DOCTRINAL STATEMENT OF FAITH FOR KJV BIBLE BAPTIST CHURH
I. The Scriptures
We believe all the Scriptures of the Old and New testaments are divinely Inspired by God. This refers to the autographs as written by the prophets and apostles “and” the Authorized English Translation of 1611, The King James Bible. We believe that God Promised to “Preserve” His Holy Word to All Generations, and that He Gave Us Exactly What He wanted us to Have in the English Language over 400 Years ago. Thus the Bible (KJV) is inerrant and without mistakes. We believe that scripture reveals the Mind of God to man, and points to the Lord Jesus Christ and the only way of Salvation through Him. The scriptures are the only infallible guide for our daily thought-life as well as our practical, moral, and spiritual instruction.
[Mark 122:26, 36; Luke 24:27, 44; John 5:39; Acts 1:16; 17:2-3; 18:28; 26:22-23;Rom 14:4; 1 Cor 2:13; 10:11; 2 Tim 3:16; 2 Pet 1:21]
II. The Interpretation of scripture
In some ways interpretation of Scripture would not be considered doctrine, yet as it affects the way our doctrine is arrived at, it is extremely important, and so becomes an essential doctrinal issue.
Hermeneutics is the discipline of interpretation. There are indications in both Testaments as to the normative method of interpretation. Conservative, normal and literal hermeneutics takes a very tried and true approach to understanding the Bible that should include close observation of its grammatical and historical components. It would argue for but one sense or meaning for each passage of scripture, leaving no room for a complementary or theological approach, Though taking the Word of God literally, and at face value, in classical hermeneutics there is room for poetry, figures of speech, illustrations, types, and symbols, but these literary genres do not take away from the foundational or normal interpretative understanding of biblical truth. Normal interpretation also argues for progressive revelation, i.e., that the Holy Spirit over a period of time revealed certain truths in a progressive fashion. For example, the revelation of Jesus Christ starts in Genesis, but is not fully complete until the book of Revelation.
Literal interpretation stands in opposition to allegorical interpretation. Though the Apostle Paul in Galatians creates an allegory in order to make an isolated point or illustration (4:21-26), allegory as a system is but an unacceptable philosophical approach to understanding the Word of God. It is clearly contrary to proper Biblical interpretation.
[Luke 1:14; 24:35; 44-46, 48; John 21:20-23; Acts 10:8; 17:11-12; 26:6-7; 26:27]III. The Godhead
We believe that the Godhead eternally exists in three persons – the Father, the Son, and the Holy spirit – and that these three are one God, having the precise same nature, attributes, and perfections and worthy of precisely the same honor, confidence, worship, and obedience.
[Mt. 28:18-19; Mk 12:29; Jn 1:14; Acts 5:3-4; 2 Cor. 13:14; Heb. 1:1-3; Rev. 1:4-6]IV. God’s Grace
We believe that according to the “eternal purpose” of God (Eph. 3:11) salvation in the divine reckoning is always “by grace through faith,” and rests upon the basis of the shed blood of Jesus Christ. We believe that God’s Grace is wholly unmerited. We believe that God has always been gracious, regardless of the dispensation, but that man has not at all times been under an administration or stewardship of grace as is true in the present dispensation of the Church.
[Cor. 9:17; Eph. 3:2; 3:9; Col.1:25; 1 Tim. 1:4]V. The Sovereignty of God
Though God is Absolutely Sovereign over all creation and history, He has a “determined plan for the whole world” and no one can alter His purpose (Isa. 14:26-27). What He has planned that He will accomplish (Isa. 46:11). And, He “worketh all things after the counsel of His own will” (Eph. 1:11); “Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand” (Isa. 14:24). Sovereignty also extends to the providence of God whereby He sustains all creatures, giving them life and removing life as He pleases ( Deut. 32:39). In sovereignty, all things were created for the glory of God and all things exist for Him (Rev. 4:11).
