History

ARTICLES OF FAITH.

BRAEHILL BAPTIST CHURCH.

Articles of Faith.

Section 1: The Scriptures.

We believe that the Holy Bible as originally written was verbally and plenary inspired and the product of Spirit controlled men, and therefore is truth without any admixture of error for its matter. We believe the Bible to be the centre of true Christian unity and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds and opinions shall be tried.

2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21.

Section 2: The True God.

We believe there is one and only one living and true God, an infinite, sovereign Spirit, the Maker and Supreme Ruler of heaven and earth; inexpressibly glorious in holiness and worthy of all possible honour, confidence and love; that in the unity of the Godhead there are three Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, equal in every divine perfection and executing distinct but harmonious offices in the great work of redemption.

Exodus 20:2-3; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Revelation 4:11.

Section 3: The Lord Jesus Christ

We believe in the essential deity, eternal deity, eternal Sonship and perfect humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ; the only mediator between God

and men; His virgin birth, sinless life, sacrificial death on the cross as the only substitute for sinners, His blood shed for the sins of all men; His bodily resurrection and ascension to heaven; His high-priestly ministry, personal, pretribulational, premillennial return, literal earthly reign and eternal glory.

John 1:1, 14; Psalm 2:7; Isa 7:14; Php 2:5-8; Gal 4:4; 1 Cor 2:8; John 14:1-6; Mark 10:45; Heb 2:9; Heb 2:14; 1 Tim 2:6;4:10

Section 4: The Holy Spirit.

We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine Person, equal with God the Father and God the Son and of the same nature; that He was active in the creation; that in His relation to the unbelieving world He restrains the evil one until God’s purpose is fulfilled; that He convicts of sin; of righteousness, and of judgment; that He bears witness to the truth of the Gospel in preaching and testimony; that He is the agent in the New Birth; that He seals, endues, guides, teaches, witnesses, sanctifies and helps the believer. The gift of tongues and healing were “sign gifts” until the Scriptures were completed, at which time these gifts ceased.

John 14:16-17; Matthew 28:19; Hebrews 9:14; John 14:26 Luke 1:35 Genesis 1:1-3; John 16:8-11 Acts 5:30-32; John 3:5-6; Ephesians 1:13-14; Mark 1:8; John 1:33; Acts 11:16; Luke 24:49; Romans 8:14; Hebrews 2:4; 1 Corinthians 13:8

Section 5: The Devil, or Satan.

We believe in the personality of Satan, that he is the unholy god of this age, and the ruler of all the powers of darkness, and is destined to the judgment of an eternal justice in the Lake of Fire.

Matthew 4:1-11; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Revelation 20:10.

Section 6: Creation.

We believe the Genesis account of creation as being neither allegory or myth, but a literal, historical account of the direct, immediate creative acts of God without any evolutionary process; that man, spirit, soul and body, was created by a direct work of God and not from previously existing life forms; and that all men are descended from the historical Adam and Eve, first parents of the entire human race.

Genesis 1&2; Colossians 1:16-17; John 1:3.

Section 7: The Fall of Man.

We believe that man was created in innocence under the law of his Maker; but by voluntary transgression Adam fell from this sinless and happy state, and all men sinned in him, in consequence of which all men are totally depraved, are partakers of Adam’s fallen nature and are sinners by nature and by conduct; and therefore are under just condemnation without defence or excuse. Genesis 3:1-6; Romans 3:10-19; Romans 5:12;Romans 5:19; Romans 1:18; Romans 1:32

Section 8: The Virgin Birth.

We believe that Jesus was begotten of the Holy Ghost in a miraculous manner, born of Mary, a virgin, as no other man ever born or can ever be born of woman and that He is both the Son of God and God the Son.

Genesis 3:15; Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:35; John 1:14; Hebrews 1:8.

Section 9: The Atonement for Sin.

We believe that the salvation of sinners is divinely initiated and wholly of grace through the mediatorial offices of the Son of God, who, by the appointment of the Father, freely took upon Himself our nature, yet without sin, honoured the divine law by His personal obedience and by His death made a full and vicarious atonement for our sins; that His atonement consisted not in setting us an example by His death as a martyr, but was a voluntary substitution of Himself in the sinner’s place, the Just dying for the unjust, Christ, the Lord, bearing our sin in His own body on the tree.

