Statement of Faith

 

Section 1

THE GODHEAD

 

We believe that the Godhead, or Trinity, 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 and attributes; and worthy of precisely the same reverence, confidence, and obedience (Matthew 28:18-19; Mark 12:29; John 1:14; Acts 5:3-4;

II Corinthians 13:14; Hebrews 1:1-3; Revelation 1:4-6).

 

(A)       THE FATHER

 

We believe in God, the Father, the first person of the Trinity who is the Father over all creation, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of all who believe in Christ. (John1:12; Galatians 3:26; Ephesians 1:3, 2:19, 3:14-15, 5:1)

 

(B)       THE PERSON AND WORK OF JESUS CHRIST

 

We believe that, as provided and purposed by God and as pre-announced in the prophecies of the Scriptures, the eternal Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, came into this world to reveal God to men, fulfill prophecy, and to redeem a lost world. We believe that He was born of the virgin, and received a human body and a sinless human nature. (Luke 1:30-35; John 1:18, 3:16; Hebrews 4:15)

 

We believe that, on the human side, He became and remained a perfect man, sinless throughout His life. Concurrently, He retained His absolute deity, being at the same time God and man. (Luke 2:4; John 1:1-2; Philippians 2:5-8)

 

We believe that, in fulfillment of prophecy, He came first to Israel as her Messiah-King, and was rejected. He, according to the eternal counsel of God, gave His life as a ransom for all. (John 1:11; Acts 2:22-24; I Timothy 2:6)

 

We believe that, in infinite love for the lost, He voluntarily accepted His Father’s will and became the divinely provided sacrificial Lamb that took away the sin of the world. His death was therefore substitutionary in the most absolute sense-the just for the unjust-and by His death He became the Savior of the lost. (John 1:29;

Romans 3:25-26; II Corinthians 5:14; Hebrews 10:5-14; I Peter 3:18)

 

We believe that He arose from the dead in the same body, though glorified, in which He had lived and died and that His resurrection body is the pattern of that body which ultimately will be given to all believers. (John 20:20; Philippians 3:20-21)

 

We believe that, on departing from the earth, He was accepted by His Father, resulting in a final assurance to us that His redeeming work was perfectly accomplished. (Hebrews 1:3)

 

We believe that He became Head over all things, particularly of the Church, which is His body. And in this ministry He serves as chief interceder and advocate for the saved. (Ephesians 1:22-23; Hebrews 7:25; I John 2:1)

 

(C)       THE SPIRIT

 

We believe that the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity, though omnipresent from all eternity, took up His abode in the world in a special sense on the day of Pentecost according to God’s divine promise. We believe that He dwells in every believer, and that He baptizes and unites all to Christ in one body. We believe that He is the source of all power and all acceptable worship and service. We believe that He is always present to testify to the

 

Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that He teaches and illuminates the word of God and sanctifies us by drawing us to God and making us like Him. We believe that the Holy Spirit gives believers supernatural gifts, intercedes in prayer for us, and assures us of our salvation. (John 14:16-17, 6:7-15; I Corinthians 6:19; Ephesians 2:22;

II Thessalonians 2:7)

 

We believe that the Holy Spirit attends to certain well-defined ministries, and that it is the duty of every Christian to understand them and allow them to be infused into his own life and experience. We believe these ministries to include the restraining of evil in the world, according to the will of the Father; the conviction of the world regarding sin, righteousness, and judgment; as well as the regeneration of all believers. We further believe that the Holy Spirit indwells and anoints all that are saved, thereby sealing them until the day of Christ’s redemption. It is the Holy Spirit that empowers the Christian for service for the Kingdom of God. (John 3:6, 14:26, 16:7-11;

Romans 8:9, 16:26; I Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 1:17-18, 4:30, 5:18; II Thessalonians 2:7; I John 2:20-27)

 

Section  2

THE SCRIPTURES

We believe that the entire Bible is inspired by God. By this, we mean that men of God were moved by the Holy Spirit to write every word of Scripture. We believe that this divine inspiration extends equally and fully to all parts of the Bible, specifically, as was written in the original manuscripts. We believe that the whole Bible, in the form of the original manuscripts is therefore without error. We believe that all the Scriptures were designed for our practical instruction. (Mark 12:26, 36, 13:11; Luke 24:27, 44; John 5:39; Acts 1:16, 17:2-3, 18:28, 26:22-23, 28:23;

Romans 15:4; I Corinthians 2:13, 10:11; II Timothy 3:16; II Peter 1:21)

 

Section 3

ANGELS, FALLEN AND UNFALLEN

 

We believe that God created an innumerable company of sinless, spiritual beings, known as angels; that one, “Lucifer, son of the morning”-the highest in rank-sinned through pride, thereby becoming Satan, that a great company of the angels followed him in his moral fall, some of whom became demons and are active as his agents and associates in the prosecution of his unholy purposes, while others who fell are “reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.” (Isaiah 14:12-17; Ezekiel 28:11-19; I Timothy 3:6;

II Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6)

 

