Second Baptist Church Statement of Faith
SECOND BAPTIST CHURCH OF
WAYNE, PA
STATEMENT OF FAITH
THE HOLY SCRIPTURES
We believe in the Holy Scriptures as originally given by God, divinely inspired, infallible, entirely
trustworthy, and the supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct. We further believe that the scriptures of both the Old and New Testaments are designed for our practical instruction in faith and conduct. (John 5:39; II Timothy 3:16-17; I Peter 1:21- 25; Hebrews 4:12)
THE GODHEAD
We believe in one God, Creator, and Sustainer of all things, eternally exists in three persons: Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. God is all-powerful and all-knowing;
and His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future. Matthew 28:18-19; Mark 12:29;
John 1:14; Acts 5:3-5; II Corinthians 13:14; Hebrews 1:1-3; Revelation 1:4-6)
God the Father. God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace.
God the Son. Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ. He was conceived of the
Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. His substitutionary death on the cross He made provision for the redemption of men from sin. He is the One Mediator, fully God, fully man, in whose Person is effected the
reconciliation between God and man.
God the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity, dwells in every believer immediately after he places his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and that God provides, through the Holy Spirit, power to live the Christian life.
SALVATION
We believe that no one can enter the kingdom of God unless born again spiritually and that the new birth of
the believer conies only through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. We believe in the
resurrection of both the saved and the lost; those who are saved will rise to live, and those lost will rise to be condemned. (Luke 16:19-26; 23:42; II Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23; II Thessalonians 1:7-9; Jude 6-7;
Revelation 20:11-15; 1 Corinthians 15:51-53; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14; John 11:25).
LIFE of the BELIEVER
We believe that all believers should seek to walk by the Spirit, separating themselves from sinful practices and witnessing by life and by word the truths of the Holy Scripture. Romans 12:1-3; Galatians 5:16, 25; 2 Corinthians 5:9-17
BAPTISM AND THE LORD’S SUPPER
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 Savior, 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 a prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to 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.
Matthew 3:13-17; 26:26-30; 28:19-20; Mark 1:9-11; 14:22-26; Luke 3:21-22; 22:19-20;
John 3:23; Acts 2:41-42; 8:35-39; 16:30-33; 20:7; Romans 6:3-5; 1 Corinthians
10:16,21; 11:23-29; Colossians 2:12.
THE FAMILY
God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. It is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood, or adoption. Marriage is the uniting of one biological man and one biological woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is God’s unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church and to provide for the man
and the woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship, the channel of sexual expression according to biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human race. Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord.
Parents are to demonstrate to their children God’s pattern for marriage.
Genesis 1:26-28; 2:15-25; 3:1-20; Joshua 24:15; 1 Samuel 1:26-28; Psalms 51:5; 78:1-8;
127; 128; 139:13-16; Proverbs 1:8; 5:15-20; 6:20-22; 12:4; 13:24; 14:1; 17:6; 18:22;
22:6,15; 23:13-14; 24:3; 29:15,17; 31:10-31; Ecclesiastes 4:9-12; 9:9; Malachi 2:14-16;
Matthew 5:31-32; 18:2-5; 19:3-9; Mark 10:6-12; Romans 1:18-32; 1 Corinthians 7:1-16