We expressly do not want to create a creed. Every creed must be incomplete and fall far short of the divine presentation of the truth in the Bible. But we can say about the points mentioned: This is what we believe. This is what we have learned from the Bible!
The Bible shows us that all Scripture is inspired by God “and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness”(2 Timothy 3:16). This applies to both the Old and New Testaments, which we do not separate from each other, but we do distinguish between them. The Bible is the only reliable, consistent, and always valid Word of God in which God Himself speaks to us (cf. Ex 3:14-15; Deut 1:42; Jos 1:1; Jer 1:7, 9). It not only contains the words of God but is the word of God. To this end, God used people who, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, wrote down His word (2 Peter 1:21; 1 Corinthians 2:13).
We also learn that the possession of the Holy Spirit is indispensable. The Bible cannot be understood by human wisdom (Luke 24:45; John 6:45; 1 Corinthians 2:10, 12-14) but only by the working of the Holy Spirit (John 16:13, 14; 1 John 2:20, 27). We do not judge the Bible, but the Bible judges us (Heb 4:12-13). No Scripture is of “its own particular interpretation” (2 Pet 1:20). This means that the Bible cannot be interpreted as one pleases. Only those who study the Bible in its overall context will truly understand its messages. Scripture interprets scripture.
The Bible tells us that there is a living God (1 Timothy 4:10; Psalm 14:1; 53:1). Next to this God there is no other (Deut 6:4; Is 45:5; Mk 12:29; 1 Tim 2:5). Yet there is plurality within the Godhead, which we can conclude from the fact that God speaks of himself in the plural (Gen 1:26). He is incomparable (Is 46:9; Ps 89:7). God is the Creator (Gen 1:1; Ps 100:3) and therefore the invisible things of Him, His eternal power and His divinity can be perceived by the created from the creation of the world (Rom 1:19-20).
In the Old Testament, God introduces Himself under various names: El (the strong or mighty, Job 5:8; Ps 22:2), Eloah, Elohim (God as creator, exalted God, Gen 1:1-31), Jehovah (in His relationship to people, especially Israel, Ex 3:4; 3:15 ), Shaddai (the Almighty, Job 6:4, 14; Ps 68:15; also in combination with El, Ex 6:3), Elyon (the Most High, Deut 32:8; 2 Sam 24:24, Dan 4:17 -34) and Adon, Adonai (translated as ‘Lord,’ often in combination with other names, Ex 15:17; Isa 51:22; 19:4; Jer 2:19; Dan 9:3, 9, 15; and many more). To Moses, God introduced Himself as “I am that I am” (Ex 3:14). He is the eternal Being.
The Bible shows what God is in Himself: ‘God is love’ (1 John 4:8) and ‘God is light’ (1 John 1:5); Christ as man is the expression of both. The most significant qualities and characteristics of God revealed in Scripture are His eternity (Hab 1:12; Rom 1:20), invisibility (Col 1:15), immortality (Ps 90:2; 1 Tim 1:17), omnipotence (Job 24:1; Mt 19,26); sole ruler (1. Tim 6,15), omnipresence (Ps 139,7–10; Jer 23,23.24), omniscience (1. Chr 28,9; Is 42,8.9; Röm 8,29.30; Heb 4,13 ), incorruptibility (Rom 1:23; Jam 1:13), immutability (Mal 3:6; Jam 1:17), wisdom (Ps 104:24; Rom 11:33-36), holiness (Ps 47:9; 99:3, 5; Rev 4:8), righteousness (Ps 89:15; 2 Tim 4:8), grace (Ps 136; 2 Cor 1:3; Eph 2:4), patience (Ex 34:6; Rom 9:22), faithfulness (Ps 36:6; Heb 10:23).
Even though God can already be perceived in creation, we have the highest and most extensive revelation in the Lord Jesus, the Son of God: “God having spoken in many parts and in many ways formerly to the fathers in the prophets, at the end of these days has spoken to us in [the person of the] Son” (Heb 1:1; Jn 1:18).