We believe that Satan is the originator of sin, and that, under the permission of God, he, through subtlety, led Adam and Eve, our first parents, into transgression, thereby accomplishing their moral fall and subjecting them and their posterity to his own power; that he is the enemy of God and the people of God, opposing and exalting himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped; and that he who in the beginning said, “I will be like the most High,” in his warfare appears as an angel of light, even counterfeiting the works of God by fostering religious movements and systems of doctrine, which in every case are characterized by a denial of the efficacy of the blood of Christ and of salvation by grace alone. (Genesis 3:1-9; Romans 5:12-14; II Corinthians 4:3-4, 11:13-15; Ephesians 6:10-12; II Thessalonians 2:4; I Timothy 4:1-3)

 

We believe that Satan was judged at the cross, though not then executed, and that he, a usurper, now rules as the “prince of this world”; that, at the second coming of Christ, Satan will be bound and cast in the abyss for a thousand years, and after the thousand years he will be loosed for a little season and then “cast into the lake of fire and brimstone,” where he “shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”(Colossians 2:15, Revelation 20:1-3, 10)

 

We believe that a great company of angels kept their holy estate and are before the throne of God, from whence they are sent forth as ministering spirits to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation. (Luke 15:10; Ephesians 1:21; Hebrews 1:14; Revelation 7:12)

 

We believe that man was made lower than the angels; and that, in His incarnation, Christ took for a little time this lower place that He might lift the believer to His own sphere above the angels. (Hebrews 2:6-10)

 

Section 4

MAN CREATED AND FALLEN

 

We believe that man was originally created in the image and after the likeness of God. We believe that man lost his perfect relationship with God through his sin in Eden and, consequently, lost his spiritual life and became subject to the power of the devil, who we know as Satan. We also believe that this spiritual death, or total depravity of human nature, has been transmitted to the entire human race-the man Jesus Christ alone being excepted. We believe that every child born in the world possesses a nature essentially and unchangeably fallen apart from divine grace. (Genesis 1:26, 2:17, 6:5; Psalm 14:1-3, 51:5; Jeremiah 17:9; John 3:6, 5:40, 6:53; Romans 3:10-19, 8:6-7;

Ephesians 2:1-3; I Timothy 5:6, I John 3:8)

 

Section 5

SALVATION

 

We believe that no one can enter the kingdom of God unless spiritually born again. We believe that no degree of reformation however great; no morality however high; no culture however attractive; no baptism or other ordinance however administered; can help an individual to make any movement toward heaven. Our redemption has been accomplished solely by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that no repentance, no feeling, no faith, no good resolutions, no sincere efforts, no submission to the rules and regulations of any church, nor all the churches that have existed since the days of the Apostles can add in the very least degree to the finished work of Christ the Savior. (Leviticus 17:11; Isaiah 64:6; Matthew 26:28; John 3:5-18, Romans 5:6-9; II Corinthians 5:21;

Galatians 3:13, 6:15; Ephesians 1:7; Philippians 3:4-9; Titus 3:5; James 1:18; I Peter 1:18-19, 23)

 

We believe that this “new birth” of the believer comes only through faith in Christ and that though repentance is a vital part of believing, it is in no way a separate and independent condition of salvation. We further believe that in the same way, good acts, such as confession, baptism, prayer, or faithful service, are equally invalid as conditions of salvation. (John 1:12, 3:16, 18, 36, 5:24, 6:29; Acts 13:39, 16:31; Romans 1:16-17, 3:22, 26, 4:5, 10:4;

Galatians 3:22)

 

We believe that when a person exercises that faith in Christ which is illustrated and described as such in the New Testament, he passes immediately out of spiritual death into spiritual life, and from the old creation in the new; being justified from all things, accepted before the Father, according as Christ His Son is accepted, loved as Christ is loved, having his place and portion as linked to Him and one with Him forever. Though the saved one will have occasion to grow in the realization of his blessings and to know a fuller measure of divine power through the yielding of his life more fully to God, he is, as soon as he is saved, in possession of every spiritual blessing. We believe that it is the perfect desire of God that the Christian will mature in their faith by an ongoing yielding of his life more fully to Him.   (John 5:24, 17:23; Acts 13:39; Romans 5:1; I Corinthians 3:21-23; Ephesians 1:3;

Colossians 2:10; I John 4:17, 5:11-12)

 

Section 6

SANCTIFICATION

 

We believe that sanctification is a process whereby the Christian is being set apart from sin and unto God and is becoming more and more like Jesus Christ. This process of sanctification is progressive yet will not be complete until the time when each of us shall see the Lord face to face and shall be made like Him. We believe that since the Christian retains a sin nature for the duration of this life, their present state is a reflection of their daily experience-the power of Christ in their life and the tension of sinfulness and the culture surrounding them. We believe that this progression towards maturity must be assisted by the unhindered power of the Holy Spirit and that it should take place within the Body of Christ. We believe that when this divine prescription is ignored, the Christian can suffer the grave consequences of sin and broken fellowship with God. The results, if unchecked, will present a Christian dishonorable and unusable to the Lord. Conversely, we believe that when the prescriptive process is embraced, all Christians-who are endowed by the Spirit with divine gifts for service-will be energized

