Basic Presbyterian Beliefs
Scriptures - Revelation
1. Jesus is the incarnate Word of God. The Holy Scriptures are the means by which God has chosen to reveal His Son to His church.
2. The Word of God, "which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy God."
3. Linguistic and literary study of authenticated ancient manuscript fragments causes us to believe that the Scripture we have is an accurate and authoritative representation of God’s intended word to us.
4. For contemporary reformed people, no singular translation is held out as the ‘authorized’ translation. An informed student of the Bible would be wise to, in their study of scriptures, look at several translations, commentaries, and original language word studies, all under the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit.
God
1. God is One [cf., Deuteronomy 6:4]
2. God is known to us in three ‘persons’ - Father, Son and Holy Spirit
3. God is Spirit, Infinite, Eternal. God is unchangeable in His Being, Wisdom, Power, Holiness, Justice, Goodness and Truth. [Westminster Shorter Catechism]
4. God’s Activities in Creation
a. God as Creator - i.e., God created, creates, continues to create b. God as Sustainer - God sustains creation through His providence c. God as Redeemer - God’s will is to redeem all of creation to Himself
Christ
1. Jesus Christ is the pre-existent Son of God. [cf., the Gospel of John, ch. 1]
2. Jesus Christ, while on earth, was fully God and fully human
3. ‘Christ as our Redeemer, executes the offices of Prophet, Priest, and King.
a. Jesus Christ’s work as Redeemer is to restore our broken relationship with God.
b. As Prophet, Jesus makes God’s will known to us.
c. As Priest, Jesus breaks down the barriers that sin has placed between God and humanity.
d. As King, Jesus reigns over His universal Kingdom, all things have been placed under his feet.
4. Jesus Christ is the only way by which a person can enter into relationship with God. Jesus Christ said, "I am the way, the Truth, and the Life--No-one comes to the Father except through me."
5. Jesus’ atoning death on the cross was the absolutely necessary and sacrificial act of a loving God that must be appropriated by anyone who would begin a relationship with God
Holy Spirit
1. The Holy Spirit is God, the ‘third person’ of the Trinity that is God. The Spirit is to be worshipped with the Father and the Son.
2. The Spirit brings about the ‘new birth’ of faith in a believer’s life. The Spirit is the power of God who brings about change in the believer and in the church.
Sin
1. Ours is a world fully afflicted by Sin, we are a ‘fallen’ Creation, i.e., ‘All have sinned a fall short of the glory of God’ - Paul the Apostle
2. Sin is anything done, or un-done, which denies God’s Lordship in our lives, in our minds, in our relationships-with God and which others.
3. Sin is the result of our free will whenever we deny God will and follow evil
Humanity
1. We are inextricably related to God
2. God Created us, God Judges us, God Redeems us Through His love for us
Grace
1. God seeks us before we even know to seek God - We cannot even know to seek God without the prevenient gift of Grace from God
2. The gift of God’s grace is for all people at all times - God desires that all should come to a saving knowledge of Him.
3. God’s grace is given to us so that we might;
a. Come to a restored and full understanding of the true nature of God
b. That our inner ‘unity’ might be restored - that we would come to see ourselves as God intends for us to see ourselves.
c. That we might be restored to full fellowship with God and our neighbor
4. God’s gift of Grace is made available for us through Jesus Christ’s atoning death for us on the cross
5. God’s redemptive power of Grace comes to us through our faith/trust in God’s offer of forgiveness. Grace and faith are revealed to us through our repentance for our sinful ways.
The Christian Life
1. We are called to remember that we are to be dependent on God.
2. We are called: a. to acknowledge and worship the majesty of God;
b. to serve God;
c. are to love God through our love of our neighbor;
d. to be a prayerful people;
e. to be people of the word, faithfully seeking God’s will through our study of Scripture
The Church
1. The church is God’s ordained, established community of faith in this world.
"The church is a community, a society, a people who sustain a peculiar relationship to God and to one another in Christ. The church is a community of people whose hope is in the redeeming work of Jesus Christ. [Her] life is dependent upon the presence of the living Lord, through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit."
2. The church is present "wherever the Word of God is truly preached and heard, wherever the Sacraments are rightly administered and received, and wherever church discipline is wisely enforced."
3. The church exists to be a living testimony to the redeeming love of God in Christ and is the vehicle through which God’s love is made known and His will is done on earth. The church was given existence in order to disclose the love, purpose, and character of God--that is, to glorify God.
The Sacraments
1. Presbyterians hold that there are only two sacraments - Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The Sacraments enable faith to grow, show that the Holy Spirit is at Work in the lives of believers, make Christ real in the lives of believers. Sacraments are Signs and Seals of God’s work in our lives.
a. Baptism must include the application of water (degree or amount is not consequential) and must be administered in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Baptism recognizes the sovereign work of God in a person’s life, whereby he has brought a person into the fellowship and life of His church. Parents may bring/are encouraged to bring their children to be baptized before the gathered fellowship of believers in worship.
Membership in the church is dependent on a person's personal profession of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Persons making a profession of faith, and having not previously been baptised, will also be baptised at this time.
b. The Lord’s Supper is open to anyone who has been baptized in Christ’s church- universal (with water/utilizing the Trinitarian formula). Again, trusting the sovereign work of God in a person’s life and the Holy Spirit’s power to convict and to bring new life into the life of a person, we Presbyterians extend an open invitation [without prior examination] to the Table of the Lord to any one who might wish to partake of this gift from God.
