What is Biblical Theology
Before we look at what it is that Springvale South Church of Christ believes, let us examine first of all what THEOLOGY is as our fundamental belief is centered around Theology. The word “theology” comes from two Greek words that combined mean “the study of God.” Christian theology is simply an attempt to understand God as He is revealed in the Bible. No theology will ever fully explain God and His ways because God is infinitely and eternally higher than we are. Therefore, any attempt to describe Him will fall short (Romans 11:33-36). However, God does want us to know Him insofar as we are able, and theology is the art and science of knowing what we can know and understand about God in an organized and understandable manner. Some people try to avoid theology because they believe it is divisive. Properly understood, though, theology is uniting. Proper, biblical theology is a good thing; it is the teaching of God's Word (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
The study of theology, then, is nothing more than digging into God’s Word to discover what He has revealed about Himself. When we do this, we come to know Him as Creator of all things, Sustainer of all things, and Judge of all things. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end of all things. When Moses asked who was sending him to Pharaoh, God replied “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14). The name I AM indicates personality. God has a name, even as He has given names to others. The name I AM stands for a free, purposeful, self-sufficient personality. God is not an ethereal force or a cosmic energy. He is the almighty, self-existing, self-determining Being with a mind and a will—the “personal” God who has revealed Himself to humanity through His Word, and through His Son, Jesus Christ.
To study theology is to get to know God in order that we may glorify Him through our love and obedience. Notice the progression here: we must get to know Him before we can love Him, and we must love Him before we can desire to obey Him. As a byproduct, our lives are immeasurably enriched by the comfort and hope He imparts to those who know, love, and obey Him. Poor theology and a superficial, inaccurate understanding of God will only make our lives worse instead of bringing the comfort and hope we long for. Knowing about God is crucially important. We are cruel to ourselves if we try to live in this world without knowing about God. The world is a painful place, and life in it is disappointing and unpleasant. Reject theology and you doom yourself to life with no sense of direction. Without theology, we waste our lives and lose our souls.
All Christians should be consumed with theology—the intense, personal study of God—in order to know, love, and obey the One with whom we will joyfully spend eternity. This excerpt is taken from gotquestions.org and we believe that the explanation given fits in with what we believe when it comes to theology and doctrine.
The study of theology, then, is nothing more than digging into God’s Word to discover what He has revealed about Himself. When we do this, we come to know Him as Creator of all things, Sustainer of all things, and Judge of all things. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end of all things. When Moses asked who was sending him to Pharaoh, God replied “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14). The name I AM indicates personality. God has a name, even as He has given names to others. The name I AM stands for a free, purposeful, self-sufficient personality. God is not an ethereal force or a cosmic energy. He is the almighty, self-existing, self-determining Being with a mind and a will—the “personal” God who has revealed Himself to humanity through His Word, and through His Son, Jesus Christ.
To study theology is to get to know God in order that we may glorify Him through our love and obedience. Notice the progression here: we must get to know Him before we can love Him, and we must love Him before we can desire to obey Him. As a byproduct, our lives are immeasurably enriched by the comfort and hope He imparts to those who know, love, and obey Him. Poor theology and a superficial, inaccurate understanding of God will only make our lives worse instead of bringing the comfort and hope we long for. Knowing about God is crucially important. We are cruel to ourselves if we try to live in this world without knowing about God. The world is a painful place, and life in it is disappointing and unpleasant. Reject theology and you doom yourself to life with no sense of direction. Without theology, we waste our lives and lose our souls.
All Christians should be consumed with theology—the intense, personal study of God—in order to know, love, and obey the One with whom we will joyfully spend eternity. This excerpt is taken from gotquestions.org and we believe that the explanation given fits in with what we believe when it comes to theology and doctrine.
Statement of Beliefs
God
The One true living God (Deut 6:4) exists eternally in three distinct but equal persons; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matt 28:19). He is the almighty Creator, Savior and Judge who sustains and governs all things according to His sovereign will for His own glory (Col 1:15-20). He is also unchangeable in His Holiness, justice, wisdom and love and is absolutely sovereign so that nothing is outside His control. No force in heaven or on earth can frustrate His sovereign plans (Dan 4:34-35).
God the Father
We believe that God the Father, the first person of the Trinity, orders and disposes all things according to His own purpose and grace. He is the Creator of all things (Gen 1:1). He is sovereign in creation, providence and redemption (Rom 11:36). As Creator He isFather to all men, but He is Spiritually Father only to believers (Rom 8:14-17). He has decreed for His own glory all things that come to pass (Eph 1:11). He continually upholds, direct and governs all creatures and events (1 Chron 29:11). In His sovereignty and perfect holiness He is neither author nor approver of sin. He has graciously chosen from eternity past those whom He would have as His own (Eph 1:4-6). He saves from sin all those who come to Him through His Son Jesus Christ (1 Tim 2:5).
