What We Teach | Grace Baptist Church

The Bible

The Holy Scriptures are the only sufficient, certain, and infallible standard of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience. The light of nature and the works of creation and providence so clearly demonstrate the goodness, wisdom, and power of God that people are left without excuse; however, these demonstrations are not sufficient to give the knowledge of God and his will that is necessary for salvation. Therefore, the Lord was pleased at different times and in various ways to reveal himself and to declare his will to his church. To preserve and propagate the truth better and to establish and comfort the church with greater certainty against the corruption of the flesh and the malice of Satan and the world, the Lord put this revelation completely in writing. Therefore, the Holy Scriptures are absolutely necessary, because God’s former ways of revealing his will to his people have now ceased.

2 Timothy 3:15–17; Isaiah 8:20; Luke 16:29, 31; Ephesians 2:20. Romans 1:19–21; Romans 2:14,15; Psalm 19:1–3. Hebrews 1:1. Proverbs 22:19–21; Romans 15:4; 2 Peter 1:19, 20.

God

The Lord our God is one, the only living and true God. He is self-existent and infinite in being and perfection. His essence cannot be understood by anyone but him. He is a perfectly pure spirit. He is invisible and has no body, parts, or changeable emotions. He alone has immortality, dwelling in light that no one can approach. He is unchangeable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, in every way infinite, absolutely holy, perfectly wise, wholly free, completely absolute. He works all things according to the counsel of his own unchangeable and completely righteous will for his own glory. He is most loving, gracious, merciful, and patient. He overflows with goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. He rewards those who seek him diligently. At the same time, he is perfectly just and terrifying in his judgments. He hates all sin and will certainly not clear the guilty.

1 Corinthians 8:4, 6; Deuteronomy 6:4. Jeremiah 10:10; Isaiah 48:12. Exodus 3:14. John 4:24. 1 Timothy 1:17; Deuteronomy 4:15, 16. Malachi 3:6. 1 Kings 8:27; Jeremiah 23:23. Psalm 90:2. Genesis 17:1. Isaiah 6:3. Psalm 115:3; Isaiah 46:10. Proverbs 16:4; Romans 11:36. Exodus 34:6, 7; Hebrews 11:6. Nehemiah 9:32, 33. Psalm 5:5, 6. Exodus 34:7; Nahum 1:2, 3.

The Trinity

This divine and infinite Being consists of three real persons, the Father, the Word or Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three have the same substance, power, and eternity, each having the whole divine essence without this essence being divided. The Father is not derived from anyone, neither begotten nor proceeding. The Son is eternally begotten of the Father. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. All three are infinite and without beginning and are therefore only one God, who is not to be divided in nature and being. Yet these three are distinguished by several distinctive characteristics and personal relations. This truth of the Trinity is the foundation of all of our fellowship with God and of our comforting dependence on him.

1 John 5:7; Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14. Exodus 3:14; John 14:11; 1 Corinthians 8:6. John 1:14,18. John 15:26; Galatians 4:6.

Creation

In the beginning God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit was pleased to create or make the world and all things in it, both visible and invisible, in a six-day period, and all very good. He did this to manifest the glory of his eternal power, wisdom, and goodness.

After God had made all the other creatures, he created humanity. He made them male and female, with rational and immortal souls, thereby making them suited to that life lived unto God for which they were created. They were made in the image of God, being endowed with knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness. They had the law of God written in their hearts and the power to fulfill it. Even so, they could still transgress the law, because they were left to the liberty of their own will, which was subject to change.

1John 1:2, 3; Hebrews 1:2; Job 26:13. 2Colossians 1:16; Genesis 1:31; 3Romans 1:20; Genesis 1:27. Genesis 2:7. Ecclesiastes 7:29; Genesis 1:26. Romans 2:14, 15. Genesis 3:6.

