Congregational Confession of Faith of Calvary Grace Church

The Congregational Confession of Faith is the doctrinal standard to which all members of Calvary Grace Church subscribe. Its intent is to provide a basic yet broad summary of the fundamentals of the Christian faith.

I. The Word of God

We believe that the Bible is the Word of God, fully inspired and without error in the original manuscripts, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and that it has supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct.

Mark 13:31; John 8:31-32; 20:31; Acts 20:32; II Timothy 3:16; II Peter 1:20-21

II. The One True God

We believe in one living and true God, an infinite, simple, and personal spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, power, and love, who infallibly foreknows all that shall come to pass, who concerns himself mercifully in the affairs of men, and who hears and answers prayer.

Exodus 3:14-15; 34:6; Deuteronomy 5:26; 6:4; I Chronicles 29:11; Psalm 6:9; 139:7-10; Proverbs 3:19; Isaiah 6:3; 28:29; 41:21-28; 42:10; 45:21; Jeremiah 10:10; John 4:24; I Timothy 2:5-6; I John 4:8

III. God’s Triune Nature

We believe that the one God eternally exists in three infinitely excellent, coequal, and distinct Persons: God the Father, fountain of all being; God the Son, eternally begotten, not made, without beginning, being of one essence with the Father; and God the Holy Spirit, proceeding in the full, divine essence, as a Person, eternally from the Father and the Son. We believe that each Person in the Godhead is fully and completely God, equal in every divine perfection and that they execute distinct but harmonious offices in the work of creation, providence, and redemption.

Genesis 1:1-2, 26; Matthew 28:19; John 1:1,3,14; 4:24; 10:30; 15:26; II Corinthians 13:14; Ephesians 4:5,6

IV. The Person of Jesus Christ

We believe that God sent forth His eternal Son as Jesus the Messiah, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary. We believe that God the Son became flesh, taking on a fully human nature, so that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures were inseparably joined together in one Person, without confusion or mixture. We believe therefore that Jesus Christ was and is truly God and truly man, one Christ and the only Mediator between God and man. We believe in his sinless life, miracles, and teachings, his death on the cross and bodily resurrection, and his ascension to heaven and perpetual intercession for his people.

Matthew 1:18-25; 20:28; Luke 1:26-38; John 1:1; 20:28,30,31; Acts 1:11; Romans 5:6-8; 6:9,10; 8:34; 9:5; II Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 1:4; I Timothy 2:5-6; 3:16; Hebrews 7:25; 9:28; I Peter 2:21-23

V. God’s Creation of Humanity

We believe that God created human beings in his own image and likeness to glorify and enjoy him forever and that from the beginning God made them either male or female, equal as persons in value and worth and yet distinct from and complementary to one another. We believe that these divinely ordained differences between male and female reflect God’s original creation design and are meant for human good and flourishing in all areas of life. We believe that God’s command is that sexual relations be preserved for and remain exclusive to the divine institution of human marriage, which God ordained as the lifelong union of one man to one woman as a picture of the unbreakable bond between Christ and his Bride the Church. We believe that the surpassing worth of a human being as God’s image-bearer and the divine design of each human being as male or female are to be acknowledged, honoured, and celebrated from the moment of conception to natural death.

Genesis 1:26-28; 2:18-25; 9:5-6; Exodus 20:14; 21:22-25; Leviticus 18:20-23; Psalm 8:4-8; 139:13-16; Isaiah 43:7; Mark 10:6; I Corinthians 6:9; Eph. 5:22-33; I Timothy 2:13; Hebrews 13:4

VI. The Fall of Humanity

We believe that the first man, Adam, sinned and thereby brought physical, spiritual and eternal death, which is separation from God, to all of his descendants. We believe that, as a consequence, all human beings, save Jesus Christ alone, are born with a sinful nature and sin by choice and are therefore under condemnation.

Genesis 1:26; 2:17; 3; 5:2; Ecclesiastes 2:11; Jeremiah 17:9; John 5:24; Romans 3:19; 5:19; 9:22; II Thessalonians 1:9; James 1:14; Revelation 19:3,20; 20:10,14,15

VII. Jesus Christ’s Saving Work

We believe that by His perfect obedience to God and by His suffering and sacrificial death as the perfect Lamb of God, Jesus Christ obtained forgiveness of sins and the gift of perfect righteousness for all who trust in God through Christ. We believe that Christ, through living a perfect life and dying in our place as a propitiatory and substitutionary atonement for us, the just for the unjust, absorbed our punishment and appeased the wrath of God against us. We believe, moreover, that the death of Christ also obtained the omnipotent New Covenant mercy of repentance and faith for God’s people.

