STATEMENT OF FAITH

1. Scriptures - We believe that "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God," by which we understand the whole of the book called the Bible; nor do we take the statement in the sense in which it is sometimes foolishly said that works of human genius are inspired, but in the sense that the Holy Ghost gave the very words of the sacred writings to holy men of old; and that His divine inspiration is not in different degrees, but extends equally and fully to all parts of these writings; historical, poetical, doctrinal, and prophetical; and to the smallest word, and inflection of a word, provided such is found in the original manuscripts. (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:21; 1 Cor. 2:13; Mark 12:26-36; Mark 13:11; Acts 1:16 and Acts 2:4).

2. Trinity - We believe that the Godhead eternally exists in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and that these three are one God, having precisely the same nature, attributes, and perfections and worthy of precisely the same homage, confidence and obedience. (Mark 12:29; John 1:1-4; Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 5:3-4; 2 Cor. 13:14; Heb. 1:1-3; Rev. 1:4-6).

3. Jesus Christ - We believe that Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God, which is to say, He is Himself very God; He took upon Himself our nature, being conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary; He died upon the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice for the sin of the world; He arose from the dead in the body in which He was crucified; He ascended into heaven in that body glorified, where He is now, our interceding High Priest. He will come again personally and visibly to set up His kingdom and to judge the quick and the dead. (Col 1:15; Phil. 2:5-8; Matt. 1:18-25; 1 Pet. 2:24-25; Luke 24; Heb. 4:14-16; Acts 1:9-11; 1 Thess. 4:16-18; Matt. 25:31-46; Rev. 11:15-17; Rev. 20:4-6 and 11-15).

4. Hell - We believe that there is a literal hell and a literal fire of hell as a place for the eternal and conscious punishment of all the unsaved. (Matt. 25:41-46; Mark 9:43-50; Rev. 20:14-15; Rev. 21:8).

5. Satan or Devil - We believe that Satan is a person. He is the unholy god of this age, the prince of the power of the air, and the prince of this world. The Devil was a murderer from the beginning. He is a liar and the father of lies. There is absolutely no truth in him. He is the enemy of God and man and the author of all the powers of darkness. He is a deceiver and blinds the minds of men to the end that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ may not dawn upon them. He is destined to the judgment of an eternal justice in the lake of fire. (John 8:44; John 16:11; Eph. 2:2; 2 Cor. 4:4; Rev. 20:10).

6. Man - We believe that man, originally created in the image and after the likeness of God, fell from his high and holy estate by eating the forbidden fruit, and as the consequences of his disobedience the threatened penalty of death was then and there inflicted, so that his moral nature was not only grievously injured by the fall, but he totally lost all spiritual life, becoming dead in trespasses and sins, and subject to the power of the devil. (Gen. 1:26; Gen. 2:17; John 5:40; John 6:53; Eph. 2:1-3; 1 Tim. 5:6; 1 John 3:8).

7.Man — All Have Sinned - We believe that this spiritual death, or total corruption of human nature, has been transmitted to the entire race of man; the man Christ Jesus alone excepted; and hence that every child of Adam is born into the world with a nature which not only possesses no spark of divine life, but is essentially and unchangeably bad, being enmity against God, and incapable by any educational process whatever of subjection to His law. (Gen. 6:5; Psalm 14:1-3; Psa. 51:5; Jer. 17:9; John 3:6, Rom. 3:23; Rom. 5:12-19).

8. Salvation — Only Through Jesus Christ We believe that owing to this universal depravity and death in sin, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless born again; and that no degree of reformation, however great; no attainment in morality, however high; no culture, however attractive; no humanitarian and philanthropic schemes and societies, however useful; no baptism or other ordinance, however administered, can help the sinner to take even one step toward heaven; but a new life implanted by the Holy Spirit through the Word, is absolutely essential to salvation. (Isa. 64:6; John 3:5-18; Gal. 6:15; Rom. 6:23; Phil. 3:4-9; Titus 3:5; James 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:23).

