Doctrinal Statement for Faith Baptist Church of Dundas

  1. The Scriptures
  2. The Trinty
  3. God the Son, Jesus Christ
  4. God, the Holy Spirit
  5. Sin
  6. Man
  7. Salvation
  8. The Church
  9. Things to Come
  10. The Earth
 Open Bible

I. The Scriptures

We believe the Bible was given by inspiration (II Timothy 3:16). God, through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, gave the words to the men that He had chosen (II Peter 1:20-21). The Bible contains the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament (Genesis up to and including Malachi), and the twenty-seven books of the New Testament (Matthew up to and including Revelation). We believe that God promised to preserve the words that He had given to these men to all generations (Psalm 12:6-7).

The 1769 edition of the King James Version of 1611 (without the Apocrypha) is an infallible, inerrant, and complete preservation of the inspired words of God for the English speaking people of the world and is therefore in no need of correction. This version is the sole authority for our faith and our practice. We reject all modern English versions as counterfeits and part of Satan’s attack (begun in the garden of Eden; Genesis 3:1-3) in casting doubt upon God’s words.

II. The Trinity

We believe in one perfect triune God, eternally existent in three distinct persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. (I John 5:7, Matthew 28:19)

III. God the Son, Jesus Christ

We believe the Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal Word of God, the second person of the trinity. He was born of a virgin in the form of a man, but never ceased to be fully God. He is ‘God in the flesh.’ (Matthew 1:22-25; I Timothy 3:16)

We believe He was born without any original sin, being born of a virgin and thus not inheriting the sinful seed of Adam, and that he lived a perfect life on this earth, having all of the normal weaknesses and temptations ascribed to man, but without ever falling into sin. (Hebrews 4:15; II Corinthians 5:21; I Peter 2:21-22)

We believe in the literal miracles performed by Jesus Christ, exactly as described in the four Gospel accounts of His life and ministry. (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John)

We believe that He died by crucifixion on a Roman cross at Calvary, having shed His innocent, sinless blood as a one-time blood atonement for anybody who shall believe on His name. (Hebrews 10:10-14, Hebrews 7:25, John 3:16, Acts 16:31, I John 5:13)

We believe that He was buried for three days, and during this time His soul was in the heart of the earth while His flesh saw no corruption. (Matthew 12:39-40; Psalm 16:10; Acts 2:27)

We believe in the literal bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ after three days. His disciples saw Him, ate with Him, interacted with Him, and touched Him physically. During the forty days that followed He shewed himself alive by many infallible proofs, and He was seen by over five hundred witnesses. (Acts 1:3; I Corinthians 15:3-8)

We believe in the literal ascension, that Jesus Christ was carried up into heaven before the very eyes of His disciples, and that He is presently seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven. (Luke 24:51; Acts 1:9-11)

We believe that Jesus Christ is the exclusive mediator between God and men. (I Timothy 2:5)

IV. God, the Holy Spirit

We believe the Holy Spirit (Holy Ghost) is the eternal third person of the trinity. He convicts man of sin (John 16:7-11) and upon man believing on the name of Jesus Christ, He is the divine agent performing a spiritual baptism in the new believer. (I Corinthians 12:13)

We believe the Holy Spirit resides in every believer from the moment of their salvation as a permanent seal up to the day of redemption. (I Corinthians 6:19; Ephesians 4:30)

We believe that He is the divine teacher and that He reveals the truth of the Scriptures to the believer. (I Corinthians 2:9-14; John 16:13)

We reject the current trend toward the necessity of sign gifts (speaking in tongues, miracles, etc.) as a proof of a believer being Spirit-filled. Sign gifts were used of the Holy Spirit in the formation of the church (to the Jew first who required a sign; I Corinthians 1:22) but have since ceased with the completed canon of Scripture. (I Corinthians 13:8-10; Acts 8:6; Hebrews 2:3-4)

