We believe the Bible is the verbally inspired Word of God. We believe the
writings of the Old and New Testaments are fully God-breathed to the extent
that the very words were chosen by God from the human writers vocabulary so
that the Bible is the very word of God, inerrant in all its assertions and
teachings. The Bible is therefore the only infallible authority for both
doctrine and life. Since this is true, it is the special revelation of God to
man and the only basis for true Christian unity. (II Timothy 3:16-17; Matthew
5:18; Acts 1:16; Mark 12:36; II Peter 1:19-21; Hebrews 4:12; John 10:35; 16:12,13;
17:17)
The Person of God the Father
We believe God is supreme in His Person, eternal in His being, absolute in His
attributes, and glorious in His Perfection. We believe in the Trinity. We
believe in one Triune God, the creator of heaven and earth. We believe that in
the unity of the Godhead there are three distinct persons, the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit, equal in power and glory. God is personal, spirit, omniscient,
sovereign, perfect, immutable, eternal in His being, holiness, love, wisdom,
and power. We believe that God is absolutely separate and above the world as
its creator, yet every where present in the world as the sustainer of all
things. God is self-existent and self-revealing in His relationship with His
creation. (Genesis 1:1; Matthew 28:19; Deuteronomy 4:35; 6:4; I Corinthian 8:6;
John 1:1-3; Romans 1:2-4; Ephesians 4:3-6)
The Person of Jesus Christ
We believe in the virgin birth of Christ, His Deity, and sinless life, His
vicarious death, along with His bodily resurrection and ascension, and in His
personal, pre-millennial return. We believe the Lord Jesus Christ is the second
person of the Godhead, God in the flesh, virgin born as no other man has ever
been born nor ever will be born. He lived an absolutely sinless life and became
the sinner's voluntary substitute on the Cross by His vicarious death for man's
sin. Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the third day, giving eternal assurance
of redemption's full payment and the satisfaction of God's righteous
indignation toward sin. He ascended bodily into heaven and he will come to
rapture His saints to be with Himself. His coming for His saints is imminent
and will be personal, pre-tribulational, and pre-millennial. (Isaiah 7:14;
Matthew 1:18; John 1:1; 14:3; I Thessalonians 4:16; Luke 1:35; I Peter 2:22;
3:18)
The Person of Holy Spirit
We believe the Holy Spirit is the executive of the Godhead. We believe that He
executes the Plan of God for our conviction and salvation. Christians are
partakers of the Holy Spirit and empowered for service by Him. We believe the
Holy Spirit is a person possessing all the attributes of Deity. He convicts the
unbelieving world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. He regenerates,
seals, indwells, fills the believer and bestows gifts upon believers for
service. He teachers the believer and sets him apart for a holy life. We
believe the Bible repudiates the charismatic emphasis upon the experiential
oriented tongues and ecumenical practices as any ministry of the Holy Spirit.
We believe the Holy Spirit is the Commander-in-Chief of missions and that His
testimony is not of Himself but Jesus Christ and the redemptive truths centered
in Christ. (John 14:16,17; 16:8; I Corinthians 3:16; Acts 5:3,4; Ephesians
1:13,14; Romans 8:9).
The Fall of Man
We believe that man was created in the image of God and by choice fell into sin
and death. Hence, every person is sinful and under condemnation to eternal
judgment. We believe that man was created by a direct act of God in the image
and likeness of his Creator. By disobedience to the revealed will of God, man
forfeited his reign over the earth and fell from his created state and standing
with God. Therefore, all men are universally sinful both by nature and choice,
and are void of the righteousness of God. All men are thus alienated from the
life and family of God, without excuse, under the righteous judgment and wrath
of God, and have within themselves no possible means of salvation. (Genesis
1:27; Romans 3:23; 5:12-19; Isaiah 53:6; Ephesians 2:1-3).
