OF THE SCRIPTURES
We believe that the Holy Bible is supernaturally inspired;
that it is truth without error; and therefore is, and shall remain to the end
of the age, the only complete and final revelation of the will of God to man;
the true center of Christian union and the supreme standard by which all human conduct,
creeds and opinions shall be tried.
l. By the “Holy Bible” we mean that collection of sixty-six books, from Genesis to Revelation, which, does not only contain and convey the Word of God, but Is the very Word of God.
2. By “Inspiration” we mean that the books of the Bible were
written by holy men of old, as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, in such a definite
way that their Writings were supernaturally and verbally inspired and free from
error, as no other writings have ever been or will ever be inspired.
3. We further believe that God has preserved His Word in the
form of the A.V. 1611 King James Bible. We believe the King James Bible to be God’s
Word to the English speaking people.
II Tim. 3:16-17; II Pet. 1:19-21; Acts 28:25; Psa. 119:160;
Psa. 1:19: 105; Psa.119:130; Luke 24:25-27; John 17:17; Luke 24:44-45; Psa. l19:89;
Prov. 30:5-6; Rom 3:4; I Pet. 1:23; Rev. 22:19; John 12:48; Isa. 8:20; Eph.
6:17; Rom.
15:4; Luke 16:31; Psa. l9;7-11; John 5: 45-47; John 5:39.
OF THE TRUE GOD
We believe that there is one, and only one, living true God,
an infinite, intelligent Spirit, the maker and supreme ruler of heaven and
earth; inexpressibly glorious in holiness and worthy of all possible honor,
confidence and love; that in the unity of the Godhead there are three persons, the
Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, equal in every divine perfection, and
executing distinct but harmonious offices in the great work of redemption.
Ex. 20:2-3; Gen. 17:1; I Cor. 8:6; Eph. 4:6; John 4:24; Psa.
147:5; Psa. 83:18; Psa. 90:2; Jer. 10:10; Ex. 15:11; Rev. 4:11; I Tim. 1:17; Rom.
11:33; Mark 12:30; Matt. 28:19; John 15:26; I Cor. 12:4-6; I John 5:7; John
10:30; John 17:5; Acts 5:3-4; I Cor. 2:10-11; Phil. 2: 5-6; Eph. 2:18; II Cor.
13:14. 7
OF THE SON OF GOD
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of
God, was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary as no other
man was ever nor can be born of a woman. He is very God of very God, being “God
manifest in the flesh.” He lived a life of absolute sinlessness and in His
death made a full and vicarious atonement for our sins, dying not as a martyr,
but as a voluntary substitute in the sinner’s place. He rose from the dead‘ on the
third day and ascended bodily into heaven. He is coming again to rapture His
saints, and to set up the throne of David and establish His Kingdom. The
rapture coming is imminent and will be personal, pre-tribulational and pre-millennial.
Isa. 7:14; I Thes. 4:16; Matt. 1:18-25; Matt. 28:6; II Thes.
2:6-8; John 1:1; John 14:3; I Pet. 2:22; I Pet. 3:18; Acts 15:16.
OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine person; equal
with God the Father, God the Son, and of the same nature; that he was active in
the creation; that in His relation to the unbelieving world He restrains the Evil
one until God’s purpose is fulfilled; that He convicts of sin, of judgment, and
of righteousness; that He bears witness to the Truth of the Gospel in preaching
and testimony; that He is the agent in the New Birth; That He seals, endues,
guides, teaches, witnesses, sanctifies and helps the believer.
John 14:16-17; Matt. 28:19; Heb. 9:14; John 14:26; Luke
1:35; Gen. 1:1-3; I1 Thess. 2:7; John 16:8-11; John 15:26-27; Acts 5:30-32;
John 3:5-6; Eph. 1:13-14; Matt.3:1l; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33; Acts 11:16;
Luke 24:49; John 16:13; John 14:26; Rom. 8:14; Rom. 8:16; II Thes. 2:13; I Pet. 1:2;
Rom.
8:26-27.
