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Association of Charismatic
Reformed Churches
Statement of Faith
As an association of churches, we are
very much concerned with the issue of "doctrinal correctness." It
is our belief that bad doctrine and a flippant attitude towards
theology are at the heart of most of what troubles today's church.
We believe that there are certain areas of doctrine that are
essential, and cannot be compromised. We would therefore insist on
unity in these with any church or minister who would want to join
with the association. In this section we hope to set down what
these essentials are.
We also recognize however, that there are
many areas of Scripture about which we can not be quite as
dogmatic. This is seen throughout the history of the Reformation.
Not all of the Reformers agreed on every point, and there are
things that we believe people can differ on, yet still maintain
the integrity of the central truths of the Gospel. We will attempt
first to outline what we believe to be essential, and then move to
non-essentials.
Essential Doctrine of the ACRC…
The Scriptures
We believe that the Bible is the
infallible, authoritative, and inerrant Word of God. We believe
that it reveals all things that are necessary to salvation, life
and godliness, and that it is a final and closed revelation,
consisting of the sixty-six books of Holy Scripture.
(1Thess 2:13; 2Tim 3:14-17; 2Peter 2:2-4)
God
We believe that there is only one true
and living God, eternally existing in a Trinity of persons: God
the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
We believe that these three persons are
one in substance, power, and eternity; each possessing the
fullness of the divine essence and yet this essence is undivided.
(Col 2:8-10; Acts 5:1-4, Deut 6:4;
Isaiah 43:10-11; 45:21-23)
We believe that God is infinite in being
and perfection. We believe that He is all powerful, all knowing,
and present in all places at all times. We believe that He is
absolutely sovereign over all His works, and that He orders all
things according to the counsel of His own wise, immutable, and
righteous will for His own glory. This sovereignty extends not
only to inanimate creation, but to all living things as well, and
is the ultimate determiner of each creature's destiny.
(Eph 1:3-11; Rom 9:6-23)
We believe that God is self-existent and
self-sufficient. That is, He needs nothing from His creation to
exist or to continue to exist. On the contrary, He is the Creator
and Sustainer of all things both seen and unseen.
(Ex 3:13-14; Col 1:15-17)
He is loving, gracious, merciful and
longsuffering, forgiving sin and transgression. Yet He is also
infinitely just and holy, and will by no means clear the guilty.
(Ex 34:5-8)
In His sight all things are open and
manifest. His knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent
of the creature; so that nothing to Him is contingent or
uncertain. He is holy in all His counsels, works, and commands. To
Him is due, from angels and men, and every other creature,
whatsoever worship, service, or obedience He is pleased to require
of them. (Isaiah 46:9-11, Rev
4:8-11)
Jesus Christ
We believe in both the full deity and
full humanity of Jesus Christ, that He was truly God manifest in
human flesh. (John 1:1, 14; Phil
2:5-11; Col 2:8-10)
We believe:
Ø
In His
virgin birth
Ø
In His
sinless life
Ø
In His
vicarious and atoning death for the sins of His Elect
Ø
In His
burial and resurrection
Ø
In His
ascension to the right hand of the Father
Ø
In His
personal, physical, and future return to earth to rule in
righteousness and to inaugurate the New Heavens and New Earth.
(Luke 1:26-38; Heb 7:26; Rom 3:25; Matt
28:5-7; Acts 1:9-11, Rev 19-22)
The Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit is both a
person and that He is fully God, being the third member of the
blessed Trinity. (Acts 5:1-4; Matt
28:19; John 14:15-21)
We believe that the ministry of the Holy
Spirit is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, to convict men of sin,
to regenerate sinners, baptize them into Christ, and to seal them
until the day of redemption. We believe that He is our Guide, our
Comforter, and our Instructor in the things of God.
(John 16:7-15; Titus 3:5; 1Cor 12:13; Eph
1:13-14; John 14:15-20)
We believe that the Holy Spirit indwells
every true believer. We believe that this indwelling at once
unites us with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection, and
results in the imputation of Christ's righteousness, as well as
the experience of the new birth.
