Beliefs
What We BelieveStatement of theFaith
What we Believe as a Church
Christ Chapel Baptist
Church endorses the Baptist Faith and Message of
2000 (BF&M2000 – www.sbc.net/bfm/bfm2000.asp). In
the following areas, however, believing the BF&M2000 to be too generic,
Christ Chapel Baptist Church upholds the following doctrines:
PNEUMATOLOGY – GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe that the Holy Spirit alone administers spiritual gifts to the Church (I Corinthians 12:11), not to glorify Himself or the gifts by ostentatious displays, but to glorify Christ (John 16:14) and implement His work of redeeming the lost (Acts 1:8) and building up believers in the most holy faith (II Corinthians 3:18). We teach, in this respect, that God the Holy Spirit is sovereign in the bestowing of all His gifts (I Corinthians 12:11) for the perfecting of the saints today (I Corinthians 14:12). We teach that the confirming sign gifts (speaking in tongues {intelligible languages}, interpretation, healing, and working of sign miracles) were evangelistic gifts in the beginning days of the Church for the purpose of confirming the Gospel message (I Corinthians 14:22a; II Corinthians 12:12; Hebrews 2:3-4), and were not intended by God to be part of normative church worship and service.
ECCLESIOLOGY – THE CHURCH
We believe that all who place their faith in Jesus Christ are immediately baptized by the Holy Spirit into one united spiritual Body, the Church (I Corinthians 12:12-13), of which Christ is the Head (Ephesians 1:22; 4:15; Colossians 1:18), and which is His espoused Bride (II Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:23-32; Revelation 19:7-8).
We teach that the formation of this Body began on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-21, 38-47) and will be completed at the coming of Christ for His own at the Rapture (I Corinthians 15:51-52; I Thessalonians 4:13-18). We teach that the Church, then, is a unique spiritual organism designed by Christ (Matthew 16:18), made up of all born-again believers in this present age (Ephesians 2:11-3:6).
The Church is distinct from Israel (I Corinthians 10:32), a mystery not revealed until this age (Ephesians 3:3-6, 9-10; 5:32).
We teach that the establishment and continuity of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures (Acts 14:21-23, 27; 20:17, 28; Galatians 1:2; Philippians 1:1; I Thessalonians 1:1; II Thessalonians 1:1), and that the members of this one spiritual Body are directed to associate themselves together in local assemblies (I Corinthians 11:18-20; Hebrews 10:25). We teach that the one, supreme authority for the Church is Christ (Ephesians 1:22; Colossians 1:18), and that the order, discipline, and worship are appointed through His sovereignty.
The biblically designated officers serving under Christ and over the assembly are elders (also called bishops, pastors, and pastor-teachers; Acts 20:28; Ephesians 4:11) and deacons, both of who must fit biblical qualifications (I Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-9; I Peter 5:1-5). We teach that these leaders lead as servants of Christ (I Timothy 5:17-22) in the most of the day-to-day affairs of the church with the congregation participating in the major decision making.
We teach the disciplining of sinning members of the congregation in accord with the standards of I Corinthians 5:1-13; II Thessalonians 3:6-15; I Timothy 1:19-20; Titus 1:10-16.
We teach the autonomy of the local church, free from any external authority or control, with the right of self-government and freedom from the interference of any hierarchy of individuals or organizations. We teach that it is scriptural for true churches to cooperate with each other for the presentation and propagation of the faith. However, each local church through its elders and their interpretation and application of Scripture is the sole judge of the measure and method of its cooperation as on all matters of membership, policy, discipline, benevolence, and government (Acts 15:19-31, 20:28; I Corinthians 5:4-7, 13; Titus 1:5; I Peter 5:1-4).
We teach that the purpose of the Church is to glorify God (Ephesians 3:21) by building itself up in the faith (Ephesians 4:13-16), by instruction of the Word (II Timothy 2:2, 15; 3:16-17), by fellowship (Acts 2:42; I John 1:3), by keeping the ordinances (Luke 22:19; Acts 2:38-42), and by advancing and communicating the Gospel to the entire world (Matthew 28:19; Acts 1:8). We teach the calling of all saints to the work of the ministry (I Corinthians 15:58; Ephesians 4:12). We teach the accomplishment of God’s purpose in the world. For the accomplishment of that purpose He has given the Church spiritual gifts. First, He gives gifted men for the purpose of equipping the saints for the work of ministry (Ephesians 4:7-12). He also gives unique and special abilities to each member of the Body of Christ (Romans 12:5-8; I Corinthians 12:4-31; I Peter 4:10-11). At the moment of spiritual birth every believer receives such a gift or gifts. These gifts are sovereignly bestowed and cannot be sought (I Corinthians 12:11). It is essential that every believer discover, develop and employ his or her spiritual gift or gifts for the edification of the Body and the accomplishment of the work of Christ in the world (Romans 12:3-8; I Peter 4:10-11).
SPIRITUAL GIFTS
We teach that there were two kinds of gifts given to the early church: temporary confirming gifts and permanent edifying gifts. We teach that the temporary confirming gifts—healing, speaking in tongues (intelligible languages), interpretation and the working of sign miracles—were given temporarily in the apostolic era for the purpose of confirming the authenticity of the apostles’ message but gradually ceased as normative church practice as the New Testament Scriptures were completed and their authority became established (compare Acts 19:11-12; I Corinthians 13:8-10; II Corinthians 12:12;
Hebrews 2:3-4).