OF THE DEVIL, OR
SATAN
We believe that Satan was once holy, and enjoyed heavenly
honors; but through pride and ambition to be as the Almighty, fell and drew
after him a host of angels; that he is now the militant prince of power of the
air, and the unholy god of this world. We hold him to be man’s greatest
tempter, the enemy of God and His Christ, the accuser of the saints, the author
of all false religions, the chief power back of the present apostasy, the lord of
the anti-christ, and the author of all the powers of darkness, destined, however,
to final defeat at the hand of God’s own Son, and to the judgment of an eternal
justice in hell, a place prepared for him and his angels.
Isa. 14:12-15; Ezek. 28:14-17; Rev. 12:9; Jude 6; II Pet.
2:4; Eph. 2:2; John 14:30; IThes. 3:5; Matt. 4:1-3; IPet. 5:8; I John 3:8;
Matt. 13:25; Matt. 37:39; Luke 22:3-4; Rev. 12:10; H Cor. 11:13-14; Mark
13:21-22; lJohn 4:3; I1 John 7; 1John 2:22; Rev. 13:13-14; II Thes. 258-11;
Rev. 19:11, 16, 20; Rev. 12:7-9; Rev.20:l-3; Rev. 20:10; Matt. 25:41.
OF CREATION
We believe in the Genesis account of creation (i.e., one day
equals 24 hours), and that it is to be accepted literally, and not allegorically
or figuratively; that man was created directly in God’s own image and after His
own likeness; that man’s creation was not a matter of evolution or evolutionary
change of species, or development through interminable periods of time from
lower to higher forms; that all animal and vegetable life was created by the
direct act of God with His established law that they should bring forth only
“after their kind.”
Gen. 1:1; Ex. 20:11; Acts 4:24; Col. 1:16-17; Heb. 11:3;
John 1:3; Rev. 10:6; Rom. 1:20; Acts 17:23-26; Jer. 10:12; Neh. 9:6; Gen. 1:26-27;
Gen. 2:21-23; Gen. 1:11; Gen. 1:24.
OF THE FALL OF MAN
We believe that man was created in innocence, but by
voluntary transgression fell from his sinless and happy state, the consequence
of which all men are now sinners, not by constraint, but of choice, and
therefore under just condemnation without defense or excuse.
Gen.3:l-6; Gen.3:24; Rom. 5:12; Rom. 5:19; Rom.3:10-19;
Eph.2:1-3; Rom. 1:18; Ezek. 18:19-20; Rom. 1:32; Rom. 1:20; Rom. 1:28; Gal.3:22.
OF THE VIRGIN BIRTH
We believe that Jesus Christ was begotten of the Holy Ghost
in a miraculous manner; born of Mary, a virgin, as no other man was ever born
or can ever be born of woman; and that He is both the Son of God, and God, the
Son.
Gen. 3:15; Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:18-25; Luke 1:35; Mark 1:1;
John 1:14; Psa. 2:7; Gal. 4:4; IJohn 5:20; I Cor. 15:47.
OF THE ATONEMENT FOR
SIN
We believe that the salvation of sinners is wholly of grace
through the mediatorial offices of the Son of God, who by appointment of the
Father, freely took upon Him our nature, yet without sin, honored the divine
law by His personal obedience, and by His death made a full and vicarious atonement
for our sins; that His atonement consisted not in setting us an example by His death
as a martyr, but was the voluntary substitution of Himself in the sinner’s
place, the Just dying for the unjust, Christ the Lord, bearing our sins in His
own body on the tree; that, having risen from the dead, He is now enthroned in
heaven and uniting in His wonderful Person, the tenderest sympathies with divine
perfection, and is in every way qualified to be a suitable, a compassionate and
an all-suffering Savior..
Eph.2:8; Acts 15:11; Rom.3:24; John 3:16; Matt. 18:11; Phil.
2:7; Heb. 2:14; Isa. 53:4-7; Rom. 3:25; I John 4:10; ICor. 15:3; II Cor. 5:21;
John 10:18; Phil. 2:8; Gal. 1:4; 1Pet. 2:24; I Pet. 3:18; Isa. 53:11; Heb. 12:2;
ICor. 15:20; Isa. 53:12; Heb. 9:12-15; Heb. 7:25;
I John 2:2.