We know Him as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:16-17; 28:19; Ephesians 2:18). There is one God, even though we distinguish three persons of the Godhead. The Father is God (1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Peter 1:17), the Son is God (1 John 5:20; Titus 2:13; John 1:1, 14; 20:26-28; Acts 2 0:28; Rom 9:5; 1.Tim 3:16; Heb 1:18; Rev 1:8,17,18), the Holy Spirit is God (Acts 5:3,4; 2 Cor 3:17).
The Bible tells us that the Word that was with God and was God became flesh (i.e., man) and dwelt among us (John 1:1, 2, 14). The Father sent the Son as Saviour of the world (1 John 4:14), into which He was born of a woman (Gal. 4:4). This happened by the power of the Holy Spirit, who came upon the virgin Mary (Luke 1:35). He was true Man (Philippians 2:7; Hebrews 2:14, 17; 1 John 4:2; 2 John 7) and yet at the same time the eternal Son of God (John 1:2; Romans 9:5; Titus 2:13). Therefore, He knew no sin (2 Cor 5:21), did not sin (1 Pet 2:22) and above all, no sin was found in Him (1 John 3:5).
For this reason, He alone could provide the sacrifice for sins that God could accept. The Bible tells us that He died for our sins according to the scriptures (1 Cor 15:3), after “he has been manifested for the putting away of sin by his sacrifice” (Heb 9:26). He bore our sins in His body on the tree, suffering as the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God (1 Peter 2:24; 3:18). He is our righteousness before God (1 Corinthians 1:30; Hebrews 9:24).
The Bible tells us that He was raised from the dead (1 Cor 15:20; Matt. 28:6), raised by God, through the glory of the Father (Acts 3:15; John 2:19; Rom. 6:4; Eph. 1:20), that He was raised in the power of His person and ascended on high (Mark 16:19; Luke 24:51; Ephesians 4:8-10), having Himself accomplished purification of our sins, and that He is now seated at the right hand of God (Hebrews 1:3; 10:12; Ephesians 1:20, 21).
The Bible tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ died for all. He gave Himself as a ransom for all “the testimony [to be rendered] in its own times”, and “ he is the propitiation for our sins; but not for ours alone, but also for the whole world.” (2 Cor 5:14; 1 Tim 2:6; 1 John 2:2).
The Bible tells us that Jesus thus provided eternal redemption (Heb 9:12), that through His sacrifice the sins of all those who believe in Him are washed away once for all (Heb 1:3; 9:22; 10:2), and that by believing in Him their consciences are also cleansed (Heb 9:14; 10:2). God will never again remember their sins and lawlessness (Heb 10:17). Furthermore, they receive the promise of eternal inheritance as those called by God (Heb 9:15), in that they are made perfect forever, so that they have boldness to enter the sanctuary by His blood, by the new and living way that He has consecrated for us (Heb 10:14, 19-20).
The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit has been present from the very beginning of creation, hovering over the waters (Gen. 1:2). Even when the Holy Spirit empowered people in the Old Testament and came upon them (Judges 3:10; 15:14; 1 Sam 16:23; 19:23), He did not dwell in them permanently but also departed from them (1 Sam 16:14; Ps 51:11).
Only in the New Testament do we learn how the Lord Jesus announces the Holy Spirit as the one who would come after his death, resurrection, and glorification and would remain forever (John 14:16; 16:12-16). The Holy Spirit's purpose is to glorify the Lord Jesus (John 16:14) and to guide us into (or in) the truth (John 16:13).
The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit was sent down to earth on the day of Pentecost. He dwells in each believer personally as well as in the assembly collectively so that in both respects they are the temple of God (John 7:39; 16:7; Romans 8:9; 8:11; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19; 12:13; Ephesians 1:23; 2:22; 5:30). A person will receive the Holy Spirit today by believing in the full gospel (Eph 1:13), while the world cannot receive Him (John 14:17).