 

and invited to their own divinely assigned service as the Spirit may choose. (John 17:17; II Corinthians 3:18, 7:1; Ephesians 4:24, 5:25-27; I Thessalonians 5:23; Hebrews 10:10, 14, 12:10)

 

Section 7

ETERNAL SECURITY

 

We believe that, because of the eternal purpose of God toward the objects of His love, because of His freedom to exercise grace toward the merciless on the ground of the propitiatory blood of Christ, because of the very nature of the divine gift of eternal life, because of the present and unending intercession and advocacy of Christ in heaven, because of the immutability of the unchangeable covenants of God, because of the regenerating, abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of all who are saved, we and all true believers everywhere, once saved shall be kept saved forever. We believe, however, that God is a holy and righteous Father and that, since He cannot overlook sin of His children, He will, when they persistently sin, chasten them and correct them in infinite love; but having undertaken to save them and keep them forever, apart from all human merit, He who cannot fail, will in the end present every one of them faultless before the presence of His glory and conformed to the image of His Son. (John 5:24, 10:28, 13:1, 14, 16, 17, 17:11; Romans 8:29; I Corinthians 6:19; Hebrews 7:25; I John 2:1-2, 5:13; Jude 1:24)

 

Section 8

THE CHURCH

 

We believe that all who have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior are members of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is His Body, and His Bride as described by the Scriptures.   This is true regardless of membership or non-membership in the organized churches of earth. We believe that all believers are baptized into, and thus become, one Body-that is Christ’s-and are directed by solemn obligation to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, and to love one another with a pure love. (Matthew 16:16-18; Acts 2:42-47;

Romans 12:5; I Corinthians 12:12-27; Ephesians 1:20-23, 4:3-10; Colossians 3:14-15)

 

Section 9

THE SACRAMENTS OR ORDINANCES

 

We believe that water baptism, following belief and acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, and the Lord’s Supper, or Communion, are the only sacraments or ordinances of the church and that they are a scriptural means of testimony for the church. (Matthew 28:19; Luke 22:19-20; Acts 10:47-48, 16:32-33, 18:7-8, I Corinthians 11:26)

 

Section 10

THE GREAT COMMISSION

 

We believe that it is the explicit message of our Lord Jesus Christ to those whom He has saved that they are sent forth by Him into the world even as He was sent forth by His father into the world. We believe that, after they are saved, they are divinely reckoned to be related to this world as strangers and pilgrims, ambassadors and witnesses, and that their primary purpose in life should be to make Christ known to the whole world. (Matthew 28:18-19; Mark 16:15; John 17:18, Acts 1:8; II Corinthians 5:18-20; I Peter 1:17, 2:11)

 

Section 11

THINGS TO COME

In the church at large, there is certainly much debate surrounding not only the doctrine of end time events but their timing as well. We believe it possible for fellow Christians to fellowship together and to worship wholeheartedly and in one accord without one hundred percent agreement in this area of our faith. For this reason, complete agreement with the leadership in this area is not a requirement for membership in our church. At the same time, certain aspects of our belief regarding the end times will, by their nature, be a fundamental part of.and inseparable from.our beliefs as a whole and as outlined in the rest of this document. Clearly, disagreement on when Christ will come again is one thing; disagreement on if He is coming again is quite another. With that in mind, the following is an overview of our beliefs at Boquete Bible Fellowship.

We believe there will be a future seven year period during which Satan’s instrument, the Antichrist, will reign. The culmination of this period will find mankind experiencing the outpouring of God’s wrath as never before. Prior to God’s wrath being delivered, however, we believe that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will personally come for all believers, living and dead, so that we might be spared. We believe that following this seven year period, our Lord Jesus Christ will then return to earth to set up His Millenial Kingdom, to bind Satan and place him in the abyss, to lift the curse which now rests upon the whole creation, to restore Israel to her own land and give her the realization of God’s covenant promises, and to bring the whole world to the knowledge of God.

(Deuteronomy 30:1-10; Isaiah 11:9; Ezekiel 37:21-28; Matthew 24:15-25, 46; Acts 15:16-17; Romans 8:19-23,

11:25-27; I Thessalonians 4: 13-5:11; II Thessalonians 2; I Timothy 4:1-3; II Timothy 3:1-5; Revelation 20:1-3)

 

Section 12

THE ETERNAL STATE

 

We believe that at death the spirits and souls of those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation pass immediately into His presence and there remain in conscious bliss until the resurrection of the glorified body when Christ comes for His own, whereupon soul and body reunited shall be associated with Him forever in glory; but the spirits and souls of the unbelieving remain after death conscious of condemnation and in misery until the final judgment of the great white throne at the close of the millennium, when soul and body reunited shall be cast into the lake of fire, not to be annihilated, but to be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power. (Luke 16:19-26, 23:42; II Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23;

II Thessalonians 1:7-9; Jude 1:6-7; Revelation 20:11-15)