God the Son
We believe and affirm that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God (John 1:1, 14). The second person of the Trinity and is of the same essence as the Father (John 10:30; Phil 2:6). We therefore believe in the full deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. We also believe that at the incarnation, Jesus took on an additional human nature (Col 2:9), and atoned for the sins of the world at the cross, rose from the dead, ascended into Heaven and now rules over the world from heaven. He is therefore, Saviour and Lord (Acts 13:23).
God the Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit is of the same divine essence as the Father and the Son (1 Cor 2:10-13). God the Holy Spirit has been sent from heaven to glorify Christ (John 16:14) and to apply His work of salvation (Eph 1:13-14). He convicts sinners (John 16:8), imparts spiritual life and gives a true understanding of the Scriptures (John 16:13). He dwells in all believers (Romans 8:9), brings assurance of salvation and produces increasing likeness to Christ. He is involved in the building-up of the Church by empowering its members for worship, service and mission (1 Cor 12:11).
Humanity and Sin
We believe that all men and women being created in the image of God (Gen 1:26-27) have inherent and equal dignity and worth. Their greatest purpose is to obey, worship and love God (Matt 22:37). As a result of the fall of Adam and Eve, every aspect of the human nature has been corrupted so that all men and women are totally depraved, without spiritual life, guilty sinners and hostile to God (Eph 2:1-3). Every person is therefore under the just condemnation of God, and will be committed to an eternal conscious punishment in hell (Matt 25:41; Rev 20:11-15).
Salvation
We believe that man is a sinner and can do nothing to earn favour before God (Rom 8:8). Those whom God sovereignly elected to salvation will as a result of God’s grace come to faith and thus to salvation (Eph 2:8-10). From the individual’s perspective, this salvation is received through repentance and faith in the atoning work of Christ (Rom 10:8-11). All true believers can have assurance of salvation because of God’s faithfulness in preserving them to the end, in faith, repentance and holiness (Phil 1:6). Thus nothing can take the Christian out of God’s hand – not even the weakness and failings of the Christian (Rom 8:35-39; John 6:37-39).
Church
We believe that the universal church is made up of true believers who belong to the visible local churches which are congregations of believers. The church (believers) is committed to each other for the worship of God, the preaching of the Word, prayers of intercession, the administering of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper (Acts 2:42); for pastoral care, discipleship, discipline (Heb 13:17) and for evangelism (Matt 28:18-20).
The unity of the church is expressed within and between churches by mutual love, care and encouragement. True fellowship between churches exists only where they are faithful to the gospel. The local church is autonomous and is headed by Pastors (teaching elders) and ruling elders (lay elders), who are to fit the biblical qualifications (1 Tim 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9). The election of the church committee(s) is by congregational vote.
Water Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
We believe that Christ has given Water Baptism and the Lord’s Supper to the Church as visible signs of the Gospel (Acts 2:41-42). Baptism is a symbol of union with Christ and entry into His Church but does not impart spiritual life (Rom 6:1-11). Baptism is by full immersion (Acts 8:36-39) and is only available to adults and not infants.
The Lord’s Supper is open to all who are genuine Christians and members of the church in good standing of evangelical churches. This sacrament is a symbolic reminder to every Christian of the sacrifice Jesus made to make our salvation possible. Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of sin and therefore the Christian should continually remember the Lord’s work at Calvary (1 Cor 11:23-32).
The Holy Scriptures
We believe that the bible is God’s written revelation to man, who has revealed Himself in the pages of scripture, which consist of 66 books both the Old Testament and New Testament. Every word was entirely inspired by the Holy Spirit and written through human authors, so that the Bible as originally given - is in its entirety the Word of God (2 Tim 3:16), without error and fully reliable in faith, doctrine, history and science. Scripture is therefore the supreme and final authority in all matters on which it speaks. It is the final rule of faith and practice and is always sufficient for all matters of belief and practice (2 Cor 3:5)
The One true living God (Deut 6:4) exists eternally in three distinct but equal persons; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matt 28:19). He is the almighty Creator, Savior and Judge who sustains and governs all things according to His sovereign will for His own glory (Col 1:15-20). He is also unchangeable in His Holiness, justice, wisdom and love and is absolutely sovereign so that nothing is outside His control. No force in heaven or on earth can frustrate His sovereign plans (Dan 4:34-35).
