Personal statement of
faith -
I believe in the God of
the Bible, one God present in three persons, Father, Son and Spirit all with
the same characteristics and power, unity in community, co-equal, all eternal
and present at Creation. God is One, He
is Spirit, He is all knowing, He is all powerful, He is Love, He is Truth, He
is Mercy, He is Just, He is longsuffering, and He is patient with sinful
men.
I believe in the Bible as
the inspired word revelation of God. It
is God’s record of historical people, places, events and God’s communications
with mankind. It is the only trustworthy
source of direct revelation of God’s will for mankind and our salvation through
Jesus the Son. The Bible is sufficient
for all training of disciples, for sharing the good news of Jesus to a lost
world and for operation of the church of which Christ is the only Head. The Old Testament and Law are school masters
that teach us what sin and holiness are so we know how God wants us to live and
so the Spirit can convict our souls of our lost estate and need for a Savior. The Old Testament gives many examples of
stubborn sinful men who ultimately trusted God and were rewarded for their
faith. It shows God’s incredible
patience as He worked with the Hebrews as His chosen people to bring the Savior
into the world. The New Testament brings
us the Good News of Jesus as He fulfilled multiple OT prophecies as the
Messiah, Son of God, Son of Man. It
tells us of Jesus ministry and a more perfect way to understand the Law and it
tells of His crucifixion, burial, resurrection, and ascension. The NT gives us a history of the first
century church with its struggles and successes. The New Testament gives Hope to mankind
through the atoning work of Jesus as He offers Grace to believers paid for by
His blood as the sin offering for mankind and of His promise to return for His
church.
I believe in Creation ex nihilo;
to include all matter and life with mankind as the final creature made in God’s
image with body and soul. Creation was good;
man walked in community with God, the earth was perfect as God designed it. God has commissioned mankind to husband and
shepherd this physical world and the animals in it. The world belongs to God and we are to be
caretakers, we are not to exploit or waste the resources God has provided.
I believe in the historic
fall of man in the Garden as recorded in Genesis. Man continues to choose to disobey God today and
to create his own gods. When we disobey
God we are in fact declaring ourselves equal to God. This rebellion against our
Creator broke communion with God who cannot be in community with sin. Mankind and the Earth have been slowly
corrupting since the initial Fall and even the Earth groans for the restoration
planned when Jesus returns to claim His church and to usher in His Kingdom. Sin and Evil entered the world through the
disobedience of mankind. Sin can be
simply defined as the absence of the Good and Right that God created. It is the breaking of the Shalom of God, how
the world was created good and how we ought to live.
I believe in a literal
Satan, a chief fallen angel who is the enemy of God and mankind. Satan has untold demon cohorts who help him
attack and mislead humanity. Satan is
described as the father of lies in Scripture and he is a deceiver. Satan has much power in this world but it’s
not comparable to God’s power. Satan was
ultimately defeated on the cross when Jesus declared “It is Finished” but he
will continue winning men for Hell until Jesus returns and Satan is banished to
the abyss forever. Satan cannot
withstand the church of Christ and cannot destroy our salvation but he may
mislead men into leaving Jesus. Satan
has power to tempt men but God will never allow us to be tempted beyond our
ability to remain faithful.
I believe in a literal
Heaven and a literal Hell. At judgement God
will separate all mankind for eternity.
He will judge us rightly to Heaven depending on our faith in Jesus shown
by our love and service to Jesus who will be our advocate. Or, God will judge us to Hell based on our
lives of sin that rejected the Grace available through the sacrifice of Jesus. God’s judgement will be right and fortunately
for us His Mercy and Grace are wider and deeper than men can imagine. In Heaven, the saved will be in the presence
of God while in Hell; there will be suffering and a total absence of the
goodness of God.
I believe that all the
Law is summarized in two commandments as Jesus taught; Love God and Love our
neighbors. The Golden Rule encourages us
to treat others with kindness and respect as we wish to be treated. We are saved to do good works that God has
made ready for us. We are not saved to
have license to sin more because we trust in the sacrifice of Jesus to pay for
our sins. Simply put, we are free to do
what we ought to do as God’s adopted children.