Jonah 2:9; Ephesians 2:8; Acts 15:11; Romans 3:24; John 3:16; Matthew 18:11; Philippians 2:7-8; Hebrews 2:14; Isaiah 53:4-7; 1 John 4:10; 1 Corinthians 15:3; 2 Corinthians 5:21.

Section 10: The Resurrection and Priesthood.

We believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ, in His ascension into heaven, where He now sits at the right hand of the Father as our Great High Priest.

Matthew 28:6-7; Luke 24:39; John 20:27; 1Corinthians 15:14; Mark 16:6; Luke 24:2-6; Acts 1:9-11; Revelation 3:21; Hebrews 8:6; 1 Timothy 2:5; 1 John 2:1; Hebrews 2:17; Hebrews 5:9; Hebrews 5:19

Section 11: Grace in the New Creation.

We believe that in order to be saved sinners must be born again; that the new birth is a new creation in Christ Jesus; that it is instantaneous and not a process; that in the new birth the one dead in trespasses and sins is made a partaker of the divine nature and receives eternal life as the free gift of God; that the new creation is brought about by our sovereign God in a manner above our comprehension, solely by the power of the Holy Spirit in connection with divine truth, so as to secure our voluntary obedience to the Gospel; that its proper evidence appears in the holy fruits of repentance, faith and newness of life.

John 3:3; 2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 John 5:1; John 3:6-7; Acts 16:30-33; 2Peter 1:4; Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:1; Ephesians 2:5; 2 Corinthians 5:19; John 3:8.

Section 12: Justification.

We believe that justification is the judicial act of God whereby He declares us to be righteous through faith in Christ Jesus; that justification includes pardon from sin and the imputation of God’s righteousness; that it is bestowed, not in consideration of any works of righteousness which we have done, but solely through faith in the Redeemer’s blood.

Acts 13:39; Isaiah 15:11; Zechariah 13:1; 2 Corinthians 5:18-21; Romans 5:1,5,9; Romans 8:1

Section 13: Repentance.

We believe that repentance is a change of mind and purpose toward God prompted by the Holy Spirit; that it is characterised by godly sorrow for sin as offensive to God and ruinous to the soul; and that true repentance is inseparably related to true faith.

Luke 13:1-3; Acts 8:22; Romans 2:4; 2 Corinthians 7:10; Acts 20:21.

Section 14: Faith and Salvation.

We believe that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the only condition of salvation.

Acts 16:31; Ephesians 2:8-9; John 1:11-12.

Section 15: Sanctification.

We believe that sanctification is the divine setting apart of the believer unto God accomplished in a threefold manner; first, an eternal act of God, based upon redemption in Christ, establishing the believer in a position of holiness at the moment he trusts the Saviour; second, a continuing process in the saint as the Holy Spirit applies the Word of God to the life; third, the final accomplishment of the Lord’s return when the saint is glorified and perfected forever.

Hebrews 10:10-14; 3:1; John 17:17; 2 Corinthians 3:18;1Corinthians1:30; Ephesians 5:25-27; 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4; 5:23-24; 1 John 3:2; Jude 24,25; Revelation 22:11.

Section 16: Adoption.

We believe that adoption is the gracious act whereby the Father, for the sake of Christ, places new believers into the honoured position of mature sons, in contrast with regeneration whereby the believer receives the nature of God and becomes a child of God. The full benefit of the position accorded by adoption as the sons of God awaits the glorification of the believer at the coming of the Lord.

Ephesians 1:5,13-14; Galatians 4:1-7; 1 John 3:1-2.

Section 17: The Security of the Saints.

We believe that all who are truly born again are kept by the Father for Jesus Christ.

Philippians 1:6; John 10:28-29; Romans 8:35-39; Jude

Section 18: The Church.

We believe in the unity of all true believers in the Church which is in the body of Christ, which was established on the Day of Pentecost. To the Rapture, both Jews and Gentiles are added to this Church by the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

We believe that this Church is manifested through the local Church which is a congregation of immersed believers associated by covenant of faith and fellowship in the Gospel; observing the ordinances of Christ; governed by His laws; exercising the gifts, rights and privileges invested in them by His Word; and that its officers are pastors and deacons, whose qualification, claims and duties are clearly defined in Scripture. We believe the mission of the Church is the faithful witnessing of Christ to all men as we have opportunity.

