Statement of Faith
This Statement of Faith ensures to the best degree possible that SeminaryGal.com is devoted to making the theological understandable and cares about the message each speaker might bring to your audience. Every speaker must agree to this Statement of Faith before inclusion in the compilation. We encourage you to hold speakers accountable to this Statement of Faith–our common theological convictions:
STATEMENT OF FAITH
God
1. We believe in one God, Creator of all things, holy, completely perfect, and eternally existing in a loving and unified community of three equally divine “Persons”: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Perfect in knowledge and sovereign in both will and power, God’s graciously desired to create a people for His glory.
The Bible
2. We believe that God has spoken to us in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments. As the Word of God— God-inspired yet through human authors—the Bible presents the complete revelation of His will for salvation, constitutes the final authority for righteous living, can be trusted in all that it teaches, and God will use His Word as the standard by which we will be judged.
Humanity
3. We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His image, but they rebelled against God and fell into a state of sin when tempted by Satan. With Adam as our representative in the Garden of Eden, human beings have since been sinners by nature and by choice. Because of humanity’s sin, we separated ourselves from God and are subject to His judgment. Only through God’s saving work in Jesus Christ can our relationship be restored. We are made new—represented, rescued, reconciled and renewed in Christ alone.
Jesus Christ
4. We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, fully God and fully human. He is one Person in two natures, Israel’s promised Messiah, and the Redeemer of all who will trust in Him for salvation. He was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father. He currently intercedes for us as our High Priest and Advocate until the Day of Judgment when He will judge the living and the dead.
The Work of Christ
5. We believe that Jesus Christ, as our representative and substitute, shed His blood on the cross as the once for all time, unique, and perfectly sufficient sacrifice for our sins. His death and vindication in His victorious resurrection constitute the only ground for our salvation.
The Holy Spirit
6. We believe that the Holy Spirit glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ in all that He does. He convicts the world with regard to sin and righteousness and judgment. By Him, we are regenerated, baptized into union with Christ, adopted, sealed, and become heirs of salvation. He is our Advocate, indwelling believers upon Jesus Christ. He is perfectly able to illuminate, guide, equip, comfort, and empower believers for Christian life and service.
The Church
7. We believe that the true Church is a spiritual Church comprised of all who have—by God’s grace—exhibited true faith in Christ alone. The true Church is united by the Holy Spirit and is considered to be the body of Christ, of which He is the Head. The true Church is spiritual and unseen but is visibly expressed as local churches comprised of believers upon Jesus Christ who have been sealed by His Holy Spirit.
Christian Living
8. We believe that God commands us to love Him and obey Him above all others. We are to love and serve others sacrificially as a dimension of our love for God. Our calling becomes to care for one another, to show compassion toward the poor, and proclaim the Gospel’s freedom for those oppressed by worldly powers. Our Great Commission involves making disciples among all nations, teaching them to obey the Gospel of Christ in both word and deed.
Christ’s Return
9. We believe in the personal, bodily return of our Lord Jesus Christ at the end of the age. His imminent return demands our constant expectancy, inspiring believers to consistently pursue godly living, sacrificial service and outreach—since no one knows the day or hour of His return apart from the Father.
End Times
10. We believe that, at the end of the age, God will raise the dead bodily and judge the world by what each of us did—by our faith—with God’s gracious provision of salvation in Jesus Christ. At judgment, unbelievers will be eternally and completely separated from God and believers will enter into the eternal presence of God in the new heaven and the new earth, according to the Scriptures.