(Eph 1:12-14; 1Cor 6:17, 12:13; Rom 6:4-5; 1Peter 1:3)
The Doctrines of Grace
Man’s Radical Depravity
We believe in the doctrine of Man's Total
Depravity. We believe that the first man, Adam, stood as the
representative and federal head of the entire human race. We
believe that in his fall, the entire human race fell with him,
resulting in the total corruption and condemnation of mankind
before God. This does not mean that every man is as wicked as he
could be, but that sin has corrupted us at every level of our
being. Because of this corruption, we are unable, apart from
grace, of either understanding or desiring spiritual truth, and we
are by nature God's enemies and the objects of His wrath.
(Rom 5:12-19; Rom 8:6-8; 1Cor 2:14; John
6:37, 44, 63-65; Eph 2:1-3)
Election of Grace
We believe that God has unconditionally
chosen a company of people, His Elect, out from the fallen sons of
Adam. These Elect were given in covenant to the Son, by the
Father, before the foundation of the world was laid. God has done
everything necessary to bring these Elect to faith in Christ and
to secure them eternally unto Himself. This election to salvation
is attributed solely to the sovereign Grace of God and not to any
merit, good works, or faith on our part, faith itself being the
gift of God. (Rom 9:1-24; Eph
1:3-14; 2Tim 1:9; John 6:37; Ps 89:1-5, 15-36; Rom 8:28-39; Eph
2:1-10)
Definite Redemption
We believe that this salvation was
purchased for the Elect by the precious Blood of Christ. The blood
was shed as propitiation to the Father, for the sins of His Elect,
and results in their justification before God. Literally, we were
the ones that deserved to be crucified and to drink of God's
wrath, but our blessed Savior instead drank it for us! Concerning
the merit and value of the blood, it is enough to have purchased
and cleansed every person ever born. Yet, as concerning the
intention of God as to whom it would be effective for, it was
limited to the Elect alone. Else would God have failed in His
purpose, a thing that Scripture makes clear as being impossible.
(1Peter 1:18-21; Rom 3:25-26; John
3:16; 10:11, 15, 25-30; Matt 1:21; Heb 9:12-15; Isa 46:9-11; Eph
1:11)
Justification
We believe in justification by grace
alone through faith in Jesus Christ and His work alone. Our view
of justification is the traditional protestant and reformed view
of being a judicial act by God, in which He declares sinners to be
righteous in His sight. This declaration of righteousness is based
solely on the merit of Christ’s obedience and satisfaction, which
God imputes to those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was
delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
(Eph 2:8-9, Ro.3:19-28, Ro.4:5-8,
Ro.5:9,18-19, Ro.4:22-25)
Repentance and Faith (Conversion)
We believe that the only means of being
cleansed from sin and corruption is through repentance and faith
in the precious Blood of Christ as a sacrifice for our sin. We
believe that both repentance and faith are the graciously and
sovereignly bestowed gifts of God. We believe that these are
generated in the human heart by the precious Holy Spirit as He
works through the Word of God to effectually and infallibly call
elect sinners to Christ. (Luke
5:32; 24:37; Acts 5:31; 11:18; 2Tim 2:25; Eph 2:8-9; Titus 3:5;
Rom 10:17; 1Thess 2:13-14)
Sanctification – New Life in Christ
We believe that this new birth will
produce sanctification and holiness in the life of a believer.
Sanctification is not to be confused with justification which is a
legal standing before God, but it is rather to be understood as
the fruit of true justification and regeneration. Sanctification
is effected through the diligent study of the Word of God, the
daily mortification and resisting of sin and the daily yielding to
and filling of the Holy Spirit. Progress in sanctification will
vary in each individual child of God, but it will nonetheless be
present in all, seeing that it, too, is the sovereign work of God
in our hearts. (Ezek 36:26-27; Jer
32:38-40; Titus 3:5; John 15:3, 17:17; Eph 5:18, 26; 1Peter 2:2;
Phil 2:12-13)
We believe that walking in the Holy
Spirit is the responsibility of all believers and that it is a
necessary part of enabling one to overcome sin and to be a vibrant
witness for Christ. (Eph.5:16,
Gal.5:16, Ro.8:13, Acts 1:8)
Preservation and Perseverance of True Believers
We believe that all who are called by
God's grace, regenerated by the Holy Spirit, and justified by
Christ's blood, will persevere in faith and holiness, and will
never fall away from Christ. They are kept by the power of God and
no man is able to pluck them from the Father's hand.
