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What We Believe

The Bible

We believe that all Scripture is divinely inspired (verbal, plenary inspiration) and infallible (inerrant) in its original manuscripts (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21), and is profitable as a complete treasure of divine wisdom, knowledge, and salvation (2 Timothy 3:16-17). It is the absolute standard by which all will be judged (John 12:48); this standard is eternal and far superior to the human measure of tradition, reason, and experience. 

The purpose of the Scriptures is to reveal the character and will of God (Luke 24:25,32; Hebrews 1:1-2), the character and nature of man (James 1:22-25), and God’s plan of salvation (Romans 10:17; 1 Timothy 3:15; James 1:18).

The Bible cleanses (Psalm 119:9; John 15:3), preserves (Psalm 119:11), matures (1 Peter 2:2-3), directs (Psalm 119), strengthens and empowers (Mark 2:2, Acts 8:25) the believer. This Book we “do well that we take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place” (2 Peter 1:19).

We believe the accurate interpretation of the Bible stresses the importance of every word (Luke 16:17) in a literal meaning unless the facts of the immediate context, studied in the light of related passages, indicate clearly otherwise.

God

  1. The Trinity

  • We believe there is only one God (Exodus 20:3-5; Deuteronomy 4:35, 6:4), manifested in three distinct Persons (Matthew 28:19; Ephesians 2:18; 1 John 5:7): the Father (Romans 1:7), the Son (Hebrews 1:8; John 20:30), and the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3-4).

   2. The Father

  • We believe that God the Father is eternal (Hebrews 1:12; Psalm 90:2), self-existent, independent in Himself, with all things dependent upon Him (Exodus 3:14; John 5:26), all-powerful (Hebrews 6:18; Jeremiah 32:17), unchangeable (Psalm 102:26-28; Isaiah 48:12; Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 1:11-12), infinite (Matthew 5:48; Psalm 102:26-28) in relation to time (Psalm 102, 90:2), in relation to space (Jeremiah 23:23-24; Psalm 139:7-12; Acts 17:24-28), and in relation to knowledge (Job 11:7-8, 37:16; Psalm 147:5; 1 John 3:20). The Father communicates Himself to man through nature (Romans 1:19, 20), through His Son (Hebrews 1:1-2), in His attributes of wisdom (Colossians 2:2-3; James 1:5), goodness (Romans 2:4), holiness (Leviticus 19:2; 1 Samuel 2:2), justice (Romans 3:26), mercy (2 Corinthians 1:3) and truth (Romans 3:4). The basic essence of God’s character is Spirit (John 4:24)), Love (1 John 4:8), and Light, which is Holiness and Truth (1 John 1:7)

  • In perfect love, the Father redeems all those who receive by faith His son Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord (1 John 4:10). He is the Creator and the sustainer of all things by His immediate Presence (1 Peter 5:10-11; Ecclesiastes 3:11-15). He is Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (Mark 1:1; Eph 3:14)

   3. The Son

  • We believe that Jesus is the Christ, Messiah, the Son of God (John 1:34; 10:30, 20:31), that in order to redeem fallen, sinful man, He took on Himself the form of man through the Virgin Birth (Luke 1:34-35; 1 Timothy 1:15) and thereby became God incarnate (John 1:14,18), that He lived in perfect harmony with God, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15), that He lived in perfect harmony with God and His word (Luke 23:41; John 15:10), and that He voluntarily suffered death and in so was the substitutionary sacrifice for the sin of all mankind (1 Peter 3:18; 1 John 2:2), that He physically rose from the dead (Acts 4:10), ascended into heaven, and is now enthroned at the right hand of God the Father as Mediator, Intercessor, Advocate, and High Priest for the repentant and redeemed sinner (Romans 8:34,; 1 John 2:1; Hebrews 4:14), that He will come again in the same manner in which He ascended (Acts 1:11) and will receive into His eternal Presence all those who have accepted Him as Savior and Lord and, therefore, have been born again (Mark 13:27).

The Holy Spirit

We believe the Holy Spirit is God, equal with the Father and Son and of the same nature (1 Corinthians 12:4-6), that He was active in the creation (Romans 5:19), that His presence in the unbelieving world restrains Satan until God’s purpose is fulfilled (Isaiah 40:7; 2 Thessalonians 2:7), that He reproves the world of sin, righteousness and judgement (John 16:7-11), that He bears witness to the Gospel in preaching and ministering the Word (John 15:26-27), that He is the Agent of the new birth (Romans 8:11), that He seals (Ephesians 4:30), guides (Acts 16:26), teaches (1 Corinthians 2:13; 1 John 2:27), witnesses (Romans 8:16), helps (Romans 8:26), sanctifies (Romans 15:16), and empowers the believer (Romans8:4, 13-14). We believe that the fruit of the Spirit, that is: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance (Galatians 5:22-23), characterizes every genuine, Spirit-filled Christian. We believe that the Scriptures command the believer to be continually filled by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). We believe the gifts of the Spirit (Romans 12:3-8; 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, 28-30) are truly of God when Biblically interpreted and practiced. We believe the “sign gifts” listed in Mark 16:17-18 were given to convince the unbelieving Jew (1 Corinthians 14:21-22 of the Divine authenticity of the early Apostles. We believe the “sign gifts,” such as speaking in foreign languages by Divine wisdom, and healing by Divine power, are not necessary for our day and have been Scripturally replaced (2 Peter 1:19-21; James 5:14-16).

