What We
Believe
Rooted in Scripture. Anchored in Christ.
For our church, Scripture is the primary authority for faith and practice. Below is a summary of our most important beliefs, drawn from the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 and grounded in the whole counsel of God's Word. Our full church bylaws are also available for review.
The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God's revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction — with God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth without any mixture of error for its matter. Therefore all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy.
It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.
Ex. 24:4; Deut. 4:1-2; 17:19; Josh. 8:34; Ps. 19:7-10; 119:11,89,105,140; Is. 34:16; 40:8; Jer. 15:16; 36:1-32; Matt. 5:17-18; 22:29; Luke 21:33; 24:44-46; John 5:39; 16:13-15; 17:17; Acts 2:16ff.; 17:11; Rom. 15:4; 16:25-26; 2 Tim. 3:15-17; Heb. 1:1-2; 4:12; 1 Pet. 1:25; 2 Pet. 1:19-21.
There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being — the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the Universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections, all powerful and all knowing. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.
God the Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of human history according to the purposes of His grace. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
Gen. 1:1; 2:7; Ex. 13:14; 6:2-3; 15:11ff.; 20:1ff.; Lev. 22:2; Deut. 6:4; 32:6; 1 Chron. 29:10; Ps. 19:1-3; Is. 43:3,15; 64:8; Jer. 10:10; 17:13; Matt. 6:9ff.; 7:11; 23:9; Mark 1:9-11; John 4:24; 5:26; 14:6-13; 17:1-8; Acts 1:7; Rom. 8:14-15; 1 Cor. 8:6; Gal. 4:6; Eph. 4:6; Col. 1:15; 1 Tim. 1:17; Heb. 11:6; 12:9; 1 Pet. 1:17; 1 John 5:7.
Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without sin. In His substitutional death on the cross He made provision for the redemption of men from sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body, ascended into heaven, and is now exalted at the right hand of God — the One Mediator, fully God, fully man. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and consummate His redemptive mission.
Gen. 18:1ff.; Ps. 2:7ff.; Is. 7:14; 53:1-12; Matt. 1:18-23; 3:17; 8:29; 11:27; 14:33; 16:16,27; 17:5; 28:1-6,19; Mark 1:1; 3:11; Luke 1:35; 4:41; 22:70; 24:46; John 1:1-18,29; 10:30,38; 11:25-27; 14:7-11; 20:1-20,28; Acts 1:9; 2:22-24; Rom. 1:3-4; 3:23-26; 5:6-21; 8:1-3,34; Phil. 2:5-11; Col. 1:13-22; 2:9; 1 Tim. 2:5-6; Heb. 1:1-3; 4:14-15; Rev. 19:16.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures. Through illumination He enables men to understand truth. He exalts Christ, convicts men of sin, calls men to the Savior, and effects regeneration. He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church. His presence in the Christian is the guarantee that God will bring the believer into the fullness of the stature of Christ.
Gen. 1:2; Judges 14:6; Job 26:13; Ps. 51:1-11; 139:7ff.; Is. 61:1-3; Joel 2:28-32; Matt. 1:18; 3:16; 4:1; 12:28-32; 28:19; John 4:24; 14:16-17,26; 15:26; 16:7-14; Acts 1:8; 2:1-4,38; Rom. 8:9-11,14-16,26-27; 1 Cor. 2:10-14; 3:16; 12:3-11,13; Eph. 1:13-14; 4:30; 5:18; 2 Tim. 3:16; Heb. 9:8,14; 2 Pet. 1:21; Rev. 22:17.
Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.
Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God's grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God; faith is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire personality to Him as Lord and Saviour.
Justification is God's gracious and full acquittal upon principles of His righteousness of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer into a relationship of peace and favor with God.
Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which the believer is set apart to God's purposes and enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual maturity through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Growth in grace should continue throughout the regenerate person's life.
Glorification is the culmination of salvation — the final, blessed, and abiding state of the redeemed.
Gen. 3:15; Ex. 3:14-17; Matt. 1:21; 4:17; 16:21-26; John 1:11-14,29; 3:3-21,36; 5:24; 10:9,28-29; Acts 2:21; 4:12; 15:11; 16:30-31; 17:30-31; Rom. 1:16-18; 3:23-25; 4:3ff.; 5:8-10; 6:1-23; 8:1-18,29-39; 10:9-10,13; 2 Cor. 5:17-20; Gal. 2:20; 3:13; 5:22-25; Eph. 1:7; 2:8-9; James 2:14-26; 1 Pet. 1:2-23; 1 John 1:6-2:11; Rev. 3:20; 21:1-22:5.
A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel — observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth.
Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. Its scriptural officers are pastors and deacons. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.
The New Testament also speaks of the church as the Body of Christ which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages — believers from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.
Matt. 16:15-19; 18:15-20; Acts 2:41-42; 5:11-14; 6:3-6; 13:1-3; 14:23,27; 15:1-30; 16:5; 20:28; Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:2; 3:16; 5:4-5; 7:17; 9:13-14; 12; Eph. 1:22-23; 2:19-22; 3:8-11,21; 5:22-32; Phil. 1:1; Col. 1:18; 1 Tim. 2:9-14; 3:1-15; 4:14; 1 Pet. 5:1-4; Rev. 2-3; 21:2-3.
Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior — the believer's death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. Being a church ordinance, it is a prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord's Supper.
The Lord's Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.
Matt. 3:13-17; 26:26-30; 28:19-20; Mark 1:9-11; 14:22-26; Luke 3:21-22; 22:19-20; John 3:23; Acts 2:41-42; 8:35-39; 16:30-33; 20:7; Rom. 6:3-5; 1 Cor. 10:16,21; 11:23-29; Col. 2:12.
Read our full Church Bylaws
The complete bylaws of First Baptist Church of Gordon, including governance and membership guidelines.
These are our beliefs.
Come share them with us.
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