The Salvation of Sinners
We
believe that the salvation of sinners is wholly of Grace, and that Jesus Christ
is the only way of salvation. We believe in the salvation of man by grace
through faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross. We believe that
salvation is the free gift of God, neither merited nor secured in part nor in
whole by any virtue or work of man, but received only by personal faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ, in Whom all true believers have as a present possession the
gift of eternal life, a perfectly righteous standing, sonship in the family of
God by a new birth. We believe that the cross of Christ is redemptive, substitutionary,
propitiatory and the only basis of reconciliation for all lost men who believe
and that there is no possible salvation outside of Jesus Christ and His shed
blood. (John 3:3-6, 16;10:28-29; Acts 16:31; Ephesians 2:8-10; I Timothy 2:5,6;
I Peter 1:18-23).
The Free Gift of Salvation
We believe that the blessings of salvation are made free by the Gospel, that
nothing prevents the salvation of the greatest sinner but his own inherent
depravity and voluntary rejection of the Gospel. We believe that salvation was
accomplished on the cross by Jesus Christ and is extended to all men as a gift
to be received by faith. The basis of this salvation is totally the grace that
provided the cross. Although all men are responsible to receive the gift of salvation
in Christ, only those who respond to the ministry of the Spirit of God in the
presentation of the Gospel will be saved. Salvation is the free and completed
gift of God to all who will believe. (John 1:12; 3:16; 5:24; 12:46; Acts 16:31;
Romans 10:11-13).
The Security of a Believer
We believe that those who receive Jesus Christ as Savior are eternally secure.
Our security rests on the finished work of Jesus Christ. As a result, we have
assurance. We believe that the true believer is forever secure as a redeemed
possession of God. This security is founded on the full payment of the
believer’s sin by the cross of Christ in His substitutionary atonement and
God’s proof of receipt of that payment in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The
sole condition of salvation is faith in Jesus Christ and His redemptive work.
This positive expression of faith has as its negative side repentance and
rejection of any other basis of salvation. Therefore, the security of the
believer is not conditioned upon his circumstances nor emotional experiences
nor strength but it is an acceptance of that basis of reconciliation which has
already been accepted by God. The believer is in the possession of God, which
is the opposite of lost. He is secure because God has taken the responsibility
for His own. (John 10:27-30; I John 2:1-2; Romans 8:31-34, 38-39; I Corinthians
6:19; Hebrews 2:10).
The Church
We believe that the visible church is a congregation of baptized believers,
practicing New Testament principles, believing its doctrines, observing its
ordinances, and exercising its autonomy. We believe that a local church is an
organized body of believers immersed upon credible confession of faith in Jesus
Christ, recognizing only two offices (filled by pastor and deacon), sovereign in
polity, and bonded together for work, worship, mutual edification, observance
of the ordinances and the worldwide proclamation of the Gospel. The church is
distinct from Israel
in the Old Testament, autonomous, with Christ as its head. (Matthew 28:19-20; Ephesians
1:22,23; Acts 2:41-47; Ephesians 4:11-13; I Corinthians 12).
Heaven and Hell
We believe in the eternal blessedness of the saved in Heaven and the eternal
punishment of the lost in Hell. We believe in the bodily resurrection of both
the saved and lost, secured by the bodily resurrection of Christ. The spirits
of the saved at death go immediately to be with Christ in heaven, their lives
and works shall be evaluated at the Judgment Seat of Christ for the
determination of rewards which will take place when Christ comes for His own in
the rapture. They will experience the blessedness of God’s presence for all
eternity. The spirits of the unsaved at death descend immediately into Hades
where they are kept under punishment until the Great White Throne Judgment. At
this time, their bodies shall be raised from the grave and be cast into the
eternal lake of fire, the place of final and everlasting punishment. (John
5:28,29; 14:2; Revelation 20:14,15; 21:4; Matthew 25:46).
Current Trends in Theology
As a fundamental group of believers, we take our stand regarding the current
trends that lead to discrediting the Bible and undermining the fundamentals of
the faith. AnsbachBaptistChurch
takes a separatist stand against Neo-orthodoxy, Neo-evangelicalism, the
Ecumenical movement and the modern tongues movement.
