FIVE CORE DOCTRINES
That Shape the Teaching, Fellowship, and Worship of CBC

Concerning the Gospel

 
Our Statement of Confidence
The phrase “Gospel of God” is found as part of the opening statement of Paul’s letter to the Romans (1:1), and forcefully expresses that this Gospel (Literally: “good news”) is sourced in God, and offered exclusively by God. 

This Pauline phrase is further identified by three important qualifiers (1:2-4).  First, the Gospel was a written promise made by God to man through His prophets long before the event took place in history.  In essence, then, the Gospel was promised in the Old Testament Scriptures.  This event is actually described as the descent of God’s Messiah who, as Isaiah 53 prophesied, will be God’s Sin-Bearer who will take upon Himself “the iniquity of us all” (53:6).  Eight hundred years after Isaiah’s written record, the New Testament author Luke chronicles the fulfillment of this prophecy as fulfilled in the Person of Jesus Christ (Acts 8:28-35).  Second, the Gospel’s content concerns the second Person of the Tri-Unity, Jesus Christ, who was human born in time in the kingly line of David.   Paul’s statement confirms the first words of the New Testament (Matthew 1), that God did fulfill His written, prophetic Word by sending His own Son, Jesus, to this earth, born of a virgin as a baby boy.  With the coming of Jesus to earth, a new epoch of time began, for His title “Immanuel” means “God is now with us.”  Being born a King, he came to rule not only this world that has been hijacked by Satan and sin, but to reign within the hearts of men. Third, Jesus was raised from the dead through the power of the Holy Spirit, thereby, defining him with the unique Pauline phrase, “the-Son-of-God-in-power,” which means that there is none greater or more powerful than He, and that all mankind must see Him for who He is knowing that “all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13).

In sum, the Gospel of God is the predetermined purpose of God which, in time, He promised through verifiable, written proclamations concerning the entrance of His eternal Son into the world of humanity through the virgin birth, to be the Sin-Bearer for the sin of the world.  This was fully accomplished with the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  All men who by faith will accept God’s eternal Son as their personal Sin-Bearer, will receive the full benefits of God’s promised eternal life—life beyond the grave with Jesus, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.

The Impact of This Statement on Our Church Experience
Since the Gospel of God is offered by God to man, it must be properly understood in light of the nature and character of God, and the nature and character of man.  Since the Gospel has been defined by Paul, the following five Pauline concepts give clarity to the beliefs of our church that shape our understanding of the Gospel of God.

1.   Grace – The undeserved, unwanted, unmerited favor of God toward sinful man.  Grace finds its supreme expression and fullest exposition in the Father’s gift of His Son, Jesus Christ.  Every spiritual blessing that the believer enjoys is directly sourced in the grace of Jesus Christ.  Therefore, the core theology and practice of our church is grounded in the proper understanding of the doctrine of grace as developed by the New Testament Scriptures, and which ultimately concerns the incarnational events and benefits of the Son of God.  The Apostle Paul considered this Gospel of Grace to be the principal purpose of his ministry, and so stated this as such to the Ephesians elders, when he summed up his “ministry he received from the Lord” as “to testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24).

2.   Election – The sovereign, pleasurable choice of God to provide salvation to certain men. Our church affirms the specific words which are perceptively expressed by the Synod of Dort (1618-1619), Section 1, Articles 9, 10 and 13, which say, in part:

“This same Election is not made from any foreseen faith, obedience of faith, holiness, or any other good quality and disposition, as a pre-requisite cause or condition in the man who should be elected, but unto faith, and unto the obedience of faith, holiness, etc.  And, therefore . . . election is the fountain of every saving benefit; whence faith, holiness, and the other salutary gifts, and finally, eternal life itself, flow as its fruit and effect,  according to that word of the Apostle: ‘He hath chosen us (not because we were, but) that we might be holy, and without blame before him in love’ Ephesians 1:4. . . .
Now the cause of this gratuitous Election, is the sole good pleasure of God. . . .From the sense and assurance . . . of this election, the children of God daily find greater cause of humbling   themselves before God, of adoring the abyss of his mercies, of purifying themselves, and of more ardently loving him reciprocally, who had before so loved them: so far are they from being rendered, by this doctrine of Election, and the meditation of it, more slothful in observing the divine commands, or carnally secure.”

3.  Man and sin – Man was created in the image of God, as stated in Genesis 1, with a nature that was innocent of sin, and a daily experience that enjoyed access to God. When Adam willfully sinned against the Word of God, he violated God’s command choosing self-will over God’s will.  This, in turn, resulted in both sin and death entering the world (Romans 5:12).  Additionally, Paul writes, “. . . as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation . . .” (Romans 5:18). In sum, Adam’s sin fated all of Adam’s posterity to be, as Paul writes, “without strength,” “ungodly,” “sinners,” and even “enemies” of God (Romans 5:6-10).   Sin, then, marred man’s original, open relationship with God, and in turn left Adam—along with all mankind—in a state of hostile, spiritual separateness from God, and one in which man is fully dominated by his own fleshly desires pursuing a path of disobedience and rebellion from the perfect will of God. In effect, sin fatally spoiled man’s mind, will, and emotion, so that he, in himself, can never be all that God created him to be.