[Jn. 6:37, 39, 44; Eph. 1:3-18; II Thess. 2:13; Hab. 1:6, 11; Acts 2:22-23, 36]VI. Angels, fallen and Unfallen
We believe that God created an innumerable company of sinless, spiritual beings, known as angels; that one, “the anointed cherub” – the highest in rank – sinned through pride, thereby becoming Satan; that a great company of angels followed him in his moral fall, some of whom became demons and are active as his agents and associates in the prosecution of his unholy purposes, while others who fell are “reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.”
[Isa. 14:12-17; Ezek. 28:11-19; 1 Tim. 3:6; 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6]VII. Man, Created and Fallen
We believe that man was originally created in the image and after the likeness of God, as God’s representative ‘vice-regent,’ and that he fell through sin, in consequence losing his spiritual life. As fallen he is “dead in trespasses and sins”, and that he became subject to the reign of sin and the power of the devil. Paul adds that the lost are mentally blinded by Satan, the god of this world, and that the truth of the gospel is “hid to them that are Lost” (II cor. 4:3-4). The Word of God makes it clear, there is no one who seeketh after God (Rom. 3:11). So God has given mankind over to the lusts of his heart and to a depraved mind (Rom. 1:24, 28). Theologically, this darkness of mind and heart has been rightly called The Depravity of Man (Rom. 1:28).
Following the sin of Adam, man could only produce descendants who would be sinners. Therefore all mankind is under the death sentence and penalty of sin (Rom. 5:12-18) and thus are all condemned. Only through the reconciliation of Jesus Christ, by His death, are human beings who are enemies of God being saved (Rom. 5:10). Sinners are justified by Jesus Christ’s Blood, and are rescued from the wrath of God through spiritual Regeneration.
[Gen. 1:26; 2:17/ 6:5; Ps. 14:1-3; 51:5 Jer. 17:9; Eph. 2:1-6]VIII. The Incarnation of Jesus Christ
We believe that, as provided and purposed by God and as preannounced in the prophecies of the Scriptures, the eternal Son of God came into this world that He might reconcile men to God and become the Redeemer of a lost world. To this end He was born of the virgin, and received a human body and a sinless human nature. We believe that in fulfillment of prophecy He came first to Israel as her Messiah King, and being rejected of that nation, He gave His life as a ransom for all according to the eternal counsels of God. We believe that, according to the scriptures, He rose from the dead in the same body, though glorified, in which He had lived and died, and that His resurrection body is the pattern of that body which ultimately will be given to all believers.
[Luke 1:30-35: John 1:18; 3:16; Heb. 4:15: John 1:11; Acts 2:22-24; 1 Tim. 2:6; John 20:20; Phil. 3:20-21]IX. Salvation Only through Jesus Christ
We believe that, owing to spiritual death through sin, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless Born Again; and that no degree of reformation however great, no attainment in morality however high, no culture however attractive, no baptism or other ordinance however administrated, can help the sinner to take even one step toward heaven; but a new nature imparted from above, a new life implanted by the Holy Spirit through the Word, is absolutely essential to salvation, and only those thus saved are sons of God.
[John 1:12; 3:16; Rom. 1:16-17: 3:22; Gal. 3:22]X. The Believer Complete in Jesus Christ
Though the saved one may have occasion to grow in the realization of his blessings and to know a fuller measure of divine power through the yielding of his life more fully to God, he is, as soon as he is saved, in possession of every spiritual blessing and absolutely complete in Christ (positionally speaking), and is therefore, in no way required by God to seek a so-called “second blessing,” “second work of grace,” or a “second baptism.”
[1Cor. 3:21-23: Eph. 1:3; Col. 2:10; 1 John 4:17; 5:11-12]XI. The Extent of salvation
We hold that Jesus Christ’s atonement was unlimited as to its provision for fallen humanity. Thus, we fully reject the Reformed doctrine of Limited Atonement.
[2 Pet. 3:9; 1 Jn. 2:2; 1 Tim. 4:10]XII. Lordship Salvation
We reject what is called “Lordship” Salvation. This teaching seems to go against the clear biblical teaching that salvation is by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Nothing can be added to His work on the cross, or the proclamation of one’s personal faith and trust in His finished work of eternal redemption.
