What We Believe
The
following paragraphs simply summarize what we believe as a church
family. We believe the Bible and teach it to be perfectly true. Every
belief and teaching of Maranatha Baptist Church flows from
God’s Word. For a more detailed account and description of
our doctrine, feel free to request a doctrinal statement from the
church office.
The Bible
We believe
the Bible to be the revealed Word of God, fully and verbally inspired
of God. We believe the Scriptures to be the inerrant, infallible Word
of God, as found within the 66 books from Genesis to Revelation. We
believe God not only inspired every word, but has preserved them
through the ages. We believe the King James Version is the preserved
Word of God for the English-speaking people (Psalm 12:6-7; II Timothy
3:15-17; I Peter 1:23-25; II Peter 1:19-21).
God
We believe
in one God, who is eternal, self-existent, infinite, and immutable. We
believe He has one nature, one essence, and one substance, yet
manifests Himself to man in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit (Deuteronomy 6:4; I Timothy 1:17; James 1:17; I John 4:4).
Son
We believe
Jesus Christ to be the one and only Saviour of mankind. We believe
Jesus Christ to be eternally God and to possess all the attributes of
Deity. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was virgin born, that He
was God incarnate, and that the purposes of the incarnation were to
reveal God, to redeem men, and to rule over God's kingdom. We believe
Jesus Christ never relinquished any attributes of His Deity, but merely
veiled them. We believe He lived a perfect, sinless life, at the end of
which He was offered for all mankind as a substitutionary sacrifice for
man's sin. This sacrifice was a just payment to God for the forgiveness
of sin. It was activated by His death through the shedding of His blood
on the Cross and was accepted by God upon His resurrection. We believe
He ascended into Heaven after His resurrection to be seated at the
right hand of the Father, waiting for the time of receiving His church
at the Rapture, and returning seven years later to earth to rule and
reign as King for 1,000 years (Psalm 2:7-9; Isaiah 7:14, 9:6, 43:11;
Micah 5:2; Matthew 1:25; Luke 1:26-35; John 1:1, 1:3, 14, 18, 29;
Romans 3:19-25; Romans 5:6-15; Philippians 2:5-11; I Thessalonians
4:13-18; I Timothy 2:5; I Timothy 3:16; Titus 2:10-15; Hebrews 7:26,
9:24-28; I Peter 1:19, 2:2; I John 1:3; Revelation 20:1-6).
The Holy Spirit
We believe
the Holy Spirit of God is a person who has personality and all the
attributes of Deity. We believe the Holy Spirit has always been
involved in the affairs of mankind. However, we believe He has a
special ministry which began at Pentecost and will continue until the
Rapture. This ministry includes convicting the world of sin,
righteousness, and judgment. The Holy Spirit was also sent to
regenerate, sanctify, seal, and fill all who have placed their faith in
Jesus Christ (John 3:5-6; John 14:16; Acts 1:5; Acts 11:15; I
Corinthians 3:16; I Corinthians 6:19-20; I Corinthians 12:13).
Sin and Salvation
We believe
all men were born with an inherited sin nature received from our common
ancestor, Adam. We believe that because of his nature, man is a sinner
by choice, and he is totally incapable of reforming himself or ceasing
from his sin by his own power. We believe the only hope of deliverance
for man is a total change of mind concerning his sinful condition and
inability to change it, and a turning to Jesus Christ as the only
Saviour. We believe that only through the substitutionary sacrifice of
Christ on the Cross can a man be delivered from his sin. We believe
that all those who reject Jesus Christ as their Saviour are already
condemned to an eternity in the Lake of Fire (Genesis 5:1-5; Acts 4:19;
Acts 16:31; Romans 3:10-23; Romans 5:6-12; Romans 6:23; Romans 10:9-10;
Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5-6; Revelation 20:11-14).
The New Testament Church
We believe
the church began with the calling out of the twelve apostles by Jesus
Christ and was empowered on the day of Pentecost. We believe the local
church is God's only institution to carry out His work today. We
believe the local church is composed of members who have been saved and
baptized according to the command of Christ, and have voluntarily
united together for the purposes of worship, fellowship, service, and
the Lord's Table. We believe all true believers will be taken up at the
Rapture, just prior to the Tribulation (Matthew 16:16-18; Acts 1:15;
Acts 2:41-43; Acts 11:15; Acts 20:28; I Corinthians 15: 51-58;
Ephesians 1:12-14; Ephesians 5:25-30; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; I
Timothy 3:4-15).
The Last Days
We believe
in the literal interpretation of the Scriptures in their grammatical
and historical context. We believe in the pre-tribulational Rapture of
the church saints, followed by the seven-year Tribulation. We believe
in the pre-millennial return of Christ to the earth and His literal
rule of one thousand years. Following this one thousand years is the
Great White Throne judgment and then the new Heaven and new earth (I
Corinthians 15:51-58; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; I Thessalonians 5:1-9;
Revelation 19-22).