What I Believe

The Doctrinal Statement of Louis William Rose

I like to say that I was born a Catholic, saved a Baptist, and finally enlightened as a Presbyterian.  I am a member of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) and am a student of it's doctrines and practices.  For those of you who would care to make an detailed study of these matters, I direct your attention to the Center for Reformed Theology and Apologetics. This doctrinal statement has been taken from others found on the web.  I do not claim authorship of the content, grammar, and certainly not to any of the ideas presented on this page. I do however claim to agree with them, as they are the result of the consensus and combined scholarship of thousands of brethren over hundreds of years led I believe by the personal ministry of the Holy Spirit of God.

I believe in the verbal (every word) and plenary (complete) inspiration of the Scriptures in the original manuscripts; that the Old and New Testaments are equally inspired and without error and contradiction. The translation that I most frequently use is the New International Version of the Bible. (II Timothy 3:16-17, II Peter 1:20-21)   For those who hold that the King James or some other version is the "only inspired translation" I encourage you to learn to read the scriptures in the original Hebrew and Greek and please leave me alone.

I believe in one God, eternally existing as one in essence yet three in person: God the Father, God the Son, (Jesus Christ), and God the Holy Spirit. (Psalm 65:2, Psalm 90:2, Matthew 5:45, Isaiah 6a:1-3, Luke 1:26-38, Matthew 28:19, John 3:5-7, Romans 8:9)

I believe that God the Father is Father in His relationship within the Trinity and in His relationship with those who receive Jesus Christ as Savior; that He orders all according to His own will and in so doing concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men; that He hears and answers prayer; that He is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and sovereign; and that He is the object of our worship and praise. (Psalm 65:2, Psalm 139:1-24, Psalm 147:5, Matthew 5:45, Matthew 6:24-34, John 14:6, I Timothy 2:5)

I believe that the Lord Jesus is coequal and coeternal with the Father; He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary; that He is God manifest in the flesh, very God and very man; that He was sent by the Father for the purpose of being the perfect sinless sacrifice for the sins of mankind; that He died in our stead, was buried and rose bodily that third day according to the Scriptures gaining victory over death for us; that He is imminently coming for the saints; that He will reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords; and that He will judge evil works of darkness at the end of time (Isaiah 61:1-3, Luke 1:26-38, John 1:14; 3:13-17; 14:6; Acts 16:31; I Corinthians 15:1-4; 55-57, Colossians 1:16-17, I Thessalonians 4:13-5:11, I Timothy 2:5, Hebrews 4:14-16, Revelation 19:11-16, 20:11-15)

I believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine person equal with the Father and Son and of the same nature; that He convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment; that He bears witness to the Truth; that He is the agent of the new birth; that He baptizes all true believers into the body of Christ; that He indwells and sanctifies all of them, sealing and thus securing them unto the day of redemption; that He endues, guides, teaches and helps believers; and that it is the privilege of the saved to be filled with the Spirit.  I further believe that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the irrefutable proof of Christianity for the believer. (Matthew 28:19, John 3:5-7, 14:16,26; John 16:7-15; Acts 5:3-4, Romans 8:9, 14, 26-27; I Corinthians 12:13; II Corinthians 13:14, Galatians 5:22-23; Ephesians 1:13-14)

I believe the Genesis account of creation as being the only actual historical account of the direct creative acts of God. I reject any allegorizing of Genesis to fit an evolutionary model of creation. (Genesis 1)

I believe that man was created in the image of God, sinless and innocent, and that by disobedience physical and spiritual death (separation from God) has fallen on humanity. Consequently all of mankind are born with a sinful nature, and are deserving of hell because even knowing the difference between good and evil they will always choose evil. (Genesis 1:26-27, 2:7-3:24)

I believe that sin is the willful breaking of the laws of God, or the unwilling inability to perfectly keep that law. I believe that sin separates man from God. I believe that all men are sinners. (Luke 24:46-47, Romans 3:10-26)

Section 6. Salvation

I believe that salvation of sinners is by grace alone, a free gift of God in the person of Jesus Christ; that salvation is received individually by repentance from sin and personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself vicariously as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of mankind, through the shedding of his blood on the cross. (John 1:12, Acts 17:30, Romans 3:24-26, Romans 6:23, Romans 8:3-4)  Because of our sin nature, I believe that on our own we would never choose God's salvation and therefore he must call us, and gives those that he calls the grace to hear and receive the message of salvation.

