Articles of Faith

Alaska Baptist Association

 

ARTICLE I
OF THE SCRIPTURE

We believe that the Holy Bible, as originally written, was verbally inspired and the product of Spirit-controlled men, and therefore, is truth without error. We believe it is God’s complete written revelation to man. We believe the Bible to be the true center of Christian union and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and opinions shall be tried. – II Tim 3:16-17 /  II Pet 1:19, 21

ARTICLE II
OF CREATION

 

We believe the Genesis account of six literal 24-hour days of creation and believe that man came by direct creation of God and not by evolution or any type of evolutionary process. – Gen 1 and 2 / Col 1:16-17 / Jn 1:3

ARTICLE III
OF THE TRUE GOD

 

We believe there is one, and only one, living and true God — an infinite Spirit; the Maker and Supreme Ruler of heaven and earth; inexpressibly glorious in holiness; and worthy of all possible honor, confidence, and love. We believe that in the unity of the Godhead there are three persons — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit which are equal in every divine perfection and which execute distinct but harmonious offices in the great work of redemption. – Ex 20:2-3 / I Cor 8:6 / I Jn 5:7 / Rev 4:11

ARTICLE IV
OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST

Section 1 – Of the Virgin Birth

We believe that Jesus was begotten of the Holy Spirit in a miraculous manner — born of Mary, a virgin, as no other man was ever born or can be born of woman — and that He is both fully God and fully man. – Gen 3:15 / Isa 7:14 / Mat 1:18-25 / Lk 1:35 / Jn 1:4 / Col 1:19 / Col 2:9
Section 2 – Of the Atonement of Sin

We believe that the salvation of sinners is wholly of grace through the mediatorial offices of the Son of God who, by the appointment of the Father, freely took upon Him our nature, yet without sin, honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and by His death made a full and vicarious atonement for our sins. We believe that His atonement was not setting us an example by His death as a martyr but was a voluntary substitution of Himself in the sinner’s place — the just dying for the unjust – Christ, the Lord, bearing our sin in His own body on the tree. We believe that having risen from the dead, Christ is now enthroned in heaven, and that, uniting in His wonderful person the tenderest sympathies with divine perfection, He is in every way qualified to be a suitable, compassionate, and all-sufficient Savior. – Acts 15:11 / Rom 3:24 / Jn 3:16 / I Cor 15:3 / Eph 2:8 / II Cor 5:21

Section 3 – Of the Grace in the New Creation

We believe that in order to be saved sinners must be born again; that the new birth is a new creation in Christ Jesus; that it is instantaneous and not a process; that in the new birth the one dead in trespasses and in sins is made a partaker of the divine nature and receives eternal life, the free gift of God; that the new creation is brought about in a manner above our comprehension, solely by the power of the Holy Spirit in connection with divine truth, so as to secure our voluntary obedience to the gospel; and that its proper evidence appears in the holy fruits of repentance and faith and newness of life. – Jn 3:3 / II Cor 5:17 / I Jn 5:1 / Jn 3:5-7 / Acts 16:30-33 / II Peter 1:4 / Romans 6:23 / Ephesians 2:1 / II Cor 5:19 / Col 2:13 / Jn 3
Section 4 – Of Justification

We believe that the great gospel blessing which Christ secures to such as believe in Him is justification; that justification is the judicial act of God whereby the sinner is declared righteous; that it includes the pardon of sin and the gift of eternal life on principles of righteousness; that it is not bestowed in consideration of any works of righteousness which we have done but that solely through faith in the Redeemer’s blood His righteousness is imputed to us. – Acts 13:39 / Isa 53:11 / Zech 13:1 / Rom 5:1, 9 / Romans 8:1 / II Cor 5:21

 

ARTICLE V
OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine Person with God the Father and God the Son of the same nature; that He was active in the creation; that in His relation to the unbelieving world He will restrain the evil one until God’s purpose is fulfilled; that He convicts of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; that He bears witness to the truth of the gospel in preaching and testimony; that He is the Agent in the new birth; that He seals, baptizes into the body of Christ, and indwells at the moment of salvation; and that His ongoing ministries are that He endues, guides, teaches, witnesses, sanctifies, and helps the believer. We believe that the Holy Spirit’s purpose is to glorify Christ and not Himself. We believe that the miraculous sign gifts are not for the church today. – Jn 14:16-17 / Mat 28:79 / Heb 9:74 / Jn 14:26 / Lk 1:35 / Jn 16:8-11, 13-14 / Acts 5:30-32 / Jn 3:5-6 / Eph 1:13-14 / Mk 1:8 / Jn 7:33 / Acts 11:16 / Lk 24:49 / Rom 8:14-27 / I Cor 12:13

