resurrection lutheran church Core Beliefs

Bible

The Bible is the Word of God and is His unique revelation to the world. The Bible is our authoritative source for understanding God, life, and the world around us. (Psalm 119; 1 Timothy 1:13, 14; 2 Timothy 3:16). The whole story of everything God did to bring Jesus into our world is given for us in God’s written word, Scripture. All along the way, God appointed, equipped, and inspired different witnesses to what He had done to record His interactions with us and His instructions by inspiring their writings by the Holy Spirit. The end result is that even though they wrote as men of their times, their words recorded God’s timeless truth. Yet as important as that is, the ultimate purpose of the Bible is the revelation of Jesus Christ, the Living Word. Therefore, it is to be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises. The Bible is also a “closed” revelation. That as Jude tells us, God’s message of salvation has been “once for all delivered to the saints.” Though God still speaks, no new scripture is yet to come.

God

We believe that there is only one God (Deuteronomy 6:4). He is the Creator of the universe and of all people (Genesis 1-3). He is revealed to us in the three persons of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19; John 1:1; Ephesians 1:17; Colossians 1). While each of these three is individually God from all eternity, they are one in essence. That is, there are not three gods, but one God in three persons (i.e., the Trinity). Throughout Scripture we find that the Father is referred to as God; Jesus is referred to as God, and the Holy Spirit is referred to as God. Yet the mystery of the Trinity is that these three separate “Persons” are referred to as “one God.”

Jesus Christ

Jesus is the unique Son of God. He is God come in the flesh (“truly God & truly man”; Matthew 1:23; 3:17;John 1:1, 14; 3:16) who was born of a virgin (Matthew 1:18-25), lived a sinless life (Hebrews 4:14, 15), died for our sins (Romans 5:8), was resurrected from the dead (1 Corinthians 15),  reigns now with God in heaven (Ephesians 1:20-23) and will return as Lord and judge (2 Corinthian 5:10). He is the Savior of all who believe and obey Him (John 3:16).

The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is God living in us. He is the divine Comforter and Counselor God sent to convict sinners and to guide Christians, in whom he dwells, into all truth (John 3:5,6; 16:8-11; Acts 20:22-23; Romans 5:1-5). He enables God’s people to become more like Jesus, and He empowers God’s people to boldly witness to the world (Acts 1:18). The Holy Spirit also gives each Christian a gift(s) to bless and serve the rest of God’s family and the world (1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12).

Mankind

We believe that Adam was  created by God through Jesus Christ in the image of the  God - Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness...” (Genesis 1:26)

• That by his own willful sin of disobedience he fell from the state of being a perfect person of God's creation.
• That all men therefore are guilty before God and condemned to physical and spiritual death as God has pronounced

Salvation

We believe that salvation is by the sovereign mercy and grace of God

• That by the Father, Christ voluntarily suffered a sacrificial and substitution death for the remission or our sins
• That justification is by faith alone in the all-sufficient sacrifice and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ
• That all those who shall call upon the Name of the Lord, shall be saved.