: 5.
[cv] Romans 14: 1 – 14.
[cvi] Acts 2: 41; 9: 37 – 39; Hebrews 10: 19 – 22.
[cvii] John 18: 36; Acts 4: 19; 5: 29.
[cviii] I Corinthians 11: 23 – 25.
[cix] Ephesians 1: 13 – 23; 4: 1 – 6; Hebrews 12: 18 – 24.
[cx] Acts 2: 41; 9: 37 – 39; Hebrews 10: 19 – 22.
[cxi] Hebrews 10: 19 – 22.
[cxii] Acts 8: 37.
[cxiii] I Corinthians 12: 13.
[cxiv] John 3: 3 – 8; Romans 6: 3 – 6; Galatians 2: 20; Ephesians 2: 1 – 3; Colossians 2: 10 – 12; I Peter 1: 22 – 23.
[cxv] Romans 6: 3 – 6; Colossians 2: 10 – 12.
[cxvi] John 6: 40.
[cxvii] Matthew 26: 26 – 29; Mark 14: 22 – 25; Luke 22: 15 – 20; I Corinthians 11: 23 – 26.
[cxviii] Matthew 26: 26 – 29; Mark 14: 22 – 25; Luke 22: 15 – 20; I Corinthians 10: 16 – 17; 11: 23 – 26.
[cxix] I Corinthians 10: 16 – 17.
[cxx] I Corinthians 11: 23 – 34.
[cxxi] John 20: 1 – 19, 26; Acts 20: 7; I Corinthians 16: 2; Revelation 1: 10.
[cxxii] Matthew 28: 1 – 6; Mark 16: 1 – 6; Luke 24: 1 – 7.
[cxxiii] John 20: 1 – 19, 26; Acts 20: 7; I Corinthians 16: 2; Revelation 1: 10.
[cxxiv] Revelation 1: 10.
[cxxv] Ephesians 5: 18 – 21; Hebrews 13: 15.
[cxxvi] Ephesians 5: 18 – 21; Hebrews 13: 15.
[cxxvii] Ephesians 5: 18 – 21; Hebrews 13: 15.
[cxxviii] Psalm 100: 1 – 2.
[cxxix] Hebrews 12: 28 – 29.
[cxxx] Ephesians 5: 18 – 21; Hebrews 12: 28 – 29; 13: 15; Malachi 2: 12 – 13.
[cxxxi] II Peter 3: 9 – 10; Revelation 10: 1 – 7.
[cxxxii] John 5: 28 – 29; 6: 39; II Peter 3: 9 – 10; Revelation 10: 1 – 7.
[cxxxiii] Matthew 16: 18; Romans 8: 37; 16: 20; I Corinthians 15: 57 – 58; II Corinthians 2: 14; 10: 3 – 6.
[cxxxiv] Acts 3: 19 – 21; II Peter 3: 9 – 13.
[cxxxv] Matthew 28: 19 – 20; Mark 16: 15; John 20: 21; Acts 1: 8.
[cxxxvi] Matthew 28: 19 – 20; Mark 16: 15; John 20: 21; Acts 1: 8.
[cxxxvii] I Corinthians 1: 17 – 18, 21.
[cxxxviii] Romans 13: 1.
[cxxxix] Romans 13: 1.
[cxl] Acts 4: 19; 5: 29; Romans 13: 1.
[cxli] Romans 13: 2.