OF GRACE IN THE NEW
CREATION
We believe that in order to be saved, sinners must be born
again; that the new birth is a new creation in Christ Jesus; that it is
instantaneous and not a process; that in the new birth the one dead in
trespasses and sins is made a partaker of the divine nattu-e and receives eternal
life, the free gift of God; that the new creation is brought about in a manner
above our comprehension, not by culture, not by character, nor by the will of man,
but wholly and solely by the power of the Holy Spirit in connection with the divine
truth, so as to secure our voluntary obedience to the gospel; that its proper
evidence appears in the holy fruits of repentance and faith and newness of
life.
John 3:3; II Cor. 5:17; Luke 5:27; IJohn 5:11; John 3:6-7;
Acts 2:41; II Pet. 1:4; Rom. 6:23; Eph. 2:1; II Cor. 5:19; Col. 2:13; John
12:1-13; Gal. 5:22; Eph. 5:9.
OF THE FREENESS OF
SALVATION
We believe in God’s electing grace; that the blessings of
salvation are made tree to all by the gospel; that it is the immediate duty of
all to accept them by a cordial, penitent, and obedient faith; and nothing
prevents the salvation of the greatest sinner on earth but his own inherent
depravity and voluntary rejection of the gospel which rejection continues him
in an aggravated condemnation.
I Thes. 1:4; Col. 3:12; lPet. 1:2; Titus 1:1; Rom. 8:29-30;
Matt. 11:28; Isa. 55:11; Rev. 22:17; Rom. 10:13; John 6:37; Isa. 55:6; Acts
2:28; Isa. 55:7; John 3:15-16; ITim. 1:5;
I Cor. 15:10; Eph. 2:4-5; John 5:40; John 3:18; John 3:36.
OF JUSTIFICATION
We believe that the great gospel blessing which Christ
secures to such as believe in Him, is Justification; that Justification
includes the pardon of sin, and the gift of eternal life on principles of
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 His righteousness is imputed to us. .
Titus 3:5-7; Rom. 1:17; Hab. 2:4; Gal. 3:11; Rom. 4:1-8; Heb. 10:38; Acts 13:39; Isa. 53:11; Zech. 13:1; Rom. 8:1; Rom. 5:9; Rom. 5:1.
OF REPENTANCE AND
FAITH
We believe that Repentance and Faith are solemn obligations,
and also inseparable graces, wrought in our soul by the quickening Spirit of
God; thereby, being deeply convicted of our guilt, danger and helplessness, and
of the way of salvation by Christ, We turn to God with unfeigned contrition, confession
and supplication for mercy; at the same time heartily receiving the Lord Jesus
Christ and openly confessing Him as our only and al1-sufficient Savior.
Acts 20:21; Mark 1:15; Acts 2:37-38; Luke 18:13; Rom. 10:13;
Psa. 51:1-4; Psa. 51:7; Isa. 55:6-7; Luke 12:8; Rom. 10:9-11.
OF THE CHURCH
We believe that the church with Christ as its head, is a
congregation of baptized believers associated by a covenant of faith and fellowship
of the gospel; observing the ordinances of Christ; governed by His laws;
exercising the gifts, rights and privileges in them by His Word; that its
offices are Pastors (Elders, Bishops) and Deacons, whose qualification, claims
and duties are clearly defined in the scriptures; we believe the true mission
of the church is found in the Great Commission: first, to make individual disciples
through the presentation of the gospel; second, to baptize these new believers,
thus building the church; third, to teach and instruct these new converts as He
has commanded, enabling them to go out and reach others. We do not believe in
the reversal of this order. We hold that the local church has the absolute
right of self government, free from the interference of any hierarchy of
individuals or organizations; that the one and only superintendent is Christ
through the Holy Spirit; that it is scriptural for true churches to cooperate
with each other in contending for the faith and for the furtherance of the
gospel; that every church is the sole and only judge of the measure and method
of its cooperation. On all matters of membership, of policy, of government, of
discipline, of benevolence, the will of the local church is final.
Acts 2:41-42; I Cor. 11:2; Eph. 1:22-23; Eph. 4:11; I Cor.
