Statement of Faith | Following Paul

Word of Truth Bible Church

Statement of Faith

Authority of the Statement of Faith

This church holds the following statement of faith as being a summary of Christian doctrine whose authority consists only in its agreement with the word of God. The Statement of Faith does not exhaust the extent of our faith. The Bible itself is the sole and final source of all that we believe. We do believe, however, that the following Statement of Faith accurately represents the teaching of the Bible, and therefore, is binding upon all members.

No attempt is made in this statement of faith to list scripture references for the doctrines and convictions herein listed as such a practice is more becoming a text of theology than a creedal statement such as this. Neither should these beliefs as listed be necessarily viewed as if in an ascending or descending order of magnitude or importance.

Subject to Revision. This statement, like every work of men, is subject to revision. The Scriptures alone are our final authority. Where further study of the word of God, rightly divided, shows that any part of this statement falls short of it, the statement will be corrected, and the date of each revision noted below.

What We Believe

The Scriptures. We believe the AV 1611 King James Bible to be the perfect and infallible word of God. We believe the word of God was given by inspiration of God in its origin and has been divinely preserved by Him throughout its various generations and languages until it reached us in its present form, so that what God has kept is still the inspired word of God. By this we mean that the AV 1611 preserves the very words of God in the form in which He wished them to be represented in the universal language of these last days: English. Each word is therefore sacred and as such is, in our minds, exempted from the pilferage of presumptuous scholars, whether they be of the Alexandrian variety or of the "conservative," Traditional (Byzantine) type.
Right Division. We believe in the right division of the word of truth. We follow Paul as he followed Christ. Therefore, we study the Bible according to Pauline Dispensational Right-Division. We find the gospel, nature, walk, and ministry of the church today in the writings of the apostle Paul, through whom Christ revealed our instructions. All scripture is profitable for us, but not every instruction in scripture is for our participation.
Supposed Discrepancies. We believe this right division of the word is the only legitimate solution to many of the supposed discrepancies in the scriptures. Not dividing the scriptures can lead to a mixture of truth and error, which so often leads to grave heresy.
The Body of Christ and the Mystery. We believe the Body of Christ began with the ministry of the Apostle Paul, after his conversion in Acts 9, and not at Pentecost. Pentecost fulfilled what the prophets had foretold to Israel; the Body of Christ belongs to the mystery, kept secret since the world began and revealed by the risen Christ to the Apostle Paul.
Israel. We believe God has not cast away His people Israel. The prophesied kingdom program promised to Israel has been set aside, not canceled, during this present dispensation of grace, and will resume after the Body of Christ is caught up, when God fulfills His covenants with Israel and Christ reigns on the earth.
Salvation. We believe that salvation in this present dispensation of grace is by grace through faith in the blood and finished atonement of Jesus Christ at Calvary as revealed to the Apostle Paul. In this present dispensation of grace man's responsibility before God is to believe the gospel in order for God to impute the righteousness of Christ to him at the moment of his belief. However, man's responsibility before God in other ages varies: in the Tribulation, under Israel's covenant program, a faith that shows itself in works and endures to the end.
Law and Grace. We believe the believer in the Body of Christ is not under the law, but under grace. The law, with its sabbaths, holy days, and tithes, was given to Israel; the believer's walk flows from the grace of God that teaches us, not from the law.
The Lord's Supper. We believe the Lord's Supper or Communion to be a memorial and not a means of grace.
Water Baptism. We believe water baptism belonged to Israel's kingdom program and the transitional ministry of the Acts period, and is not an ordinance for the Body of Christ today. Christ sent the Apostle Paul not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. The one baptism for this age is the Holy Spirit's placing of the believer into the Body of Christ at the moment of salvation.
The Rapture. We believe in a pre-millennial, pre-tribulational translation or rapture of the Church.
The Church. We believe in a universal and invisible Church which is entered into by an individual at the moment of salvation. The agent of this transaction is the Holy Spirit who baptizes that believer spiritually into the Church invisible: the Body of Christ. We believe that the Church is manifested visibly through the local churches. We believe that a visible church of Christ is a congregation of believers, associated by covenant in the faith and the fellowship of the Gospel, exercising the gifts and privileges invested in them by His word; that its only Scriptural officers are bishops (pastors) and deacons, whose qualifications, claims, and duties are defined in the epistles to Timothy and to Titus. This church is an independent local autonomy, governed internally by the bishop and responsible only to the Lord Jesus Christ. And as such stands outside the jurisdiction of any Federal or State governmental authority, however, possesses the ability to voluntarily cooperate with such governments as it deems prudent in accordance with Romans 13. Its ministries include glorifying the Savior, edifying the saints, and evangelizing the world for Christ. We reject the so-called Baptist Bride positions and their theories on the Church, Baptism, the nature of John Baptist's work, etc.
Sign Gifts. We believe the miracle signs and gifts belonged to Israel, dispensationally speaking, and to the transitional period of the book of Acts, and that they have ceased. They are not given to the Body of Christ today. What is practiced in their name by the Charismatics and Apostolics is therefore not the gift God gave, but is of the flesh, and could be demonic and devilish in nature.
Free Will. We believe that a depraved and sinful nature and a naturally dead spirit does not hinder a man from being a free moral agent who is capable and expected by God to will and believe and respond to the admonitions of the Gospel. Men are free to reject God's graciousness in providing a free salvation. Further, Jesus Christ died for "all" without exception.
Eternal Security. We believe a man is secured in his salvation eternally and unconditionally in this age at the moment he believes. This condition is secured by the numerous irreversible works of God and the Holy Spirit.
Evangelism. We believe in reaching out to lost sinners by all means consistent with scriptural principles and appropriate methods of sowing the seed of the word of God.
The Godhead. We believe the trinitarian doctrine of the Godhead and therefore believe Jesus Christ not only to be the Son of God, but also God Himself, the image of God, God manifest in the flesh. We also find abundant evidence that the Holy Spirit as both God's and Christ's Spirit is Himself God, as well.
The Lord Jesus Christ. We believe in the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, His sinless life, His death and shed blood as the full payment for our sins, His bodily resurrection on the third day, and His ascension to the right hand of the Father.
Hell. We believe in a literal, hot and burning Hell. It was prepared for the Devil and his angels to be their future place of habitation; and serves as the abode for the damned who reject God’s free offer of salvation.

Adopted: October 18, 2018 · Revised: October 3, 2026

Also read: The Gospel of Grace · Church Covenant · Glossary · Start Here