1. Jesus is the incarnate Word of God. The Holy Scriptures are the means by which God has chosen to reveal His Son to His church.
2. The Word of God, "which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy God."
3. Linguistic and literary study of authenticated ancient manuscript fragments causes us to believe that the Scripture we have is an accurate and authoritative representation of God’s intended word to us.
4. For contemporary reformed people, no singular translation is held out as the ‘authorized’ translation. An informed student of the Bible would be wise to, in their study of scriptures, look at several translations, commentaries, and original language word studies, all under the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit.
God
1. God is One [cf., Deuteronomy 6:4]
2. God is known to us in three ‘persons’ - Father, Son and Holy Spirit
3. God is Spirit, Infinite, Eternal. God is unchangeable in His Being, Wisdom, Power, Holiness, Justice, Goodness and Truth. [Westminster Shorter Catechism]
4. God’s Activities in Creation
a. God as Creator - i.e., God created, creates, continues to create b. God as Sustainer - God sustains creation through His providence c. God as Redeemer - God’s will is to redeem all of creation to Himself
Christ
1. Jesus Christ is the pre-existent Son of God. [cf., the Gospel of John, ch. 1]
2. Jesus Christ, while on earth, was fully God and fully human
3. ‘Christ as our Redeemer, executes the offices of Prophet, Priest, and King.
a. Jesus Christ’s work as Redeemer is to restore our broken relationship with God.
b. As Prophet, Jesus makes God’s will known to us.
c. As Priest, Jesus breaks down the barriers that sin has placed between God and humanity.
d. As King, Jesus reigns over His universal Kingdom, all things have been placed under his feet.
4. Jesus Christ is the only way by which a person can enter into relationship with God. Jesus Christ said, "I am the way, the Truth, and the Life--No-one comes to the Father except through me."
5. Jesus’ atoning death on the cross was the absolutely necessary and sacrificial act of a loving God that must be appropriated by anyone who would begin a relationship with God
Holy Spirit
1. The Holy Spirit is God, the ‘third person’ of the Trinity that is God. The Spirit is to be worshipped with the Father and the Son.
2. The Spirit brings about the ‘new birth’ of faith in a believer’s life. The Spirit is the power of God who brings about change in the believer and in the church.
Sin
1. Ours is a world fully afflicted by Sin, we are a ‘fallen’ Creation, i.e., ‘All have sinned a fall short of the glory of God’ - Paul the Apostle
2. Sin is anything done, or un-done, which denies God’s Lordship in our lives, in our minds, in our relationships-with God and which others.
3. Sin is the result of our free will whenever we deny God will and follow evil
Humanity
1. We are inextricably related to God
2. God Created us, God Judges us, God Redeems us Through His love for us
Grace
1. God seeks us before we even know to seek God - We cannot even know to seek God without the prevenient gift of Grace from God
2. The gift of God’s grace is for all people at all times - God desires that all should come to a saving knowledge of Him.
3. God’s grace is given to us so that we might;
a. Come to a restored and full understanding of the true nature of God
b. That our inner ‘unity’ might be restored - that we would come to see ourselves as God intends for us to see ourselves.
c. That we might be restored to full fellowship with God and our neighbor
4. God’s gift of Grace is made available for us through Jesus Christ’s atoning death for us on the cross
5. God’s redemptive power of Grace comes to us through our faith/trust in God’s offer of forgiveness. Grace and faith are revealed to us through our repentance for our sinful ways.
The Christian Life
1. We are called to remember that we are to be dependent on God.
2. We are called: a. to acknowledge and worship the majesty of God;
b. to serve God;
c. are to love God through our love of our neighbor;
d. to be a prayerful people;
e. to be people of the word, faithfully seeking God’s will through our study of Scripture
The Church
1. The church is God’s ordained, established community of faith in this world.
"The church is a community, a society, a people who sustain a peculiar relationship to God and to one another in Christ. The church is a community of people whose hope is in the redeeming work of Jesus Christ. [Her] life is dependent upon the presence of the living Lord, through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit."
2. The church is present "wherever the Word of God is truly preached and heard, wherever the Sacraments are rightly administered and received, and wherever church discipline is wisely enforced."
3. The church exists to be a living testimony to the redeeming love of God in Christ and is the vehicle through which God’s love is made known and His will is done on earth. The church was given existence in order to disclose the love, purpose, and character of God--that is, to glorify God.
The Sacraments
1. Presbyterians hold that there are only two sacraments - Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The Sacraments enable faith to grow, show that the Holy Spirit is at Work in the lives of believers, make Christ real in the lives of believers. Sacraments are Signs and Seals of God’s work in our lives.
a. Baptism must include the application of water (degree or amount is not consequential) and must be administered in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Baptism recognizes the sovereign work of God in a person’s life, whereby he has brought a person into the fellowship and life of His church. Parents may bring/are encouraged to bring their children to be baptized before the gathered fellowship of believers in worship.
Membership in the church is dependent on a person's personal profession of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Persons making a profession of faith, and having not previously been baptised, will also be baptised at this time.
b. The Lord’s Supper is open to anyone who has been baptized in Christ’s church- universal (with water/utilizing the Trinitarian formula). Again, trusting the sovereign work of God in a person’s life and the Holy Spirit’s power to convict and to bring new life into the life of a person, we Presbyterians extend an open invitation [without prior examination] to the Table of the Lord to any one who might wish to partake of this gift from God.
