That is, choose one text and preach that text’s presentation and understanding of the Spirit rather than attempting a conglomerated spiritual mess that leaves the people in the pews asking, “Wait, what’s the Spirit again? What does it do?”Īnd only you know what Spirit your congregation needs to know this week. The culmination of history takes place in the final judgment in which the unredeemed will be punished through eternal separation from God, and the redeemed will enter into a state of eternal peace and righteousness with him.Happy Pentecost, Dear Working Preachers! At the risk of sounding like the proverbial broken record, are you ready for preaching this Sunday that celebrates the Spirit? The ultimate hope of the believer is not in history but in the great eschatological event by which the present age is brought to its conclusion. The second advent of Christ is his personal return by which the present age will be terminated. The Lord’s Supper is a memorial instituted by Christ to be kept by believers as a symbol of his atoning death, and of himself as the Bread of Life, the one through whom we have spiritual life and vitality. Baptism is the immersion of the believer in water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, following his confession of faith in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior baptism symbolizes the death of the old life and the rising of the new.
Each local church is an autonomous body under Christ, cooperating with other churches of like faith and order in the work of evangelizing the world and advancing the interest of the Kingdom of God. The Church is that universal and spiritual body which includes all the redeemed of which Christ the Redeemer is the head the church in the local and visible sense is a group of believers, immersed on profession of faith in Christ, united under the direct, personal, undelegated lordship of Christ, voluntarily joined together for worship of God, service to others, and for carrying out the work of the Great Commission as given by Christ. Humans are reconciled unto God only as they by faith appropriate for themselves the salvation provided in Christ. God’s only way of reconciling sinful humanity to himself is provided in the work of Christ, the incarnate Son, fully human and fully divine in his sinless life, his sacrificial death on the cross, his resurrection, his ascension, and his present intercession he reveals at the same time God’s grace and his loving provisions for his creatures. Men and women are fallen in Adam, the head of the race, and are now by nature and choice sinners, living in revolt against their Creator, and are unable to escape from their sinful state on their own. Humanity was made in the image of God and originally sinless. While these three are one, each has special office and activity: God the Father is the source, support, and end of all things God the virgin-born Son is the medium of revelation and redemption by virtue of his incarnation, life and death God the Holy Spirit is the one who inspires divinely chosen persons, reproves the world because of sin, regenerates and sanctifies the believer, and now represents the Son on earth.Ĭreation is the act of God by which he brought the universe and all that it contains into existence the universe is preserved by natural law which is an expression of God’s will at the same time, God’s miraculous working is not excluded from nature, as a means of making known his plan and purpose according to the pleasure of his will. God exists eternally in three persons who are revealed in Scripture as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Bible is the revealed Word of God, given by the Holy Spirit through chosen men, and so is fully inspired, authoritative, and the sufficient rule of faith and practice for the believer.
The doctrinal basis of Northern Baptist Theological Seminary is and shall be: Our life of worship, instruction, prayer and fellowship together centers on the shared commitment to Christ.
While students need not sign the statement, they are encouraged to give special heed to the biblical teachings that form its foundation. Statement of Faith Northern’s full-time faculty, administrators, and trustees have affirmed this statement as a testimony of their common commitment to Christ and to the advancement of His Church.