Orthodox Baptist Confession of Faith
1. GOD
We believe that there is
one, and only one, true and living God; that He is absolute in nature, perfect
in attributes, holy in character, the maker and supreme ruler of heaven and
earth; that He is infinite in wisdom, marvelous in power, and amazing in love;
that He is holy, righteous, and true, worthy of all confidence and love; that
He unites in Himself the infinite, the eternal, and the Almighty Three—God, the
Father, and God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit; that the three persons of
the God-head subsist in the same divine nature, essence and being; and that
they are co-existent and co-equal in every divine attribute, each one executing
distinct but harmonious offices in the great work of redemption.
Gen. 1:1; Deut. 4:39; Mark
12:29; Gen. 17:1; Matt. 5:48; Isa. 6:3; I Chron. 29:11-12; Psa. 103:19; Rom.
11:33-34; Matt. 19:26; Psa. 19:9; Matt. 28:19; I Pet. 1:2-3; I Jno. 5:7; Exod.
3:14; Gen. 1:26 and Tit. 3:3-7.
2. THE
DIVINE TRINITY
1. God, the Father. We believe that God,
the Father, is the first person set forth in the Divine Trinity; that He is
almighty, merciful, and just; that He is holy, righteous, and true; that He is
eternally existent, glorious in nature, possessing the attributes of
omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence; and that He, in harmony with His
divine office, loves, provides, and protects, thus exercising providential
watchcare over the sons of men, and especially a fatherly care over the
children of God.
Matt. 28:19; Gen. 17:1; Matt.
19:26; Psa. 19:9; Isa. 6:3; Psa. 100:5; Prov. 15:3; Psa. 139:1-6; Psa.139:13-14;
Psa. 103:13; Matt. 6:25-30; Matt. 10:29-31; and Matt. 7:11.
2. God, the Son—Virgin Born. We believe
that God, the Son, is the second person set forth in the Divine Trinity; that
He is Very God of Very God; that He is almighty, merciful, and just; that He is
holy, righteous, and true; that He is eternally existent, glorious in nature,
possessing the attributes of omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence; that
God, the Father, through the Holy Spirit, is actually and eternally His divine
Father, and Mary the Virgin, is actually and innocently His human mother; and
that He, in harmony with His divine office, mediates, seeks, and saves, thus
exercising the mediatorial office of redemption.
Matt. 28:19; Jno. 1:1-3,
14 and Isa. 9:6; Matt. 28:18; Tit. 3:5-6; Jno. 8:15-16; II Cor. 5:21; Heb.
13:8; Phil. 2:6; Jno. 2:24; Matt. 28:20; Luke 1:35 and Luke 2:7-14; I Tim.
2:5-6; Luke 19:10 and Jno. 3:16.
3. God, the Holy Spirit. We believe that
God, the Holy Spirit, is the third person set forth in the Divine Trinity; that
He is almighty, merciful, and just; that He is holy, righteous, and true; that
He is eternally existent, glorious in nature, possessing the attributes of
omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence; that He restrains the world, the
flesh and the devil; that He witnesses to the Truth, convicts the lost, extolls
the Christ, and testifies to the righteous judgments of God; that He, in
harmony with His divine office, comforts, teaches, testifies, preaches, guides,
regenerates, empowers, sanctifies, and annoints, thus exercising the quickening
role in the works of saving the lost and the supervising role in the life of
the saved.
Jno. 14:16-17 and 26; Jno.15:26;
Jno.16:7-13; Heb. 9:14; I Pet. 4:14; Isa. 40:12-15; I Cor. 2:10-12; Psa.
139:7-12; II Thes. 2:6-7; Jno. 3:6, 8; Eph. 1:13-14; Acts 1:8; I Pet. 1:2; Isa.
61:1.
3. THE
DEVIL
We believe that Satan is
an actual person, and not an imaginary influence; that he once enjoyed high
heavenly honors and glorious heavenly privileges; that he, through pride,
ambition, and self-will attempted to betray the Almighty and brought down upon
his head the judgement of God; that he operates today as the god of this world and
the prince of the power of the air; that he is a diabolical inventor, an
arch-deceiver, and the father of all lies; that he is the greatest enemy, the
mightiest tempter, and the most relentless accuser of the saints; that he shall
one day be incarnated in the person of the Antichrist and in that role will
finally meet the Christ in the Battle of Armageddon; that there “the seed of
the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head;” and that he shall eventually be
cast into the lake of fire, the eternal place of punishment, prepared for the
devil and his angels.