God the Father
We believe that God the Father, the first person of the Trinity, orders and disposes all things according to His own purpose and grace. He is the Creator of all things (Gen 1:1). He is sovereign in creation, providence and redemption (Rom 11:36). As Creator He isFather to all men, but He is Spiritually Father only to believers (Rom 8:14-17). He has decreed for His own glory all things that come to pass (Eph 1:11). He continually upholds, direct and governs all creatures and events (1 Chron 29:11). In His sovereignty and perfect holiness He is neither author nor approver of sin. He has graciously chosen from eternity past those whom He would have as His own (Eph 1:4-6). He saves from sin all those who come to Him through His Son Jesus Christ (1 Tim 2:5).
God the Son
We believe and affirm that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God (John 1:1, 14). The second person of the Trinity and is of the same essence as the Father (John 10:30; Phil 2:6). We therefore believe in the full deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. We also believe that at the incarnation, Jesus took on an additional human nature (Col 2:9), and atoned for the sins of the world at the cross, rose from the dead, ascended into Heaven and now rules over the world from heaven. He is therefore, Saviour and Lord (Acts 13:23).
God the Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit is of the same divine essence as the Father and the Son (1 Cor 2:10-13). God the Holy Spirit has been sent from heaven to glorify Christ (John 16:14) and to apply His work of salvation (Eph 1:13-14). He convicts sinners (John 16:8), imparts spiritual life and gives a true understanding of the Scriptures (John 16:13). He dwells in all believers (Romans 8:9), brings assurance of salvation and produces increasing likeness to Christ. He is involved in the building-up of the Church by empowering its members for worship, service and mission (1 Cor 12:11).
Humanity and Sin
We believe that all men and women being created in the image of God (Gen 1:26-27) have inherent and equal dignity and worth. Their greatest purpose is to obey, worship and love God (Matt 22:37). As a result of the fall of Adam and Eve, every aspect of the human nature has been corrupted so that all men and women are totally depraved, without spiritual life, guilty sinners and hostile to God (Eph 2:1-3). Every person is therefore under the just condemnation of God, and will be committed to an eternal conscious punishment in hell (Matt 25:41; Rev 20:11-15).
Salvation
We believe that man is a sinner and can do nothing to earn favour before God (Rom 8:8). Those whom God sovereignly elected to salvation will as a result of God’s grace come to faith and thus to salvation (Eph 2:8-10). From the individual’s perspective, this salvation is received through repentance and faith in the atoning work of Christ (Rom 10:8-11). All true believers can have assurance of salvation because of God’s faithfulness in preserving them to the end, in faith, repentance and holiness (Phil 1:6). Thus nothing can take the Christian out of God’s hand – not even the weakness and failings of the Christian (Rom 8:35-39; John 6:37-39).
Church
We believe that the universal church is made up of true believers who belong to the visible local churches which are congregations of believers. The church (believers) is committed to each other for the worship of God, the preaching of the Word, prayers of intercession, the administering of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper (Acts 2:42); for pastoral care, discipleship, discipline (Heb 13:17) and for evangelism (Matt 28:18-20).
The unity of the church is expressed within and between churches by mutual love, care and encouragement. True fellowship between churches exists only where they are faithful to the gospel. The local church is autonomous and is headed by Pastors (teaching elders) and ruling elders (lay elders), who are to fit the biblical qualifications (1 Tim 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9). The election of the church committee(s) is by congregational vote.
Water Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
We believe that Christ has given Water Baptism and the Lord’s Supper to the Church as visible signs of the Gospel (Acts 2:41-42). Baptism is a symbol of union with Christ and entry into His Church but does not impart spiritual life (Rom 6:1-11). Baptism is by full immersion (Acts 8:36-39) and is only available to adults and not infants.
The Lord’s Supper is open to all who are genuine Christians and members of the church in good standing of evangelical churches. This sacrament is a symbolic reminder to every Christian of the sacrifice Jesus made to make our salvation possible. Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of sin and therefore the Christian should continually remember the Lord’s work at Calvary (1 Cor 11:23-32).
The Holy Scriptures
We believe that the bible is God’s written revelation to man, who has revealed Himself in the pages of scripture, which consist of 66 books both the Old Testament and New Testament. Every word was entirely inspired by the Holy Spirit and written through human authors, so that the Bible as originally given - is in its entirety the Word of God (2 Tim 3:16), without error and fully reliable in faith, doctrine, history and science. Scripture is therefore the supreme and final authority in all matters on which it speaks. It is the final rule of faith and practice and is always sufficient for all matters of belief and practice (2 Cor 3:5)
