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CONFESSION OF FAITH,
EMMANUEL BAPTIST CHURCH
THE HOLY SCRIPTURES: We believe that the Bible is the complete and infallible Word of God and is of supreme and final authority in all matters pertaining to faith and practice. 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21
THE GODHEAD: We believe there has been and forever will be only one living and true God. His is an infinite, eternal, immutable, omnipotent, omniscient, sovereign Spirit. He is the Maker and Supreme Ruler of Heaven and Earth. He is beyond description in His glorious holiness. In the unity of Godhead there are three Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. These three are equal in every divine perfection. They execute distinct but harmonious offices in the great work of redemption and in everything they do. Deut 6:4; Isa 6:3; John 1:1,18; Col 1:16-17
THE PERSON AND WORK OF CHRIST: We believe that Jesus was begotten of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, and that he was true God and true Man. Matthew 1:20; Luke 1:35; John 1:1-2,14; John 12:45; John 14:9.
We believe that Jesus Christ is the one and all sufficient Mediator between God and man Who made our salvation sure by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead and has ascended into Heaven. I Timothy 2:5; I Peter 1:3-5; Romans 8:34.
THE HOLY SPIRIT: We believe in the Personality of the Holy Spirit and that His ministry is to reveal Christ to men in the regeneration and sanctification of their souls. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is that work whereby all true believers are placed into the invisible church, the Body of Christ. John 16:7-11; I Cor 12: 13 The Holy Spirit bestows to believers spiritual gifts to be mutually shared for the edification of the church and proclamation of the Gospel. In addition, the Holy Spirit applies the Word of God to the believer so that the person progressively is conformed to the image of Christ. I Thess 4:3; 5:23; I John 3:2.
MAN: We believe that man was created by a direct act of God and in the image of God. By his personal disobedience to the revealed will of God, Adam became the father of the fallen race, which is universally sinful both in nature and practice, and thus, is alienated from the life and family of God. Genesis 1:27;2:18-23;Genesis 3:1-7; Romans 5:12
SATAN: We believe in the existence of Satan. He originally was created a holy and perfect being, but through pride and wicked ambition he rebelled against God. He is the great adversary of God and His people, the leader of other evil spirits, and the deceiver of the present world. His powers are vast but limited by the permissive will of God who overrules all his wicked devices for His ultimate purposes. Job 1:6-7; Matt 4:2-11
SALVATION: We believe that salvation is the gift of God and is received and experienced only through personal faith in Christ. We believe that justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein He pardons all our sins, and accepts us as righteous in His sight by faith in Jesus Christ. We accept the truth that a Christian is eternally kept by God’s power and secure in Christ forever. Ephesians 2:6-9; Acts 16:31; 2 Cor 5:19, 21; I John 5:11-12; Rom 8:1; John 10:27-30.
THE CHURCH: We believe the visible Church of Christ is a congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the Gospel who observe the ordinances of Christ (Baptism by immersion and the Lord’s Supper) and are led by scriptural officers as Elders, Pastors, and Deacons who meet the qualifications of Scripture. The local church is an independent and autonomous organism which must be free from any ecclesiastical or political authority. The only Head is Christ. Eph 1:20-23; 5:23-24; I Timothy 3:1-13.
The church must obey the command to separate itself unto God from worldliness and ecclesiastical apostasy. Matt 18:15-20; Acts 2:41-42; 2 Cor 6:14-17.
CREATION: We believe the Genesis creation account. That, in a direct act of God, the earth was created in six literal days. Man was created directly in God’s own image and after His own likeness. All life springs forth after its own kind, according to God’s command. Gen 1.
FUTURE EVENTS: We believe in a personal, pre-millennial return of Jesus Christ to this earth. He will reign as the Sovereign King of the world for a thousand years (Millennium). With references to the time of the believer’s rapture and gathering together to Christ, we acknowledge that there are divergent views. Our Christian maturity allows us to tolerate our differences as together we wait patiently for His arrival. We believe the Rapture of the Church to be imminent as the next great event in God’s plan. I Thess 4: 13-18; Rev 20:1-6.
CONCERNING MORALITY AND CHRISTIAN CONDUCT: We believe that human life begins at conception and that the unborn child is a living human being. Abortion is the unjustified death of an unborn human, and is therefore murder. We reject any teaching that abortions of pregnancies due to rape, incest, birth defects, gender selection, or birth or population control. Ps 51:5; Ps 139:14-16; Luke 1:44.
We believe that marriage is a divine institution and that God intends marriage to last until one of the spouses dies. Divorce is a distortion of God’s will for marriage. The Bible does give the exception because of fornication, but reconciliation is the desirable goal. Mal 2:14-17; Matt 5:31-32; Rom 7:1-3.
We believe that distinctions in masculine and feminine roles are ordained by God as part of His created order. The Bible attributes to men and women distinct roles of equally high value and dignity. The Bible teaches male headship in the family and in the Church. Only men are eligible for ordination for the offices of deacon and pastor. Eph 5:21-33; I Timothy 3:1-14; Titus 1:5-9.
We believe that God has forbidden any intimate sexual activity outside the blessed marital union of a man and woman. We believe all forms of homosexuality, lesbianism, transvestism, bisexuality, incest, pedophilia, bestiality, fornication, adultery, and pornography are sinful perversions of God’s plan for conjugal union. God forbids any attempt to alter one’s gender. We believe the only legitimate marriage is the joining of one man and one woman. Gen 1:26-27; Matt 19:4-6; Rom 1:26-27; I Cor 6:9.