ARTICLE VI
OF MAN AND THE FALL

We believe that man was created in innocence under the law of his Maker but, by voluntary transgression, fell from his sinless and happy state in consequence of which all mankind are now sinners, not only by constraint, but of choice and that they are under just condemnation without defense or excuse. – Gen 3:1-8, 24 / Rom 5:10-19 / Rom 1:18, 32

 

ARTICLE VII
OF SATAN – CALLED THE DEVIL

 

We believe in the personality of Satan; that he is the unholy god of this age and the author of all the powers of darkness; and that he is destined to the judgment of an eternal justice in the Lake of Fire. While we believe that demons exercise great influence and power in the world today, we do not believe a true believer can be demon-possessed. – Mat 4:1-3 / II Cor 4:4 / Rev 20:10 / Mat 12:29 / I Jn 4:4 / I Cor 6:19-20

ARTICLE VIII
OF THE INVISIBLE CHURCH

In the invisible or universal sense, we believe that the Church consists of all who, from Pentecost to the Rapture, have been born of the Spirit of God and have by that same Spirit been baptized into the Body of Christ. – Eph 3:l-4 / Tit 3:5-6 / I Cor 12:13 / Eph 1:22-23 / Eph 5:23 / Col 1:16

 

ARTICLE IX

OF THE LOCAL CHURCH

We believe that a local church is a congregation of immersed believers associated by covenant of faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the ordinances of Christ; governed by His laws; and exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by his Word; that its officers are pastors and deacons whose qualifications, claims, and duties are clearly defined in the Scripture. We believe that the true mission of the church is found in Ephesians 4:11-16. We hold that the local church has the absolute right of self-government, free from the interference of any hierarchy of individuals or organizations; that the one and only superintendent is Christ through the Holy Spirit; that it is Scriptural for true churches to cooperate with each other in contending for the faith and for the furtherance of the gospel; that each local church is the sole judge of the measure and method of its cooperation; and that on all matters of membership, policy, government, discipline, and benevolence the will of the local church is final. – Acts 2:41 / I Cor 11:2 / Eph 1:22-23 / Eph 4:11 / Eph 5:23 / Acts 20:17-28 / I Tim 3:1-13 / Col 1:18 / Acts 15:13-18

 

ARTICLE X
OF BAPTISM AND THE LORD’S SUPPER

 

We believe that the two ordinances given to the local church by the Lord Jesus Christ are baptism and the Lord’s supper. We believe that Christian baptism is the immersion of believers in water to show, by a solemn and beautiful emblem, our faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Savior with its effect in our death to sin and resurrection to a new life, and that it is a prerequisite to the privilege of church membership. We believe that the Lord’s supper is the commemoration of His death until He comes and should always be preceded by solemn self-examination. – Acts 8:26-39 /  Jn 3:23 / Rom 6:3-5 / Col 2:12 / Mat 3:16 / I Cor 11:23-28

 

ARTICLE Xl
OF THE SECURITY OF THE SAINTS

We believe that all of the redeemed are saved and kept by God’s power and thus are secure in Christ, forever being sealed by the Holy Spirit at salvation unto the Day of Redemption. – Jn 6:37-40 / Rom 8:1, 38-39 / I Cor 1:4-8 /  I Peter 1:5

 

We believe 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 the flesh. – Rom 13:13-14 / Gal 5:13 / Tit 2:77-75 / Eph 1:13-14 / Eph 4:30

 

ARTICLE XII
OF THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED

We believe that there is a radical and essential difference between the righteous and the wicked; that only such as through faith are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and sanctified by the Spirit of our God are truly righteous in His esteem while all such as continue in impenitence and unbelief are in His sight wicked and under the curse; and that this distinction holds among men both in and after death in the everlasting joy of the saved and the everlasting conscious suffering of the lost. – Mal 3:18 / Gen 18:23 / Rom 6:17-18 / I Jn 5:19 / Rom 6:23 / Pro 14:32 / Lk 6:25 / Mat 25:34-41 / Jn 8:21