- GIFT OF HEALING:
We teach that no one possesses the gift of healing today but that God does supernaturally
heal and answer the prayer of faith on the part of every believer (Luke 18:1-6; James 5:16b) and will answer in accordance with His own perfect will (I John 5:14-15) for the sick, suffering and afflicted (John 5:5-9; II Corinthians 12:6-10; James 5:13-15).
- PRIVATE PRAYER LANGUAGES
We teach that private or personal prayer languages are a misunderstanding of the meaning of I Corinthians 13:1 (“tongues of angels”) and that such private prayer languages have no basis in Scripture. We teach that these private prayer languages are not a fulfillment of Romans 8:26 (“groanings too deep to be uttered”). We teach that based on Matthew 6:7, prayer should be intelligible and coherent conversation with God.
ESCHATOLOGY – LAST THINGS
- THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH
We teach the personal, bodily return of the Lord Jesus Christ before the seven-year tribulation (Acts 1:11; I Thessalonians 4:16; Titus 2:13) to remove His Church from this earth (John 14:1-3; I Corinthians 15:51-53; I Thessalonians 4:16-17), and to reward believers according to their works (I Corinthians 3:11-15; II Corinthians 5:10), with sufficient time elapsing between this event and His glorious return with His Church to allow for the judgment of believers’ works.
- THE TRIBULATION PERIOD
We teach that immediately following the removal of the Church from the earth (John 14:1-3; I Thessalonians 4:16-17), there will be a time of great tribulation (Jeremiah 30:7; Daniel 9:27; 12:1; Matthew 24:21) during which the righteous judgments of God will be poured out (Revelation 16:1-21) upon an unbelieving world (II Thessalonians 2:7-12). These judgments will be climaxed by the return of Christ in glory to the earth (Matthew 24:15-31), at which time the Old Testament and Tribulation saints will be raised and the living will be judged (Daniel 12:2; Revelation 6:9-11, 20:4-6).
- THE SECOND COMING AND THE MILLENNIAL REIGN
We teach that after the tribulation period Christ will come to earth to occupy the throne of David (Matthew 25:31; Luke 1:31-33; Acts 2:29-30) and establish His Messianic kingdom for a thousand years on the earth (Revelation 20:1-6). During this time the resurrected saints will reign with Him over Israel (Ezekiel 37:21-28) and all the nations of the earth (Daniel 7:13-14, 22, 27; Revelation 19:11-16). This reign will be preceded by the overthrow of the Antichrist and the false prophet, and by the removal of Satan from the world (Revelation 19:20; 20:1-6). We teach that the kingdom itself will be the fulfillment of God’s promise to Israel (Deuteronomy 30:1-10; Ezekiel 37:21-28; Zechariah 8:1-17) to restore them to the land which they forfeited through disobedience (Deuteronomy 28:15-69; 30:1-10). The result of that disobedience was that Israel was temporarily set aside (Matthew 21:43; Romans 11:1-25) but through repentance will be awakened again to enter into the land of blessing (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:22-32; Romans 11:26-27). We teach that this time of our Lord’s reign will be characterized by harmony, justice, peace, righteousness, and long life (Isaiah 11:1-9; 65:17-25), and will be brought to an end with the release of Satan (Revelation 20:7).
ANTHROPOLOGY – THE DOCTRINE OF MAN (HUMAN SEXUALITY)
We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between one naturally-born man and one naturally-born woman. We believe that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery, and pornography are sinful perversions of God’s gift of sex. We believe that God disapproves of and forbids any attempt to alter one’s gender by surgery or appearance (Genesis 2:24; 19:5, 13; 26:8-9; Leviticus 18:1-30; Romans 1:26-29; 1 Corinthians 5:1; 6:9; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8; Hebrews 13:4).
We believe that the only Scriptural marriage is the joining of one naturally-born man and one naturally-born woman for life (Genesis 2:24; Romans 7:2; 1 Corinthians 7:10; Ephesians 5:22-23).
ABORTION
We believe that human life begins at conception and that the unborn child is a living human being. Abortion constitutes the unjustified, unexcused taking of unborn human life. Abortion is murder. We reject any teaching that abortions of pregnancies due to rape, incest, birth defects, gender selection, birth or population control, or the physical or mental well being of the mother are acceptable (Job 3:16; Psalm 51:5; 139:14-16; Isaiah 44:24; 49:1, 5; Jeremiah 1:5; 20:15-18; Luke 1:44).
EUTHANASIA
We believe that the direct taking of an innocent human life is a moral evil, regardless of the intention. Life is a gift of God and must be respected from conception until natural death. Thus we believe that an act or omission which, of itself or by intention, causes death in order to eliminate suffering constitutes a murder contrary to the will of God. Discontinuing medical procedures that are extraordinary or disproportionate to the expected outcome can be a legitimate refusal of over-zealous treatment (Exodus 20:13; 23:7; Matthew 5:21; Acts 17:28).
LAWSUITS BETWEEN BELIEVERS
We believe that Christians are prohibited from bringing civil lawsuits against other Christians or the church to resolve personal disputes. We believe the church possesses all the resources necessary to resolve personal disputes between members. We do believe, however, that a Christian may seek compensation for injuries from another Christian’s insurance company as long as the claim is pursued without malice or slander (1 Corinthians 6:1-8; Ephesians 4:31-32; Matthew 18:15-17).
AUTHORITY OF STATEMENT OF FAITH
The Statement of Faith does not exhaust the extent of our faith. The Bible itself is the sole and final source of all that we believe. We do believe, however, that the foregoing Statement of Faith accurately represents the teaching of the Bible and, therefore, is binding upon all members. All literature, whether print or electronic, used in the church shall be in complete agreement with the Statement of Faith.
