Preamble

I set down here, in brief compass, the faith I hold and teach — not as a creed to bind another’s conscience, but as my own confession before God and His people, gathered from the position papers in which I have argued these things at length. What follows is the substance of what I believe the Scriptures to teach. Where the Bible speaks clearly, I speak with conviction; where godly men have long differed, I hold my view firmly yet count those who differ my brethren. To the triune God, the author of this faith, be all the glory.

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The Articles of Faith

I. The Holy Scriptures

I believe that the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments are the verbally and fully inspired Word of God, breathed out by Him through human authors carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20–21). They are therefore inerrant and infallible in the original autographs, the final and sufficient authority for all faith and life, to be interpreted according to their plain, grammatical-historical sense. The canon is closed and complete, and God gives no new revelation to stand beside it (Psalm 19:7–11; John 17:17; Matthew 5:18; Jude 3).¹

II. The One True God

I believe in one living and true God: Spirit, infinite and eternal, unchanging and perfect in all His attributes — sovereign, holy, just, good, wise, faithful, and loving (Deuteronomy 6:4; Exodus 34:6–7; Psalm 90:2; 1 John 4:8). He is the Creator and Lord of all, worthy of all worship, obedience, and trust.²

III. The Holy Trinity

I believe that this one God exists eternally in three Persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — the same in essence and equal in power and glory, yet distinct in person (Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14; John 1:1; Acts 5:3–4). Three Persons, one God: I worship the Trinity in unity and the unity in Trinity, neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the substance.³

IV. God the Father

I believe in God the Father, the first Person of the Trinity, from whom are all things, who in love ordains, sustains, and accomplishes His eternal purpose, and who is Father to our Lord Jesus Christ and, through Him, to all who believe (1 Corinthians 8:6; Ephesians 1:3–6; John 1:12).⁴

V. God the Son

I believe in Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, who for us and for our salvation was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary — true God and true man in one Person forever (John 1:1, 14; Luke 1:35). I believe in His sinless life, His death upon the cross as a penal and substitutionary sacrifice for sin, His bodily resurrection, His ascension, His present intercession as our great High Priest, and His personal, visible return in glory (Hebrews 4:15; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Corinthians 15:3–4; Hebrews 7:25; Acts 1:11).⁵

VI. God the Holy Spirit

I believe in the Holy Spirit, who is fully God, the third Person of the Trinity, who convicts the world of sin, regenerates and indwells every believer, baptizes us into the body of Christ, seals us unto the day of redemption, fills and empowers us, distributes spiritual gifts, and works our sanctification (John 16:8; Titus 3:5; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 1:13–14; 5:18; Galatians 5:22–23).⁶

VII. Creation

I believe that God created the heavens and the earth and all they contain, out of nothing and by His word, pronouncing His finished work very good (Genesis 1–2; John 1:3; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 11:3). I hold to a direct, historical reading of the Genesis account and to the special creation of a real first man, Adam, from whom all humanity descends — holding the age of the earth as a matter of conviction and not a test of fellowship (Romans 5:12–19; 1 Corinthians 15:22).⁷

VIII. Divine Providence

I believe that God, having made all things, continually upholds and governs them, working all things after the counsel of His own will, ordaining both the ends He purposes and the means by which He brings them to pass (Psalm 103:19; Ephesians 1:11; Proverbs 16:9; Romans 8:28). He is sovereign over all, including the free acts of men, yet He is not the author of sin, and men remain fully responsible for their deeds (Genesis 50:20; Acts 2:23).⁸

IX. Angels

I believe that God created a great company of angels as holy and mighty spirits to serve Him and to minister to His people (Hebrews 1:14; Colossians 1:16). A portion of them, led by Satan, fell into sin; Satan is a real and personal being, the adversary of God and man, already judged at the cross and destined for everlasting punishment (Jude 6; Revelation 12:7–9; John 16:11; Revelation 20:10).⁹

X. Man

I believe that God created man in His own image, male and female, crowning His creation with a being of unique dignity and worth, fashioned of a material body and an immaterial nature, soul and spirit (Genesis 1:26–27; 2:7; 1 Thessalonians 5:23). This image, though defaced by the fall, is not erased; and human life, bearing that image, is sacred from its conception (Genesis 9:6; Psalm 139:13–16).¹⁰

XI. Sin

I believe that in Adam the whole race fell, so that all are born guilty and corrupt, with a nature inclined to evil and unable of itself to please God or to save itself (Genesis 3; Romans 3:10–23; 5:12; Ephesians 2:1–3; Jeremiah 17:9). All have sinned and stand justly condemned, deserving the wrath of God apart from His grace.¹¹