John 1:29; 6:37; Romans 3:21-28; 5:9,18-19; 8:1,3; I Corinthians 15:3; Galatians 3:13; Ephesians 1:7; Philippians 1:29; 3:9; II Timothy 2:25; Hebrews 9:15; I Peter 2:24; 3:18; I John 2:2; Revelation 22:17

VIII. The Holy Spirit’s Saving Work

We believe that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and Son to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and to regenerate, sanctify, and empower all who believe in Jesus Christ. We believe that the Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Christ and that He is an abiding helper, teacher, and guide.

John 14:16,17,26; 15:26,27; 16:7-14; Romans 8:9; I Corinthians 3:16; 6:19; Galatians 5:22-26

IX. Regeneration

We believe that those who repent and forsake sin and trust Jesus Christ as Savior have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and have become new creatures, and so are delivered from condemnation and receive eternal life.

Deuteronomy 10:16; 30:6; Jeremiah 31:33; Ezekiel 36:26; John 1:13; 3:1-16; 5:24; 8:12; 10:26-28; Romans 8:1; II Corinthians 5:17; Hebrews 8:10; 10:16

X. Justification

We believe that God freely justifies the ungodly by faith alone apart from works, pardoning their sins, and reckoning them as righteous and acceptable in His presence. We believe that faith is thus the sole instrument by which we, as sinners, are united to Christ, whose perfect righteousness and satisfaction for sins is alone the ground of our acceptance with God. We believe that the righteousness by which we come into right standing with God is accomplished for us, outside ourselves, and is imputed to us.

Jeremiah 23:5-6; Romans 3:21-22,28; 4:4-8; 5:18-19; II Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 3:8-9; Titus 3:5-7

XI. Sanctification

We believe that the faith by which, alone, one receives the gift of justification, does not remain alone in the person so justified, but produces, by the Holy Spirit, the fruit of love and leads necessarily to sanctification. We believe that faith that does not yield the fruit of good works is dead, being no true faith.

Acts 26:18; Romans 4:4-8; Galatians 5:22-23; Colossians 1:4-5; II Thessalonians 2:13; Titus 2:11-14; James 2:17-20,26; I John 2:3-4; 4:8,20

XII. Christian Conduct

We believe that a Christian should live for the glory of God and the well-being of his fellow men; that his conduct should be blameless before the world; that he should be a faithful steward of his possessions; and that he should seek to realize for himself and others the full stature of maturity in Christ.

Matthew 22:39; ; John 14:15,23-24; Romans 12:1-3; I Corinthians 4:2; 10:31; II Corinthians 9:6-9; Colossians 1:9-10; Hebrews 12:1-2; I John 2:3-6

XIII. The Church

We believe in the universal church, a living spiritual body of which Christ is the head and all regenerated persons are members. We believe in the local church, consisting of a company of believers in Jesus Christ, baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and associated for worship, work, and fellowship. We believe that God has laid upon the members of the local church the primary task of giving the gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost world. We believe that Christ’s atonement for sin warrants and impels a universal offering of the gospel to all persons, so that to every person it may be truly said, “Whosoever will may come for cleansing at this fountain of life, and whoever does come, Jesus will not cast out.” We believe that local churches are called by biblical example and by their union in Christ with the universal church to cooperate with one another in our mission to proclaim the Kingdom on earth.

Acts 1:8; 2:42; Ephesians 2:19-22; 5:19-21; Colossians 1:23; Hebrews 10:23-25

XIV. The Ordinances

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has committed two ordinances to the local church, baptism and the Lord's Supper. We believe that Christian baptism, performed in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, is the sign of the New Covenant in Christ and proclaims our union with him in his death and resurrection. We believe that the Lord's Supper was instituted by Christ for the commemoration of His death. We believe that these two ordinances should be observed and administered until the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Matthew 28:18-20; Romans 6:3-5; I Corinthians 11:23-26

XV. The Last Things

We believe in the personal and visible return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth and the establishment of His Kingdom. We believe in the resurrection of the body, the final judgment, the eternal joy of the righteous and the endless suffering of the wicked.

Matthew 16:27; Mark 14:62; John 14:3; Acts 1:11; I Corinthians 4:5; 15; Philippians 3:20; I Thessalonians 4:15; II Thessalonians 1:7-10; II Timothy 4:1; Titus 2:13; Revelation 20:4-6,11-15