Job 1:6-12 and Job 2:1-7;
Ezek. 28:12-19; Isa. 14:12-27 and Gen. 3:14; II Cor. 4:4 and Eph. 2:2; Matt.
24:11 and II Thes. 2:7-11 and Jno. 8:44; I Pet. 5:8 and Gen. 3:1-6; Rev. 12:10;
Dan. 7:8 and Rev. 13:1-10 and Rev. 19:20; Gen. 3:15; II Cor. 11:13-15; Jno.
14:30; and Eph. 2:2.
4. THE HOLY
BIBLE
We believe that the Holy
Bible is a supernatural Book; that it is the very Word of God; that it is the
full, the final, and the complete revelation of God’s will to man; that it has
God, the Holy Spirit, for its author, salvation for its end, and truth in the
original without any admixture of error for its matter; that it was written by holy
men of old under the immediate and direct dictation of the Holy Spirit; that it
is verbally inspired and a perfect treasure of holy instruction; and that it
reveals the principles by which God will judge us, and is, therefore, the true
center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct,
creeds and opinions shall be tried.
Psa. 119:89; II Tim.
3:16-17; Rev. 22:18-19; Jno. 17:17; Jno. 3:32-34; II Pet. 1:20-21; I Pet.
1:10-12; Zeph. 1:1; Psa. 19:7-11; Exo. 20:3-17; Psa. 1:2; and Jno. 12:48.
5. CREATION
We believe that the
Genesis record of creation is literal and not allegorical or figurative; that
God personally created the heaven and the earth; that He miraculously brought
forth all original matter out of nothing; that He actually fashioned all
organic forms as specific creations subject to limited changes within the
specie; that He definitely ordained each specie to bring forth after its kind;
that He finally formed man out of the dust of the ground, not by any process of
evolution but by instant action, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of
life and man became immediately a living soul; that He created man in the image
and likeness of God; that His every creative act was complete and perfect in
itself; and that not one of His creations was conditioned upon antecedent
changes naturally wrought during interminable periods of time.
Gen. 1:1 and Jno. 1:1-3,
14 and Heb. 11:3; Gen. 1:21, 24-27 and Gen. 2:7; and Col. 1:15.
6. THE FALL
OF MAN
We believe that man,
originally created in holiness and actually associated with God in innocence
under His law, did, by voluntary transgression of the Lord’s command, fall from
the high and happy state in which he was created, and, as a consequence, became
a sinner alienated from God and brought upon himself and all mankind just
condemnation; and that he is now, by virtue of his fallen nature, utterly void
of holiness, positively inclined to evil, and actually condemned to eternal
ruin, without defense or excuse.
Gen. 1:26-27 and Eccl.
7:29; Gen. 3:6; Gen. 3:23-24; Ezek. 18:4; Rom. 5:12; Rom. 1:21-23; Rom.
3:10-18; and Rev. 21:8.
7. THE
BLOOD ATONEMENT
We believe that the lost
sinner is guilty and already under the condemnation; that he is by nature alien
to God and because of sin condemned to die; that atonement for sin was effected
through the mediatorial office of the Son Who by divine appointment, freely
took upon Himself our nature, yet without sin; that He, through obedience during
His earthly walk, personally honored the divine Law by keeping it, and, through
His death on the cross, actually satisfied the penalty of the offended Law by suffering
in the sinner’s stead; that He, through His obedience and sacrificial death,
made full and vicarious atonement for all sin; that He died, the just for the
unjust, bearing our sins in His body on the tree; and that He, through the
shedding of His blood on the cross of Calvary, evidenced eternal provision for cleansing, for pardon, for peace and for
rest.
Isa. 53:6; Rom. 6:7 and
Rom. 8:23; I Tim. 2:5-6 and Heb. 2:17 and II Cor. 5:21; Matt. 5:17-18 and I
Pet. 2:24; Heb. 10:10-12; I Pet. 3:18; Rev. 1:5; Isa. 55:7; Jno. 14:27; Matt.
11:28; I Jno. 1:7; Eph. 1:7; and Heb. 9:22.
8.
REPENTANCE AND FAITH
We believe that
repentance and faith are solemn and inseparable prerequisites of salvation;
that they are inseparable graces wrought in the heart by the quickening Holy
Spirit; that the alien sinner, being deeply convicted of sin, of righteousness,
and of judgment to come by the personal ministry of the Holy Spirit, and by Him
having his understanding enlightened so that he can see the way of salvation
through Christ, does actually repent, turning to God with unfeigned contrition,
confession, and supplication, and does actually believe, surrendering himself
wholeheartedly to the Lord Jesus, immediately receiving Him as personal and
all-sufficient Savior and openly confessing Him before all men.