(John 10:27-30; Rom 8:28-39; Phil 1:6; Heb
7:22-25; 12:1-2)
Baptism
We believe that water baptism is
essential, not to regeneration, but as a sign and seal of the
righteousness we possess by faith.
(Matt 28:19-20; Rom 6:1-6; Col 2:12)
Spiritual Gifts (Charismata)
We believe that the gifts of the Holy
Spirit are still valid for today, being sovereignly distributed to
every member of Christ's Church, as He, the Spirit, wills, for the
purpose of edifying the entire body.
(1Cor 12:1-11; Rom 12:3-8; 1Peter 4:10)
Eschatology (Last Things)
We believe in the personal, physical, and
future return of Jesus Christ to the earth, to rule in
righteousness and to inaugurate the New Heavens and New Earth.
(Zech 14:1-9; Matt 24:30-31;
25:31-46; Acts 1:9-11; 2Thess 1:7-10; Rev 1:7; 19:11-21; Ch 20-21)
We believe in the physical resurrection
of the body, the eternal blessedness of the saved, and the eternal
damnation and misery of the lost.
(1Thess 4:13-18; Dan 12:2; Rev 20)
Corporate Worship
We believe in the assembling together of
the saints to worship Him, to hear the teaching and preaching of
the Word of God, to share in breaking the bread of Holy Communion,
and to give as God has prospered them into the treasury of God's
house.
(Heb 10:25; Acts 20:7; 1Cor 16:1-2)
Areas of Importance but in which we can Differ…
The Mode of Baptism: At the inception of the ACRC in
February 2005 the churches and individuals who formed the
association were "Baptistic" in their understanding of water
baptism, i.e., we believe in baptism by full immersion. We believe
that it symbolizes our union with Christ in His death, burial, and
resurrection. We also believe in "Believer's Baptism". We do not
baptize infants, as we understand the requirements for baptism to
be repentance and faith in Christ. These are things we do not
believe it is possible for infants to possess. That said, however,
we do recognize that there are differing views on these things,
and we extend an open invitation to join with us in fellowship
regardless of one's views in this area.
Frequency of Partaking of the Lord's Supper: We recognize
that there are different opinions on this question, and we respect
those who differ, but, we don't see it as being essential to
fellowship.
Eschatological Details: We believe the important thing here
is the essential truth that Christ will return one day,
physically, to rule the earth in righteousness. The exact details
of all of this are where we believe we can differ. Whether one is
Amillennial, Premillennial, Pre-Trib, Post-Trib, Mid-Trib, etc.,
is indeed important. In the ACRC we all have our opinions and
enjoy dialog concerning them, but again, these are not areas that
we believe should separate us as reformed brethren.
Church Government: The churches involved with the ACRC all
have what they believe to be a well-defined and Scriptural
understanding of church government. We do, however, understand
that there is more than one view on this subject, and do not see
it as a criteria for fellowship, nor would we try to impose our
views on others with whom we would fellowship.
Details of the Charismatic Experience: Many believe in what
is commonly called, in Charismatic circles, "the Baptism in the
Holy Spirit" and see it as being a distinct, second work of God in
the life of the believer. Others believe that the term is a
description of the saving work of Christ in
Regeneration/Salvation. There has been much controversy over the
years regarding this issue, and we believe much of the problem has
been semantic in nature. Even our Cessationist brethren, it would
seem, believe in a two-fold work of the Holy Spirit. Most agree
there is a difference between being indwelt by the Spirit and
being daily filled with His power and presence. There has also
been much controversy in Charismatic circles on the question of
tongues as a sign of this filling. Some take the view that tongues
are always a part of the initial filling of the Spirit, and are
available to every believer as a language of praise and prayer.
Many Charismatics, however, take exception to this view and
believe that it does not always follow that someone filled with
the Spirit will inevitably speak in tongues. Also, many of our
Cessationist brethren are undeniably empowered by the Holy Spirit.
It follows then, that the details of this issue should not, in our
understanding, be an essential requirement to fellowship. We do
embrace the Charismatic experience (Hence the reason for the ACRC!),
but we welcome fellowship with all Reformed brethren regardless of
their view on the details of this issue.
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