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Monday, 04 January 2021 18:55

Our Beliefs

Our church is part of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, our denomination's beliefs can be found in the words of the creeds (Apostle's Creed, Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed) and confessions (Heidelberg Catechism, Canons of Dort, and Belgic Confession) which we subscribe to. Our beliefs can generally be summarized in the words of the Apostles Creed:

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
      creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
      who was conceived by the Holy Spirit
      and born of the virgin Mary.
      He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
      was crucified, died, and was buried;
      he descended to hell.
      The third day he rose again from the dead.
      He ascended to heaven
      and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
      From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
      the holy catholic* church,
      the communion of saints,
      the forgiveness of sins,
      the resurrection of the body,
      and the life everlasting. Amen.

*that is, the true Christian church of all times and all places

 

While the Apostles Creed is a good summary of what we believe, there are specific things which we believe the creed covers more generally. Below we have further explained some of our beliefs:

God the Father

We believe that God the Father is the first person of the Trinity. We believe God is a personal, eternal being (Ps 90:2) who is perfect in knowledge (1 John 3:20), power (Psalm 147:5), holiness (Is 6:3), goodness (Ps 34:8), love (1 John 4:8), justice (Ps 89:14), and righteousness (Ps 33:5). We believe that He created everything and continues to mercifully concern Himself with the affairs of His creation (Gen 1:1, Matt 6:26).

God the Son

We believe that God the Son is the second person of the Trinity. We believe that Jesus Christ is the incarnate second person of the Trinity (John 1:1-3, 14). We believe that Jesus was born of a virgin (Matt 1:18), lived a sinless life (2 Cor 5:21), taught and performed miracles, and went to the cross to save His people from their sins (Matt 1:21). We believe that He is fully God and fully man (Col 2:9, 1 Tim 2:5). We believe that through His life, death, and resurrection our sins were paid for and we were adopted as children of God (1 John 2:2, Eph 1:3-12). We believe that He is interceding for us and will one day come again and make all things new (Rom 8:34, Rev 22:20).

God the Holy Spirit

We believe that God the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. We believe that He proceeds from the Father and Son (John 14:26, 15:26), is the promised comforter (John 14:26), convicts the world of its sin (John 16:8), and regenerates (Titus 3:5), indwells (1 Cor 3:16), guides (Rom 8:14), sanctifies (1 Pet 1:2), and empowers believers (Acts 1:8).

The Trinity

We believe that God is one in His essential being, but in this one being there are three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Deut 6:4, John 1:1, Acts 5:3-4). "We worship one God in trinity and the trinity in unity, neither blending their persons nor dividing their essence. For the person of the Father is a distinct person, the person of the Son is another, and that of the Holy Spirit still another. But the divinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, their glory equal, their majesty coeternal" (Athanasian Creed).

The Bible

We believe the Bible is the authoritative, inspired Word of God (Heb 1:1-2, 1 Thess 2:13, 2 Peter 1:20-21). We believe that it is infallible and inerrant (Num 23:19, Ps 19:709, John 17:17), that it contains what is necessary for salvation, and that it “is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16).

Sin

We believe that God created the world and that it was good (Gen 1-2), but through Adam’s action of eating the fruit (Gen 3) all of creation has been subjected to sin (Rom 8:20-21). Sin has corrupted all aspects of God’s creation so that there is no one or no thing which is free from the effects of sin (Ps 51:5, Rom 3:23).

Redemption

We believe that salvation is only found in Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12). We believe that through His sinless life and death on the cross that He took the punishment our sins deserve and made it possible for us to be forgiven and adopted as sons and daughters of God (Eph 1:3-12, 2 Cor 5:21, 1 John 1:8-10). We believe that a person is saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Eph 2:8-9).

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