XII. Salvation

I believe that salvation is wholly of God’s grace, grounded entirely in the finished work of Christ and received through faith alone, apart from any merit or work of our own (Ephesians 2:8–9; Titus 3:5). I believe that the Father chose His people in Christ before the foundation of the world, that the Spirit effectually calls and regenerates them, and that God justifies the believing sinner — declaring him righteous on the ground of Christ’s imputed righteousness — and adopts him as His own child (John 6:37, 44; Romans 8:29–30; 3:24, 28; John 1:12–13).¹²

XIII. Sanctification

I believe that everyone God saves He also sets apart to Himself and begins to make holy — a definitive break with sin’s dominion at conversion and a progressive, lifelong transformation into the likeness of Christ by the Holy Spirit, through the Word, prayer, and the means of grace (1 Corinthians 6:11; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 Thessalonians 4:3; Hebrews 12:14). In this work God labors and we labor; it is neither passive nor self-made, and it will be perfected only in glory (Philippians 2:12–13; 1 John 3:2).¹³

XIV. The Security of the Believer

I believe that those whom God has truly saved He will surely keep, so that not one of them shall ever be lost; they are guarded by the power of God and will persevere to the end (John 10:28–29; Romans 8:38–39; Philippians 1:6; 1 Peter 1:5). This security is no license to sin, but a ground of assurance and a spur to holiness (1 John 5:13).¹⁴

XV. The Christian Life

I believe that the saved are created for good works and called to a holy life — to walk by the Spirit, to bear one another’s burdens, and so to fulfill the law of Christ, which is love poured out after the pattern of the cross (Ephesians 2:10; Galatians 5:16; 6:2; John 13:34). I believe in the privilege and duty of prayer, and that God hears and answers the prayers of His children — with “yes,” “no,” or “wait” — conforming us to His will rather than bending Him to ours (1 Thessalonians 5:17; 1 John 5:14).¹⁵

XVI. The Church

I believe that the universal church is the body and bride of Christ, composed of all the redeemed of this age, finding visible expression in local congregations gathered for worship, the Word, prayer, fellowship, the ordinances, and the Great Commission (1 Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 1:22–23; Acts 2:42; Matthew 28:19–20). I hold two ordinances — the baptism of believers by immersion, and the Lord’s Supper as a memorial of His death — and that the church is to be led by godly, qualified men as elders and served by deacons (Romans 6:3–4; 1 Corinthians 11:23–26; 1 Timothy 3:1–13).¹⁶

XVII. Spiritual Gifts

I believe that the Holy Spirit sovereignly gives spiritual gifts to every believer for the building up of the body of Christ (Romans 12:6–8; 1 Corinthians 12). I hold that the sign and revelatory gifts served to found and confirm the apostolic age and are not normative for the church today, while affirming that God remains free to heal and to work as He wills, and that no gift is to be sought in a way that rivals the sufficiency of His completed Word (Ephesians 2:20; Hebrews 2:3–4).¹⁷

XVIII. The Covenants and the Dispensations

I believe that God has unfolded one redemptive plan progressively through history, administering His purposes through a succession of covenants and dispensations, and maintaining throughout a real distinction between Israel and the church (Genesis 12:1–3; 2 Samuel 7:12–16; Jeremiah 31:31–34; Ephesians 2:11–3:6). I read the Scriptures by a consistent, literal, grammatical-historical hermeneutic, and I do not hold that the church has replaced or annulled God’s promises to Israel (Romans 11:1, 25–29).¹⁸

XIX. Last Things

I believe in the personal, premillennial return of the Lord Jesus Christ. I hold that He will first come for His church in the pretribulational rapture, that a seven-year tribulation will follow upon the earth, and that He will then return in glory to reign for a thousand years (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17; Revelation 19–20). I believe in the bodily resurrection of all the dead, the final judgment, the everlasting blessedness of the redeemed in the new heavens and new earth, and the everlasting conscious punishment of the lost (John 5:28–29; Revelation 20:11–15; 21–22). These things I hold with conviction, and with charity toward brethren who read the prophecies otherwise.¹⁹

XX. Marriage, Life, and the Moral Order

I believe that God ordained marriage as the lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, the only proper sphere of sexual union, and that He made humanity male and female by a good and wise design (Genesis 1:27; 2:24; Matthew 19:4–6). I believe in the sanctity of every human life from conception, in the call of God’s people to do justice and love mercy, and in our calling to live as salt, light, and sojourners — engaging the world with truth and grace while we await the city that is to come (Psalm 139:13–16; Micah 6:8; Matthew 5:13–16; Philippians 3:20; Hebrews 13:14).²⁰

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Biblical and Explanatory Notes

