What we believe could be summarized in the Five Solas of the Reformation: Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone), Sola Gratia (Grace Alone), Sola Fide (Faith Alone), Solus Christus (Christ Alone), and Soli Deo Gloria (To God Alone Be The Glory).
We affirm God’s absolute sovereignty, the centrality of the Gospel, and the ultimate authority of Scripture over all things.
Statement of Faith
1. THE SCRIPTURES – We believe that the Bible is the Word of God; that it was written by men who were moved by the Holy Spirit so that their writings, in the original, were supernaturally and verbally inspired and free from error, as no other writings have ever been or ever will be. They are the complete and final revelation of the will of God to man, and so are the supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct. (Ex. 24:4; II Sam. 23:1-2; Ezekiel 1:3; Matt. 5:18, 24:35; John 10:35; I. Cor. 2:10-13; II Timothy 3:16-17; Hebrews 4:12; II Peter 1:19-21, 3:15; John 17:17)
2. THE TRUE GOD – We believe in one God, eternally existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit Indentical in their essence, equal in power and glory, attributes and perfection. (Gen. 1:1-2; Deut. 6:4; I Kings 8:27; Psalms 147:5; Micah 5:2; Matt. 28:19; John 1:1-4; Acts 5:3-4; Heb. 1:8) A. God the Father – We believe in God the Father, perfect in holiness, boundless in love, infinite in wisdom, measureless in power. We believe that He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men, that He hears and answers prayer, and that He saves from sin and death all who come to Him through Jesus Christ, His Son. (Gen. 1:1; Matt. 28:19; John 1:1-3; I Cor. 8:6; Eph. 4:3-6)
B. God the Son – We believe in Jesus Christ, God the Son, preexistent with the Father, begotten by the Holy Spirit, and born of a Virgin; sinless in His nature and life, infallible in His teaching, making atonement by His substitutionary death on the cross. We believe in His bodily resurrection, His ascension into Heaven, His perpetual intercession for His people and His glorious second coming according to the promises given in The Word of God. (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18; John 1:1,13-14, 17:5; Luke 1:35; Acts 1:11; I Thess. 4:16; Heb. 4:14-16; I Peter 2:22, 3:18; I John 2:1-2; Rev. 1:13-18, 19:11-16)
C. God the Holy Spirit – We believe in the deity and personality of the Holy Spirit. We believe that He came from God to convince and convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; and to regenerate, sanctify, indwell, comfort, give gifts and empower those who believe in Jesus Christ. We believe it is the duty of every child of God to be daily filled and controlled by the power of the Holy Spirit. (John 14:16-17, 16:8; Acts 5:3-4; Romans 8:9; I Corinthians 3:16; Ephesians 1:13-14, 5:18)
3. MAN – We believe that man was created in the image of God; that he sinned and thereby incurred not only physical death, but also that spiritual death which is separation from God. We believe that all human beings are born with a sinful nature, and in the case of those who reach moral responsibility, become sinners in thought and deed by choice. (Gen. 1:27, Isaiah 53:6, Rom. 3:23; 5:12-19, Eph. 2:1-3).
4. SATAN – We believe in the reality and personality of Satan. He is the unholy god of this age, author of all powers of darkness and sin, and is destined to the judgment of an eternal justice in the lake of fire. (Isaiah 14:12-15; Matthew 13:39; Luke 10:18; 11:18; Eph. 2:2; II Corinthians 11:3; II Timothy 2:26; Revelation 12:9; 20:10)
5. CREATION – Both the physical and spiritual universe, perfect in their original state were brought into existence through the sovereign act of God without any process of evolution. God sustains all of creation yet transcends all creation in His being. (Gen. 1:1; John 1:1-13; Col. 1:16-17; Hebrews 1:10-12, 11:3; II Peter 3:12-13)
6. SALVATION – We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for sins according to the Scriptures, as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice, and that all who repent of their sins and who by faith receive Him as their personal Savior, are justified on the ground of His blood shed on Calvary and His resurrection from the dead and are born again of the Holy Spirit and thereby become the children of God. (John 1:12, 3:3-6,16; Acts 16:31; I Peter 1:18-23) We believe that salvation is an act of grace that may not be purchased or earned through man’s good works. (Isaiah. 64:16; Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 3:5) We believe that salvation involves a clear understanding of sin and repentance. We believe that salvation is not only an escape from Hell, rather it is a conscious turning over control to God. A believer understands that they are not “trying” Jesus, rather they are giving Him their life! A prayer is not sufficient to save! It must be accompanied by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit who convicts of sin and brings to full repentance. (Matt. 19:21; Luke 3:8)
Security of the believer – We believe that those who receive Jesus Christ as Savior are eternally secure and cannot lose salvation. The security of the believer is not conditioned upon his circumstances, nor emotional experiences, nor behavior, nor strength, but our security rests on the finished work of Jesus Christ. The believer is secure because God has taken that responsibility for His own. (John 10:27-30; Rom. 8:31-34, 38-39; I John 2:1-2) A true believer however will demonstrate fruit. We do not believe someone should assume they are going to Heaven because they prayed a prayer even though they have NEVER displayed genuine repentance and a change in their life. (Matt. 7:16-20; II. Corinthians 5:17, 13:5-6; Ephesians 2:10; James 2:18)
7. LAST THINGS – We believe in the bodily resurrection of all the dead, the saved to eternal life and blessedness in Heaven and the unsaved to eternal, conscious suffering and woe in Hell. We believe that Christ the righteous judge will come again just as He said! (Matt.25:46; John 5:28-29,14:2; Hebrews 9:27; Revelation 20:14-15; 21:4).