Acts 20:21-22 and Mk.
1:15; Acts 11:18 and Eph. 2:8 and Jno. 6:44; Jno. 16:8-11; Matt. 3:1-2, 8; Acts
3:19; Luke 13:3 and Luke 18:9-14; Acts 9:6 and Rom. 10:10.
9.
SALVATION BY GRACE
We believe that grace is
elective and saving, that it embraces the personal triune and redemptive
ministry of God, the Father, and God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit; that
it comprehends all of the labors put forth by the Almighty in the interest of
perfect righteousness and the salvation of the lost soul; that it encompasses foreknowledge,
foreordination and predestination; that it, and it alone, saves even unto the
uttermost all who repent toward God and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ; and that
salvation thus wrought is wholly by grace, “the free gift of God,” requiring
neither culture nor works in any form to secure it or to keep it.
II Tim. 1:8-9 and Eph.
2:8-9; Tit. 3:3-7 and I Pet. 1:2-5; Matt. 23:37; Rom. 8:28-30; Heb. 7:25 and
Acts 20:20-21; Rom. 6:23; Rom. 11:6; Rom. 5:20; Isa. 1:18; and Isa. 55:1.
10.
REGENERATION
We believe that in order
to be saved lost sinners must be regenerated or born again; that regeneration
is a recreative act, far beyond comprehension, wrought in the believer’s heart
by the direct personal ministry of the Holy Spirit; that it is instantaneous,
miraculous, and non-evolutionary or cultural; that it embraces the divine acts of
cleansing the heart from all inward sins and of pardoning the soul of all
outward guilt, in connection with the work of begetting a new creature in
Christ Jesus; that the dead sinner is made to live through the new birth,
becoming thereby a regenerated spirit, possessing eternal life, the gift of
God; that the new birth comes after the Holy Spirit secures voluntary
repentance and belief in the gospel; that it is the actual impartation of the divine
life, not a mere transformation of the human life; and that the proper evidence
of regeneration appears in the holy fruits of the obedient and willing faith of
the followers of the Lord Jesus.
Jno. 3:3-5 and 7; II Cor.
5:17; Jno. 3:8 and Jno. 3:16; Jno. 1:12-13; Isa. 1:18 and Tit. 3:5-7; Eph. 2:1,
5 and Rom. 6:23; Jno. 16:8-11; Matt. 7:16-18 and James 2:17-20.
11.
JUSTIFICATION
We believe that
justification is one of the great gospel blessings secured through Christ for
all who trust Him; that it is a legal and divine decree, declaring the
believing sinner just; that it is thus a state of being free from condemnation,
including forgiveness for inward sins and pardon for outward sins; that it
secures through faith freedom from legal bondage, exemption from the wrath of
God, and possession of peace which passes all understanding; that it is
bestowed, not in consideration of any works of righteousness which we have
done, but solely upon the evidence of faith in God and the Redeemer’s blood;
and that it brings us into a state of unchanging peace and favor with God and
secures every other blessing needful for time and for eternity.
Rom. 3:24-25; Rom. 3:28; Rom.
8:33; Rom. 8:1 and Jn. 5:24 and Rom. 4:3-8; Rom. 6:6; Rom. 5:9; Rom. 5:1 and
Phil. 4:7; Rom. 8:31-33; Gen. 15:6; and Heb. 2:4.
12. THE
SECURITY OF THE BELIEVER
We believe that salvation
wrought by grace is everlasting; that the saved soul journeying through the valley
of the shadow of death need fear no evil; that the Holy Spirit-begotten and
born are kept by the power of God; that the believer in Christ Jesus shall not
be brought into judgment; that no one can lay anything to the charge of God’s
elect; that they are securely held in both the hand of the Father and the Son;
and that the age-old Baptist doctrine, “Once in grace, always in grace,” is heavenly
and gloriously true.
Jno. 3:16; Jno. 3:36; Jno.
5:24; Jno. 6; Psa. 23:4; Isa. 37:23-24; Phil. 1:6 and I Pet. 3:5; Jno. 5:24 and
Rom. 8:1; Jno. 10:27-29 and Rom. 8:31-33 and Rom. 8:35-39 and II Tim. 1:12.
13.
SANCTIFICATION
We believe that
sanctification is a divine work of grace; that it is not a state of sinless
perfection attained through a “second blessing” or through a special “baptism of
the Holy Ghost;” that it is an act of grace by which the believer is separated
unto God and dedicated unto His righteous purpose; that by it we enter into
divinely appointed privileges and thus become larger partakers of His holiness;
that it is a progressive work, begun in regeneration, and carried on in the
life of every believer by the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit and the
Word of God; and that it is nurtured only by heaven’s appointed means,
especially by the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and the saved through his
self-examination, obedience, self-denial, watchfulness and prayer.