4.  Redemption – Since sin rendered man both unable and unwilling to restore his relationship with God, the Apostle Paul records in Romans 3:24-25 the free act of God which provided for man His exclusive, divine redemptive plan.  This plan was enacted by His Son, Jesus Christ, who came to this hostile world to pay the ransom necessary to purchase every sinner from the slave-market of sin.  Jesus was initially and clearly identified by John the Baptist as, “. . . the Lamb of God who takes away                          the sin of the world” (John 1:29).  Later, the apostles Paul, John, and Peter celebrated Christ’s glorious, universal redemption when they wrote, respectively,  “ . . . we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe” (I Timothy 4:10); and, “. . . the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world” (I John 4:14), so that “He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world” (I John 2:2); and, finally, Peter followed up his  defense of the integrity and accuracy of the Scriptures (II Peter 1:16-21), by noting that “false teachers . . . will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them. . . “ (II Peter 2:1).  In sum, then, Jesus Christ paid the ransom necessary to deliver humanity from its sin.

The ransom payment of Jesus Christ for the sin-debt of the world often brings questions to the minds of readers, and two of these questions we deem necessary to address here.  First, if the ransom payment of Jesus is sufficient for the whole world, then is the whole world going to Heaven?

The Apostle Paul makes it clear in Romans 3:26 that God will only justify (declare a sinner to be credited with Christ’s righteousness) “the one who has faith in Jesus.”  If one refuses to place his faith in God’s Sin-bearer, and repent of his sin, then that one will die in his sin, apart from the righteousness Jesus provides, and he will be eternally punished in Hell.  Therefore, the redemption plan of God, though sufficient for the world, is only effective for those who place their faith in Jesus Christ. 

Implicit in the above answer is the fact that God holds every human to be morally responsible for his decision to either accept or reject Jesus Christ. 

This moral responsibility neither adds to nor subtracts from the gracious, sovereign, free election of God as stated above in points 1 and 2. Election from God’s vantage point is free and sovereign; however, from man’s counterpoint, he must make a personal choice.  While at first blush these two truths seem to be in tension, our view is that they both stand as integral to the Gospel of God.  Paul’s letter of Romans clearly supports “the purpose of God according to election” (9:11); yet, Paul prudently balances this with “the word of faith which we preach” urging salvation to “whoever believes on Him” (10:8,11).  Paul does not explicate the sovereign election/human choice tension, but, rather, builds his argument upon their necessity.  He writes much like Jesus witnessed to Nicodemus in John 3.  To Nicodemus Jesus expressed the powerful, free,  sovereign work of God the Holy Spirit in the regeneration of a soul (3:8), and then, without interlude, he made clear to Nicodemus his spiritual problem was not that he was not sovereignly chosen, but “you do not receive” and “you do not believe” (3:9-12).  Jesus, and Paul several years later in his Romans Letter, saw both sovereign election and human responsibility as doing proper justice to the Gospel that belongs to God, and that neither truth needed to be held against the other.

The second question that is often asked about the ransom payment is this: If Jesus provided a redemption that was sufficient for the world, then was not His “Cross-Work” wasted, at worst, or unnecessary, at best, for the                           millions who have rejected Him?  In response, we emphatically deny this question to be even a possible consideration.   We believe (as stated above under point 1) the Bible teaches that the doctrine of grace is fully and completely sourced in God, and finds its supreme expression and fullest exposition in Jesus Christ.  In this sense, the doctrine of grace is rooted in the Cross-Work of Jesus—who was foreordained from the foundation of the world to be God’s Sin-Bearer (I Peter 1:18-21)—and, therefore, has universal benefits that are common to all men and salvific benefits that are only effective for the elect.  The fact that God was gracious to Adam when he originally sinned in the garden and did not immediately kill him, is due to the sovereign, gracious plan of God to redeem sinners through the Cross-Work of His Son (Genesis 3:15).  Clearly, God’s graciousness to sinful Adam had a redemptive goal, just as it does today.  Paul phrased this truth in a question to the unsaved, obstinate Jew when he wrote (Romans 2:4), “. . . do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?”  God’s universal kindnesses to all nations can clearly be seen in creation and its attendant benefits to mankind which Paul and Barnabas preached are a witness to God Himself and His goodness (Acts14:15-17), and which are given by God “so that they should seek the Lord” (Acts 17:25-27).

In sum, the grace that is common to all men has a clear, redemptive goal; yet, allows all men to “live and move and have their being” (Acts 17:28).  Apart from this universal graciousness of God, the world would be an impossible place for man to live.  From creation benefits to moral government to the image of God in every man including his consciousness of oughtness, common grace has a necessary place in man’s daily function and economy.  These gracious allowances which serve to promote the Gospel of God are all sourced in the grace of Jesus Christ (Titus 3:4-8).