The moral laws taught in
the Bible are God’s absolute truth about right and wrong. Men and governments cannot change the eternal
truths God has spoken as Creator just as men can’t change the physical laws God
set in motion for this world.
God offers salvation to
all men through the sacrificial offering of Jesus, as the one sinless
substitute for all the sins of mankind.
Salvation is offered to all but not all will accept. Many will choose other gods or give lip
service but not give their lives as living sacrifices to God. Every person must make his/her own decision
to obey God and accept Jesus as the Christ.
We cannot inherit salvation from family, nor have it paid for by
offerings to church/charity, nor by prayers of friends after we die and we
definitely cannot be good enough to earn salvation.
God has perfect foreknowledge of time and
events because He is outside of Creation and therefore outside of time as men
know it. Throughout the Bible we see
miracles that were the special work of God through His prophets, apostles and
Jesus Himself to testify to the truth of God’s Word and His messengers. We call the help and working of God in the
world today His Providence as we see that all things work for good to them that
love the Lord. Scripture says God would
that all would be saved yet we know that all men won’t be saved because Jesus
described how at judgement God will divide us.
God’s creation of mankind with free will does not diminish His absolute Sovereignty;
it supports His love for man and His desire for man to love Him as our Creator
King. Without free will, men can no more
love God than a talking computer can love its designer.
Jesus of Nazareth is the
most important historical person in the entire history of the world. He was prophesied in the Old Testament, was
the Messiah, God with us, the Son, the only begotten of the Father, born of a
virgin by the power of the Spirit, fully God yet fully man, tempted in all
things as men are yet spotless and sinless in His life and His obedience on the
cross to pay the sin debt of all men. Jesus
is declared to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life; He is living Water and the
Bread of Life. When we accept Jesus as
Lord and Savior we have direct access to God the Father with Jesus, God the
Son, and the Spirit as our advocates bringing our prayers to the throne of
God. There is no other name appointed
under Heaven by which men must be saved.
We come to the Father only through the Son. Jesus of Nazareth died a true physical death
on a Roman cross. He was buried, arose
on the third day and was seen of men until He ascended to Heaven with a promise
to return for His followers. The Father
sent the Spirit to abide with men and be our Comforter and Helper until Christ
returns. The life, death, and
resurrection of Jesus are the pivotal events of human history as they make
possible the restoration of communion between God and mankind. Jesus, the Christ, satisfied the Holiness and
Justice of God through Mercy and Grace that no human deserves yet we may access
through Faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior.
The “plan of salvation”
as recorded in the New Testament is for men to hear the good news of Jesus as
God’s Messiah, to believe in Him as God’s only Son, to repent of their sins, to
confess the name of Jesus before men as their Lord and Savior and to be
baptized by immersion in water for the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the
Holy Spirit. In baptism we die to the
old carnal (sinful) self, we are born anew in Christ, adopted as children of
God as the gift of the Spirit who indwells us.
We become living temple for the Spirit. When we are saved we are clothed
with the Righteousness of our spotless Savior.
These steps are not in one neat verse but are repeated many times, a few
steps at a time throughout the New Testament.
In no sense does man save himself by following a formula or by actions
we do or by avoiding sin. We are saved
by the Grace of God through our living faith in Jesus as the Son, evidenced by
our obedience to Him as our Lord and Savior.
We fulfill Scripture in our lives by loving justice and doing mercy, by
caring for the widows and fatherless, and by striving to be holy because God is
Holy. We are to follow His teachings and
walk in His ancient paths of righteousness, we are to “live a Christian life”,
we are to share the gospel of Jesus and make disciples for Jesus of the lost. We are to be light in a dark world, salt in a
tasteless world and to share the reason for the Hope we have in the assurance
that Jesus will say “well done faithful servant” at judgement. We are to love the brethren so the world will
know we belong to Jesus. We live this
“Christian life”, not to gain salvation but to honor the God who saves us by
His grace.
