Beliefs: Bethel's Doctrinal Statement
Section 1 - The Scripture.
We believe the Bible and only the Bible to be God's infallible Word and the Christian's supreme authority in all matters of faith and practice. We affirm our belief in the verbal and plenary inspiration of the Scripture in their original autographs.
(II Timothy 3:16-17; II Peter 1:20-21; 1Peter 1:25)
Section 2 - God and the Trinity.
We Believe in one God, Creator of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. While its members possess individual, personal attributes, the Trinity is without division of nature, essence, or being.
(Genesis 1:1; Matthew 28:19; John 10:30; 4:24; 2 Corinthians 13:14; 1 John 4:13)
Section 3 - Jesus Christ.
We believe in Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son, born of the Virgin Mary, sinless in life, who atoned for the sins of the world by His substitutionary death on the cross. We believe in His bodily resurrection, His ascension into heaven, and His High Priestly intercession for His people.
(Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:35; John 1:1, 14; Acts 1:9-11; II Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 4:15; 7:25; 9:24; I John 2:1-2)
Section 4 - The Holy Spirit.
We believe the Holy Spirit to be the third person in the Trinity, whose ministry is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. During this age, the Holy Spirit draws men unto God; convicts men of sin, righteousness, and judgment; and indwells, guides, instructs, and empowers the believer for godly service.
(John 14:16-17, 26; 16:8-15; Romans 5:5; 8:9-11; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 12:12-14; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Ephesians 1:13-14; Matthew 28:19-20)
Section 5 - Man.
We believe that Adam was created in the image of God but fell into sin and that all men are sinners by nature and by choice and therefore, lost. However, we believe that "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16). We believe that those who accept Christ as Savior and Lord shall be forever in God's presence and those who reject Christ as Savior and Lord will be forever separated from God and be cast into the lake of fire for eternal punishment.
(Genesis 1:26-27; Mark 9:43-44; John 3:36; Romans 3:23; Romans 5:12; Ephesians 2:1-3, 12; II Thessalonians 1:9; Revelation 20:15)
Section 6 - Salvation.
We believe that the shed blood of Jesus Christ provides the only ground for justification and salvation for all who believe. Only those who receive Jesus Christ and are born of the Holy Spirit can thus become children of God.
(John 1:12; 3:16; Acts 13:38-39; Romans 5:1; 8:14-17; Ephesians 1:7; Philippians 1:5-8; Hebrews 9:22; I Peter 1:18-19; 2:24)
Section 7 - Satan.
We believe in the reality of Satan as a personal angelic being who has fallen from his original state of perfection and is now the prince of the corrupt, anti-God world-system. We believe in Satan's final and eternal judgement in the Lake of Fire.
(Revelation 20:10; Ephesians 2:2; II Corinthians 4:4; Ezekiel 28:11-19; John 14:30; Job 1:12; 2:6)
Section 8 - The Church.
We believe that the true Church is composed of all persons who, through saving faith in Jesus Christ, have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and are united together in the body of members of the true Church shall be eligible for membership in the local church.
(Acts 2:41; I Corinthians 12:12-13; II Corinthians 6:14; Ephesians 4:4-6, 15-16)
Section 9 - The Ordinances.
We believe that baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in testimony of a persons faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Christ. It is a confession that the believer is dead to sin and risen to newness of life in Christ Jesus. We believe that the Lord's Supper is a commemoration of the Lord's death "till He come."
(Matthew 28:19; 26:26-30; Acts 8:35-38; Romans 6:3-5; I Corinthians 11:23-26)
Section 10 - The Priesthood of the Believer.
We believe all men who are born of God have equality of direct access to God's ear and heart, and there is no distinction between men in their exercise of that priesthood in their personal relationships with the Lord.
(I Peter 2:5,9; Hebrews 4:14-16; 2:10-18; Revelation 1:6)
Section 11 - The Last Things.
We believe in "that blessed hope" (Titus 2:13) the personal, visible, premillennial return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We believe in the bodily resurrection of the just and the unjust, the everlasting blessedness of the saved and the everlasting conscious suffering of the lost.
(Zechariah 14:4-11; Matthew 25:46; John 5:28-29; 11:25-26; Acts 1:11; I Thessalonians 4:16-18; Revelation 20:4-6, 11-15)