12:4; I Cor. 12:8-11; Acts 14:23; Acts 6:5-6; Acts 15:23; Acts 20:17-28; I Tim
3:1-7; I Tim. 3:8-13; Matt. 28:19-20; Col. 1:18; Eph. 5:23-24; I
Pet. 5:1-4; Acts 15:22; Jude 3, 4; II Cor. 8:23-24; I Cor. 16:1; Mal. 3:10;
Lev. 27:32; I Cor. 16:2; I Cor. 6:1-3; I Cor. 5:11-13.
OF BAPTISM AND THE
LORD’S SUPPER
Of Baptism; we believe that Christian Baptism is the
immersion in water of a believer in the name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Ghost with the authority of the local church 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 in the resurrection to new
life. It is a prerequisite to the privileges of a church relation.
Observance of The Lord’s Supper; be it amended that the privileges
of a church relation is not a pre-requisite to the Observance of The Lord’s Supper
by the sacred use of bread and the fiuit of the vine which are to commemorate
together the dying love of Christ preceded by self-examination. Therefore, by
the amendment of the constitution by the church body henceforth Central Baptist Church
will observe close communion.
Acts 8:36-39 Matt. 3:6; John 3:23; Rom. 6:4-5; Matthew 3:16; Rom. 14:1-4; Acts 2:41-42; Col.
2:12; I Cor. 11:23-28.
OF THE PERSEVERANCE
OF THE SAINTS
We believe that only real believers will endure unto the
end; that their persevering attachment to Christ is the grand mark, which
distinguishes them from superficial professors; that a special providence
watches over their welfare; and that they are kept by the power of God through
faith unto eternal salvation.
John 8:31-31; Col. 1:21-23; IJohn 2:19; Matt. 13:19-21; Rom.
8:28; Matt. 6:20; Psa. 121:3; Heb. 1:14; IPet. 1:5; Phil. 1:6; John 10:28; John
10:29; John 16:8; Rom. 8:35-39.
OF THE RIGHTEOUS AND
THE WICKED
We believe that there is a radical and essential difference
between the righteous and the wicked; that such only as through faith are
justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus and sanctified by the Spirit of our
God, are truly righteous in His esteem; while all such as continue in
impenitence and unbelief are in His sight wicked, and under the curse, and this
distinction holds among men both in and after death, in the everlasting
felicity of the saved and the everlasting conscious suffering of the lost.
Mal. 3:18; Gen. 18:23; Rom. 6:17-18; Prov. 11:31; I Pet. 4:18; Rom. 1:17; I Cor. 15:22; Acts 10:34-35; IJohn 2:29; IJohn 2:7; Rom. 6:16; I John 5:19; Gal. 3:10; Rom. 7:6; Rom. 6:23; Prov. 14:32; Luke 16:25; Matt. 25:34, 41; John 8:21; Luke 9:26; John 12:25; Matt. 7:13-14.
OF SPIRITUAL GIFTS
We believe that God is sovereign in the bestowment of all
His Gifts; and that, the gifts of Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers are
sufficient for the perfecting of the saints today; and that speaking in tongues
and the working of sign miracles gradually ceased as the new Testament
Scriptures were completed and their authority became established.
I Cor. 12:4-11; II Cor. 12:12; Eph. 4:7-12. I
OF SEPARATION
We believe that all the saved should live in such a manner
as not to bring reproach upon their Savior and Lord; and that separation from
all religious apostasy, all worldly and sinful pleasures, practices and
associations is commanded by God.
II Tim.3:1-5; Rom. 12:1-2; Rom. 14:13; I John
2:15-17; II John 9:11; II Cor. 6:14-7:1.
OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT
We believe that civil government is of divine appointment,
for the interests and good order of human society; that magistrates are to be
prayed for, conscientiously honored and obeyed, except only in things opposed
to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ who is the only Lord of the conscience,
and the coming Prince of the kings of the earth.
Rom. 13:7; II Sam. 23:3; Ex. 18:21-22; Acts 23:5; Matt.
