As a speaker and writer, I’m often asked about my statement of faith. The following includes my core doctrinal beliefs but is not meant to be exhaustive of all doctrine.
I believe—
- in one God, Creator and Lord of the universe, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
- the Bible (all 39 Old Testament and 27 New Testament books) is God’s inspired Word, without error, and authoritative in doctrine and life. It is sufficient and can neither be added to nor superseded.
- Jesus Christ is God’s One and Only Son, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, lived a sinless life, died a substitutionary, atoning death on the Cross, rose bodily from the dead, and ascended to heaven. He is fully God and fully man. He is Word made flesh and eternally existent in the Trinity. He is now at God’s right hand, the only mediator between God and man, head of his body, the church.
- The Holy Spirit is the eternally existent Third Person of the Trinity who convicts of sin, gospel truth, and the need for repentance to bring about regeneration and a new birth for those saved. The Holy Spirit indwells every believer and leads us into right understanding and application of God’s Word.
- God made man in his image, but man is under divine wrath, inwardly depraved, and apart from a special work of grace, incapable of returning to God. The gospel is the good news that God made Jesus who is perfect and without sin to be a substitutionary and propitiatory sacrifice for our sin, so that through Jesus we are clothed with his righteousness and have peace with God. Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and man. There is no other name by which men must be saved.
- The Church is the body of Christ, who is its Head, and unites genuine followers of Christ from all nations, tribes, peoples, and languages to worship and make disciples.
- Jesus Christ will personally and visibly return in glory to raise the dead and bring salvation and final judgment to completion. God will establish his kingdom in a new heaven and new earth, in which he will be glorified forever.