I Thes. 4:3 and I Thes. 5:23;
Rom. 15:16 and Jer. 1:5; Prov. 4:18 and Jno. 17:17 and II Cor. 3:18; I Jno.
2:29 and Rom. 8:5; I Tim. 4:5; Luke 9:23; Matt. 24:42 and 7:7-11.
14. THE
LORD’S RETURN
We believe that Christ
Jesus is coming back to earth again; that His return shall be personal,
audible, visible and bodily; that it shall mark the advent of the “day of the
Lord” and usher in the millennium; and that He shall in that day turn the
tables on Satan, take up the throne of His father David, put down all of His
enemies, rule with a rod of iron, triumph over sin, and give the world an
example of righteous government during His thousand years of personal reign on
earth.
Job 18:25-26 and Isa.
9:6-7 and Zech. 14:4 and Mal. 4:2 and Luke 1:31-33 and Matt. 25:31-34; Rev.
19:11-21 and Acts 1:11 and I Thes. 4:16-17 and Rev. 1:7; II Pet. 3:10; Rev.
20:4-6; Rev. 19:20 and Rev. 20:1-3 and Rev. 20:10; Isa. 9:7; I Cor. 15:25-27;
Psa. 2:9 and Rev. 12:5 and Rev. 19:15; I Jn. 3:8; and Psa. 72:1-20.
15. THE
RESURRECTION
We believe that Christ
Jesus arose bodily from the grave on the first day of the week, which day we
now observe as the Lord’s Day, a day of worship; that His miraculous emergence
from the tomb forecasted a like bodily resurrection for every member of the
Adamic race; that the dead in Christ shall rise first and in glorified bodies
like His; that they shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air; that the
dead in trespasses and sins, or the dead out of Christ, shall rise at the close
of the millennium; and that they shall be brought before the Great White Throne
Judgment and there face the Judge of the quick and the dead.
Matt. 28:6 and Luke
24:1-12; I Cor. 15:12-22; I Thes. 4:13-18; Rev. 20:5-6; Rev. 11:15; Dan. 12:3; I
Sam. 2:6; Isa. 26:19; Hosea 13:14; and Isa. 25:6-8.
16.
INDIVIDUAL REWARDS
We believe that reward
and salvation are not one and the same thing. We believe that the Lord shall
reward His own; that He Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout; that
the dead in Christ shall rise first; that a solemn separation shall take place;
that the blood-washed and Holy Spirit-begotten shall be caught up to meet Him
in the air, and there be rewarded according to the deeds done in the body; and
that the place called the New Heaven and the New Earth is ordained the everlasting
dwelling place of the children of God. We believe that the wicked are children
of the devil; that they are rebels against God; that they reject the free offer
of salvation through Christ; that they ignore the wooings of the Holy Spirit;
and that they, as a consequence, are hell-bound, being under a death sentence;
that they shall spend eternity in the Lake of Fire which burneth with fire and
brimstone where the Dragon, the Beast and the False Prophet are and shall ever
be.
I Cor. 3:11-15; I Thes.
4:16-18 and Matt. 24:40-41 and Matt. 13:47-50; I Cor. 3:8 and Rev. 21:1-8; Jno.
8:44; Rom. 8:7; Jno. 3:18; Rev. 20:10-15; and Rom. 6:23.
17. THE
RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED
We believe that there is
a radical and essential difference between the righteous and the wicked. We believe
the righteous are they who believe in Christ Jesus, the justified by faith, and
the sanctified by the Holy Spirit and the Word; that the righteous are heirs of
God and joint-heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ; and that eternal life, the gift
of God, is the matchless possession of the just. We believe that the wicked are
they who do not believe in Christ Jesus, the condemned because of unbelief and
the corrupted by the god of this world; that the unjust spurn the privileges of
God’s grace, choosing the life of sin and rebellion; and that eternal damnation
is the inescapable portion of the unjust.
Mal. 3:16-18 and Jno.
3:6; Rom. 3:22, 24 and 4:3 and 1:17; 8:1-17 and Acts 20:32 and Jno. 15:3; Rom.
8:17; 6:23; 2 Cor. 4:4; Rev. 21:8 and Matt. 23:37 and Prov. 29:1 and Mt. 25:41.
