Articles of Faith of Grace Baptist Church of Smyrna,
ARTICLE 1 WE BELIEVE in the verbal, plenary
inspiration of the Bible and that it is the final authority on faith,
salvation and morals. We believe the Authorized Version of 1611 is the
superior translation in English for our day and also hold to the Hebrew Masoretic Text and the Received Greek Text as the preserved
Word of God in those languages. We do support the pre-King
James Versions in English as also worthy of use and consideration, excepting the
Rhemis-Douay Bible of 1582. We reject the Apocrypha
as uninspired and all other Greek and Hebrew manuscripts and modern English
translations as corruptions of God's preserved Word. (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter
1:21)
ARTICLE 2 WE BELIEVE there is one living and true God, everlasting,
of infinite power, wisdom, holiness and goodness; Creator and Preserver of all
things. In the unity of this Godhead, there are three Persons of one substance,
of eternal being, and equal in holiness, justice, wisdom, power and dignity:
the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. We are Trinitarians yet we reject any
and all accusations that we, or anyone else who also holds to the Biblical
doctrine of the Trinity, worship three gods. (Matthew 3:16,17;
28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14; 1 John 5:7)
ARTICLE 3 WE BELIEVE that the Son, Who is the Word of the Father, the
very and eternal God, of one substance with the Father, took man's nature in
the womb of the Virgin Mary; so that two whole and perfect natures, the divine
and the human, were joined together in one person, never to be divided, whereof
is one Christ, very God and perfect man through the hypostatic union. He lived
a perfect and sinless life while on earth and was not able to sin while in a
human body. Christ actually and personally suffered, was crucified, died and
was buried, to reconcile us to the Father and to make atonement for our sin.
(Isaiah 7:14; Galatians 4:4; Colossians 2:9)
ARTICLE 4 WE BELIEVE that Christ did rise from the dead three days
after His death and ascended into heaven and there sits at the right hand of
the Father, making intercession for us as our Great High Priest. (Acts 1:9-11;
1 Corinthians 15:1-4, 20-25; Hebrews 7:25)
ARTICLE 5 WE BELIEVE in the Holy Spirit, Who proceeds from both the
Father and the Son and is of one substance, majesty and glory with the Father
and the Son and who is very God Himself. He is a separate personality within
the Godhead who possesses all attributes of personality. We reject the
doctrines espoused by the Charismatic Movement in regard to faith healing,
continuing prophecy and continuing revelation and other doctrinal errors
regarding the Holy Spirit.
ARTICLE 6 WE BELIEVE that Jesus Christ shed His blood for the
remission of sins, for the regeneration of sinners and for deliverance from and
for final victory over sin, and that this incorruptible blood of Christ is
absolutely necessary for salvation. (Romans 3:25)
ARTICLE 7 WE BELIEVE, teach and firmly maintain justification by
faith and belief alone without the works of the law. We also believe in the
security of the true believer in Christ if he has been truly born again and
that he is in no danger of perishing. This is not a license to sin as some
people would maintain but is rather an incentive toward holy living and
service. (Romans 5:1; Ephesians 2:8,9)
ARTICLE 8 WE BELIEVE in one baptism of the Spirit of the believer
into the body of Christ at salvation with many subsequent infillings of the
Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:13)
ARTICLE 9 WE BELIEVE in the study of the Bible through expository
exegesis that will lead to an understanding of the context, interpreting the
Scriptures in a literal manner excepting where the passage has an obvious
allegorical or figurative meaning.
ARTICLE 10 WE BELIEVE in the premillennial
view of prophecy and the two stages of the Second Coming of Christ: first, His
coming for the saints in the rapture; second, His coming with the saints to the
earth before the millennium. We believe in a yet-future 7-year tribulation
period that the Church will not go through and a literal 1000-year millennium
where the nation of
ARTICLE 11 WE BELIEVE in two churches; first, the local church led by
a pastor and assisted by deacons and elders. It is the primary responsibility
of pastors to feed the flock and to deepen men in the things of God. We believe
in pastor-run churches. The local church, which is a visible and local
manifestation of the universal church, carries out a program of evangelization
of both saint and sinner as well as maintaining a
corporate testimony of Christ before a lost world. It is through the local
church that God works in this age and it is the responsibility of all born
again, baptized believers to unite with such a local church if a doctrinally
sound one exists in their area. Second is the Body of Christ or the universal
church that is made up of all truly born-again believers of all ages since Acts
2 which will not meet as a body until it is assembled in heaven. We believe the
New Testament Church began on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2.
