THE SCRIPTURES

The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and in God’s revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation. (Rom 15:4; 2 Tim 3:15-17; Heb 1:1-2; 2 Pet 1:19-21)

THE TRIUNE GOD

There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the Universe. God is infinite in all holiness and all other perfections. The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.

A. God the Father - God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise. God is the Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in His attitude toward all men. (Gen 1:1; Exod 15:11ff; Deut 6:4; Jer 10:10; John 4:24; Rom 8:14-15; 1 Cor 8:6; Eph 4:6; 1 Tim 1:17)

B. God the Son - Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ, He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. Jesus took upon Himself human nature and its demands and necessities and identified Himself completely with mankind yet without sin. Through His substitutionary death on the cross He made provision for the redemption of humanity from sin. He was raised at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, fully God, fully man, in whose Person is effected the reconciliation between God and man. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission. (Isa 7:14; 53:1-12; Matt 3:17; 11:27; 16:16; 28:1-6; Mark 1:1; Luke 1:35; 22:70; John 1:1-18, 29; 10:30; 11:25-27; 14:6; Rom 1:3-4; 3:23-26; 1 Cor 8:6; 15:1-8; 2 For 5:19-21; Eph 1:20; Phil 2:5-11; Col 1:13-22; 1 Pet 2:21-25; Rev 5:9-14; 12:10-11; 19:16)

C. God the Holy Spirit - The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired holy men of old to write the Scripture and through illumination He enables men to understand truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He calls men to the Savior, and effects regeneration. He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church. he seals the believer unto the day of final redemption. His presence in the Christian is the guarantee that God will bring the believer into the fullness of the stature of Christ. He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service. (Get 1:2; Ps 139:7-24; Isa 61:1-3; Joel 2:28-32; Matt 1:18; 3:16; 12:28-32; 28:19; Luke 1:35; 4:1, 18-19; 11:13; John 14:16-17; 16:7-14; Acts 1:8; 2:38; 13:2; Rom 8:9-11, 14-16, 26-27; 1 Cor 2:10-14; 12:3-11; Eph 1:13-14; 2 Pet 1:21; 1 John 4:13;

MAN

Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image. He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation. The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God’s creation. In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice. By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God. The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore, every person of every race possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love. (Gen 1:26-27; 2:18; Gen 3:1-24; Ps 8:3-6; 51:5; Isa 6:5; Rom 1:19-32; 3:23; 5:12; 1 Cor 15:21-22; Eph 2:1-10)

SALVATION

Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord. Regeneration is a work of GOd’s grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through convictions of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Justification is God’s gracious and full acquittal of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Sanctification is the experience by which the believer is set apart to God’s purposes and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual maturity through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and abiding state of the redeemed. (Matt 1:21; 16:21-26; 27:22-28:6; John 1:11-14; 3:3-21; 14:6; Acts 2:21; 4:12; 16:30-31; Rom 1:16-17; 3:23-25; 5:8-10; 6:1-23; 10:9-10; 1 Cor 1:30; 2 Cor 5:17-20; Gal 2:20; Eph 2:8-10; 1 These 5:23-24; Titus 2:11-14; James 2:14-26)

THE CHURCH

A New Testament church is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the Gospel to the ends of the earth. The two scriptural offices are that of pastor/elder/overseer and deacon. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor/elder/overseer is limiter to men as qualified by Scripture. (Matt 16:15-19; Acts 2:41-42; 6:3-6; 20:28; Eph 1:22-23; 2:19-22; Col 1:18; 1 Tim 3:1-15; 1 Pet 5:1-14)

BAPTISM & COMMUNION

Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried and risen Savior, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. Being a church ordinance, it is a prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord’s Supper. (Matt 3:13-17; 28:19-20; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22; Acts 2:41-42; 8:35-39; Rom 6:3-5)

The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming. (Matt 26:26-30; Mark 14:22-26; Luke 22:19-20; 1 Cor 11:23-29)

Last Things

God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end. According to His promise, Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead with be raised; and Christ will judge all men in righteousness. The unrighteousness will be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment. The righteous in their resurrection and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord. (Matt 16:27; 18:8-9; 24:36; 25:31-46; Mark 8:38; Luke 16:19-26; Acts 1:11; Rom 14:10; 1 Cor 15:24-28; 2 Cor 5:10; 1 These 4:14-18; 2 These 1:7-12; 2 Pet 3:7-13)

For a fuller description of the beliefs of FBC Eastland, please reference the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 as agreed upon by the Southern Baptist Convention.