What We Believe

Covenant Bible Church embraces a theology which shares much in common with the rich heritage of the Reformation. Our doctrinal position is set forth in the 1689 London Baptist confession, also known as the 1744 Philadelphia Confession of Faith¹. It is not, of course, to be held as an infallible and authoritative rule. Believers are bound by Scripture, by the whole of Scripture, and by nothing but the Scripture.

At the same time, however, is is undeniably useful to have a clear statement of the Faith we believe and practice and commend to all men. We believe that the unity of the body is dependent largely upon our doctrinal integrity. We must agree about Christ before we can agree in Christ.

What follows is a summary of those doctrines we consider to be foundational truths we must all embrace for Covenant Bible Church to maintain doctrinal integrity and function in the unity of the Spirit:

• We believe in the one true sovereign God, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, existing in unity and in the tri-personality of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

• We believe in the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, His sinless life, His vicarious death, His burial and His resurrection, His ascension to heaven, and His present ministry as high priest and advocate for His people at the right hand of God.

• We believe in the deity and personality of the Holy Spirit, who indwells every believer, the effective agent both in regeneration and in that holy living which is the necessary evidence of true faith.

• We believe in the divine inspiration and complete trustworthiness of the entire Bible as the word of God and its supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct.

• We believe in the radical depravity of man through Adam's fall and his absolute helplessness to please God apart from the new birth.

• We believe in the unique and historic death of the Lord Jesus Christ for our sins, a voluntary substitutionary sacrifice, and the justification of the believer by the appropriation of this redemption through faith alone.

• We believe that God the Father in his sovereignty, and before the foundation of the world, gave to God the Son those whom he had chosen in Christ for whom Christ died, and to whom He guarantees eternal security.

• We believe in the one holy, universal church, which is the body of Christ, and to which all true believers belong.

• We believe in that "Blessed Hope", the visible return of Christ and the bodily resurrection of the redeemed to be with God eternally, and the bodily resurrection of the unredeemed to judgment and eternal punishment.

¹Please note that we take exception fo Chapter 26, Paragraph 4, regarding the reformers' view of the Pope as the "Antichrist."