The Fall

God created humanity upright and perfect. He gave them a righteous law that would have led to life if they had kept it but threatened death if they broke it. Yet they did not remain for long in this position of honor. Satan used the craftiness of the serpent to seduce Eve, who then seduced Adam. Adam acted without any outside compulsion and deliberately transgressed the law of their creation and the command given to them by eating the forbidden fruit. God was pleased, in keeping with his wise and holy counsel, to permit this act, because he had purposed to direct it for his own glory.

By this sin our first parents fell from their original righteousness and communion with God. We fell in them, and through this, death came upon all. All became dead in sin4 and completely defiled in all the capabilities and parts of soul and body.

Genesis 2:16, 17. Genesis 3:12, 13; 2 Corinthians 11:3; Romans 3:23. Romans 5:12ff. Titus 1:15; Genesis 6:5; Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 3:10–19.

Saving Faith

The grace of faith, by which the elect are enabled to believe so that their souls are saved, is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts. Faith is ordinarily produced by the ministry of the Word. By this same ministry and by the administration of baptism and the Lord’s supper, prayer, and other means appointed by God, faith is increased and strengthened.

By this faith Christians believe to be true everything revealed in the Word, recognizing it as the authority of God himself. They also perceive that the Word is more excellent than every other writing and everything else in the world, because it displays the glory of God in his attributes, the excellence of Christ in his nature and offices, and the power and fullness of the Holy Spirit in his activities and operations. So they are enabled to entrust their souls to the truth believed. They respond differently according to the content of each particular passage—obeying the commands, trembling at the threatenings, and embracing the promises of God for this life and the one to come. But the principal acts of saving faith focus directly on Christ—accepting, receiving, and resting upon him alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace.

2 Corinthians 4:13; Ephesians 2:8. Romans 10:14, 17. Luke 17:5; 1 Peter 2:2; Acts 20:32; Acts 24:14. Psalms 27:7–10; Psalms 119:72. 2 Timothy 1:12. John 14:14. Isaiah 66:2. Hebrews 11:13. John 1:12; Acts 16:31; Galatians 2:20; Acts 15:11.

Marriage

Marriage is to be between one man and one woman. A man must not have more than one wife nor a woman more than one husband at the same time.

Genesis 2:24; Malachi 2:15; Matthew 19:5, 6.

The Church

The catholic—that is, universal—church may be called invisible with respect to the internal work of the Spirit and truth of grace. It consists of the full number of the elect who have been, are, or will be gathered into one under Christ her head. The church is the spouse, the body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Hebrews 12:23; Colossians 1:18; Ephesians 1:10, 22, 23; Ephesians 5:23, 27, 32

Baptism and the Lord's Supper

Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are ordinances of positive and sovereign institution. They are appointed by the Lord Jesus the only lawgiver and are to be continued in his church to the end of the age.

These holy appointments are to be administered only by those who are qualified and called to administer them, according to the commission of Christ.

Matthew 28:19, 20; 1 Corinthians 11:26; Matthew 28:19; 1 Corinthians 4:1.

Creeds and Confessions

Grace Baptist Church holds to the perfect witness of Scripture and we affirm The Baptist Faith and Message, 2000 as our guiding confession in the formation of our church and establishing our Constitution. The Southern Baptist Convention has established this current confession upon the rich heritage of our previous confessions of which this is based. Among these are the London Baptist 1689 Confession, The Philadelphia Confession of 1742, The New Hampshire Confession of 1833, and The Abstract of Principles of 1858. These may be appealed to in differences from The Baptist Faith and Message, 2000; however, the Holy Scriptures are our final authority in all matters of faith and practice as found in the 66 books—the Old and New Testament— of the Protestant Canon. We also recognize the great value of historical creeds and accept The Apostle’s Creed (c.3rd-5th Century), The Athanasian Creed (A.D. 298-373), and The Nicene Creed (A.D. 325) which give high Christological confessions.

BFM 2000

1689 London Baptist

Philadelphia 1742

New Hampshire 1833

The Abstract of Principles