Complete Doctrinal Statement

We hereby declare our belief in the below fundamental doctrinal statement of University Bible Church which is in agreement with that of the IFCA International.
THE HOLY SCRIPTURES

We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the verbally inspired Word of God, the final authority for faith and life, inerrant in the original writings, infallible and God-breathed. (2 Timothy 3:16-172 Peter 1:20-21Matthew 5:18John 16:12-13)

THE GODHEAD

We believe in one Triune God, eternally existing in three persons Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, co-equal in power and glory, and having the same attributes and perfection. (Deuteronomy 6:42 Corinthians13:14)

THE PERSON AND WORK OF CHRIST

a. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man. (John 1:1-2,14Luke 1:35)

b. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through His death on the cross as a representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice and that our justification is made sure by His literal physical resurrection from the dead. (Romans 3:24-251 Peter 2:24Ephesians 1:71 Peter 1:3-5)

c. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where, as our High Priest, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate. (Acts 1:9-10Romans 8:34Hebrews 7:25Hebrews 9:24I John 2:1-2)

THE PERSON AND WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

a. We believe that the Holy Spirit is a person who convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, and that He is the supernatural agent in regeneration, baptizing all believers into the body of Christ, indwelling and sealing them unto the day of redemption. (John 16:8-11Romans 8:91 Corinthians 12:12-142 Corinthians 3:6Ephesians 1:13-14)

b. We believe that He is the Divine Teacher who guides believers into all truth, and that it is the privilege and duty of all the saved to be filled with the Spirit. (John 16:13Ephesians 5:181 John 2:20,27)

THE TOTAL DEPRAVITY OF MAN

We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God but that in Adam’s sin the race fell, inherited a sinful nature and became alienated from God, and that man is totally depraved, and of himself utterly unable to remedy his lost condition. (Genesis 1:26-27Romans 3:22-23Romans 5:12Ephesians 2:1-3,12)

SALVATION

We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins. (John 1:12Ephesians 1:7Ephesians 2:8-101 Peter 1:18-19)

THE ETERNAL SECURITY AND ASSURANCE OF BELIEVERS

a. We believe that all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God’s power and are thus secure in Christ forever. (John 6:37-40John 10:27-30Romans 8:1,38-391 Corinthians 1:4-81 Peter 1:5)

b. We believe that it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God’s Word, which, however, clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty as an occasion to the flesh. (Romans 13:13-14Galatians 5:13Titus 2:11-15)

THE TWO NATURES OF THE BELIEVER

We believe that every saved person possesses two natures, with provision made for victory of the new nature over the old nature through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit; and that all claims to the eradication of the old nature in this life are unscriptural. (Romans 6:13Romans 8:12-13Galatians 5:16-25Ephesians 4:22-24Colossians 3:101 Peter 1:14-161 John 3:5-9)

SEPARATION

We believe that all the saved should live in such a manner as not to bring reproach upon their Savior and Lord; and, that separation from all religious apostasy, all worldly and sinful pleasures, practices and association is commanded by God. (2Timothy 3:1-5Romans 12:1-21 John 2:15-17)

MISSIONS

We believe that it is the obligation of the saved to witness by life and by word to the truths of Holy Scripture and to seek to proclaim the gospel to all mankind. (Mark 16:15Acts 1:82 Corinthians 5:19-20)

THE MINISTRY AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS

a. We believe that God is sovereign in the bestowment of all His gifts, and that the loving exercise of these gifts is essential for the growth of a healthy church. We believe, however, that the revelatory and sign gifts (including the speaking in tongues) gradually ceased as the New Testament Scriptures were completed and their authority established. (1 Corinthians 12:4-11; 2 Corinthians 12:12Ephesians 4:7-12)

b. We believe that God does hear and answer the prayer of faith, in accord with His own will for the sick and afflicted. (John 15:71 John 5:14-15)

THE CHURCH

a. We believe that the Church, which is the body and the espoused bride of Christ, is a spiritual organism made up of all born-again persons of this age. (Ephesians 1:22-23Ephesians 5:25-271 Corinthians 12:12-142 Corinthians 11:2)

b. We believe that the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures. (Acts 14:27Acts 20:17,28-321 Timothy 3:1-13Titus 1:5-11)

c. We believe in the autonomy of the local church free of any external authority or control. (Acts 13:1-4Acts 15:19-31Acts 20:28Romans 16:1,41 Corinthians 3:9,161 Corinthians 5:4-7,131 Peter 5:1-4)

d. We believe in the ordinances of believer’s water baptism and the Lord’s Supper as scriptural means of testimony for the church age. (Matthew 28:19-20Acts 2:41-42Acts 18:81 Corinthians 11:23-26)

DISPENSATIONALISM

We believe that the Scriptures interpreted in their natural literal sense reveal divinely determined dispensations or rules of life which define man’s responsibilities in successive ages. These dispensations are not ways of salvation, but rather divinely ordered stewardships by which God directs man according to His purpose. Three of these – the age of law, the age of the Church, and the age of the millennial kingdom – are the subjects of detailed revelation in scripture. (John 1:171 Corinthians 9:172 Corinthians 3:9-18Galatians 3:13-25Ephesians 1:10Ephesians 3:2-10Colossians 1:24-25Hebrews 7:19Revelation 20:2-6)

THE PERSONALITY OF SATAN

We believe that Satan is a person, the author of sin and the cause of the Fall; that he is the open and declared enemy of God and man; and that he shall be eternally punished in the Lake of Fire. (Job 1:6-7Isaiah 14:12-17Matthew 4:2-11Matthew 25:41Revelation 20:10)

THE SECOND ADVENT OF CHRIST

We believe in that “Blessed Hope,” the personal, imminent, pre-tribulation and pre-millennial coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for His redeemed ones; and in His subsequent return to the earth with His saints to establish His Millennial Kingdom. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18Zechariah 14:4-11Revelation 19:11-161 Thessalonians 1:101 Thessalonians 5:9 ; Revelation 3:10Revelation 20:1-6)

THE ETERNAL STATE

a. We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal life and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment. (Matthew 25:46John 5:28-29John 11:25-26Revelation 20:5-6,12-13)

b. We believe that the souls of the redeemed are at death absent from the body and present with the Lord, where, in conscious bliss they await the first resurrection, when spirit, soul and body are reunited to be glorified forever with the Lord. (Luke 23:43Revelation 20:4-62 Corinthians 5:8Philippians 1:23Philippians 3:211 Thessalonians 4:16-17)

c. We believe that the souls of unbelievers remain after death in conscious misery until the second resurrection, when with soul and body reunited they shall appear at the Great White Throne Judgment, and shall be cast into the Lake of Fire where they will not be annihilated, but rather to suffer everlasting conscious punishment. (Luke 16:19-26Matthew 25:41-462 Thessalonians 1:7-9Jude 1:6-7Mark 9:43-48Revelation 20:11-15)