Articles of Faith of Grace Chapel Primitive Baptist Church

Memphis, Tennessee

 

Of the Holy Scriptures

 

  1. We believe in the Divine Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures—both Old and New Testaments, and receive them as a gracious revelation of the mind and will of God. [Deut. 4: 2; Ps. 19: 7; Prov. 30: 5, 6; 2 Pet. 1: 19-21; Rev. 22: 18, and John 5: 39]. We believe that therein are revealed all the doctrines and truths which we here state and believe. [2 Timothy 3: 15-17].


Of the Holy Trinity

  1. We believe that there is but one living and true God. [Ex. 3: 14; Deut. 4: 35; Deut. 6: 4; Num. 23: 19; 1 Sam. 2: 2, 3; Ps. 90: 2; 115: 3; 139: 7-10; Eccl. 3: 14; Is. 46: 9; Jer. 10: 10; 23: 24; Mal. 3: 6; Mark 12: 29; John 4: 24; 1 Cor. 8: 6;  Col. 1: 16 -
    That there are Three Persons is the Godhead—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. [Matt. 28: 19; John 1: 1; 2 Cor. 13: 14; 1 John 5: 7; Jude 20, 21], and that these Three Persons are equal in nature, power,  and glory, and we believe that the Son and the Holy Ghost are as truly and as properly God as the Father. [John 10: 15, 30; Eph. 2: 22; Heb. 1: 3; 9: 14].


Of God’s Covenant and of Election

  1.  We believe in the everlasting and unchangeable love of God [Jer. 31: 3] and that  before the foundation of the world the Father did elect a certain number of the human race unto everlasting salvation, whom He did predestinate unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will [Gal. 4: 5; Eph. 1: 2-11; 1 Thess. 5: 9; 2 Tim. 1: 9; 1 John 3: 1; 1 Pet. 1: 2; 2: 9] and we believe that in fulfilling this glorious design, He did make a covenant of Grace and Peace with the Son and with the Holy Ghost on behalf of those persons thus chosen [John 1: 17] and that in this covenant the Son was appointed a Savior, and all spiritual blessings provided for the elect, and also that their persons, with all the grace and glory designed for them were put into the hands of the Son as their Covenant Head and made His care and charge [Ps. 111: 8, 9; Isa. 54: 10; 55: 3; John 6: 37; 17: 2; Acts 4: 12; Rom. 8: 29, 30; Eph. 2: 13; Heb. 2: 13; 6: 17, 18; 8: 8-13].

 

Of the Fall of Man and of Son

  1. We believe in the Fall of our first parents, Adam, and that by it the whole of the human race became involved in, and guilty of, Original Sin; and that as they are born into the world the whole of their posterity are, in consequence,  actual transgressors against God. [Rom. 5: 12-21; Ps. 58: 3]. And we believe that by the Fall all men were rendered both unable and unwilling spiritually to believe in, seek after, or love God until born again and called by the Holy Ghost [Gen. 6: 5; 8: 21; Job 14: 4; Ps. 51: 5; Jer. 13: 23; Rom. 3: 10-24; 1 Cor. 15: 22; Eph. 2: 1-3; 1 John 5: 19].


Of Christ the Mediator

  1. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, being set up from everlasting as the Mediator of the New Covenant, and having engaged to be the Surety of His people, did, in the fullness of time, really and truly assume human nature, and not before either in whole or in part [Prov. 8: 23]. We believe that though He existed from all eternity as the eternal Son of God [John 1: 18; Phil. 2: 5-8; Heb. 1: 5, 8; 2 John 3; Rev. 1: 8], the human soul of the Lord Jesus did not exist before it was created and formed in His body, by Him who forms the soul of man within him, when that body was conceived, under the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the Virgin Mary [Is. 7: 14; Matt. 1: 23; Luke 1: 26-38; John 1: 14; Gal. 4: 4], and that in it He really suffered, bled, and died as the Substitute and Surety of His church and people, in their room and stead, and for no others [John 10: 15, 29; 17: 9, 13] whereby together with His holy spotless life, He fulfilled the law, and satisfied all the claims of justice as well as made a way for all those blessings which are needful for His people, both for time and eternity [Heb. 9: 22-28].

 

Of Particular Redemption

  1. We believe that the eternal redemption which Christ has obtained by the shedding of His blood is special and particular [Ga3: 13; Heb. 9: 12-15] that is to say, that it was intentionally designed only for the Elect of God, the Sheep of Christ; who therefore alone share in the special and peculiar blessings thereof. [Is 35: 10; John 10: 15; Acts 13: 48; 20: 28; Rom. 5: 8-10; 8: 33, 34; 9: 13, 15, 16].

 

Of Justification

  1. We believe the justification of God’s elect is only by the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ being imputed to them [ Isa. 45: 24; 64: 6; Jer. 23: 6; Matt. 7: 18; Rom. 4: 4, 5; 5: 19; 10: 4; 1 Cor. 1: 30’ 2 Cor. 5: 21; Phil. 3: 9; Titus 3: 5] without consideration of any works of righteousness, before or after calling, done by them, and that the full and free pardon of their sins, past, present, and to come is only through the blood of Christ, according to the riches of His grace [Rom. 3: 20-27; 4: 2; 9: 11; 2 Tim. 1: 9; Heb. 1: 3; 9: 22; 1 Pet. 3: 18].


Of the New Birth

  1. We believe the New Birth of being born again, is not an act of man’s free will and natural power, but that it springs from the operation of the mighty, efficacious and irresistible grace of God [Ps. 110: 3; John 1: 13; 3: 7, 8; 6: 44, 63, 65].

Of the Resurrection of the Dead and of the Last Judgment

 

9.       We believe in the resurrection of the body, both of the just and the unjust [Acts 24: 15], that the just, the elect,  shall be raised in glory and honor [Matt. 24: 31] and be openly acknowledged and fully acquitted in the Judgment Day before angels, devils, and sinners and made fully and eternally blessed both in body and soul; and that the wicked shall be raised up to be condemned, body and soul, to the unspeakable torments of Hell forever and ever. [Dan. 12: 2; John 5: 28, 29; Acts 23: 6; Rom 6: 23; 8: 11, 23; 1 Cor. 15: 52; Job 19: 25-27].

 

Of Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and Washing of the Saint’s Feet

10.  We believe that Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are ordinances of Christ, to be continued until His Second Coming and that believers are the only proper subjects for baptism and that immersion in the only mode, and that none except those who have been regularly baptized are admitted in the communion service; and that the washing of the saints’ feet is an example of love and humility which should be practiced by the members of our church. [Rom. 6: 4; 1 Cor. 11: 24-29; Acts 8: 36-38; John 13: 1-17; 1 Tim. 5: 10].

 

Of Good Works

 

11.  We believe that God has ordained good works  that His children should walk in, and that good works are only such as God has commanded in His Word [Eph. 2: 10]. We do not believe that the doctrines of Election, Special Atonement, and Final Preservation of the saints will induce a child of God to live ungodly, but that after being born again by the Holy Ghost he will desire to do good works, having lost his love of sin [John 15: 16; Titus 2: 14].

 

Of the Church

12.  We believe that the church is the highest ecclesiastical authority of earth, subject alone unto Christ her Head, for all her acts [Acts 6: 3], and that her form of government is congregational, each member having an equal voice in all her acts. [Col. 1: 18].

 

London Confession of Faith

13.  The Bible is our only rule of faith and practice, but we do subscribe to the London Confession of Faith as a means of identifying ourselves.