8. CIVIL GOVERNMENT – We believe that civil government is of divine appointment for the interest and good order of human society; that government officials are to be prayed for, conscientiously honored and obeyed, except in things opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ who is the Lord of conscience. (Ex. 18:21-22; II Sam. 23:3; Dan. 3:17-18; Matt. 22:21; Acts 4:19-20, 23:5; Rom. 13:1-7)
9. THE CHURCH
A. All those who by faith are made righteous are baptized by the Holy Spirit in a vital union with Christ and form the universal church, which is the body of Christ, also known as the Bride. (Eph. 1:22-23, 5:25-27; I Cor. 12:12-13; Gal. 3:27)
B. We believe that a local church is an organized body of believers baptized upon credible confession of faith in Jesus Christ, sovereign in polity, and bonded together for work, worship, mutual edification, observance of the ordinances (Baptism and Lord’s Supper) and the worldwide proclamation of the Gospel. (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 2:41-47; I Corinthians 12; Ephesians 1:22-23; 4:11-13).
10. JUSTIFICATION – We believe that justification is the judicial act of God whereby He declares us to be righteous through Jesus Christ; that justification includes the pardon of sin and the imputation of God’s righteousness; that it is bestowed, not in consideration of any works of righteousness which we have done; but solely through faith in the Redeemer’s blood. (Isaiah 53:11; Zechariah 13:1; Acts 13:30; II. Corinthians 5:18-21; Romans 5:1)
11. SANCTIFICATION – We believe that sanctification is the divine setting apart of the believer unto God accomplished in a three-fold manner: first, Positional Sanctification is an eternal act of God, based upon the redemption of Christ, establishing the believer in a position of holiness at the moment he trusts Christ as Savior; second, Progressive Sanctification is a continuing process in the saint as he yields control to the Holy Spirit who applies the Word of God to the life; and third, Perfect Sanctification is the final accomplishment of the process at the Lord’s return (John 17:17; I. Cor. 1:30; II. Corinthians 3:18; Ephesians 5:25-26; I Thess. 4:3-4; 5:23-24, 27; Hebrews 3:1; 10:10-14; I John 3:2).
12. CURRENT TRENDS IN THEOLOGY – As a fundamental group of believers, we take our stand against the current trends that lead to discrediting the Bible and undermining the fundamentals of the Faith. We reject all forms of humanism, relativism and Theological liberalism. We reject non-orthodox approaches to interpreting scripture that lead to explaining away it’s clear teachings. We take a separatist stand against sensationalism that elevates certain gifts above others and seeks to place experience as an authority. We refuse to box the Holy Spirit into our pre-conceived ideas of how He should operate, but we will carefully examine EVERY spirit to see whether it is from God. We believe that God can and does bless physically and materially but categorically deny that the Bible teaches anywhere that it is God’s will for every Christian to be healthy, wealthy and comfortable. As it is our desire to maintain pure doctrine as taught us in the Word of God, when dealing with Christians from other churches or organizations, we will choose to agreeably disagree in some areas and be unable to cooperate when the areas of difference affect core beliefs. We are better than no one, we’re undeserving recipients of grace! We desire to take a stand for truth in the gracious manner that is representative of the spirit of our lord Jesus Christ. ( Acts 17:11; II Tim. 2:15; I Thess. 5:21; I Peter 3:15; I John 4:1)
13. MARRIAGE, SEXUALITY, AND THE SANCTITY OF LIFE – We believe every human being is fearfully and wonderfully made in God’s image, and that life begins at conception. For this reason, all human life is to be valued, defended, and protected from the womb, until natural death occurs.
We also believe that from the beginning, God created man and woman in his image as two unique biological persons – male and female. We believe that a man and a woman are equal in value and dignity yet different, but complementary, in their roles. We believe that God instituted marriage to be the exclusive covenant union between a biological man and a biological woman, and that sexual activity is limited to the confines of this union. Therefore, any deviation from God’s design for marriage and sexuality is unbiblical, sinful, and contrary to the practice of Emmanuel Bible Church – these deviations include but are not limited to: adultery, premarital sex, homosexuality, bestiality, polygamy, pedophilia, and transgender practice. (Psalm 139:13-16; Genesis 5:2; Matthew 19:4; Galatians 3:28; Ephesians 5:22-33; 1 Corinthians 6:9)
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Emmanuel Bible Church