[Romans 10:13]XIII. Eternal Security
We believe that God keeps eternally all those who Receive salvation and that none are Ever Lost. God will, however, chasten and correct His own ion infinite love; but having undertaken to save them and keep them forever, apart from all human merit, He, who cannot fail, will in the end present every one faultless in Christ, and on His merits alone, before the presence of His glory and conformed to the image of His Son. We believe that saints can have eternal assurance that they are the children of God and so are eternally kept by the power of God. This assurance gives confidence and peace, helping the believer grow in spiritual maturity.
[John 5:24; 10:28; 13:1; Eph. 1:3-17; 1 John 5:13; Rom. 8:29; Eph. 1:3-17]XIV. The Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity, though omnipresent from all eternity, took up His abode in the world in a special sense on the day of Pentecost according to the divine promise. By His baptism He unites all to Jesus Christ in one body and indwells every true believer. As the Indwelling One, He is the Source of all power, all acceptable worship and service, and all spiritual gifts. We believe that the foundational spiritual “sign” gifts, such as tongues, prophecy and knowledge, as well as the role of apostleship and the function of signs, miracles and wonders, have ceased, as the Scripture Canon is complete.
[John 14:16-17; 16:7-15; 1Cor. 6:19; 12:1-14; 31; Eph. 2:22; 2 Thess. 2:7]XV. The Great Commission
We believe that it is the explicit command of our Lord Jesus Christ to win the lost, and make disciples in accordance with His Gospel, through evangelism of non-believers and instruction of believers, for the building up of the body of Christ. Every generation of the Church Age has this Divine responsibility.
[Mt. 28:L18-19; John 17:18; Acts 1:8; 1 Pet 1:17; 2:11]XVI. The Blessed Hope
We believe that the next great event in the fulfillment of prophecy will be the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in the air to receive to Himself into heaven both His own who are alive and remain unto His coming, and also all who have fallen asleep in Jesus, and that this event is the blessed hope set before us in the Scripture, and for this (Rapture) we should be constantly looking.
[John 14:3; 1 Cor. 15:51-52; 1 thess. 4:13-18; Titus 2:11-14]XVII. The Apostasy of the Church
Without designating a specific time table, the Apostle Paul warns of a “falling away” from the faith (2 Tim. 4:1) that will lead to a heeding of deceitful spirits (demons) and the Doctrines of devils (I Tim 4:2) Paul simply says it will occur in the “later times” and produce hypocrisy and s searing of the conscience. This apostasy will be religious and moral in nature (II Tim 3:1-7) and will happen prior to the rapture of the Church and before the revelation of the son of perdition, the Antichrist (II Thess. 2:1-5). Paul further teaches that the seeds of apostasy are present in the church but they will also completely mature in the last days, which he describes as “Perilous times” (II Tim. 3:1).
XVIII. The Tribulation Period
We believe that the rapture of the church will be followed by the fulfillment of Israel’s seventieth week (Dan. 9:27; Rev. 6:1-19:21) during which the church, the body of Christ, will be in heaven. The signing of the 7-year Peace Treaty (covenant) with Israel will be the trigger point. The whole period of Israel’s seventieth week will be a time of judgment on the whole earth, at the end of which “the times of the Gentiles” will be brought to a close. The latter half of this period will be the time of Jacob’s trouble 9Jer. 30:70, which out Lord called the great tribulation (Mt. 24:15-21). We believe that universal righteousness will not be realized previous to the second coming of Jesus Christ, but that the world is day by day ripening for judgment and that the age will end with a fearful apostasy.
XIX. The Second Coming of Jesus Christ
We believe that the period of great tribulation in the earth will be climaxed by the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth as He went. The millennial age will follow, with Satan bound. Israel will be restored to her own land and the Abrahamic Covenant will be fulfilled by the consummation of it three divisions – Land (Palestinic Covenant), Seed (Davidic Covenant), and Blessing (New Covenant finally brought to complete fruition). The whole Jewish world that survives will be brought to a complete knowledge of the Messiah.
