The Kingdom Statement of Faith:

 

Prelude

 

In the spirit of love and unity, it is with heavy hearts that we acknowledge a departure from the firm foundation of sound doctrine that has guided our reformed tradition for generations. In the pursuit of genuine and loving correction, we find it necessary to address the pressing concern that our beloved church has, in many ways, lost its way.

 

Our Book of Confessions stands as a testament to our shared beliefs, carefully articulated to guide us along the path of righteousness. Yet, with a deep sense of humility, we must recognize that the core tenets of our faith seem to have been diluted, overlooked, or dismissed. Ministers and congregants alike have veered into divergent beliefs, creating a landscape where almost anything is deemed acceptable.

 

Regrettably, the General Assembly, the Synods, and many Presbyteries charged with safeguarding the integrity of our shared faith, have allowed these deviations to persist without necessary correction. In the spirit of love and with a fervent desire for the restoration of our foundation and order, we come together to address these concerns and work towards reclaiming the timeless truths that have anchored us throughout the ages.

 

Furthermore, we cannot overlook the diminishing regard for the view of Scripture that our founders held in such high esteem. The sacred understanding of the Scriptures, which once unified our community, has been compromised. It is imperative that we rekindle the reverence and honor that our founders bestowed upon the Holy Word of God.

 

Let us not forget the voices of the past that have shaped our theological heritage. The wisdom of the Church Triumphant deserves a rightful place in our contemporary discourse. Their voices, echoing through the corridors of time, hold a vote in our theological deliberations, guiding us back to the unwavering truths that have sustained us.

 

In a spirit of loving correction and rooted in a genuine commitment to the principles that shape our identity, may the following statement of faith be presented:

 

God

We believe in one God, one Lord ー God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God is three in one: three persons, one God. Likewise, God is one in three: one God, three persons. Though there are three members of the Godhead, there are not three Gods. The Father is not the Son. The Son is not the Spirit. The Spirit is not the Father. Corresponding to this, the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. The Son is eternally begotten of the Father, and the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son. The undivided substance of God fully dwells in each person of the Godhead. God is infinite, uncreated, eternal, immortal, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-good, unchanging, indivisible, and relational. 

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The Word of God

We believe the Bible, the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, to be the uniquely inspired and infallible Word of God. Scripture is the Word of God because all of it is the ordinary means by which the Holy Spirit reveals Christ, who is the Word of God made flesh. The proclamation of the Scriptures in the Church is also the Word of God insofar as it is faithful to the gospel. The Bible teaches us about God’s character, how we ought to live, and most centrally, God's redemptive story of Christ. By the power and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, God spoke through each human character and writer and His revelation is held intact to this day by that same Spirit. Thus, as Paul writes in 2 Timothy: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be completely equipped for every good work.

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Creation

Speaking the heavens and the earth into being, God created all things with order and purpose. He made man and woman in His own image, giving them dominion over all creation. After seeing all that He had made, He declared His creation “very good”.

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Sin

Sin is any outward transgression of God’s commandments or any inward desire to do so. Adam and Eve fell slaves to sin when they were tempted by the serpent (Satan) in the Garden of Eden to eat of the one tree of which they were commanded not to: the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Thus, Adam and Eve cut themselves off from communion with God and were forbidden to eat from the Tree of Life. As a result, every part of them was corrupted. The guilt of Adam and Eve’s sin was imputed to all naturally conceived offspring thereafter, subjecting humanity to total depravity. Due to original sin, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, deserving hell and eternal misery. Original sin works itself out in our lives such that we do not and cannot choose to do good apart from God’s grace. Without divine intervention, all of humanity would be eternally lost.

