 ™ |
| I BELIEVE |
| :: AN ABBREVIATED STATEMENT OF FAITH :: |
| GOD
Spirit, Eternal, Infinite —
|
therefore: all-knowing/omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent;
Who has revealed Himself as a plural personality whose moral character is the absolute of selfless love.
Psalm 90:2
John 4:24
1 John 4:8 & 16.
For the sake of all that is created, He is the source of all authority, governing all things from the Throne above. He became Father when Jesus stepped down (to become finite) to create all things and so became His Son.
John 17:5 & 24.
| Do not let cultural idiom mislead you for 'son of man' is not a messianic title; and 'son of God' has nothing to do with deity! |
| 'son of man' = human |
| 'son of God' = messiah |
He is the self-humbling, self-limiting of divine infinity in order to create all things finite, and Who, through His second step down, entered fully into our humanity —
| • | sacrificed Himself to fully receive all guilt before God through complete separation from His Father on our behalf; |
| • | was resurrected, confirming the full sufficiency of His completed sacrifice, by which new life was given to all who trust in Him; and, |
| • | exalted to the right hand of the Father to corporately represent all those who are His, until the work of His Church is completed in her spiritual maturity. |
Colossians 1:15-17
Philippians 2:6-8
2 Corinthians 5:21
Ephesians 2:5-6
Ephesians 1:20-22
Psalm 110:1.
Ephesians 4:13.
(Contrary to the arguments of Church History, He is not eternally 'generate' from the Father, for He is intrinsically equal to the Father in all things. The term 'Son of God' was simply a Semitic term for Messiah [of Israel] and has no reference at all to His deity, for Christ's deity is not derived from or secondary to the Father in any sense whatsoever. That idea was derived from pagan Greek culture of the early centuries and helped cause a misunderstanding of this Semitic term which has thus hindered Christian missions to Muslims.) |
He is the presence of God —
| • | by Whom the creative words of the Jesus in Genesis One were implemented; |
| • | as the power Who ministered through Christ in the days of His flesh; and, |
| • | Who at the Christian Pentecost entered into the same relationship to all believers in Christ as He had had to Christ Himself between His baptism by John and His death on the cross. |
| • | Therefore to deceive the disciples of Christ is described by Peter in Acts 5 as lying to the Holy Spirit Himself. |
Isaiah 59:19
Matthew 3:16
John 14:16-17 & 26
John 15:26
Acts 1:8
Matthew 12:28.
(Contrary to the arguments of Church History, He does not eternally 'proceed' from the Father or from the Son, for He is intrinsically equal to the Father and the Son in all respects. The "proceeds from the Father" statement in John 15:26, used to imply this, is simply a reference to His coming after-Pentecost relationship to the disciples having the same leadership authority as Jesus Christ had had to them 'from the Father' during His ministry in Palestine.)
(see: The Filioque Clause) |
It is —
| • | individually – every one in every race, place and time who has trusted God Most High more than him/herself (as in Abraham's defining moment, Gen.15:6; Gal.3:6); |
| • | corporately – all those who share in the one Holy Spirit given at Pentecost and whose full spiritual maturity, expressed in the completed task of spreading Christ's gospel as a testimony, will precipitate His return; and, |
| • | physically – fully expressed in each local congregation through their united worship and confession of their mutual identity in Holy Communion/Eucharist as Christ's representative Body. |
Ephesians 2:19-22
Galatians 3:26-28
1 Corinthians 10:17
1 Corinthians 11:29.
It brings this present world order to an end, beginning at the simultaneous resurrection of the Church of Jesus of all ages into His glory according to their obedience to Him. It completes in the individual judgment of the unrighteous, after the completion of all things, before the End.
Revelation 20:11-15.
The beginning of the future which makes all that has gone before worthwhile and was its preparation, in which —
• the Son of God Himself becomes again as He was before anything existed that was created;
• the resurrected Church of Jesus takes Christ's place as the revelation of the Infinite to the finite; and,
• the human race continues to grow and spread, as originally mandated, throughout God's expanding universe.
• the Son of God Himself becomes again as He was before anything existed that was created;
• the resurrected Church of Jesus takes Christ's place as the revelation of the Infinite to the finite; and,
• the human race continues to grow and spread, as originally mandated, throughout God's expanding universe.
Revelation 21:22-27
1 Corinthians 15:28
Ephesians 1:10.
