Statement of Doctrine
Every person, in order to become or remain a member of Cornerstone Bible Church, shall be required to confess their acceptance of the virgin born, crucified, and resurrected Jesus Christ as their Savior, and to subscribe to the following articles of faith:
The Holy Scriptures
We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the verbally inspired Word of God, the final authority for faith and life, inerrant in the original writings, infallible and God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21; Matthew 5:18; John 16:12-13; 1 Thessalonians 2:13).
The Godhead
We believe in one Triune God, eternally existing in three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – and that these three are one God; having the same attributes, power, glory and perfections and deserving the same homage, confidence and obedience (Deuteronomy 6:4; 2 Corinthians 13:14).
The Person and Work of Christ
a. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, in order that he might reveal God and redeem sinful man (John 1:1- 2,14; Luke 1:35).
b. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross for all mankind as a representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice, and that the sufficiency of this atoning sacrifice to accomplish the redemption and justification of all who trust in him is assured by his literal, physical resurrection from the dead (Romans 3:24-25; Romans 4:25; Ephesians 1:7; 1 Timothy 4:10; Hebrews 2:9; 1 Peter 1:3-5; 1 Peter 2:24 and 2 Peter 2:1).
c. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to heaven, and is now exalted at the right hand of God, where, as our high priest, he fulfills the ministry of representative, intercessor, and advocate (Acts 1:9-10; Hebrews 9:24; Hebrews 7:25; Romans 8:34; 1 John 2:1-2).
The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit
a. We believe that the Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Godhead who convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; and, that he is the supernatural agent in regeneration, baptizing all believers of this age into the body of Christ, indwelling and sealing them unto the day of reception (John 16:8-11; 2 Corinthians 3:6; 1 Corinthians 12:12-14; Romans 8:9; Ephesians 1:13-14).
b. We believe that He is the divine teacher who guides believers into all truth; and, that it is the privilege and duty of all the saved to be filled with the Spirit (John 16:13; 1 John 2:20, 27; Ephesians 5:18).
The Personality of Satan
We believe that Satan is a created being, the originator of sin and the cause of the fall; that he is the open and declared enemy of God and man; and that he shall be eternally punished in the Lake of Fire (Job 1:6-7; Isaiah 14:12-17; Matthew 4:2-11; Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:10).
The Total Depravity of Man
We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, but that in Adam’s sin the race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God; and that man is totally depraved and, of himself, utterly unable to remedy his lost condition (Genesis 1:26-27; Romans 3:22-24; Romans 5:12; Ephesians 2:1-3,12).
Salvation
a. We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose precious blood was shed on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins (Acts 4:10-12; 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10).
b. We believe that all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God’s power and are thus secure in Christ forever, that it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God’s Word; which, however, clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty as an occasion to sin (Ephesians 2:8-10; John 1:12; Ephesians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:18-19; John 6:37-40; John 10:27-30; Romans 8:1,38-39; 2 Corinthians 5:19; 1 Peter 1:5; Galatians 5:13).
The Nature of a New Creation in Christ
We believe that once a person abides in Christ, they are found to be new creations in respect to their former manner of life (2 Cor. 5:17). The New Testament uses a variety of different adjectives and phrases to describe the new nature of the believers: Born again (Jn. 3:3), slaves of God as opposed to slaves of sin (Rom. 6:17-18), crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20), light (Eph. 5:8), alive (Col. 2:13), regenerated and renewed (Tit. 3:5) and born of God (1 Jn. 3:9). It is not possible for Christians to live continuously in sin (Rom. 6:1-2, 15). The Christian has died to himself and is now freed from sin (Rom. 6:7).
In conjunction with this, while the believer has a new nature in Christ, never-the-less he lives in a world torn apart by sin. Believers will still do battle with sin in their daily life for several reasons: We are still in the flesh (Rom. 7:24-25; Gal. 5:17), we fight the memories of sin in our own life (Eph.2:2-3; Col. 1:21; 1 Tim. 1:13), we fight the system of the world and its accumulative will to sin (1 Jn. 2:15-17) and we fight the residue of what we used to be, even though we may not understand it (Rom. 7:14-23). In this regard, all claims to eradicate sin from our lives is just not possible (Phil. 3:12; 1 Jn. 1:5-2:2), only Christ will be able destroy all sin, which comes from Satan, the world and our own flesh, once and for all when He vanquishes the kingdom of evil into the fires of hell.
