Grace Baptist Church
Doctrinal Statement

1. We believe the Holy Bible as originally written to be the only inspired Word of God. II Timothy 3:16.
2. We believe in the one triune God: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I John 5:7.
3. We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine person; that in this present world He restrains the work of Satan, that He convicts of sin, righteousness and judgment to come. That he is the agent in the New Birth, that He seals, endues, teaches, witnesses, sanctifies, and helps the believer. John 14:16.
4. We believe in the personality of Satan, that he is the unholy god of this age, and the author of all the powers of darkness, and is destined to the judgement of an eternal justice in the lake of fire. Revelation 20:10.
5. We accept the Genesis account of Creation and believe that man came by direct creation of God and not by evolution. Genesis 1 and 2.
6. We believe that man was created in innocence under the law of His maker, but by voluntary transgression fell from his sinlessness and happy estate, in consequence of which all mankind are now born sinners, and under the penalty of eternal death. Romans 1:18-23.
7. We believe that Jesus was begotten of the Holy Spirit in a miraculous manner, born of Mary a virgin, as no other man ever was born or ever can be of woman, and that He is the Son of God. Matthew 1:18-25.
8. We believe that the salvation of the sinner is wholly by grace and that God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ who was born without sin, died on the cross for the sin of the world and by being raised from the dead by the Father has accomplished eternal redemption by the sacrifice of Himself. Ephesians 2:8-9.
9. We believe that in order to be saved, sinners must be born again; that the new birth is a new creation in Christ Jesus; by the power of the Holy Spirit. John 1:12.
10. We believe in justification by faith whereby God declares righteous the soul that accepts His Son as Personal Savior. Romans 5:1.
11. We believe in Christian baptism by immersion in the Name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Matthew 28:19.
12. We believe that the Lord's supper is the commemoration of His death until He comes, and should be preceded always by a solemn self-examination. I Corinthians 11:23-28.
13. We believe in:
     A. The bodily resurrection. Matthew 28:6-7.
     B. The ascension. Acts 1:9-11.
     C. The High Priesthood. Hebrews 2:17.
     D. The Second Coming of Christ. I Thessalonians 4:16.
     E. The resurrection of the righteous dead. I Thessalonians 4:13-18.
     F. The change of the living in Christ. I Corinthians 15:51-53.
     G. The Throne of David. Isaiah 9:6-7.
     H. The Millennial reign of Christ. Revelation 20:6.
14. We believe in sanctification, the process by which according to the will of God, we are made partakers of His holiness and are a progressive work by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers. Romans 12:1-2.
15. We believe that God in His creative work has declared that which is sacred, that which is a reflection of His nature, including the sacredness of mankind, the distinctiveness of male and female, created in His image, and the establishment of marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Therefore:
    A. We teach that marriage was given by God as part of His common grace, and that it has no meaning other than as He has provided (Gen. 2:18-24).
    B. We teach that marriage is subject to the curse of the Fall, but that believers, living in obedience to the Scripture and under the control of the Holy Spirit, can grow to experience peaceful, productive, and fulfilled marriage as intended by God (Gen. 3:16, 1 Peter 3:7).
  C. We teach that the marriages of believers are to illustrate the loving relationship of Christ and His church, with the husband loving his wife as Christ loves the church and the wife responding to her husband’s loving leadership as the church responds to Christ (Eph. 5:18-33).
   D. We teach that, as believers’ marriages are to illustrate Christ’s relationship with His church, believers should choose to marry those who share their faith and regenerate life (2 Cor. 6:14). We teach that the term “marriage” has only one meaning, and that marriage is sanctioned by God and joins one man and one woman in a single, e exclusive union, as delineated in Scripture (Gen. 2:23-24).
   E. We teach that marriage is always a public, formal, and officially recognized covenant between a man and a woman. We teach that without such a covenant, prolonged conjugal cohabitation does not of itself establish marriage (John 4:18). We teach that where no such covenant exists between a cohabitating couple prior to coming to faith in Christ, family units should be preserved to the extent possible and, if otherwise appropriate, solemnization encouraged. We teach that where a valid marriage has been established prior to coming to faith in Christ, the couple should remain married (1 Cor. 7:24).
   F. We teach that God hates divorce, permitting it only where there has been unrepentant sexual sin (Mal. 2:14-16; Matt. 5:32, 19:9), unrepentant spousal abuse (Exodus 21:7-11), or desertion by an unbeliever (1 Cor. 7:12-15). We teach that remarriage is permitted to a faithful partner in appropriate circumstances.
   G. We teach that God intends sexual intimacy to occur only between a man and a woman who are married to each other. We teach that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of marriage between a man and a woman (Heb. 13:4).
   H. We teach that any practice of sexual immorality, including but not limited to adultery, fornication, homosexuality, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, pedophilia, pornography, or attempt to change one’s biological sex, is sinful, and as with all sin, is offensive to God (Lev. 18:1-30; Matt. 5:28; Rom. 1:26-29; 1 Cor. 5:1, 6:9; 1 Thess. 4:1-8; Rom. 1:18-28).
   I. We teach that every person must be afforded compassion, love, kindness, respect, and dignity. Hateful and harassing behavior or attitudes directed toward any individual are to be repudiated and are not in accord with Scripture or the doctrines of the church. We teach that the faithful proclamation of the Scripture, including the call to repentance, does not constitute hate speech, or hateful and harassing behavior, but is instead a fundamental part of the church’s loving mission to the world (Matt. 28:16-20; 2 Cor. 5:11-20; 1 Tim. 1:5; 2 Tim. 4:1-2).
   J. We teach that God offers redemption and forgiveness to all who confess and forsake their sin, including sexual sin, seeking His mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ. We teach that His forgiveness is total and complete (Ps. 103:11-12; 130:3-4; Is. 43:25, 44:22; John 5:24; Col. 2:13-14) and that God imputes the full righteousness of Christ (2 Cor. 5:21) to the believing sinner. We teach that the forgiven sinner has been cleansed from the guilt of sin, set apart unto God, made holy, and justified before Him (1 Cor. 6:9-11). We teach that any man or woman who has received that forgiveness is “in Christ” and is a new creation. (2 Cor. 5:17).
   K. We declare that church facilities may be used for weddings and wedding related events only where at least one of the prospective spouses is a member in good standing of Grace Baptist Church. Church facilities are not otherwise available to the general public for that purpose.