22:21; Titus 3:1; I Pet. 2:13-14; I Pet. 2:17; Acts 4:19-20; Dan. 3:17-18; Matt.
10:28; Matt. 23:10; Phil. 2:10-11; Psa. 72:11.
OF MISSIONS
We believe the command to give the gospel to the world is
clear and unmistakable, and this commission was given to the churches.
Matt. 18:18-20; Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8; II Cor. 5:19-20.
OF THE GRACE OF
GIVING
We believe that Scriptural giving is one of the fundamentals
of the Faith.
II Cor. 8:7, “Therefore as ye abound in everything, in
faith, and in utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love
to us, see that ye abound in this grace also,”
We are commanded to bring our gifts into the storehouse
(common treasury of the church) upon the first day of the week.
I Cor. 16:2, “Upon the first day of the week let every one
of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no
gatherings when I come.”
Under Grace we give, and do not pay the tithe (“Abraham GAVE a tenth of the spoils”: Hebrews 7:2, 4). This was four hundred years before the law, and confirmed in the New Testament when Jesus said concerning the tithe, “These ye ought to have done”: Matt. 23:23.
We are commanded to bring the tithe into the common treasury
of the
church.
Lev. 27:30, “The tithe is the Lord’s.”
Mal. 3: 10, “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse,
that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith,” saith the
Lord of hosts, if I will not open up the windows of heaven and pour you out a
blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”
In the New Testament it was the common treasury of the
church.
Acts 4:34, 25, 37, “And brought the prices of the things
that were sold and laid them down at the apostles’ feet .. .Having land sold
it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.”
OF THE RESURRECTION &
RETURN OF CHRIST & RELATED EVENTS
We believe in and accept the sacred Scriptures upon these
subjects at their face and full value. Of the Resurrection, we believe that
Christ rose bodily “the third day according to the Scriptures” ; that He
ascended “to the right hand of the throne of God”; that He alone is our
“merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God”; “That this
same Jesus which was taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner
as ye have seen Him go into heaven” ---bodily, personally and visibly; that the
“dead in Christ shall rise first”; that the living saints “shall all be
changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump”; “that the
Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His Father David”; and that “Christ
shall reign a thousand years in righteousness until He hath put all enemies
under His feet.”
We believe in that “blessed hope”, the personal, imminent,
pre-tribulation, and pre-millennial coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for His
redeemed ones; and in His subsequent return to earth, with His saints, to
establish His Millennial kingdom.
Matt. 28:6-7; Luke 24:39; John 20:27; I Cor. 15:4; Mark
16:6; Luke 24:2, 4-6; Acts 1:9; Acts 1:11; Luke 24:51; Mark 16:19; Rev.3:2l;
Heb. 8:1; 10 of 21, Heb. 12:2; Heb. 8:6; I Tim. 2:5; I John 2:1; Heb. 2:17; Heb.
5:9-10; John 14:3; I Thes. 4:16; I Cor. 15:42-44; I Cor. 15:52; I Cor. 15:51-53; I
Thes. 4:17; Phil. 4:20-21; Luke 1:32; I Cor. 15:25; Isa. 11:4-5; Psa. 72:8; Rev.
20:1-4; Rev. 20:6. '
OF THE ETERNAL STATE
We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved
to eternal life, and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment, we
believe that the souls of the redeemed are at death, absent from the body and
present with the Lord, where in conscious bliss, they await the first
resurrection, when spirit, soul and body are reunited to be glorified forever
with the Lord.
We believe that the souls of unbelievers remain, after
death, in conscious misery in Hell until the second resurrection, when with
soul and body reunited they shall appear at the Great White Throne judgment,
and shall be cast into the lake of fire, not to be annihilated, but to suffer
everlasting conscious punishment.
Matt. 25:46; John 5:28; John 11:25-26; Rev. 20:5, 6, 12, 13;
Luke 23:43; Rev. 20:4-6; II Cor. 5:8; Phil 1:23; Phil. 3:21; IThes. 4:16-17;
Luke 16: 19-26; Matt. 25 :41-46; II Thes. 1:7-9; Jude 6, 7; Mark 9:43-48; Rev.
20: 11-15.