Man and Sin

We believe that man was created innocent by the special act of God as recorded in Genesis 1:27 and 2:7. We believe man was created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) for the purpose of glorifying God (Romans 3:23; 1 Corinthians 10:31). Through the temptation and deception of Satan, Adam voluntarily transgressed and fell from his privileged position of spiritual fellowship and of holiness (Genesis 3). As a result of Adam’s sin, the ground is cursed (Genesis 3:17; Romans 8:20), sorrow and pain accompany the woman in child-bearing (Genesis 3:16), the woman lives in submission to her husband (Genesis 3:16; 1 Timothy 2:11-14), work is arduous labor (Genesis 3:19), and all mankind is subjected to physical and spiritual death (Genesis 3:19; Romans 5:12). We believe that, due to Adam’s sin, man is, by his nature, sinful (Genesis 6:5; 8:21; Psalm 51:5; Romans 5:19) and that, therefore, all men are sinners before God (Romans 3:9,10,22-23; Psalm 14; Isaiah 53:6), that all men are in the helpless captivity of Satan and the flesh (Romans 7; John 8:3-16; Ephesians 2:3), and that the entire world lies in condemnation and death (Romans 3:19; Galatians 3:10).

 

We believe that the entire nature of man is affected by sin: his understanding is darkened (Ephesians 4:18; 1 Corinthians 2:14), his heart is deceitful and wicked (Jeremiah 17:9-10), his mind and conscience are defiled (Genesis 6:5; Titus1:15), his flesh is decadent (2 Corinthians 7:5; Ephesians 2:13), his spirit is dead (Romans 7:8-15), and thereby man is totally depraved and destitute of any goodness or righteousness (Romans 7:11; Isaiah 64:6).

 

Salvation

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures as a substitutionary sacrifice (1 Corinthians 15:3-4; 1 Peter 1:18; 2 Corinthians 5:21) and that He was resurrected from the grave according to the Scriptures, thereby completely satisfying the penalty of our sin and sealing salvation for the redeemed (1 Corinthians 15:20-22; Acts 2:24-36), that all who believe on Him are justified on the basis of His shed blood (Romans 3:24-25; 1 Peter 1:18-19).

We believe that salvation is by God’s sovereign grace alone and is received through faith and not of any human merit or works (Ephesians 2:8-9; Philippians 3:3-21). Since salvation is a work of God and not of man (John 1:12-13) the Scriptures also teach that once a sinner is genuinely redeemed to God and saved from his sin, his salvation in Christ is eternal and never removed (Romans 8:29-39; Hebrews 6:4-6; 1 John 3:6)

 

The Church

We believe that the true Church is made up of all those, since Pentecost (Acts 2:1ff), who have by faith received Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord, who have been redeemed out of every race and nation (Acts 2:47, 1 Corinthians 12:12-14)

We believe in the bodily resurrection of the saved and unsaved (John 5:22-29), the everlasting blessedness of the saved (John 8:51; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14), and the everlasting punishment of the unsaved (Matthew 25:41-46; Mark 9:43-50)

We believe that the local church is an organized body of baptized believers (Acts 2:41; 1 Corinthians 1:1-3) who are associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the Gospel (Acts 2:41-42), who observe the New Testament ordinances of water Baptism and the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 19-20), who exercise the gifts, rights and privileges invested in them by His Word and Spirit (Ephesians 4:7) and work for the spreading of the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth (Matthew 28:20; Acts 1:8).

We believe the Church of Jesus Christ is distinct from Israel (1 Corinthians 10:32), that the covenants made with Israel will be fulfilled in relation to Israel and not to the Church.

 

Ordinance of Baptism

We believe that water baptism is a Christ-ordained testimony signifying the believer’s previous union and baptism in Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13), by His death, burial, and resurrection (Romans 6:3-5; Colossians 2:12) by the Holy Spirit. We believe the Scriptures teach immersion as the proper mode of water baptism (John 3:23; Acts 8:38-39; Romans 6:4; Hebrews 10:22). We believe the proper candidates of Baptism are only those who give credible evidence of repentance and belief in Christ as their Savior (Matthew 3:2-6; Acts 2:37-38, 10:47)

 

Ordinance of the Lord’s Supper

We believe that the Lord’s supper is a Christ-ordained testimony and memorial showing the Lord’s death til He comes again (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). Like Baptism, this ordinance must be observed only by genuine Christians (1 Corinthians 11:27). Even believers must be careful not to “eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily” by failing to examine and judge ourselves and to confess our sins (1 Corinthians 11:27-34).

 

Last Things

We believe in the “blessed hope” of the personal, pre-millennial, 

pretribulational and imminent return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We believe in:

The Rapture of the Church (1 Thessalonians 4; Revelation 4:1) The Great Tribulation (Daniel 9; Matthew 24; Revelation 4-19) The Anti-Christ (2 Thessalonians 2; Revelation 13) The Restoration of Israel (Jeremiah 30:1-11; Romans 9-11) The Battle of Armageddon (Revelation 16:16; Ezekiel 38-39) The Return of the Lord (Revelation 19:11-21) The Millennial (1000 year) Reign of Christ (Revelation 20:1-6) The Final Resurrection and Judgement (Revelation 20:7-15) The New Heavens and Earth (Revelation 21-22)

We also believe in the bodily resurrection of the saved and unsaved (John 5:22-29), the everlasting blessedness of the saved (John 8:51; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14), and the everlasting punishment of the unsaved (Matthew 25:41-46; Mark 9:43-50).

Our entire church constitution/covenant is provided below for your reference.

ABOUT US

Grace Bible Church strives to teach the Bible so those that attend can know the Lord more fully and consequently share the love of christ to others so the Lord is known to all.

ADDRESS

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856-358-3688

153 Burlington Rd

Elmer, NJ 08318

admin@gbcelmer.com

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