18. THE
LOCAL CHURCH
We believe that a New
Testament Church, according to divine purpose and plan, is a visible, local,
organized body; that it is composed of baptized believers associated together
by a covenant of faith and fellowship in the gospel; that New Testament
validity flows from strict obedience to essential principles of New Testament Law;
that it is a sovereign, independent, democratic and militant body; that its
ministry is gloriously blessed with the presence and leadership of the Holy
Spirit and the light and revelation of the Written Word; that its work should ever
be from within to without and never from without to within; that it is a
self-governing body and is the sole judge, under the limitations of the
Scriptures, of the measure and method of co-operation; that it is the only ecclesiastical
tribunal the Lord has on earth; that its judgment concerning membership,
missions, benevolence, co-operative alignments, and support is final; that it
was personally founded by Christ Jesus during His ministry on earth; that it is
subject to His laws and is the custodian of His ordinances; that the perpetuity
of our faith, our doctrines and practices, ordinances and ordinations, has been
effected through the Holy Spirit personally planting and preserving local
Baptist churches of like faith and order down through the centuries even until
now.
Matt. 28:19-20; I Cor. 1:1-3;
Acts 2:41-42; II Cor. 8:5; Matt. 16:19 and Matt. 18:15-17 and Jno. 14:16-17,
26; Acts 1:8 and Acts 13:1-4; Matt. 18:17-18; Matt. 16:18-19; Matt. 26:26-29
and Matt. 28:19-20; I Tim. 3:15; Mark 3:13-14 and Luke 6:12-13.
19.
ORDINANCES
We believe that Baptism
and the Lord’s Supper are ordinances personally set in the church of the living
God by the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that Baptism is the burial of a
believer in water by the authority and instruction of a local Baptist Church;
that it symbolizes the death and the burial and the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ; that it also typifies the believer’s death to sin, the burial of
his old nature, and his resurrection unto a new life; and that it is
administered in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
We believe the Lord’s Supper is a memorial spread and administered by the
authority and instruction of a local Baptist church; that it symbolizes the
broken body and the shed blood of the Son of God; that its observance points
backward to the crucified Lord on Calvary and forward to the returning Lord in
glory. We believe that these ordinances are not sacraments, but are sacred
symbols, pointing to the world’s only Savior, and bidding the sons of men look
unto an everlasting fellowship with the King of kings and Lord of lords when He
shall return to take over the reins of all government.
Matt. 26:26-29 and Matt. 28:19;
Rom. 6:3-5 and Matt. 16:19 and Acts 10:47; I Cor. 11:23-24; I Cor. 11:24-25;
and I Cor. 11:26.
20. CHURCH
ADMINISTRATION
We believe that the Churches
of God and the state should be kept completely separate; that civil officers
should be prayed for, conscientiously honored and obeyed; that diligence should
be had in seeking the will of God in all Church matters; that missionary
endeavor should ever be executed from within the local Church to without; that
pastors and deacons, the only divinely appointed church officers, should be
duly ordained and brought to understand the sacred duties devolving upon them;
that the Lord’s Day, the first day of the week, should be honored both by saint
and sinner; that Bible teachings should be constantly and consistently fostered
by local Church bodies; that members should be deliberately and prayerfully
voted into the fellowship of the local body; that unruly Church members should
be prayerfully and Scripturally disciplined by the local Church; and that Church
letters should be granted to sister local Churches of the same faith and
practice.
Acts 1:8 and Acts
13:1-35; Rom. 13:1-7; Acts 14:23 and Acts 6:1-6; Acts 2:42; Rev. 1:10; Matt.
16:19 and Acts 10:47; Matt. 18:15-17; Acts 15:19-27 and Acts 18:27 and Rom. 16:
1-2 and Matt. 28:19-20.
21. CHURCH
CO-OPERATION
We believe that it is the privilege and the right
of local churches to co-operate with each other in carrying out the commission
of the Lord; that such co-operation is righteously effected only when the
principles of Christ are preserved in the work fostered; and that all
associated endeavor of local churches should be carried on in such a way as to
preserve the sovereign integrity of each local body in all matters of faith and
practice.
II Cor. 8:1-6, 16-24; II
Jno. 1-4; Matt. 16:18-19 and Acts 15:19-27.
Source:
Orthodox Baptist Confession of Faith
Matured by the late Dr. W. Lee Rector
Former Pastor of the First Orthodox Baptist Church
With suggestions and sanctions from a large number
of outstanding orthodox Baptist ministers of the land.
(Third Edition)
Published by First Orthodox Baptist Church
Dr. J. Cullis Smith, Pastor and Editor
Ardmore, Oklahoma
June, 1958
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