Redeemer Church has deep roots in the Baptist theological tradition. We have adopted the Eager Ave Grace Church Confession as a good summary of what we preach and teach. Additionally, we have adopted The Baptist Faith and Message (2000) on the issues of Christian Baptism and The Lord’s Supper. Other historical confessions we find helpful include the 1729 Goat Yard Declaration of Faith as well at the London Confession of 1644.

STATEMENT OF FAITH

WE BELIEVE in one God, the Maker, Preserver, and Ruler of all things, having in and of Himself all perfections, and being infinite in them all. To Him all creatures owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience.

WE BELIEVE the one God reveals Himself in the Trinity of His sacred Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, each a distinct Person but without division of nature, essence and being. It is the purpose of God in redemption to glorify Himself in the salvation of sinners through Christ, based on His merits alone. Each Person of the Godhead performs a specific office in the purpose, plan, and employment of the redemption of the elect, and that it is all sure and certain in that God is faithful to fulfill His promise based on the righteousness of Christ.

In light of this, and in compliance with the Holy Scriptures, we do hereby boldly confess:

WE BELIEVE God the Father, before the foundation of the world, chose a multitude of guilty, ungodly, totally depraved sinners that no man can number, out of Adam’s fallen race. He determined to give eternal blessedness, all grace here and all glory hereafter, to all these objects of His love, conditioned, not on the sinner, but on the obedience and death of the Lord Jesus Christ, their Representative and Surety.

WE BELIEVE God the Father sent Christ, the Son, into the world to become incarnate, be born of a virgin, obey His holy law, and die on the cross, to satisfy His law and justice on their behalf, based on their sins being imputed to Him, and, thereby, fulfill all the conditions of the salvation of God’s elect.

WE BELIEVE Christ accomplished in full this redemption, as He fulfilled all conditions of their salvation. This was signified and declared by His resurrection from the dead on the third day. Christ’s righteousness in and of itself insured His own resurrection from the dead. Christ’s righteousness in and of itself also insures the salvation of all whom He represented, all for whom He lived and died, and all that is included in salvation, from their new birth (regeneration and conversion) to their final glorification.

WE BELIEVE God the Holy Spirit makes all the objects of God’s love, all whom Christ redeemed, in each successive generation, full partakers of all that God has provided and all that Christ has purchased. He applies this to them as He regenerates them and calls them by the Gospel. He brings them to faith in Christ and to repentance of former idolatry and dead works. He continually dwells in them that they might be comforted by the absolute certainties of their final glory based solely upon the imputed righteousness of Christ as revealed in God’s word.

WE BELIEVE Christ’s righteousness in and of itself insures all the work of God the Holy Spirit in God’s elect and that no part of the Holy Spirit’s work in the sinner, though necessary and vital for salvation, forms any part of the ground of that sinner’s salvation. God the Holy Spirit’s work in the sinner is the fruit and effect of Christ’s work of redemption for the sinner. We therefore believe that God justifies His elect based solely upon the righteousness of Christ freely imputed to them, with no consideration of, nor contribution from, the sinner’s efforts at obedience and reform.

In light of this, and in accordance with the Holy Scriptures, we adhere to the doctrines which are commonly referred to as the doctrines of sovereign grace. Grace means all of the conditions for the salvation of God’s elect were fully met by Christ alone. These doctrines, in compliance with the Holy Scriptures, can be stated as follows:

Total depravity and inability of man
Total depravity must be considered from two points of view: (1) Legally (objectively), as it concerns how God views us. We are born as guilty sinners and deserving of His just wrath if we are judged on our very best efforts. We cannot even contribute to the payment of the debt owed to God’s law and justice because of our sins. (2) Morally (subjectively), it concerns how we view God. We are born spiritually kin to Satan, at enmity with God.

This does not mean that we are all openly immoral and profane, or unconcerned about religion. Even as totally depraved sinners, we are able to perform duties of religion and morality that would make us appear righteous.

Unconditional election
In order to reveal and honor all the perfections of God’s redemptive character in the full, free, eternal salvation of totally depraved sinners, God chose or elected a definite number out of Adam’s fallen race and conditioned all of their salvation upon Christ. God the Father appointed God the Son to be the Representative and Surety of each and every individual sinner whom He had elected unto salvation and made them one with Christ in the eyes of His law and justice. By God’s appointment, Christ took on the entire responsibility to do everything necessary to bring each and every one of the elect unto final glorification.

Unconditional election, then, automatically means unconditional salvation. Why God chose one and not another is known only to God Himself. All were totally depraved, equally ungodly, alienated from God and aligned with Satan. All without exception, which includes God’s elect, were by nature children of wrath, unable to pay the double debt to both God’s law and justice. They could not be saved apart from God graciously conditioning all of their salvation upon Christ.

