INTRODUCTION

Northwest Bible Church is a local body of believers who are committed to the goal of "glorifying God and enjoying Him forever." We are united together by our "common salvation" (Jude 3), wrought for us by the atoning work of Jesus Christ upon the cross.

As sinners saved by God's amazing grace, we profess that there is only "one Faith" (Eph. 4:5), or one gospel by which men can be saved; namely, we are saved by grace through faith alone in Christ alone (Eph. 2:8-9; Jn. 14:6).

We also recognize, however, that true, genuine believers may differ on other areas of doctrine. Thus, in order to strive toward the goal of the "unity of faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man" (Eph. 4:13), the elders set forth the following Doctrinal Statement concerning our convictions. We do this in the hope that the Head of the Church might be pleased to develop within us a common understanding of the truth of Scripture.

SCRIPTURE

We teach that the scriptures, consisting only of the 39 books of the O.T. and the 27 books of the N.T., are inerrant and authoritative for the Church and we are committed to the centrality of God's Word in the life of this church both for doctrine and Christian living (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

GOD 

 We teach that there is only one God (Deut. 6:4) who exist eternally in three separate and distinct Persons: the Father (Eph. 4:6), Son (Jn. 1:1; 8:24), and Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3-4). He alone is the creator of all things, the Savior of His people, and is sovereign over His universe (Eph. 1:11).

JESUS CHRIST 

 We teach that Jesus Christ is the virgin-born, sinless, and only begotten Son of God (Mt. 1:23; Heb. 4:15; Jn.1:18), truly God and truly man (Col. 2:9; Phil. 2:6-7), who came into the world to save sinners from hell by His penal-substitutionary death (Mt. 1:21; 1 Pet. 2:24; Isa 53:4-6). In triumph, He arose from the dead and is seated at the right hand of God (Eph. 1:20f.).

MAN 

 We teach that all men are by nature spiritually dead in their trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1-3), and are totally unable to do any good in the sight of God, being wholly inclined toward sin (Rom. 3:10-12, 8:5-8). As a depraved sinner by nature, he is without any ability whatsoever to come to saving faith on his own (Jn. 6:44; 1 Cor. 2:14).

SALVATION 

 We teach that salvation is by grace through faith alone in the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and not by works (Eph. 2:8-9). Justification is not based on our righteousness because it is like a "filthy garment" to God (Isa. 64:6).

We teach that salvation is a work of God whereby the Father graciously elects whom He will save (Jn. 6:37,39; Eph. 1:4), the Son redeems those given to Him by the Father (Mt. 1:21; Jn. 10:11; Eph. 5:25), and the Holy Spirit applies this salvation to the heart of the elect by effectually calling and regenerating them so that their "opened hearts" (Acts 16:14) can believe in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins (Jn. 6:44, 63; Rom. 8:30; 1 Cor. 2:12, 12:3; Jer. 24:7). Therefore, saving faith must be a gift from God (Acts 11:18; 2 Cor. 4:6; Phil. 1:29). We also affirm that it is the responsibility of the church to preach the gospel to the world as it is the means by which God draws His chosen people to Himself (Rom. 10:13-15; Mt. 28:18-20; Acts 17:30).

SAVING FAITH 

 We teach that all who possess true saving faith are eternally secure in Christ and unable to lose their salvation (Jn. 6:37-40; 1 Thess. 5:23-24; Jn. 10:27-30; Rom. 8:35-39). By God's indwelling Spirit, they can never finally nor totally fall away from the state of grace, but will persevere in the faith to the end (Jer. 32:40; Mt. 7:16-18; Phil. 1:6, 2:13; 1 Jn 3:9, 5:18).

We teach that true believers are in a spiritual warfare and due to our remaining corruptions may fall into grievous sins. However, those who profess faith but continue to live in sin and disobedience to Christ without repentance, and who fail to progress in any form of sanctification have no assurance of being born again (Tit. 1:16; Heb. 12:14; Jas. 2:14-26; 1 Jn. 2:4, 29, 3:9-10).

SANCTIFICATION

 We teach that sanctification is a sovereign work of God whereby He gradually renews the believer into His own image (Phil. 1:16; Col. 3:10). In this work of renewal, God uses various means of grace which each believer should diligently pursue: the study of Scripture, prayer, godly fellowship, the fruit of the Spirit, the Lords supper, good works, etc (2 Pet. 1:5-11). Although sanctification is imperfect in this life due to indwelling sin, it will be complete in heaven (Col. 1:22).

