Blog post
← Back Published on

What do I Believe in


The Doctrine of Scripture

Revelation

I believe that God reveals Himself in a general way through His creation and is available for all people to know Him, it may seem enough for people to know that there is God, but it does not show how a person can be saved. So God reveals Himself in a supernatural way, notably to impart knowledge that is not exposed through General Revelation, which is Special Revelation that is revealed in the Bible, thus the Bible is God’s direct Revelation to mankind.

(Romans 1:19-20; 2 Timothy 3:15-17) 

Inspiration

I believe that all the writers of the Holy Scripture are all led by God to ensure that what they wrote was what He wanted to say, thus the Bible is the Word of God and inspired by God. All of the Bible's texts were inspired by God, making them all entirely reliable and bearing the weight of His authority. Contrarily, Scripture does reveal the diverse personalities and writing styles of the biblical authors.

(2 Timothy 3:15-17) 

 Canon

    I believe that the sixty-six books of the Bible, thirty-nine in the Old Testament, and twenty-seven in the New Testament were the only canonized books in our Bible. Any other than that is not part of the canonized Scripture.

    Inerrancy

    I believe that the Bible’s original texts, do not include any statements that are untrue to reality. The Bible always tells the truth, and this is true for every topic it covers, whether the teaching is based on doctrine, history, science, geography, geology, or any other subject matter in the Bible.

    The Doctrine of God

    Attributes

    I Believe that there is only one God in three persons who is self-existent, immutable, and eternal, He is the creator and ruler of the whole universe and everything in it.

    (Malachi 3:6; Psalm 90:2; John 8:58; Colossians 1:15-16) 

    Trinity

    I believe that God is one in three persons. He reveals himself as the Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit, they are three persons and have different primary functions. But equal in authority and in Deity.

    (Matthew 28:19)

    Christology

    Humanity of Christ

    I believe Christ is a full deity incarnated into human flesh, born by the virgin birth of Mary. Jesus is a fully human who has an emotion like humans, tempted like humans.

    (Philippians 2:6-7; John 1:14; Matthew 1:18; John 11:35; Heb 4:15) 

    Divinity of Christ

    I believe that Jesus Christ is a fully human and fully God, He existed before Abraham and claimed to be the Great “I AM”, He is the image of the Invisible God and through Him, all things were created. Jesus also asserts His eternity.

    (John 8:58; Colossians 1:15,16; John 8:58; Rev 22:13)

    Works/Offices of Christ

    Jesus is the ultimate prophet for He reveals God to people through himself and speaks the word of God directly with the same authority as God, He is the Mediator between God and man, and Savior of Humanity. 

    (1 Timothy 2:5 ;Acts 4:10-12; Jonah 2:9 NASB)

    Pneumatology

    The Personality of the Holy Spirit

    I Believe in the Holy Spirit as the third person in the Trinity, equally divine as the Father and the Son, and equal in Authority. His mission is to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ, carry out the work of Christ in redeeming the lost and equip believers for godly living and service. I believe that the Holy Spirit bestows spiritual gifts to believers as He wills for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the Body of Christ.

    (Matthew 28:19, John 14:16; John 16:13-15; Romans 12:6-8; Ephesians

    4:11-12;)

    Anthropology

    Nature of Man

    I believe that Man is created in the likeness of the image of God, God created them male and female and created them for God’s Glory. Man and woman are both commanded to rule and subdue the earth, man has a different purpose in creation and woman is to help and compliment him.

    (Genesis 1:27; Isaiah 43:7; Genesis 2:18)

    Fall of Man

      The Tree of knowledge of good and evil was the choice of Adam and Eve if they were to define good and evil according to the word of God or according to their own knowledge. They didn’t hold out into Satan’s temptation which came through the serpent. The consequence of the “The fall” to Satan is his defeat, there will be enmity between his seed and the seed of the woman. The seed of the woman will bruise the head of the snake, which is the defeat of Satan; to Eve is the pain in childbirth, desire toward her husband, and the husband ruling over her; and to Adam hard toil and death which were passed on to the entire human race. Because sin entered into the human race through Adam, the entire humanity is separated from God because of sin.

      (Genesis 3:15, 16, 17-19; Romans 5:12)

      Hamartiology

       Nature of Sin

      I believe that sin is a failure of adherence to God's moral law in our moral essence as well as in our behavior and attitude, and also to fail to glorify God fully. Sin is the greatest problem of mankind that separates them from God.

        (Romans 3:23; Ephesians 2:3-4; Romans 1:21; Isaiah 59:2)

        Origin of Sin

          With respect to the human race, the first sin was that of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, when they chose to disobey God and eat the fruit of knowledge of good and evil[5].

          (Genesis 3:1-19; )

          Imputation of Sin

          I believe that Adam represented all members of the human race throughout the time of testing in the Garden of Eden. As the federal head of mankind, when Adam sinned, God counted all of humanity along with Adam.

          (Romans 5:12-21)

          Soteriology

           Election

            God’s choice of people whom to be saved.