5.  Eternal security, perseverance, and assurance of the believer – Since redemption is sourced in the grace of God, every aspect of this gift must be related to God and not to man.  Accordingly, the root of the believer’s assurance and his attendant perseverance in the truth is not in how a believer performs, but in what God has provided in Jesus Christ.  What man has received by grace cannot be forfeited by works.  To view man’s redemption by his performance will cause that man to doubt the grace of God, His election, and His redemption sufficiency.  In effect, this approach will render the believer fearful and apprehensive leaving him in a state of uncertainty.  Therefore, the Synod of Dort properly argued under Section 1, article 7 of Errors, “it is absurd to mention an uncertain certainty.”

Three doctrines make-up what we call the security of the believer.  These doctrines are titled and defined as follows.

A.  The Doctrine of Eternal Security – The faithful loyalty of God to His Word in salvation which guarantees His gift of grace once received is eternal, and cannot be lost.  This doctrine is looking at redemption from God’s viewpoint – God not only saves, but keeps the one He saves both secure and safe until “the redemption of the purchased possession” in glory (Ephesians 1:11-14).

B.  The Doctrine of Perseverance – The genuine fruit of all true believers is that they will remain faithful to Christ until they reach heaven by virtue of the indwelling work of the Holy Spirit.  In other words, a genuine believer will persevere (continue) in his salvation in both his commitment to his faith, and in his good works.  This does not mean that true believers are not tempted to sin (James 1:12-15), nor that true believers will not sin (I John 1:9), nor that believers will not struggle with a specific sin (Galatians 6:1).  However, what perseverance does mean is      that through the power of God’s Spirit a believer will evidence a heart of identifiable faithfulness to Christ, and Christ-like fruit will mark his character (Luke 8:11-15).

C. The Doctrine of Assurance – The believer’s personal realization andacceptance that he does indeed possess God’s redemption plan in the Person of Jesus Christ.  In effect, the believer is able to fully rest in Paul’s words in Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.”

A footnote concerning biblical truths in tension must now be offered to the reader to understand Paul’s manner of writing.  The Apostle Paul is a master of truths in seeming tension and he so writes for a specific, contextual purpose and without contradiction.  We understand this tension Paul presents as necessary to fully disclose the two-sided nature of a single, comprehensive truth.  For example, one may compare Romans 8:1 with 8:13, and find truth in tension—at first glance.  On the one hand, 8:1 makes it clear that the believer is free from condemnation by being in Jesus Christ; yet, on the other hand, 8:13 seems to contradict 8:1 and state that a believer must exercise a life of personal holiness before he receives eternal life; thereby, he seems to make personal holiness a precondition for eternal security.  In answer to this tension, we must confess that there is no neat, unambiguous, all-clarifying answer to satisfy all inquiries.    However, we understand this tension as purposeful in a twofold way.  First, the Pauline statement of assurance in 8:1 is for the contextual purpose of settling all believer’s fears who constantly battle with the principle of sin inherent within his flesh (7:14-25).  Salvation does not release man from indwelling sin (7:20), but according to 8:1, it does release the believer from the condemnation of sin.  Second, Paul’s warning of 8:13 is a real and genuine warning to the readership of the letter of Romans.  Since Paul has already stated the coming judgment day will reveal the secrets of men (2:16), and since no man knows the true heart of another, 8:13 is dealing with the evident manifestation of one’s character.  A life which acts according to the flesh is a life contrary to the Spirit of God—it will die.  For the believer, Paul expects much more because of the Spirit that lives within and gives “life to our mortal bodies” (8:10-11).  Therefore, 8:1 and 8:13 are to be viewed as complementary sides of the same truth.  On the one hand, assurance of salvation is a genuine joy available to each believer; yet, on the other hand, Paul strongly warns every reader that one’s life activities will expose what one truly is.  Thankfully in this passage, Paul fully expects the Spirit to empower each submissive believer to daily mortify (put to death) the practices of the flesh—though a constant personal struggle ensues as chapter 7 already explained.  The victory is ours only because of the power of the Spirit who lives within, and according to 8:16, the Spirit Himself takes the responsibility to assure the believer’s heart that he eternally belongs to God. 

Texts We Considered in This Declaration
Genesis 1-3; Isaiah 53; Matthew 1; Luke 8:11-15; Acts 8:28-35; 14:15-17; 17:25-27; 20:24; John 1:29; 3:1-16; Romans 1:1-4; 2:1-16; 3:21-26; 5:6-21; 7:14-25; 8:1-17; 9:1-11:6; Galatians 6:1; Ephesians 1:3-14; I Timothy 4:10; Titus 3; Hebrews 4:11-13; James 1:12-15; I Peter 1:18-21; II Peter 1:16-21; 2:1-3; I John 1:9; 2:1-2; 4:14.