Doctrinal Statement of Amazing Grace Baptist Church

Bibliology:

The Bible is God-breathed, inerrant, infallible, and it is as it claims to be, the Word of God (2 Tim. 3:16). God the Holy Spirit used holy men through the process of inspiration to move them to write not just thoughts, but every word (2 Pet. 1:21, Matt. 4:4). This “moving” of the Holy Spirit was not the same as the moving or inspiration that a poet feels as he writes, but more of carrying them to write.

God not only gave His Word, but He promised to preserve it for every generation (Psa. 12:6-7, Isa. 40:8). As a result, the King James Bible is the inspired Word of God preserved by God for the English-speaking people. The Bible is just as true, relevant and profitable today as it was when it was written in the original manuscripts (Heb. 4:12). According to 2 Tim. 3:16, the Bible is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness.

Theology Proper:

There is one God and supreme being that is holy, ever existent, all powerful, all knowing and ever present in the affairs of man today (Deut. 6:4, Luke 1:37, Isa. 40). God is a triune God, but manifests Himself as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, forming the Trinity. God is then three Persons in one Essence, not three distinct gods (1 John 5:7). God is a loving God and at the same time a holy God, therefore, though He loves man, He hates sin. Because of the sin of man, the world today has rejected God and His Word. As a result, God required death as a payment for the sin of man and sent His Son to pay that price (Rom. 6:23, John 3:16, 2 Cor. 5:21).

Jesus the Son of God:

Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and at the same time God the Son. Christ was not created, but the relationship between Jesus' humanity and deity can be seen in the hypostatic union (100% God and 100% man) (John 1:1, 14; 8:58; 10:30). Since Jesus is God in the flesh, He possesses all of the attributes of God the Father (Mark 2; John 1:3; Col. 1:16-18, 2:9).

Jesus Christ was born of a virgin by the Holy Spirit and lived a perfect life while on earth (Luke 1:34-35). The purpose of His coming was to pay the price of sin on the cross, and therefore provide a way for man to receive the forgiveness of sins (Luke 19:10, John 3:16). Without this sacrifice, man would have no hope of ever receiving eternal life.

The Holy Spirit:

The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the trinity. He is not just a force, a power, or a pleasant feeling that one experiences, but is One with God the Father (Acts 5:3-4, 1 John 5:7). When Christ left, He left us the Holy Spirit; to reprove the world of sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16:8). At the point of salvation, the Holy Spirit seals the believer, dwells in him, and gives him eternal life (Eph. 1, 4:30). The Holy Spirit then guides, teaches, testifies and witnesses to the believer as One who comes alongside of him in order that he might please God while on the earth (John 14:26, 15:26). The single most important attribute of God is His holiness, hence the Holy Spirit (Isa. 57:15).

Eternal Security:

When a person receives Jesus Christ as Savior, he also receives the eternal life that He gives (1 John 5:11-13). Once a person receives eternal life, he cannot lose it. Because a person cannot receive eternal life by his works, it is impossible that his eternal life be taken away because of works. Moreover, there is no man that can take it away from him, not even himself (John 10:27-29, Rom. 8). If this were the case, eternal life would not be eternal, but temporal. It is God that saves, not the person; therefore it is God who keeps one saved, and not the person.

Man:

God made man in His image; this image is one of a perfect state. God also gave man a freewill, making him responsible for his own decisions. Because Adam sinned in the garden, every man born after him is born with a sin nature (Rom. 3:10, 23; Rom. 5:12). A man is not a sinner because he sins, but he sins because he is a sinner.

Salvation:

We believe that the clear message of salvation is “repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21). We believe that salvation is “by grace” plus nothing minus nothing. We believe that Jesus Christ died for every man, and that each individual chooses to accept or reject the grace of God (Heb. 2:9; 1 John 2:2). We believe that men are justified by faith alone and are accounted righteous before God only through the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. (Eph. 2:8-10, John 1:12, 1 Peter 1:18-19)

We believe that all the redeemed, once saved are kept by God’s power and are thus secure in Christ forever. We believe that eternal life is the present possession of every believer (John 6:37-40, 10:27-30; 1 Peter 1:4-5).

The Church:

The definition of the church is a called out assembly. The Bible clearly teaches that only those that have accepted Christ as their Savior are part of the church (Acts 2:47). The Bible refers to the church as the Bride of Christ, Christ himself being the Bridegroom. Another name in the Bible for the church is the body of Christ, and specifically names Christ the Head of the church (Col. 1:18). The church in the Bible is very significant, for Eph. 5:25 says that Christ gave himself for it. The Bible teaches that even though the church is significant, no one can receive salvation by means of a church, for it is only Christ that can forgive sins (Mark 2:7, John 14:6, Acts 4:12).

The Great Commission:

We believe the primary responsibility of the church is to “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.” Christ commanded His church to “teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” (Matt. 28:18-20)

The End Times:

The world today is in its last days, and we can see the signs leading up to the end of times. Christ said that some signs would be wars and rumors of wars, nations against nations, famines, pestilences, earthquakes, etc (Matt. 24:6-7).

On earth a seven year tribulation will begin. At this time, the anti-Christ will make himself known to the world as one that brings peace and stability to the world (2 Thes. 2:6-12). This time is referred by the Bible as the beginning of sorrows (Matt. 24, Dan. 9). Half way through the tribulation (3 1⁄2 years into it), the anti-Christ will sit in the temple of God in the place of God, committing what the Bible calls the abomination of desolations spoken of by Daniel (Dan. 9). At this point, the great tribulation will begin, making the second half of the tribulation worse than the first.

At the end of the seven years, the second coming of Christ will take place. The saints will be robed in white riding a white horse right behind Christ (Rev. 19:11-16). At this point, the nations will try to unite and fight against Christ. This battle is called the battle of Armageddon (Rev. 19:19-21). The battle will really be no battle at all, for Christ will speak and with His voice will He defeat the nations (Rev. 19:21). Immediately following will be the Millennial Reign of Christ, and during those 1,000 years, Satan will be bound. At the end of those 1,000 years, Satan will be loosed again for his final attempt to defeat Christ. The earth will be then destroyed (2 Peter 3:9-10). Satan will then be cast into the Lake of Fire, death and hell will also be cast into the Lake of Fire (Rev. 20:8-10). At that time, God will make a new heaven and a new earth and in it will be the New Jerusalem, where the saints will forever abide with Christ (Rev. 21:1-7).

Marriage:

Amazing Grace Baptist Church joyfully complies to the God-ordained definition of marriage (one man married to one woman) as identified in the Bible (Gen. 2:19-25, Mark 10:6-9, Eph. 5:25).