 

ARTICLE XIII
OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT

We believe that civil government is of divine appointment for the interests and good order of human society; that magistrates are to be prayed for, conscientiously honored, and obeyed except in things opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ who is the only Lord of the conscience and the coming Prince of the earth. – Rom 13:1-7 / II Sam 23:3 / Exo 8:21-22 / Acts 23:5 / Matthew 22:21 / Acts 5:19-20 / Acts 4:19-20 / Dan 3:17-18

 

ARTICLE XIV
OF THE RESURRECTION; THE PERSONAL, VISIBLE, PRE-TRIBULATIONAL,
PRE-MILLENNIAL RETURN OF CHRIST; AND, RELATED EVENTS

 

We believe in:

  1. The bodily resurrection. – Mat 28:6-7 / Lk 24:39 / Jn 20:27 / I Cor 15:4 / Mk 16:6 / Lk 24:2-6
  2. The ascension. – Acts 1:9-11 / Lk 24:51 / Mk 16:19 / Rev 3:21 / Heb 12:2
  3. The high priesthood. – Heb 8:6 / I Tim 2:5 / I Jn 2:1 / Heb 2:17 / Heb 5:9-10
  4. The resurrection of the righteous dead at the rapture. – I Thess 4:13-18 / I Cor 15:42-44, 52
  5. The bodily glorification of those living in Christ at the rapture of the church. – I Cor 15:51-53 /

I Thess 4:13-18 / Phil 3:20-21

  1. The judgment seat of Christ. – Rom 14:10 / I Cor 3:13-15 / II Cor 5:10
  2. The second advent. – Zech 14:4 / Rev 1:7-8 / Rev 19:11-16
  3. The throne of David. – Lk 1:32 / Isa 9:6-7 / Acts 2:29-30
  4. The millennial reign. – I Cor 15:25 / Isa 32:1 / Isa 11:4-5 / Psa 72:8 / Rev 20:6, 14
  5. The judgment of the Great White Throne. – Rev 20:11-15
  6. The new heaven and the new earth. – Rev 21, 22

 

ARTICLE XV
BIBLICAL SEPARATION

Section 1 – Personal Separation
We believe that the Scriptures teach that every believer should be separated unto God from the world and should walk by the aid of the Holy Spirit in Christian love and holiness, exhibiting qualities of honesty, integrity, forgiveness, and loving-kindness. We further believe that any achievement in these characteristics will be evidenced by sincere humility and genuine zeal for the advancement of the cause of Christ. We also believe that the Scriptures admonish every believer not to love the world or the things in the world but rather to flee evil desires, avoid every kind of evil, and refrain from questionable practices which destroy one’s testimony, offend one’s brother, and fail to glorify God. – Rom 6:11-13 / Rom 14:19-21 / I Cor 6:18-20 / I Cor 8:9-13 / I Cor 10:23, 31-33 / II Cor 7:1 / Gal 5:22-25 / Eph 4:22-32 / Eph 5:1-21 / Phil 4:8 / I Thess 4:7 / I Pet 1:14-16 / I Pet 6:5-6 / I Jn 2:15-17

 

Section 2 – Ecclesiastical Separation
We believe that the Scriptures teach that the believer should be separated from the apostasy of ecclesiastical organizations made up of radicals, liberals, and those who sanction theological compromise. This doctrine is based upon God’s eternal principle of division between truth and error and upon His specific command to be separate from unbelievers and disobedient brethren. This truth is to be practiced with an attitude of devotion to God, humility, compassion, and conviction so as to create a proper condition and atmosphere for the salvation of the unbeliever through the Gospel of God and for the restoration of the disobedient brother. We believe the ecumenical evangelism which involves apostates violates the principles taught in God’s Word. We further believe that the Scriptures teach that we should separate from those men and organizations which refuse to practice Biblical separation. – Rom 16:17-18 / I Cor 5:9-13 / II Cor 6:14-18 / Gal 1:8-9 / I Thess 3:6, 14-15 / I Tim 6:3-5 / II Tim 3:1-5 / Tit 3:10-11 / II Jn 9-11