Particular Redemption
This teaches us that Christ actually, in time, satisfied all the conditions and requirements of the salvation of God’s elect by establishing a perfect righteousness for them. This justifying, redemptive work of reconciliation was for all whom He represented, thus, glorifying His Father in their full salvation. God’s elect are going to receive spiritual and eternal life as a fruit and effect of what Christ merited for them, based on God having imputed His righteousness to them. God the Son became incarnate in order to do everything necessary to SATISFY all the conditions required for the eternal salvation of all those whom He represented, and they will be eternally saved. Not one sinner for whom Christ lived and died will finally perish. Christ’s accomplishment of redemption, and the righteousness of God revealed in the Gospel insures their salvation, all grace here and all glory hereafter. Christ’s righteousness insures that they all be made full partakers of all that He purchased for them, including the work of the Holy Spirit in them.

Invincible Grace
This refers to the application of salvation to persons of the elect, whereby they are made actual partakers of justification and life in this world. This is just as sure and certain as Christ’s death on Calvary. This application is the effectual call of God the Holy Spirit through the preaching of God’s Gospel. God the Holy Spirit is the sovereign Agent who quickens spiritually dead sinners, and the Gospel preached, heard and understood by the quickened sinner, is the means, the very power of God unto salvation. Regeneration and conversion always come together in the new birth. Just as the sin of our representative Adam plunged all whom he represented into guilt, total depravity and all the particulars involved in this state, even so, the righteousness of the Representative, Christ Jesus, demanded that each and every one whom He represented be made actual partakers of all grace here and all glory hereafter.  

Preservation and perseverance of the saints
All whom God elected, whom Christ redeemed, and whom the Holy Spirit gives life, will without fail persevere unto final glory by God’s preserving grace. God’s people know that all of salvation (which includes our preservation, perseverance and final glorification) is conditioned on Christ our Surety according to God’s promise. We know the only true God who made the promise, and we know the only true Christ who merited for us all grace here and all glory hereafter. We are fully persuaded that what God has promised, HE IS ABLE TO PERFORM. Our confidence is not in ourselves, but it is in God our Savior, and we are encouraged and motivated by the absolute certainty of salvation conditioned on Christ alone which produces true love and loyalty to Christ and His sheep. This causes us to delight and be diligent in the use of all the means which God has provided for our preservation. God’s people will be preserved by His grace, and His people will persevere, continue in the faith, resting in the absolute certainty of salvation conditioned on Christ alone. We know that any who profess to believe the Gospel, and who later leave it never truly believed the Gospel. They had never truly repented.

WE BELIEVE these doctrines are revealed to show us God’s faithfulness to save His people by the shed blood and imputed righteousness of Christ. And  on that very same basis, it should be an encouragement for all without exception to believe on Christ. God has clearly revealed our disease in order that we might seek and find the only remedy. Self-righteous men and women deny the severity of the disease and invent their own remedies. God has determined to save the very chief of sinners based on the righteousness of Christ without deeds of the law.

WE BELIEVE that all who hear this Gospel are commanded, encouraged, and fully warranted to believe on Christ, in full assurance of salvation based solely on the imputation of His merit, the very righteousness of God He established at the cross – the righteousness revealed in the Gospel. This is to be expressed in Scriptural ways such as:

GOD-GIVEN FAITH which, upon hearing and understanding the Gospel, receives Christ, and His righteousness as the only ground of eternal salvation and final glory.

REPENTANCE OF FORMER IDOLATRY AND DEAD WORKS which always accompanies and is the first evidence of God-given faith. This initial repentance by faith in Christ sees that every effort at obedience and reform before true faith was an evil and wicked attempt at removing God’s wrath and gaining favor in opposition to His redemptive glory. Such attempts are aimed at the ground of salvation, and, therefore, cast shame and reproach upon the Person and work of Christ. Works without faith are dead.

GODLY SORROW OVER SIN which is that continual aspect of repentance whereby a saved sinner constantly sees his own sinfulness in his character and conduct in order to constantly realize that his only hope for salvation, now and forever, is Christ and His righteousness imputed.

LOVE TO GOD AND TO THE BRETHREN which is love that flows from God-given faith, of which the natural man is incapable. It is of the Spirit, and it respects first and foremost the honor of God’s redemptive glory revealed in salvation based on the righteousness of Christ. This love will take sides with those who believe the gospel, and it will not speak peace where sinners are either ignorant of or not submitted to the righteousness of Christ as the only ground of salvation.

ACCEPTABLE OBEDIENCE which is obedience that flows from true God-given faith. It is the obedience of saved sinners motivated not by legal fear of punishment, nor by promise of reward based on personal merit. It is obedience motivated by the absolute certainty of final glory based solely upon the imputed righteousness of Christ. This is the liberty and freedom of grace, the spirit of adoption and love, whereby saved sinners express love for God and love to one another. It includes any sincere, diligent attempt to obey God’s commands, to perform and maintain good works, and to seek to bring our character and conduct into conformity to Christ our Savior. This is not an option but a necessary response to the love and grace of God through Christ. As works without faith are dead, we also believe faith without works is dead. It is important that we know that this obedience is not acceptable due to any merit of its own. It is only acceptable because it is performed by a justified sinner, through Christ, based on His merits alone, and it is motivated by the certainty of final glory based on Christ’s merits alone.

Concerning Baptism and the Lord’s Supper

CHRISTIAN BAPTISM Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord’s Supper.

THE LORD’S SUPPER The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.