Salvation

Christ Jesus is God the Son who came among us and became man by the power of the Holy Ghost through the virgin Mary, who is the Mother of God. Christ, truly God and truly human, lived a perfect and sinless life. He proclaimed the Kingdom of God; preaching and delivering good news to the poor, freedom for the prisoners, sight for the blind, liberation for the oppressed, and forgiveness of sins. He then willingly went to the cross to take our rightful place and atone for our sins; an atonement sufficient for the whole world, but efficient only for those whom God has called to Himself. Faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of ourselves but the gift of God, is the instrument by which Christ saves us. He is our only hope in life and death. Though the Christian will always struggle against sin on this side of heaven, when we believe in Him, our souls are washed white as snow; for Jesus’ perfect life and perfect death is our righteousness before the Father.

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Resurrection

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We believe that the grave did not defeat Christ, but that Christ rose from the dead on the third day after His crucifixion. Christ literally, physically and bodily rose from the dead and appeared to the apostles and others that we may know that He is God and that he defeated death and evil. Because Christ holds the entire universe together, the resurrection of Christ will bring with it the resurrection of all creation. His resurrection serves a promise that death is not the end for us, but that our physical bodies will be raised from the dead imperishable on the last day. Because of the hope of final resurrection, we can participate in God's work of reconciliation and restoring the world in anticipation of it.

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Ascension

40 days after Jesus rose from the dead, He ascended into heaven, where He is seated at the right hand of the Father, and where along with the Holy Spirit, the Triune God is endlessly worshiped. He ascended to rule over His Kingdom and judge humanity, and to ever intercede on our behalf before the Father. He presently is reigning over His Kingdom from heaven until He returns to reign on earth forever and ever.

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Love

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Love is the reason for which the world was created and for which Christ incarnated into it. Love is the primary characteristic of a genuine Christian because a Christian is one who is united with Jesus Christ and thus united with God, who embodies love. God's very essence is love. Part of loving one another is to confront sin with grace and truth, seeking restoration and reconciliation with God and man. Christ demonstrated the depth of His love by humbling Himself, taking on human form, and enduring suffering and death on the cross for us. The Scriptures define love as patient, kind, not self-seeking, forgiving, and forgetting wrongs. Therefore, the church must exemplify selfless, sacrificial love, following Jesus as our moral compass, our covenant leader, our redeemer, and our divine example.

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Justification

We believe that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. We are not saved on account of our works but through the work Christ did for us. Our sin was imputed to Christ and His righteousness is imputed to us so that God does not treat us according to what we have done, but according to what Christ has done. However, good works are nonetheless an essential part of the Christian faith, because our justification is grounded in our Union with Christ, from which good works also necessarily flow.

Predestination

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The basis of our redemption is God’s eternal decree in Christ. Saving faith is the result of God having chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world. God elects us by uniting us to Christ, the elect One. His omnipotence, together with His immutable will and character, means God’s chosen people are unable to resist His grace. God’s children proclaim no other name for salvation.

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Providence

God ordains whatsoever comes to pass. Consequently, every event in the universe is not only foreseen by God, but included in His plan. God, author of the great story that is the universe, writes Himself into that story in Christ Jesus. However, while God is the primary cause of all things, this does not negate human agency or freedom in secondary causation. Human choice is part of God’s providence and is a secondary cause of events therein. Thus, we believe that free will in earthly matters is compatible with God planning all events. God makes all things work together for the good of those who love Him, culminating in the destruction of evil and the consummation of God’s Kingdom. 

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Covenant Theology

We believe the entire narrative of Scripture is the unfolding of God’s overarching Covenant of Grace with His people: from Adam, to Noah, to Abraham, to Moses, to David, and continuing into the New Testament. We maintain the Old and New Covenants are two administrations of the same continuous Covenant. The sole condition on the part of humanity to fulfill the Covenant of Grace is faith. Further, we hold that the Covenant of Works runs parallel to the Covenant of Grace. Since humanity failed in Adam to fulfill the Covenant of Works, Christ fulfills it on our behalf, and we are united to Christ in the Covenant of Grace. We confess that God’s Covenants with humanity are grounded in the Covenant of Redemption which is made between the persons of the Godhead. The Father elects a people, the Son redeems those people, and the Holy Spirit regenerates and applies salvation to those people. 

