What We Believe
To grow in Faith and share our Faith in God with the World around us
The supreme judge, by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Scripture delivered by the Spirit, into which Scripture so delivered, our faith is finally resolved.
– 1689 BAPTIST CONFESSION OF FAITH, I. 10
The Fundamentals of the Christian Faith
Shared Commitment with Evangelicalism
- Scripture as inspired and inerrant Word of God
- Trinitarian nature of the Godhead
- Creation
- Jesus Christ: God and Redeemer; Risen from the dead
- Salvation by the gospel of the Cross (Substitutionary Atonement)
- The world to come (Second coming of Christ; Heaven and Punishment)
NOTE: The creedal basis of Evangelicalism is steadily crumbling. In its place, the psychological and pragmatic are becoming the marks of the present-day evangelical identity.
Doctrinal Descendants of the Reformation
Doctrines of Grace and Salvation – A rediscovery of Scripture teaching on key questions about the soul’s standing before God
The SOLA’S of the Reformation
1. Sola Scriptura
- A movement away from the tyranny of the church, the pope and the councils.
- Note: A new sort of tyranny is besetting Evangelicals away from biblical authority
- Matt. 22:29, 31, 32; Acts 28:23-25; Eph. 2:20; 2 Tim. 3:16, 17
2. Sola Gratia
- The God who is sovereign in providence is also sovereign in the salvation of sinners.
- The Doctrines of Grace: Total Depravity; Sovereign Election; Particular Redemption; Effectual Calling; Perseverance of the Saints
- Rom. 3:21-26; 11:5, 6; Eph. 2:8-10
3. Sola Fide
- Justification by Faith Alone
- Rom. 3:28; 4:3-5; 5:1; Gal. 2:11-21
Christian Life Legacy of Puritanism
Sanctification and Experimental Religion
1. Evangelical Obedience to the Law of God (The Ten Commandments)
- For failure to put in its place the perpetual rule of the Law, evangelicals today are taken in by subjective norms of “knowing God’s will”
- Special Note: Binding nature of the Sabbath principle in the NT Lord’s Day Mk. 2:27
2. Disciplines of Holiness: Personal + Family + Vocation (Society)
- Puritan occupation in the Christian life: Cultivation of Graces and Mortification of sin
- Contrast current pre-occupation: psychological (e.g. self-esteem); wonders; market emphasis
3. Regulative Principle of Worship
4. Conscientious Church Discipline Matt. 18:15-20; 1 Cor. 5:1-7; Rom. 16:17
- Gross neglect of this practice in today’s church
- Reformed Baptists are often subjected to unkind judgment because of applying church discipline
Distinctives of Historic Baptist Heritage
Church Life and Order
- Liberty of Conscience
Rom. 14:4; Gal. 5:1; Acts 17:11; 2 Cor. 1:24 - Independent Church Authority
Matt. 18:15-20; Acts 14:21-23 - Regenerate Church Membership
Acts 2:47; 9:26; 1 Cor. 1:2 (Believer’s Baptism)
Major Areas of Reform
That Reformed Baptists pray, seek and labor for, by the grace of God
- Recovery of the Biblical gospel and evangelism
- Restoration of God-regulated reverential worship
- Reaffirmation of Biblical holiness in Christian living
- Return to the New Testament church order
- Revival which is not the work of man but the sovereign work of God!