We can give up our
salvation by abandoning Jesus and following other gods. We can forfeit the blood of Christ’s
sacrifice by forgetting our first love, Jesus who died for us. No power can take our salvation away except
we choose to abandon Jesus.
I believe that Jesus will
come in power and glory a second time when all of the world will bow before Him
and be judged. The present Earth will
end in fire, then His kingdom, a new Heaven and new Earth, will be forever and
ever and He shall have no end.
I don’t spend time
worrying about end-times prophecies because God has said no man knows the day
or hour of His return so we should live every day ready for Christ’s
return. I am saddened by the divisions
in Christ’s church and pray for unity and try to not be divisive in my own teaching
or my arrogance. I must remind myself
every day that I am a sinner saved by the Grace of God. I am free from the Law but I am a servant of
the One True Living God, Maker of Heaven and Earth. My life should be lived as a servant, never
lording power or authority or knowledge over others but sharing my possessions
and whatever wisdom God has given me with all I meet.
I participate in the life
of the local church as my extended family.
All in the church, wherever in the world are brothers and sisters in
Christ. As we gather together we are
strengthened by; the many, we are held accountable in discipline, we are lifted
up in praise and worship as we break bread in remembrance of Jesus, as we sing
songs of praise and thanksgiving and contrition, as we pray for the lost and
the hurting, as we give offerings out of the worldly wealth God has blessed us
with for the work of the church and the aid to the saints, and as we share
teaching and preaching from God’s Holy Scripture. There is one church, worldwide despite the
divisions man has made. All in the
church are the children of God. There is
no difference between races or sexes or color or language or nationality or worldly
wealth as far as Christ’s Church is concerned.
I believe that men have
made church more like the Temple with its Law than like a family where we
share, aid, love, encourage, and forgive our brothers and sisters. The more we can simplify church to be like
the first century fellowship of believers the better will be our testimony to
this lost world. We must be willing to
take moral stands even when not popular with the society around us. We must never forget we are aliens living in
a world that is not our permanent home.
I must love and care for
and nurture my natural family as a shepherd cares for sheep. I must never get so engrossed in business or
career or sports or recreation that I forget to live for Jesus and to teach my
children and grandchildren to know and love Jesus.
Jesus left the spreading
of the Gospel to men and He asked us to share His saving grace to the uttermost
ends of the Earth. Right now, we will do
good to share it with our lost and sinful city and to emulate God in loving the
unlovely. We are a forgiven people so we
should stand ready and willing to graciously forgive others, to pray for our
enemies and to turn the other cheek as peacemakers instead of fighting as the
world teaches. God abhors the spilling
of human blood; therefore we should protect the weak and strive to live at
peace with those around us. We learn God’s
view of how we should live in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. We should expect persecution for taking
Christian stands in this life. We should
expect pain and suffering simply because we live in a fallen world and being
Christ followers does not exempt us from God’s laws of nature or the sinful
actions of men. Our response to pain and
suffering should be thankfulness to God for the opportunity to grow in faith. Our response to our suffering is part of our
testimony of the Hope which we possess in Christ Jesus. Our response to the suffering of others is
how we love and minister to the least of these as Jesus taught in Matthew 25.
This document is not
meant to be a comprehensive creed, it is not annotated with Scriptural
references, and it is not meant to force my opinion on others for there is much
we don’t know but are to accept based on our reading of the Bible and our faith
in the One Eternal God. I am thankful
for family and friends and teachers and scholars who have helped me learn God’s
Word and Will by living examples, by lessons and sermons and by writings that
help illuminate the Truth of God’s Word.
I pray that I extend the Grace of Christ on all matters of opinion and
that God grant me the wisdom to recognize the difference between Biblical
mandates and the opinions and traditions of men. I should never forget that God has said He
loves Mercy more than sacrifice or Law keeping.
This statement was submitted by another individual who has gone through this exercise as another possible approach for writing your own Personal Statement of Faith. We thank you for this submission.
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