            (Ephesians 1:4-5; Titus 1:1-3, 2 Thessalonians 2:13)

            Atonement

            Atonement is the work of Christ in His death on the cross for paying the penalty of the sin of mankind so that they may have forgiveness for their sins and may have salvation through Him.

            (1 John 2:2; 1 Peter 2:24; Matt 26:28)

            Regeneration

              Regeneration is the process of salvation in which an individual is born again, and is living now a new life in Christ.

              (John 1:12-13; 1 Peter 1:3; 1 John 5:2, 18)

              Justification

              Justification is an act of God when He declares a sinner to be righteous as a

              result of that sinner's faith in Christ.

              (Romans 3:21-26)

              Sanctification

              Sanctification is when a man is to be set apart as holy for God.

              (1 Thessalonians 4:3, 7; Philippians 3:12-14)

                Glorification

                Glorification is when Christ returns all the believers will receive their imperishable and undefiled resurrected body and will forever be free from sin and forever be in the presence of God.

                (1 Peter 1:4-5; Romans 8:30; Colossians 3:4; Phil 3:20-21)

                  Church

                  I Believe that the Church is the group of people whom Christ died to redeem, and is called the body of Christ which He is the Head and Savior.

                  (Ephesians 5:25; 5:23)

                  Polity/Government

                  Jesus Christ is the head of every local church, who rules over them as Lord. Church officers according to scripture are Pastors and Deacons. Although both men and women have capabilities for serving in the church, and both are equally valuable to God, only men are allowed to handle the office of the pastor.

                  (Ephesians 1:22-23, 5:23; 1 Timothy 3:1-7, 8-13)

                  Purpose

                  I Believe that the purpose of the church is to worship God, nurture and build up each other to maturity in faith, and Evangelism, share the gospel with every people, and make them disciples of Christ[6].

                    (Colossians 3:16; Ephesians 1:12, 5:19-21; Col 1:28; Ephesians 4:12-13; Mark

                    16:15, Matthew 28:19)

                    Ordinances of the Church

                    I believe that the ordinances of the church are baptism by immersion, it emblematizes the faith of an individual in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as their savior, and it is a public testimony of their faith; the second ordinance is the Lord’s Supper, Jesus instructed this to His disciples to observe this until His return, whereby the partaking of a cup of wine and bread, is commemorating the death of Jesus Christ who died for the redemption of those who believed in Him and will wait for His second coming.

                      (Acts 19:4-5; 1 Corinthians 11:24-26)

                      Angelology

                      Holy Angels

                      I believe that God created angels, spiritual beings with intellect and moral judgment, and great strength and power to worship and serve Him and to minister to believers.

                        (2 Peter 2:11; Revelation 19:10)

                        Fallen Angels

                        I believe that fallen angels are those who sinned and rebelled against God, these were Satan and his demons. Satan and His demons are all destined to hell and already defeated.

                          (Genesis 3:1-5, Jude 6, 2 Peter 2:4)

                          Relationship of Angels to man and to the Church

                            Angels are also ministers to help believers, rescue, and do the work of the Lord. (Acts 5:19-20; 12:7-11; Isaiah 14:12-15)

                            Eschatology

                            I Believe in the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. I believe that He will return. I believe that all of those who believe and accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior through faith will be transformed into a glorious body and will reign with Him forever. All of those who believe will be free from sin forever, death, and pain forever and will be in the presence of God forever, and there shall be no mourning for those who believe. Satan and his demons will be cast out into the lake of fire, and all those who are names are not written in the book of life will suffer in Hell.

                            (2 Timothy 2:12; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18; Revelation 21:4; 1 Corinthians 15:51-53; Revelation 19:20, 20:10, 15)

                            Conclusion

                            In writing my statement of faith and doctrinal statement, I’ve learned the importance of having something like this as a pastor. It serves as a philosophical stand of a pastor in his ministry and his doctrine.

                            I see in today’s issue in some local churches and also ministers forget the importance of doctrine and theology. Some church leaders sitting in their positions with a shallow understanding of their faith and Christian doctrine, and I see some giving an allotted time to study doctrine and I see the difference between both.

                            Timothy is encouraged by Paul to embrace the sound doctrine that he heard from Paul(2 Tim 1:13), which is also an encouragement to us to follow this pattern, and rightly handle the word of truth (2 Tim 2:15). Teaching this written doctrine to reliable faithful men that are also able to teach after being passed is the best way to use it after being proven by the panels of the counselors or leaders of the seminary.

                            [1] The Idea of the view can be found in Wayne Grudem (1994) SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY, An Introduction to Bible

                            Doctrine, 38 De Montfort Street, Leicester LE17GP, Great Britain: Inter-Varsity Press and 5300 Patterson Avenue S.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA: Zondervan Publishing House

                            [2] New American Standard Bible - NASB

                            [3] The word “Man” refers to the Human Race

                            [4] Or if they were to obey God’s word

                            [5] See also the first two sentences in Anthropology, 

                            [6] This idea is from Wayne Grudem (1994) SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY, An Introduction to Bible Doctrine, 38 De Montfort Street, Leicester LE17GP, Great Britain: Inter-Varsity Press and 5300 Patterson Avenue S.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA: Zondervan Publishing House.