THE LAW OF GOD 

 We teach that the O.T. moral law is eternal and has been incorporated into the law of Christ (1 Cor. 7:19; Gal. 5:14, 6:2; Rom. 13:8-10). The moral law has two primary functions: 1) to reveal sin (Rom. 3:20. 7:7; 1 Jn. 3:4) and, 2) to set forth the paths of righteousness which only the redeemed, by the power of the Holy Spirit, are able to obey (Rom. 8:4; 1 Jn. 2:3, 29; Gal. 5:16). The ceremonial and civil laws have expired due to their temporary and typical nature. However, the ceremonial laws are valuable to study in that they point forward to Christ and His church, and the civil law still provides principles relevant to the church (1 Cor. 5:1-13; 1 Cor. 9:9-10; 2 Cor. 13:1), and is useful in learning how to apply moral law to civil life.

We teach that the Sabbath laws, dealing with worship on the seventh day, were part of the ceremonial law (Col. 2:16-17), and have been replaced by worship on Sunday, the Lord's day (Acts 20:7; Rev. 1:10).

SPIRITUAL GIFTS

We teach that the charismatic gifts of speaking in tongues, healing, word of knowledge, etc. have ceased. The current exercise of such gifts today are also inconsistent with their descriptions found in Scripture and are not to be trusted as valid manifestations of the Spirit of God. For example, the gift of tongues was a known language (Acts 2:5-11), not gibberish. Also, although we affirm that God still heals, the gift of healing clearly included the ability to raise the dead (Acts 9:36-41) which is absent today. In addition, any so-called word of knowledge from the Lord is contrary to our belief that the canon of revelation is closed.

We teach that every believer is gifted by the Holy Spirit (1Cor. 12:4-31), and should seek to serve the Lord for "the building up of the body of Christ" (Eph. 4:12).

ONE PEOPLE OF GOD

We teach the unity of God's people throughout the ages. We believe that Christ inaugurated the New Covenant by His death on the cross (Lk. 22:20; 1 Cor. 11:25; Heb. 8:7-13). We understand that this New Covenant transformed O.T. Israel into a spiritual and believing body (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:26-27), consisting of believing Jews and Gentiles (Eph. 2:15, 3:6). Thus, believing Gentiles are now grafted into the "olive tree" of Israel (Rom. 11:17), are called the "seed of Abraham" (Gal. 3:29), and are circumcised of heart as "true Jews" (Rom.2:26-29).

CHURCH OFFICES

We teach that there are only two church offices: elders and deacons. We affirm that there is only one Head of the Church, the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 5:23), and that each local church should have a plurality of elders who function as under-shepperds, pastors and overseers (Acts 14:23). They should be qualified men (1Tim. 3:1-7; Tit. 1:5-9), who are able to guard the truth (Acts 20:28-32), and lead with a godly example (1 Pet. 5:1-3),and a servant's heart (Jn. 13:14-15). Deacons are also to be qualified men (1 Tim. 3:8-13) who serve, assist, and promote the various ministies of the church.

CHURCH ORDINANCES

We teach that the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper are for those who profess faith in Christ (Acts 16:31-34, 18:8; 1 Cor. 11:23-34).

CHURCH DISCIPLINE

We teach the importance of church discipline for those in the church who are engaged in unrepentant sin of serious magnitude (Mt. 18:15-17).

THE LAST JUDGEMENT

We teach that there will be a literal and physical return of Jesus Christ to this earth (Acts 1:11). We also believe that when He comes, there will be the Day of Judgement in which all of the dead shall be resurected from the grave (Jn. 5:28-29; Mt. 25:31-46; 1 Cor. 15:51-57). The judgement of God will separate the "sheep from the goats" with the righteous being blessed with eternal life in the presence of God forever, and the wicked condemned to eternal punishment in the lake of fire (Mt. 25:31-46; 2 Thess. 1:6-10; Rev. 20:11-15).

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The elders of Northwest Bible Church desire that we all might imitate the Berean brethren who were noble-minded, "for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so" (Acts 17:11). May the Lord be pleased to sanctify us through the truth of His word, and bring about a unity of faith while preserving the love of the Spirit and the bond of peace (Eph. 4:2-3)

SOLI DEO GLORIA

February 1995

Note: While this is the doctrinal standard of the elders there are members in the church who may hold to various different views on minor issues. This we accept basing our unity of the faith on the essential doctrines of grace.