[Deut. 30:1-10; Isa. 11:9; Ezek. 37:21; Jer. 31:31-on; Mt.24:15-25:46; Acts 15:16-17; Rom 8:19-23; 11:25-27; Rev. 20:1-3]XX. The Eternal State
We believe that at death the spirit and souls of those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation pass immediately into His presence and there remain in conscious bliss until the resurrection of the glorified body when Christ comes for His own, whereupon soul and body reunited shall be associated with Him forever in glory; but the spirits and souls of the unbelieving remain in Hell after death conscious of condemnation and in misery until the final judgment of the Great White Throne at the close of the millennium, when soul and body reunited shall be cast into the Lake of fire, not to be annihilated, but to be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power.
[Luke 16:19-26; 23:42; 2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23; 2 Thess. 1:7-9; Judge 6 -7; Rev. 20:11-15]XXI. Dispensationalism
We believe that the Bible presents the fact that God has not always dealt with mankind the same way in every age (dispensation). According to Biblical terminology these distinct periods are called “administrations” in regard to the purpose of God or “stewardships” concerning the responsibility of man as originated from the New Testament usage of the Greek word, oikonomia. We believe that classical or traditional dispensationalism is the system that best represents the Biblical teaching on this matter. Classical or traditional dispensationalism is distinguished by a consistent “literal” interpretation; a clear distinction between Israel and the Church; identifying Israel as God’s elect Nation and the Church as God’s Elect Bride, while taking into account progressive revelation; recognizing the glory of God as the ultimate purpose of God in the world.
[Eph. 1:10 3:2, 9]XXII. On Current Issues
We believe that corruptive influences have always been working against the Church, the body of Christ. Along with immoral forces, we reject the man-created philosophies of secular humanism, materialism, evolution, feminism, and the influences of secular psychology. While some truths may be imprinted into these and other opinion, basically, they run counter to the revealed truths of Scripture.
[Rom. 1:18-32; 1 Cor. 6:9; 1 Tim. 1:8-11]XXIII. Women and Ministry
We believe that in the body of Christ men and women stand spiritually equal and constitute the Church universal. We believe women have had and always will have their God-given gifts and roles within this body. Accordingly, as the primary role of believing men is to be husbands and fathers, so the primary role of women is to be wives and mothers. We encourage women to have personal ministries, but the Scriptures are clear that male leadership is called to the local church positions of deacon, elder, and pastor-teacher. No amount of debate can water down what the Bible says about the individual and distinct callings of both sexes, in regard to gifts and positions. We encourage women to pursue study but the role of pastor-teacher of Biblically reserved for men.
[1 Tim. 2:9-15; 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-9; 2:1-8; 1 Cor. 14:34-35]XXIV. Progressive Dispensationalism
We reject the theories of Progressive Dispensationalism. The central disturbing tenet is this view is that the Lord Jesus Christ is now reigning on the throne of David in heaven. We reject the complementary hermeneutic, including the use of the “already/not yet” as an interpretive principle. We also reject the softening of progressive revelation and the forcing of a false continuity between the Testaments. The Lord is seated at the right hand of the Father presently in glory, but this is not the prophesied Davidic rule that will take place in time and history.
[Lk. 2:32-33; Rev. 3:21; Cor. 10:32]XXV. Replacement Theology
We Fully reject the teachings of replacement theology which promote the theory that the Church has “replaced” Israel in God’s eyes and that the church will inherit the Promises made to Israel through Abraham. We believe in the Biblical teaching of a specific Plan of God for His Elect Nation Israel and a specific Plan of God for His Elect Bride, the Church.
[Romans 11:1]XXVI. Separation
We believe in living a life of Separation from worldliness, carnality, and sinfulness. We fully reject the evil influence of Hollywood, pornography, sexual promiscuity, and any activity that is contrary to the Word and Will of God our Father. We believe that only through the Indwelling Power of God’s Holy Spirit, we are Enabled to live in victory over the Sin Nature of the flesh. We reject “mind-altering” substances such as narcotics and alcohol. We seek to Honor and Glorify our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ, not only in our Church, but also in our Daily Personal Lives!
[Romans 12:1, 2]