What We Believe
2 Timothy 3:16-17 KJV
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
Deity
We believe in the triune Nature of the Godhead: The Father, The Son, and the Holy Ghost, and though inexpressible in the clean logic of finite man, the Scriptures attest to God being both One and existing as Three (Gen. 1:26, Deut. 6:4, John 1:1, 1 John 5:7) in an eternal relationship within themselves, equally God, and yet economically dependent on the other for the working of the whole. We believe these Three reflect, not independent forms which exist in dimensions, since God is a Spirit who inhabits eternity (John 4:24, Is. 57:15), but reflect His very nature; this is how God can not just have love but be love (1 John 4:8), as the Father loves the Son (John 5:20), and the Son was from everlasting (Micah 5:2, John 12:41, John 17:5).
We believe that Jesus Christ is both God and man—that He is the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Col. 2:9); that He was born of a virgin (Is. 7:14, Matt. 1:20); that He was the express image of the Father (John 14:9, Heb. 1:3), was without sin (Heb. 4:15, 1 Peter 3:18), and yet as a man increased in wisdom and stature with God and man (Luke 2:52), and learned obedience through the things he suffered, subject to the will of the Father (Heb. 5:8).
We believe His coming as a man was necessary in order to fulfill the role of kinsman redeemer, offering a like sacrifice in our place, and for the restoration of God’s image and intended authority to man by man, Jesus Christ being the “last Adam” (1 Cor. 15:45).
We believe in the Personhood of the Holy Ghost, who has baptized us into Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 12:13), who seals us unto the day of redemption (Eph. 4:30), who has freely given us everything we need to live a life that is sanctified and profitable to God (Rom. 8:2), and who progressively conforms us to the image of God’s Son through the working of His word in our inner man (Rom. 8:29, 2 Cor. 3:17-18, 1 Thess. 2:13).
Salvation
We believe that all of mankind, while born without sin imputed to their account, are born in the image of fallen Adam, not in the image of God (Gen. 1:26, Gen. 5:3, 1 Cor. 15:49), and that all of mankind, bearing that image, have personally sinned against God in some way (Rom. 5:12) and are therefore under God’s wrath (Rom. 1:18).
We believe in the substitutionary work of Jesus Christ through His death on the cross, His burial, and His resurrection, and that by faith alone in the work He accomplished, salvation is received as a free gift (Romans 3:28, Romans 4:5, Romans 5:15). We believe that man cannot “earn forgiveness,” as good works cannot negate sins that are already committed.
By the very nature of eternal life, we believe that it is indeed eternal and is not something that can be lost, and that since the gifts and calling of God are without repentance (Rom. 11:29), God does not repent, or change His mind, about the free gift of salvation He has given.
We believe that “salvation” has 3 components: salvation from the penalty of sin (justification); salvation from the power of sin (sanctification); and salvation from the presence of sin (glorification); and that all three are attained by faith alone in the gospel of 1 Corinthians 15:1-4.
Scripture
We believe that scripture is the sole authority of faith and practice for the saint, and that the principle rule of Bible interpretation is by comparing scripture with scripture, and through cross references, allowing the Bible to interpret itself (1 Cor. 2:13, 2 Peter 1:20). We believe that the Bible is to be taken literally except when scripture clearly indicates otherwise. We believe that when there is symbolism or allegory, the Bible offers its own interpretation of these, leaving nothing up to the imagination of man.
We believe that all scripture is written for our learning and admonition (Rom. 15:4, 1 Cor. 10:11), and is profitable (2 Tim. 3:16), but that not all scripture is written to us as the Body of Christ.
We believe that the word of God was not only inspired by God in the original manuscripts, but that it has been preserved by God Himself in order to fulfill its purpose in the saints (Ps. 12:6-7, Is. 40:8, Matt. 24:35, 2 Peter 1:21, 2 Tim. 3:16-17), that is, to perfect the man of God and throughly furnish him unto all good works.
We believe that the preserved text of God’s inspired word exists in the English language in the form of the Authorized Version (King James Bible) due to the precise wording that is not found elsewhere in any English translation. We believe it to be free of error and that it cannot be improved upon. We believe that, as God ordained powers for the governing of human affairs (Rom. 13:1-2), and the KJB is the only English translation produced under the God-sanctioned authority of a king, that it was produced under the authority of God, and was produced in such a way by multiple companies of scholars so as to exclude any implicit denominational bias.
We believe the “Bible version issue” to be one of final authority, and we submit ourselves to the singular authority of the words of scripture.
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God’s Twofold Plan of the Cross
We believe that God, in response to Satan’s plot to possess heaven and earth and be like the Most High (Is. 14:13-14), has a plan to redeem and restore both realms, and that He thus has a two-fold plan, that by the cross both heaven and earth and its governmental structures will be restored to the authority of God the Father (Col. 1:16, 20, 1 Cor. 15:24).
We believe that the nation of Israel was created by God for several purposes, namely, to demonstrate the true God to the heathen (Ex. 34:10, Deut. 28:10, Ez. 20:41, Ez. 28:25), to provide a lineage for the Messiah (Gen. 12:3, Gen. 15:3-4, Gen. 49:8-12, 2 Samuel 7:12-13, Is.9:7), to demonstrate the inability of man to either justify himself or serve God in his flesh by the works of the Law (Rom. 3:19), and also to be a holy nation of priests who are to serve God and the surrounding gentile nations (Ex. 19:6, Is. 2:2-3, Is. 61:6, Is. 66:21).