9. Salvation — The Blood of Christ - We believe that our redemption has been accomplished solely by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who was made to be sin, and made a curse for us dying in our room and stead; and that no degree of repentance, no feeling, no faith, no good resolution, no sincere efforts, no submission to the rules and regulations of any church, or of all the churches that have existed since the days of the Apostles can add in the very least to the value of the previous blood, or to the merit of that finished work, wrought for us by Him who united in His person true and proper divinity with perfect and sinless humanity. (Lev. 17:11; Matt. 26:28; Rom. 5:6-9; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3:13; Eph. 1:7; 1 Pet. 1:18-19).

10. Justification - We believe that Christ, in the fullness of the blessings He has secured by His obedience unto death, is received by faith alone, and that the moment we trust in Him as our Savior we pass out of death into everlasting life, being justified from all things, accepted before the Father according to the measure of His acceptance, loved as He is loved, and having His place and portion as linked to Him, and one with Him forever. (John 5:24; John 17:23; Acts 13:39; Rom. 5:1; Rom. 6:1; Eph. 2:4-13; 1 John 4:17; 1 John 5:11-12).

11. Assurance - We believe that it is the privilege not only of some, but of all who are born again by the Spirit through faith in Christ as revealed in the Scriptures, to be assured of their Salvation from the very day they take Him to be their Savior; and that this assurance is not founded upon any fancied discovery of their own worthiness, but wholly upon the testimony of God in His written Word, exciting within His children filial love, gratitude, and obedience. (Luke 10:20; Luke 12:32; John 6:47; Rom. 8:38-39; 2 Cor. 5:1; 2 Cor. 6:8; 2 Tim. 1:12; 1 John 5:13).

12. Scriptures — Christ-Centered and Practical - We believe that all the Scriptures, from first to last, center about our Lord Jesus Christ, in His Person and work, in first and second coming; and hence that no chapter even of the Old Testament is properly read or understood until it leads to Him; and moreover, that all the Scriptures from first to last, including every chapter of the Old Testament, were designed for our practical instruction. (Luke 24:27, 44; John 5:39; Acts 7:2-3; Acts 18:28; Acts 26:22-23; Acts 28:23; Rom. 15:4; 1 Cor. 10:11).

13. The Church — A Unity of Believers - We believe that the Church is composed of all who are united by the Holy Spirit to the risen and ascended Son of God, that by the same Spirit we are all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, and thus being members one of another, we are responsible to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, rising above all sectarian prejudices and denominational bigotry, and loving one another with a pure heart fervently. (Matt. 16:16-18; Acts 2:32-47; Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 12:12-27; Eph. 1:20-23; Eph. 4:3-10; Col. 3:14-15).

14. Holy Spirit - We believe that the Holy Spirit not as an influence, but as a Divine Person, the source and power of all acceptable worship and service, is our abiding comforter and helper, that He never takes His departure from the Church, nor from the feeblest of the saints, but is ever present to testify of Christ, seeking to occupy us with Him, and not with ourselves nor with our experiences. (John 7:38-39; John 14:16-17; John 15:26; John 16:13-14; Acts 1:8; Rom. 8:9; Phil. 3:3).

15. Christian Walk - We believe that we are called with a Holy calling to walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, and so to live in the Spirit that we should not fulfill the lusts of the flesh; but the flesh being still in us to the end of our earthly pilgrimage, needs to be kept constantly in subjection to Christ, or it will surely manifest its presence to the dishonor of His name. (Rom. 8:12- 13; Rom. 13:14; Gal. 5:16-25; Eph. 4:22-24; Col. 3:1-10; 1 Pet. 1:14-16; 1 John 3:5-9; Titus 2:1-15).

16. Eternal State - We believe that the souls of those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation do at death immediately pass into His presence, and there remain in conscious bliss until the resurrection of the body at His coming, when soul and body reunited shall be associated with Him forever in the glory; but the souls of unbelievers remain after death in conscious misery until the final judgment of the great white throne at the close of the millennium, when soul and body reunited shall be cast into the lake of fire, not to be annihilated, but to be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. (Luke 16:19-26; Luke 23:43; 2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23; 2 Thess. 1:7-9; Jude 6-7; Rev. 20:11-15).