ARTICLE 12 WE BELIEVE in the practice of Biblical Separation in two
forms: first, in personal separation from sin; and second, in ecclesiastical
separation from apostasy and disobedient brethren. We seek to separate
ourselves from any other group or movement that is disobedient to the Word of
God. (2 Corinthians 6:14-16; 2 Thessalonians 3:6)
ARTICLE 13 WE BELIEVE in two church ordinances: first, baptism, which
is to be administered by total immersion in water upon a profession of faith.
There is no saving grace in baptism nor does it add to the salvation of the
believer, but rather is an identification of the believer with the death,
burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ as well as test of obedience
and of a good conscience before God. We reject pedobaptism
and baptism by affusion or sprinkling or pouring. Second, the Lord's Supper. We hold to an ex-substantiation
of the Lord's Supper, believing the literal body and blood of Christ to exist
outside the elements. (Acts 8:36-38; Romans 6:3-5; 1 Corinthians 11:23-29)
ARTICLE 14 WE BELIEVE the primary responsibility of the Christian is
being faithful to the Lord and His Word in all things and to cultivate an ever-deeping relationship with Him. This faithfulness will
produce several fruits: witnessing, holy living, prayer and Bible study as well
as obedience to the will of God. (1 Corinthians 4:2)
ARTICLE 15 WE BELIEVE in the depravity of man and of his condition as
being a sinner by nature, choice and practice. This depravity does not extend
to the will as men who are "dead in trespasses and sins" do have the
ability and responsibility to choose between salvation and sin. Man must be
saved from his sins by the regeneration of the new birth in order to enter
heaven and we stress the need of Biblical repentance of the sinner. (Joshua
24:15; Ephesians 2:1)
ARTICLE 16 WE BELIEVE in two future judgments for all men. For the
believer, he will stand at the bema seat, otherwise known as the judgment seat of
Christ, to give account of the deeds done in and out of the body since the day
of his salvation as he will judged according to his
stewardship of divine things. The Second judgment is the Great White Throne
judgment where the unsaved of all ages will stand to be condemned of sin and be
ultimately cast into the lake of fire for all eternity. We hold that the Roman
Catholic doctrine of purgatory to be unscriptural. (Romans 14:10-12; 1
Corinthians 3:10-15; Revelation 20:1-10)
ARTICLE 17 WE BELIEVE in the individual priesthood of the believer in
that he has the privileges and responsibilities to make intercession before the
throne of God on behalf of the saints of God and that he may boldly enter into
the heavenly holy of holies for prayer without the aid of any man or
organization. Thus, no Christian has any authority to “lord it over” another saint, and this includes the pastoral relationship with his
congregation (1 Peter 2:9; 5:3).
ARTICLE 18 WE BELIEVE in the two natures of the believer, in that he
possesses his old fallen nature as well as the new divine nature imparted to
him at salvation. His will be a lifelong struggle between the two natures for
the rest of his life and it is necessary for him to be filled with the Spirit
so that he will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. There will be no
eradication of the old nature until either death or rapture.
ARTICLE 19 WE BELIEVE in the Biblical
account of the creation of Man as recorded in Genesis 1 and oppose the theories
of naturalistic and theistic evolution. (John 1:3; Hebrews 11:3)
ARTICLE 20 WE BELIEVE that Satan is literal and personal, that he is
the agent of the Fall, that he is the prince of this
world, and that he has been judged and shall be eternally punished. (John
16:11; Revelation 20:1-10)
ARTICLE 21 WE recognize the immense amount of spiritual good through
Church History by all remnant groups. We seek to fellowship with all true
Remnant Pilgrim Fundamentalists with a burden for heart purity and revival, who
stand against the Apostasy of our day and whose only desire is to be faithful
unto the Lord.