We believe that the remnant of the nation of Israel who receive Jesus as their prophesied Messiah are the agency through which God is going to restore the earthly authority structures and kingdom (Matt. 19:28, Rev. 7:4, Rev. 20:4). We thus believe, based upon the unilateral promises made to their fathers (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), that the nation of Israel has a future.
We believe however that God has interrupted His prophetic plan regarding Israel and the earth and begun a secret purpose involving the restoration of heavenly places by the Church as described in Paul’s epistles (Rom. 11:11, Rom. 16:25, Eph. 3:9-10).
We believe the Body of Christ is a distinct entity that God created for the purpose of restoring the heavenly realm and kingdom (Rom. 8:19-21, 2 Cor. 5:1, 1 Thess. 4:17, 2 Tim. 4:18, 1 Cor. 6:3), and that this was the result of Israel’s stumbling over Christ and subsequent fall (Rom. 11:11-12). We believe the Body of Christ was a mystery not made known in past ages or to past generations (Col. 1:26, Eph. 3:9), and thus was not revealed in any Old Testament Scriptures (including the gospel accounts and the early portion of the book of Acts). We believe that God specifically kept this purpose secret because had he made it known, Satan and his princes would not have conspired to crucify the Lord of glory (1 Cor. 2:7-8).
We believe that the Body of Christ was purposed before the world began (Eph. 1:4, 2 Tim. 1:9), but that it could not be instituted until Jesus, as the Head of the Body, received all power in heaven and earth (Matt. 28:18), and was seated far above all principality, power, might and dominion, and every name that is named (Eph. 1:20-22), that He might be the Head of the Body and as such the Head of all principality and power (Col. 1:18, Col. 2:10).
Our Pattern
We believe that Paul’s apostleship and Jesus’ ministry through him is separate and distinct from that of the twelve; that the twelve were sent to Israel as apostles of the circumcision (Matt. 10:6, Gal. 2:7-8), that Jesus’ ministry prior to Paul related specifically to Israel and the promises made to their fathers regarding a promised land and kingdom (Luke 1:68-75, Matt. 2:2, Matt. 15:24, Luke 23:3, Acts 1:6), and that it only related to gentiles indirectly, that is, that through Israel’s prophesied salvation the gentiles would also be blessed (Rom. 15:8-9, Mark 7:27).
We believe Paul, as the first member added to the Body of Christ and pattern of all who would be saved today (1 Tim. 1:15-16), and as the premier apostle of the gentiles (Rom. 11:13, 1 Tim. 2:7, 2 Tim. 1:11), is the delegated authority and “spokesman” for the Church today, that Jesus revealed the mystery of this Body to him alone, and that Paul’s letters reflect a dispensational change from God’s dealings with Israel to His dealings with the Church. We believe Paul’s epistles alone are the pattern of doctrine for the Body of Christ.
Edification
We believe that the mystery of the Body of Christ was ordained before the world unto our glory and that this glory is Christ in us (1 Cor. 2:7, Col. 1:27).
We believe the gospel of 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 not only provides for our justification unto eternal life, but also for our sanctified life, by which we are dead to sin and alive unto God (Rom. 6:7-8), that the resurrection life of Christ Himself is able to be manifest in our present bodies (Rom. 8:11, 2 Cor. 4:10-11, Col. 2:11-12), and are thereby able to serve God out of the new identity that He freely gave us in Christ when we believed. We believe that in the same way, this doctrine equips us to endure the sufferings of this present time and the sufferings of Christ.
We believe that the information found in Paul’s epistles constitute a form of doctrine (Rom. 6:17, 2 Tim. 1:13) which is given for godly edifiying (1 Tim. 1:4, Rom. 10:17). We believe that “godly edifying” is the process by which God is conforming us to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29, Eph. 4:11-15), taking us from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:18).
We believe that all of our sufficiency is of God (2 Cor. 3:5) and that our godly edifying is through faith in the word of God, not of our own effort or works, and by the word of God working in our inner man, as the word of God is spiritual (John 6:63, 1 Cor. 2:13).
We believe that the epistles of Paul are for the perfecting of sons and daughters of God, that we may reign with Christ as joint-heirs in the heavenly places. We believe that all who have received the free gift of justification unto eternal life are heirs of God, but that the sole qualification of being joint-heirs with Christ, that is, reigning with Christ, is suffering with Him (Rom. 8:17, 2 Tim. 2:12). We believe this aspect of our inheritance is conditioned upon what Paul calls the work of faith (1 Thess. 1:3, 2 Thess. 1:11), and constitutes the reward of the inheritance (Col. 3:24).
As Christ was without sin (Heb. 4:15), and yet as a son was perfected and learned obedience through the things He suffered (Heb. 5:8-9), our perfecting also occurs as sons of God through suffering with Him, that is, by employing the doctrine by faith in our daily lives, so that Christ is formed in our inner man, equipping us to endure the devices of Satan (Rom. 8:35-39, 2 Cor. 2:11) and the trials of life in a fallen world (Rom. 8:18).