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The Church

The Church, meaning God’s Covenant people, was established with Adam and will continue until the end of the world. The Holy Spirit actively preserves the Church and promises that the very gates of hell will not prevail against it. The Church alone is entrusted with the preaching of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments. The keys of the Kingdom belong to the Church through the preaching of the Gospel; rejection of Christ, who is illuminated in the Gospel, means our sins are “bound” or “retained” before the father and acceptance of Christ means our sins are “loosed” or “remitted”. The proper government for this Church is an elder-led local congregation with two offices: Elders and Deacons. Teaching elders are to preach the Gospel, administer the Sacraments, and shepherd their flock. Ruling elders are to teach, guide, and make decisions concerning the local church. Deacons are to carry out the acts of service on behalf of the local church. Above the local church is to be a presbytery, a regional body consisting of the local churches’ elders.

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Worship

We believe the Triune God is to be worshiped, praised, and adored by the Church and by all creation. The Church was instituted by God Himself for His glorification. We also believe God says, in His Word, that He is to be worshiped with reverence.

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Sacraments

We believe that there are two sacraments: Baptism and The Lord’s Supper (also called Communion). Each sacrament is a union of a sign and that which it signifies. Baptism is a union of the outward washing with water and the inward regeneration by the Holy Spirit. The Lord's Supper is a union of the eating of physical bread and wine and the spiritual feeding on the body and blood of Christ. These are commonly called “means of grace” and are instruments of salvation. Not that the sacraments have power in and of themselves to save us, but God works through them when and for whom He chooses to.

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Baptism

In baptism, God’s elect are engrafted into Christ by which they are regenerated by the Holy Spirit, so that the guilt of original sin and the total inability of relationship between God and man, is washed clean. This is a sign and seal of the New Covenant and as the Apostle Peter puts it: “the answer of a good conscience towards God”. However, the efficacy of baptism isn’t tied to the time it is administered, nor is baptism effective unto salvation for all, but only for those whom God has chosen. Through baptism, we are made members of the visible church. Baptism should only be administered by a pastor, in the presence of the local church, to the infant of at least one believing parent or upon the profession of faith of a convert. Baptism is only to be administered by water and, as Christ tells us in the Great Commission, “in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”. Any other administration ceases to be a baptism.

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Communion

The Sacrament of Holy Communion strengthens the faith of the saints and unites them to Christ until they should meet their Creator in Heaven or Christ upon His second coming. Communion is the perfection of the Passover feast. Christ sacrificed His blessed body and painted His precious blood on the doorposts of the faithful’s souls. The Holy Spirit lifts our spirits to feast on Christ, who sits at the right hand of God the Father. Though the bread and wine do not change substance, nor are they physically the body and blood of Christ, God uses the elements as instruments of this mystical communion with Him and the Church on earth and in heaven. When we eat the bread and drink the wine, we are eating the very Body and Blood of our Savior. The benefit of this spiritual eating of the Lord is that He lives in us and we in Him. Only by partaking of His humanity can we be sustained by His eternal life. Much like Passover, this feast is only to be celebrated by believers. Therefore, unbelievers should not be invited to the Lord’s table in the name of inclusivity lest they bring condemnation upon themselves and be excluded from God’s Kingdom. Unbelievers who partake of the supper do not feed on Christ, but only receive bread and wine to their judgment. Without the biblical words of institution, the bread is not the body of Christ and the wine is not the blood of Christ unto the recipient.

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Ministers 

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Christian ministers are to be faithful followers of the Triune God and ever-striving after His Holiness. As such, ministers in the PCUSA must be required to adhere to the essentials of the Faith. Further, ministers of word and sacrament should be learned about their God and His precepts; both of which they should be faithful to in their behavior and self-description. Pastors are not to be drunkards, sloths, adulterers, idol-worshippers, or quarrelsome. Ministers should be holy with their bodies: either chaste in singleness or married in union of one man and one woman.