Verbal, plenary inspiration and inerrancy in the original autographs; the closed sixty-six-book canon; the sufficiency and final authority of Scripture (sola Scriptura); and the grammatical-historical method of interpretation. With the canon closed, God gives no new normative revelation; the Spirit illumines the Word rather than adding to it. See my papers on Bibliology, The Canon of Scripture, and Hermeneutics.
The one God is simple, infinite, eternal, and unchanging, perfect alike in His attributes of greatness (omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, aseity, and the like) and of goodness (holiness, justice, love, faithfulness). See my paper on Theology Proper.
One in essence (homoousios, ὁμοούσιος), three in person; the Son eternally begotten, the Spirit eternally proceeding; against modalism, Arianism, and tritheism alike. See my paper on Trinitarianism.
On the person and work of the Father, see my paper on Theology Proper and the treatment of the Father within Trinitarianism.
True God and true man in one person, the two natures unmixed and undivided, per the Definition of Chalcedon (A.D. 451); His atonement penal and substitutionary. See my paper on Christology.
On the Spirit’s person and work in revelation, salvation, sanctification, and the church, see my paper on Pneumatology; on the gifts, see Article XVII and my paper on Spiritual Gifts.
I hold a young-earth, historical reading of Genesis and a historical Adam (essential to the doctrine of sin and to Christ as the last Adam, Romans 5; 1 Corinthians 15), while treating the age of the earth as a matter of conviction rather than a test of fellowship. See my paper on Creation.
God’s sovereignty and man’s genuine responsibility are compatible (compatibilism). His providence comprises preservation, concurrence, and government, and ordains means as well as ends, without making God the author of sin. See my paper on Providence.
A portion of the angels (not “all but one”) fell with Satan; Satan is a personal being, not a mere principle of evil, and is already a defeated foe awaiting final judgment. See my paper on Angelology.
Man is the image-bearer of God, of material body and immaterial nature; I hold a trichotomist view (body, soul, spirit) while respecting the dichotomist reading, and I affirm human life from conception. See my paper on Anthropology.
Adam’s sin is imputed to his posterity, who are born in original sin and total depravity — a total inability to save themselves, not utter wickedness in every act. See my paper on Hamartiology.
I hold a Reformed-leaning order of salvation: unconditional election, effectual calling, monergistic regeneration preceding faith, justification by faith alone on the ground of Christ’s imputed righteousness, and adoption — all of grace. See my paper on Soteriology.
Definitive (a decisive break with sin’s reign at conversion) and progressive (lifelong growth). The engine is the blend of God’s work and ours — “dependent diligence” — rejecting both legalism and passivity, and falling short of perfection in this life. See my paper on Sanctification.
The truly regenerate are eternally secure and will persevere. The warning passages summon believers to perseverance and expose false profession; they do not threaten the loss of true salvation. See my paper on Eternal Security.
The believer lives under the law of Christ — cruciform love that fulfills the law (Romans 13:8–10) — by the Spirit’s power. On prayer: God answers every prayer of His children with “yes,” “no,” or “wait,” and prayer is meant to align us with His will, not to bend Him to ours. See my papers on Christian Ethics, The Law of Christ, and Prayer.
Two ordinances, not seven sacraments: believer’s baptism by immersion and the Lord’s Supper held as a heightened memorial (a true communion with Christ by faith and the Spirit, though not a presence in the elements), with an open table for all professing believers. The lead pastorate and eldership are ordinarily the office of qualified men, as a principle of created order and wisdom, alongside the broad and honored service of women throughout the body. See my papers on Ecclesiology and Sacramentology.
A “soft” cessationism held with openness: the sign and revelatory gifts were foundational to the apostolic age and are not normative now, yet God remains sovereignly free to heal and to act. This rests on the foundational and confirmatory purpose of such gifts, not on 1 Corinthians 13:10. See my paper on Spiritual Gifts.
A dispensational reading of redemptive history: one plan of salvation unfolding through covenants (Noahic, Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic, New) and dispensations, with an abiding Israel/church distinction and no replacement theology. See my papers on The Covenants and Dispensationalism.
Premillennial and pretribulational, in the tradition of dispensational eschatology, held as conviction and with charity toward those holding other millennial and rapture views. See my paper on Eschatology.
On divorce and remarriage: Scripture permits divorce for sexual immorality, desertion, and severe abuse — physical, emotional, intellectual, or spiritual — as a breaking of the covenant, and permits remarriage in such cases; divorce and remarriage are not the unforgivable sin, and the divorced and remarried are not second-class Christians. On justice: I affirm robust biblical justice while distinguishing it from secular ideologies that rest on a rival worldview. See my papers on Humanity in Culture and The Law of Christ.

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A Closing Confession

These are the articles of my faith. I confess them not as the achievement of my own understanding but as a debtor to grace, persuaded that the God who gave them will keep me in them to the end. To Him — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God, blessed forever — be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations (Ephesians 3:21). Amen.

I am not my own; I have been bought with a price, and I belong — in life and in death — to my faithful God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

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