We hold that the local Church has the absolute right to self-government, free from the interference of any hierarchy of individuals or organisations; that the one and only superintendent is Christ through the Holy Spirit; that it is Scriptural for true churches to cooperate with each other in contending for the faith and for the furtherance of the Gospel; that each local Church is sole judge of the measure and method of its cooperation and that on all matters of policy, government, discipline, and benevolence, the will of the local Church is final.

Ephesians 1: 22-23; 3:1-6; 4:1; 5:23-24; 1 Corinthians 11:2; 12:12-13; Acts 2:41-42; 15:13-18; 20:17-28; Colossians 1:18; 1 Timothy 3:1-7.

Section 19: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

We believe that Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water, under the authority of the local Church, to show forth in a solemn and beautiful emblem our faith in the crucified, buried and risen Saviour, through whom we died to sin and rose to new life; that baptism is a prerequisite to the privileges of Church membership.

We believe that the Lord’s Supper is the commemoration of His death until He comes, and should be preceded always by solemn self-examination. We believe that the Biblical order of the ordinances is baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and that participants should be immersed believers.

Acts 2:41-42; 8:36-39; John 3:23; Romans 6:3-5; Matthew 3:16; 28:19-20; Colossians 3:12; 1 Corinthians 11:23-28.

Section 20: Separation.

We believe in obedience to the Biblical commands to separate entirely from worldliness and ecclesiastical apostasy unto God

We believe separation from error of every kind such as sacramentalism, ecumenism, the charismatic movements, New-Evangelism and liberalism. We stand against these false systems.

Psalm1:1; Rom16:17; 1 Corinthians 10:20-21; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Eph 5:11; 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10; 2 Thess 3:6, 14; 1 Timothy 6:3-5; 2 John 9,11; Rev 18:4.

Section 21: Civil Government.

We believe that civil government is of divine appointment for the interest and good order of human society; that magistrates are to be prayed for, conscientiously honoured and obeyed, except in things opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the only Lord of the conscience and the coming King of kings.

Romans 13:1-7; 2 Samuel 23:3; Exodus 18:21-22; Acts 23:5; Matthew 22:21; Acts 5:29; 4:19-20; Daniel 3:17-18.

Section 22: Israel.

We believe in the sovereign selection of Israel as God’s eternal, covenant people, that she is now dispersed because of her disobedience and rejection of Christ and that she will be regathered in the Holy Land and after the completion of the Church, will be saved as a nation at the second advent of Christ. Genesis 13:14-17; Romans 11:1-32; Ezekiel 37.

Section 23: Eschatology.

We believe in the imminent, premillennial return of Christ for His Church and that at that moment the dead in Christ shall be raised in glorified bodies and the living in Christ shall be given glorified bodies without tasting death, and all shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air before the “seventieth week” of Daniel.

1 Corinthians 15:42-44,51-54; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Philippians 3:20-21; Revelation 3:10.

We believe that the Great Tribulation which follows the Rapture of the Church will be culminated by the revelation of Christ in power and great glory to sit upon the throne of David and to establish His millennial reign.

Daniel 9:25-27; Matthew 24:29-31; Luke 1:30-33; Isaiah 9:6-7; 11:1-9; Acts 2:29-30; Revelation 20:1-6.

Section 24: The Righteous and the Wicked.

We believe that there is a radical and essential difference between the righteous and the wicked; that only those who are justified by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and sanctified by the Spirit of God are truly righteous in His esteem; while all such as continue in impenitence and unbelief are in His sight wicked and under the curse; and this distinction holds among men both in and after death, in the everlasting blessedness of the saved and the everlasting conscious suffering of the lost in the Lake of Fire.

Malachi 3:18; Genesis 18:23; Romans 6:17-18; 7:6; Proverbs 14:32; 1 John 5:19; Luke 16:25; Matthew 25:34-41; John 8:21; Revelation 20:14-15.

“…Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it;” Ephesians 5:25

Braehill Baptist Church