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Social Justice

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Justice originates solely from God, anchored in His Word. Apart from Christ, there can be no true justice because the natural state of man is total depravity. Our mission as Christians is to align ourselves with the Law of God and to spread the good news. Jesus preached the good news of the Kingdom of God, demonstrating it through healing the sick, dining with outcasts, and helping the poor and humble. Christians throughout the ages have worked for justice so that God's Kingdom may be realized 'on earth as it is in heaven.' Believers look forward to the day when the Lord returns and establishes true justice on the earth. Since the Church is God's Kingdom on earth, it has a duty to feed the hungry, serve the poor, heal the sick, and challenge unjust laws and structures. However, in our increasingly secular era, the church must be cautious not to form alliances with secular social or political factions under the guise of 'social justice,' but rather to pursue justice on Biblical terms alone.

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Marriage and Sexuality

We believe that God instituted marriage as a covenant between one man and one woman. Before the fall, when, seeing that it is not good that man should be alone, He made Eve out of Adam. Subsequently in Genesis 2 God said, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” Therefore, any sexual relationship outside the bounds of this matrimony is disordered and not good for the flourishing of men and women either collectively or as individuals. 

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Inclusivity

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Jesus welcomed those on the margins of society and was questioned by the religious elite for doing so. His life exemplifies that God's Kingdom encompasses people of diverse backgrounds, including the blind, the lame, tax collectors, prostitutes, Samaritans, Romans, persecutors of Christians, and sinners of all kinds. The Scriptures teach that God is against partiality, and as His followers, we are called to be impartial. Additionally, we are called to reap the harvest and extend the love of Christ to all. The church falls short of its gospel mission if it rejects the least of these, for Jesus himself declared, "It is the sick who need a doctor." Therefore, the church, as the bride of Christ, should mirror the impartial inclusivity of its Savior.

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Man and Woman

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The distinction between male and female is built into the world and is declared “very good” by the Creator. The assertion that gender is merely a social construct is utterly false, because such relativism is at odds with the truth. Thus we do not believe a biological man can be a woman or vice versa. Men and women cannot be anything other than that sex they were born into.

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Human Life

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In creation, God gifted humanity with His image and gave dominion over all living things. Therefore, God gave humans inherent worth and purpose. Accordingly, David writes in Psalm 139, “You knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” Thus, any attempt to deny a human their God-given value, before birth or after, is to be morally opposed.

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Politics

Being saved by grace through faith, not by works, Christians can disagree on political matters and still be precious children of the Most High God. Thus, Christians are to love their neighbor irrespective of their politics. Loving  enemies, as Christ tells us to do, means loving political opponents. 

 

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Eschatology

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We believe that Christ Jesus will visibly return at an unknown time to judge the living and the dead. Upon His return, we will be raised into perfected, imperishable bodies and He will finally purify the world and destroy all evil, sin, and death. The eternal kingdom of Christ will not be wholly different from this world but rather a perfected version of it. Therefore, it is the church’s job to spread God’s Kingdom here and now in anticipation of when it will be fully consummate upon Christ’s return.

 

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Affirmations and Rejection

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1. We affirm the sovereignty of God in all things. We reject that God has withdrawn from any aspect of His creation.

2. We affirm that  the Church has, over the course of history, failed to welcome fellow sinners due to culture wars bleeding into the church, causing some sinners to be seen as dirtier than others. We reject any theology which allows for self-righteousness of some sinners against others.

3. We affirm that God is omniscient (all- knowing) and immutable (unchanging). We reject process theology which says, “God is learning and growing as humans do”, as this says that the intelligent Creator of the world was/is imperfect. 

4. We affirm doing justice and loving mercy are incredibly important commands and marks of a Christian. We reject any theology which says we are saved by the aforementioned marks. 

5. We affirm that all persons are  image-bearers of God. We reject racism, sexism, or any other ideology that seeks to diminish or deny a fellow human of their possession of the image.

6. We affirm we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, according to Scripture alone, for the Glory of God alone. We reject any other view of salvation.

7. We affirm that science and faith both lead us to the truth, and understanding one leads to a deeper understanding of the other. We reject that the findings of modern science contradict our faith in any way.