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What we Believe
Growing believers through God's Word
The Bible
We believe in the Bible as the verbally (every word) and plenary (complete) inspired Word of God as contained in the original manuscripts; that all portions of Scripture are equally inspired and contain no contradictions. (II Timothy 3:16) God’s Word is to be the only rule of faith and practice for the believer in Jesus Christ; and that the Canon, the sixty-six books of the Bible is complete. We further believe that God has supernaturally and providentially preserved His inspired Word for every generation. (Psalm 12:6-7)
A: By inspiration we mean that the books of the Bible were written by holy men of God as they were moved by the Holy Ghost in such a definite way that their writings were supernaturally and verbally inspired and free from error, as no other writings have ever been or ever will be. This was a one-time event in which God, once for all, delivered His truth to the church. (II Peter 1:20-21; Jude, v. 3; II Timothy 3:16)
B: By providential preservation we mean that God, through the ages, has, in His divine power, preserved the very words He inspired. We further believe that the Hebrew Old Testament text, as found in the Traditional Masoretic Text, and the Greek New Testament text, as found in the Textus Receptus, are the true texts of Scripture and therefore are the complete, preserved, inerrant, infallible Word of God. (Psalm 12: 6, 7; Isaiah 40:8; Matthew 24:35; 1 Peter 1:23)
C: We therefore believe that the King James Version is an accurate and faithful translation of the true texts of Scriptures which constitutes the preserved, inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God for the English- speaking people of the world. The King James Version of the Bible is the only translation used by Temple Baptist Church
God
We believe that the Godhead eternally exists in three Persons-the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and that these three are one God, having precisely the same nature, attributes and perfections; and are worthy of precisely the same homage, confidence and obedience. Genesis 1:1; Genesis 1:25; John 1:1; John 14:16, 17; I Timothy 3:16
Jesus Christ
We believe in the essential deity and virgin birth of our Lord Jesus Christ; that He was begotten by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary not having human father, and is true God and true man; that He is man’s only hope of salvation from sin, being the only mediator between God and man; that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day for our sins according to the Scriptures; that His return for His Church, the Body of Christ, which He will take with Himself into heaven is imminent; and that He will come to this earth to set up His millennial reign. Isaiah 7:14; Luke 1:35; John 1:1-4; John 10:30; John 14:6; I Timothy 2:5, 6; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 20:4-6.
Holy Spirit
We believe the Holy Spirit to be coequal with the Father and with the Son. He is a Person. He came to this earth as the fulfillment of Christ’s promise. He convicts, regenerates, indwells seals, fills, empowers, and guides the believer. John 16:7-13; John 3:3-5; Acts 1:8; I Corinthians 6:19; Ephesians 1:13, 14; Ephesians 5:18
Mankind
We believe that God created man in His own image and that man sinned and thereby incurred not only physical death but also spiritual death which is conscious and eternal separation from God. We believe that all men are born with a sinful nature, evidenced by sinful acts; that man is totally depraved (every aspect of man has been affected by sin) and that if he is not born again, he is eternally lost. Genesis 1:26, 27; Psalm 51:5; Jeremiah 17:9; Luke 16:23; Revelation 21:8; Romans 3:10-23; Romans 5:12; I Corinthians 15:21, 22; Revelation 20:11-15, Revelation 21:8.
Salvation
We believe that a person is saved when he exercises faith in the atoning work of Jesus Christ thus receiving Him as personal Savior.
We believe that the scope of salvation includes forgiveness of all our sins past, present, and future: a perfect standing before God as in Jesus Christ: and the changing of our earthly body to be conformed like unto the body of our Lord at His return for His own. We believe that the saved will spend eternity with God in heaven.
We believe the doctrinal extremes of Calvinism and Arminianism are unbiblical.
We further believe that there is an appointed day for the judgment of the wicked when they will be cast into the Lake of Fire, there to remain in everlasting conscious punishment and torment. John 1:12; John 5:24; John 10:28, 29; Romans 6:23; II Corinthians 5:21; Eph. 2:8, 10; I John 5:17; Romans 8:19-23; I John 3:2; II. Thessalonians 1:7-9; Hebrews 9:27; II Peter 2:8, 9; Revelation 20:12-15; Revelation 21:8
Church
We believe that the local church is composed of:
A local group of believers that is autonomous, self-governing, and has no ecclesiastical organization in authority over it.
Believers who are baptized by immersion.
Believers who are organized. They have for their officers, pastors, deacons and such other leaders as God has given special gifts to render as a ministry to the church.
Believers who observe the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord ’s Supper.
Believers who meet regularly for fellowship, worship, and Bible study.
Believers who carry out the Great Commission. 1 Corinthians 12:13; Acts 2; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; I Corinthians 16:19; Acts 2:41; 1 Corinthians 12; Hebrews 10:25; I Corinthians 11:23, 24; Matthew. 28:18-20
Last Things
We believe there will be a resurrection of all, first the just at the coming of Jesus Christ and finally the unjust after the millennium. The saints are raised to be forever with the Lord, and the unsaved will be confined for eternity in the Lake of Fire. We believe in the “Blessed Hope”(Titus 2:13) which is the personal, bodily, pretribulational, premillennial, and imminent return of our Lord and Savior for His Church at the rapture and His later return to the earth in power and glory with His saints to set up His Kingdom ( the millennium). John 14:1-3; Acts 1:9-11, Acts 24:15; I Corinthians. 15:3-20; Philippians 3:20; I Thessalonians 4:13-18, I John 2:1-2, Rev. 20: 1-15, Rev. 21:8