The Walk of the Believer
a. We believe that all the saved should live a godly life and walk in such a manner as not to bring reproach upon their Savior and Lord, or cause others to stumble or fall in their walk (Romans 6:5-11; 8:5-10; 12:1-2; 14:13; Galatians 5:16; 1 John 2:15- 17).
b. We further believe that entering into marriage or other entangling alliances with unbelievers is contrary to God’s will and Scriptural truth (2 Corinthians 6:14 – 7:1).
Missions
We believe that it is the obligation of the saved to witness by life and by word to the truths of Holy Scripture and to seek to proclaim the gospel to all mankind (Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8; 2 Corinthians 5:19-20).
The Ministry and Spiritual Gifts
a. We believe that all who are saved are equipped for spiritual service through divine enabling gifts given through the Holy Spirit. God is sovereign in the bestowment of His gifts, and in His infinite wisdom (which human beings can not comprehend) provides these gifts to saved men and women as He deems necessary and appropriate. (1 Corinthians 12:4-11; 2 Corinthians 12:12; Ephesians 4:7-12).
b. We believe that God does hear and answer the prayer of faith, in accord with His own will, for the sick and afflicted (John 15:7; 1 John 5:14-15).
Dispensational Revelation
We believe that the Scriptures are to be interpreted in their natural and literal sense, thus they reveal certain divinely determined dispensations, or rules of life. Three of these (the age of law, the age of the church, and the age of the millennial kingdom) are the subjects of detailed revelation in Scripture (Deuteronomy 29:29; John 1:17; 2 Corinthians 3:7-16; Galatians 3:13-25; Ephesians 1:10; 3:1-6; Colossians 1:24-25; Hebrews 1:1-2; 7:19; Revelation 20:2-6).
The Church
a. We believe that the Church: consists of all who are united to the risen and ascended Son of God; is the body and the espoused bride of Christ; began at Pentecost and is completely distinct from Israel. Its members are constituted as such regardless of membership or non-membership in the organized churches of earth. We believe that by the Holy Spirit, all believers in this age are baptized into, and thus become, one body that is Christ’s whether Jew or Gentile, and having become members one of another, are under solemn duty to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, rising above all sectarian differences, and loving one another fervently with a pure heart (Ephesians 1:22-23; Ephesians 5:25-27; 1 Corinthians 12:12-14; 2 Corinthians 11:2).
b. We believe that the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures (Acts 14:27; Acts 20:17, 28-32; 1 Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11).
c. We believe in the autonomy of the local church free of any external authority or control (Acts 13:1-4; Acts 15:19-31; Acts 20:28; Romans 16:1,4; 1 Corinthians 3:9,16; 1 Corinthians 5:4-7,13; 1 Peter 5:1-4).
d. We believe in the ordinances of believer’s water baptism and the Lord’s Supper as scriptural means of testimony for the church age (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 2:41-42; Acts 18:8; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26).
The Second Advent of Christ
We believe in the personal, imminent, and pre-millennial coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for His redeemed ones; and in His subsequent return to earth to establish His millennial kingdom (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Zechariah 14:4-11; Revelation 19:11- 16; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:9; Revelation 3:10).
The Eternal State
a. We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal life, and the unsaved to judgment and everlasting punishment (Matthew 25:46; John 5:28-29; John 11:25-26; Revelation 20:5-6, 12-13).
b. We believe that the souls of the redeemed are, at death, absent from the body and present with the Lord, where in conscious bliss they await the first resurrection, when spirit, soul, and body are reunited to be glorified forever with the Lord (Luke 23:43; Revelation 20:4-6; 2 Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23; Philippians 3:21; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
c. We believe that the souls of unbelievers remain, after death, in conscious misery until the second resurrection, when with soul and body reunited, they shall appear at the Great White Throne Judgment, and shall be cast into the Lake of Fire, not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting conscious punishment (Luke 16:19-26; Matthew 25:41-46; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; Jude 1:6-7; Mark 9:43-48; Revelation 20:11-15).
Marriage and Family
a. We believe that sexual intimacy is a wonderful gift of God that is only to be expressed within the love and bonds of marriage, and that marriage is a sacred union of one genetic man and one genetic woman (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:1-10; 1 Corinthians 7:3-5; Hebrews 13:4). Therefore, we believe that any other form of sexual intimacy is both immoral and a perversion of God’s gift (Leviticus 18:1-30; Proverbs 6:32; 1 Corinthians 6:18; Romans 1:26-27; 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8).
b. We believe that children are a blessing from God, and that all human life is sacred and worthy of protection from the moment of conception (Genesis 1:26-28; 2:24; Psalm 127 and 128; 139:13-16).