V. Sin

We believe that sin originated with Satan (Isaiah 14:12-14; Ezekiel 28:12-15). Sin in its essence is disobedience to God. This disobedience can be done by knowingly or unknowingly doing something that God has forbidden (I Timothy 2:14) or can be done by knowingly failing to do something God has commanded. (James 4:17; I Samuel 15:2-11)

VI. Man

We believe that Adam was originally made in the image of God, but fell into sin by eating of the forbidden fruit, and died spiritually on that day. With the exclusive exception of Jesus Christ, all of mankind is born of the corrupted, sinful seed of Adam, having a dead spirit and falling short of the glory of God. (Genesis 3, Romans 5:12)

We believe that upon physical death, the soul of the unregenerate individual plunges immediately into hell. Hell is a real, eternal, literal place of torment, flames, and separation (Luke 16:23-26). In the future, hell will be cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14). There is nothing but God’s undeserved, arbitrary mercy keeping a sinner alive and out of the fire of hell.

We believe that man, on his own merits, is helpless and incapable of pleasing God in any way. (Hebrews 11:6, Isaiah 64:6; Psalm 39:4-6)

VII. Salvation

We believe salvation is and always has been a non-meritorious, freely-given gift of God offered to man solely through the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ and His shed blood at Calvary. (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 1:7; Titus 3:5-6; Hebrews 9:12)

We believe that there is no other way to obtain this gift of salvation except through personal faith in this finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts 4:12; Acts 15:11; Acts 16:31; Romans 10:9,13)

We believe in the eternal security of the saints. When an individual by faith receives the gift of salvation, this gift is eternal. (John 5:24; John 10:27-29; I Peter 1:5)

We reject all works-based teachings of salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9).

VIII. The Church

We believe the church, the body of Christ (Ephesians 1:22-23), is the local assembly of baptized believers gathered together to carry out the great commission (Matthew 28:18-20) of our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 2:41-42) and by doing this bring glory to God (Ephesians 1:12; Romans 15:6).

We believe there are two offices within the local church. The office of the pastor is to be occupied by the man called of God to lead the church solely through the authority of Scripture. The pastor is to be a man with certain qualifications (I Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1:7-9) and under no circumstances is the pastor to be a woman. The office of the deacon is occupied by a man and is given to assist the pastor with the ministry of the local church. (Acts 6:1-6; I Timothy 3:8-13)

We believe that there are two ordinances given to the local church: Baptism and the Lord’s Table. (Matthew 28:19-20; I Corinthians 11:23-29)

We reject all teachings of a universal or a state-run church. We believe in the separation of church and state. We believe that believers of this local church should live holy and separated lives, as ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ.

IX. Things to Come

We believe in the pre-tribulational rapture of the church (I Corinthians 15:51-58; I Thessalonians 4:13-18) and the pre-millenial second coming of Jesus Christ. We believe that between these two events exist a span of time called the tribulation, a time of great anguish and torment for this earth, and a time of the devil’s wrath and of God’s wrath. (Revelation 12:12; Revelation 16).

We believe in the future judgement of believers at the judgment seat of Christ (II Corinthians 5:10). This is a time of rewards (Revelation 11:18).

We believe in the future judgment of all unbelievers at the great white throne judgment. This is a judgment according to all their works. These unbelievers will subsequently be thrown into the lake of fire following this judgment. (Revelation 20:11-15)

We believe in a literal heaven. This is the final resting place of the believer. He will forever be with the Lamb. (Revelation 21-22)

X. The Earth

We believe that God created the earth in six literal 24-hour days spanning a time-frame of 144 hours. We believe this took place approximately 6,000 years ago.

We reject the teaching of the ‘gap-theory’ as an attempt by man to reconcile God’s word with man’s wisdom. We also reject the teachings of theistic evolution introduced into Christian churches since the time of Darwin.

We believe in a worldwide flood that occurred in the time of Noah. We believe the flood occurred exactly how it is recorded in the Scriptures.