I believe that regeneration (the new birth) occurs at the moment one in repentance of sin, receives Jesus Christ as his Savior. (John 3:3, II Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 2:1-6)

I believe that justification is the judicial act of God whereby He declares us to be righteous by faith in Jesus Christ. I believe justification includes: the pardon of sin, and the imputation of God's righteousness, not based on any work, but solely through faith in the blood sacrifice of Christ on the cross. (Romans 3:24-26, Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 1:14-22)

I believe that Sanctification occurs in two ways:

1. It is the act whereby God sets apart all believers from sin with its desires and penalty, unto holiness.

2. It is the process whereby God, using the Word of God, and the moving of His Holy Spirit, cleanses the believer from the filth of this world, that cannot cause him to lose his salvation, but can cause him to lose any reward, and be a detriment to the name and cause of Christ. The ultimate goal is the conform the believer to the image of Christ. (Colossians 3:1-2, Romans 8:29, Romans 12:1-2, Ephesians 1:3-4, I Peter 1:16)

I believe in the eternal security of the believer. I recognize the difference between professing Christ and possessing Christ. Those truly saved are kept by the word of His power. Those who merely profess salvation, but have never been regenerated, are not Christians in any way, shape, or form and therefore have no security at all of heaven, but rather a guarantee of hell. (John 6:37, John 10:27-30, Romans 8:38-39, II Peter 1:10)

I believe that when Christ comes for the church, all believers will be changed in the twinkling of an eye and will become like Christ at His appearing. Our mortality we will exchange for immortality, or corruptible bodies will be immediately made incorruptible. (I Corinthians 15:51-57, I John 3:2)

I believe that the church exists in two aspects:

I believe that the church as an organism is the body of Christ, composed of all the redeemed. (I Corinthians 12:13, Ephesians 1:20-23, 3:3-11, Colossians 1:18)

I believe that the establishment and continuation of local churches are clearly taught and defined in the New Testament. I believe that the church as an organization is an assembly of baptized believers, voluntarily associated by covenant in the faith for fellowship, worship, and service; that its mission is the spread of the Gospel to all men, to thoroughly teach those converted the principles of scripture, and to earnestly contend for the faith.

I believe that its officers are pastor and deacons whose qualifications, claims, and duties are clearly defined in the scripture.

I hold that the local church has the absolute right of self-government, free from any interference of any hierarchy of individuals or organizations; that its only superintendent is the Lord Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit; that it is scriptural for true churches to cooperate with each other in contending for the faith and for the furtherance of the Gospel, and it is scriptural, and necessary to separate in love to Christ from churches who do not hold to the essential fundamental doctrines of the faith. I hold that each local church is the sole judge of the measure and methods of its cooperation, or lack of cooperation.

On all matters of membership, policy, government, discipline, and benevolence, the will of the local church is final. (Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 14:27, I Corinthians 3:9-17, Galatians 1:2, Titus 1:5-11, Revelation 1-3)

I believe that there are two Christian ordinances, Baptism and the Lord's Supper.

I believe that Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in Christ, in water, in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. I believe that it sets forth in picture, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and shows forth the believers union with Christ through their obedience to Him, giving evidence of their salvation, being dead to sin and that they will now walk in newness of life. (Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 1:5, John 3:23, Acts 2:41, Titus 3:5)

I believe that the Lord's Supper is a commemoration of the Lord's death to be observed until he comes again; that the elements, the bread and the juice, are only symbols of his broken body and shed blood, and that our observance is a pictorial testimony of the believer's fellowship with the Savior who was crucified for them. I believe the Lord's Supper is for those believers in Christ who have been baptized and are walking in obedience to Him. (Matthew 26:26-30, I Corinthians 10:16-21, I Corinthians 11:17-34)

I believe that we are mandated by God in the Scriptures to separate ourselves unto Christ and as much as is possible from any participation in or endorsement of sin; from ecclesiastical organizations and religious personalities that deny faith or compromise its message; from brethren that walk disorderly or who unrepentantly continue in sin or engage in compromise afore mentioned. Believers are not to enter marriage, partnerships, or other bonds with unbelievers which create an unequal yoke. I therefore attempt to abstain from every questionable conversation, amusement, business, habit, music, etc., according to the teachings of God's Word. (Romans 12:1-2, Romans 16:17-18, II Corinthians 6:14-18, Ephesians 2:8-10, II Thessalonians 3:11-15, II Timothy 3:1-5, I John 2:15-16, II John 9-11)

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