17. Second Coming - We believe that the world will not be converted during the present dispensation, but is fast ripening for judgment, while there will be a fearful apostasy in the professing Christian body, and hence that the Lord Jesus will come in person to introduce the millennial age, when Israel shall be restored to their own land, and the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord; and that this personal premillennial and imminent advent is the blessed hope set before us in the Gospel for which we should be constantly looking. (Luke 12:35-40; Luke 17:26-30; Luke 18:8; Acts 15:14-17; 2 Thess. 2:3-8; 2 Tim. 3:1-5; Titus 1:11-15).

18. Missions - We believe that it is the obligation of all believers to witness by deed and word to these precious truths stated above. We are ambassadors of Christ and it is our duty to proclaim the Gospel to all the world. We believe it is impossible to be thoroughly loyal to Christ without active participation in the spread of the Gospel to lost humanity everywhere. We believe that obedience to the missionary call of Christ requires study, intercessory prayer, and the consecration of our time, talent, and money. (Acts 1:8; Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16; 2 Cor. 5:20; Rom. 10:14-15).

19. Baptism - We believe that Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water to show forth in a solemn and beautiful emblem our faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Savior, with its effect in our death to sin and our resurrection to a new life. It shall be pre-requisite to membership in this Church. (Matt. 3:16; John 3:23; Acts 8:36-39; Romans 6:3-5; Col. 2:12).

20. The Lord's Supper - We believe that the Lord's Supper or Holy Communion is the commemoration of His death until He comes, and should be preceded always by solemn self-examination. The Lord's Table is not a barrier to separate believers, but rather a sacred place where all true Christians meet. (1 Corinthians 11:23-28).

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21. Gender and Sexuality - We believe that God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as genetically male or genetically female, namely creating each person sexually male or sexually female. These two distinct, complementary genders together, both to be treated with dignity and respect, reflect the image and nature of God (Genesis 1:26-27). Rejection of one’s biological sex is a rejection of the image of God within that person.

22. Marriage - We believe that marriage is the original and foundational God-ordained institution of human society. We believe that the term “marriage” has only one meaning: the uniting of one genetically male and one genetically female in a single, exclusive covenant union, as delineated in Scripture (Genesis 2:18-25). The marriage partners leave their own families and are no longer considered two, but “one flesh” (Matthew 19:4-6; Ephesians 5:31). Marriage is God’s example and picture of the relationship between Christ (the Bridegroom) and His Church (the Bride), made up of all who receive and trust in His Son Jesus alone for salvation (Ephesians 5:30-32). Marriage between a man and a woman is God’s natural and righteous provision to bring children into the world (Genesis 1:27-28). We believe that God intends sexual intimacy to occur only between a man and a woman who are married to each other (1 Corinthians 6:18, 7:2-5; Hebrews 13:4). We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman. We believe that any form of sexual immorality (including adultery, fornication, homosexual behavior, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, and use of pornography) is sinful and offensive to God (Matthew 15:18-20; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10).

23. Sanctity of Human Life - We believe that all human life is sacred and created by God in His image. Human life is of inestimable worth in all its dimensions, including pre-born babies, the aged, the physically or mentally challenged, and every other stage or condition from conception through natural death. We are, therefore, called to defend, protect, and value all human life (Psalm 139). We believe that every person must be afforded compassion, love, kindness, respect, and dignity (Mark 12:28-31; Luke 6:31). Hateful and harassing behavior or attitudes directed toward any individual are to be repudiated and are not in accord with Scripture nor the doctrines of Community Baptist Church.

24. Reconciliation - We believe all men and women by nature are sinners who have been willfully disobedient to God’s command of perfect obedience recorded in His Word (Romans 3:23, 5:6-10). However, God loves mankind, whom He created. He has made a provision whereby men and women may receive needed forgiveness for all of their sins by trusting in Jesus Christ’s sacrificial payment for sins on their behalf (John 3:16; Acts 4:12; Romans 10:9-10; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Men and women can, by repenting, believing, and receiving God’s free gift of forgiveness, be restored to fellowship with their Creator (Ephesians 2:8-22).

25. Staff - We believe that, in order to preserve the function and integrity of Community Baptist Church as the local Body of Christ and to provide a biblical role model to the Community Baptist Church members and the community, it is imperative that all persons employed by Community Baptist Church in any capacity, or who serve as volunteers, agree to and abide by this doctrinal statement in its entirety (Matthew 5:16; Philippians 2:14-16; 1 Thessalonians 5:22).