The Bible teaches us that the Holy Spirit is not just a power (Luke 24:49) but a divine person. The Holy Spirit is a person who acts actively, consciously and with will: The Holy Spirit teaches the disciples (Luke 12:12; John 14:26; 1 Corinthians 2:13), reminds them of the words of the Lord (John 14:26), testifies of the Lord (John 15:26), convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8–11), guides believers into all the truth (John 16:13), proclaims to disciples the things to come (Jn 16:13), speaks about the things of the Lord (Jn 16:13) , glorifies the Lord Jesus (Jn 16:14), speaks to believers (Acts 8:29; 10:19; 11:12; 13:2; 20:23; 21: 11; 28,25), encourages the saints (Acts 9,31), prevents disciples from doing something (Acts 16,6), forbids disciples from doing something (Acts 16,7), leads the sons of God (Rom 8,14; Gal 5,18), confirms with our spirit that we are children of God (Rom 8,16), helps believers in their weakness (Rom 8:26), makes intercession for believers to God (Rom 8:27), searches the depths of God (1 Cor 2:10), distributes gifts according to His will (1 Cor 12:11), writes on tablets of flesh in the heart (2 Cor 3:3), foretells the future (1 Tim 4:1 ), testifies to Christians of the forgiveness of sins (Heb 10:15), rests on Christians who are willing to confess (1 Pet 4:14), speaks to assemblies (Rev 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22), explains the words of God (Rev 14:13) and calls to the Lord Jesus (Rev 22:17).
The Bible not only shows us that the Spirit of God is active but also presents Him as someone to whom something is done. The Holy Spirit can be blasphemed (Mark 3:29-30), lied against (Acts 5:3), tempted, that is, put to the test (Acts 5:9), opposed (Acts 7:51), grieved (Ephesians 4:30), and reviled (Hebrews 10:29).
The Bible describes the characteristics of the Holy Spirit. These are unequivocally divine attributes, for the Holy Spirit is also omnipresent (Ps 139:7), omniscient (Isa 40:13; 1 Cor 2:11), omnipotent (Job 26:13), sovereign (Jn 3:8; 1 Cor 12:4-11), and eternal (Heb 9:14).
Furthermore, God's Word shows that the Holy Spirit leads people from death to life. It is by His power that we have been brought to God. Who but God can accomplish the work of salvation in us? The Holy Spirit brings about the new birth (John 3:5–8), gives life (John 6:63; 2 Corinthians 3:6), washes, sanctifies and justifies (1 Corinthians 6:11), and also brings the harvest of eternal life (Galatians 6:8).
The Bible teaches us that God is not only the creator of heaven and earth (Gen. 1:1) but also of man – in body, spirit, and soul (1 Thess. 5:23) – created in his likeness and image (Gen. 1:26, 27; Ps. 100:3). This means that man was created morally innocent and as a representative of God on earth.
The Bible shows us that man, as the most exalted creature, was to multiply and subdue the earth (Gen. 1:28). Nevertheless, he is still dependent on his Creator and is accountable to God and must obey Him. As a sign of this, God placed the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the middle of the Garden of Eden, and man was forbidden to eat its fruit (Gen. 2:9). Violating the divine commandment would result in death (Gen. 2:16-17). Yet man, seduced by the serpent's cunning, transgressed the divine commandment (Gen. 3:1-7), thereby bringing sin and death into this world (Rom. 5:12) and plunging the entire human race into death and ruin (Rom. 5:19).
The Bible describes the fallen human being as a sinner, an enemy of God, powerless and godless (Rom 5:6-10), and further as dead in his transgressions and sins, as sons of disobedience and children of wrath (Eph 2:1-3), on whom the wrath of God lies (John 3:36). There is none righteous, none who seeks God, none who does good. All human speech, behavior, and thinking are sinful (Rom 3:10-18). For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). “For the wages of sin is death; but the act of favor of God, eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 6:23).
The Bible tells us that man is hopelessly lost. Whether uncultured barbarians (Rom 1:18-21), cultured Greeks (Rom 2:1-16), or religious Jews (Rom 2:17-3:20), all are the same: ‘for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ (Rom 3:23). As descendants of Adam, all people are sinners and thus deserve death and damnation (Rom 5:12, 18-19). No human being can save another (Ps 49:8-9). Nor can anyone do anything to save themselves. Keeping the law cannot save them – on the contrary, the law condemns them because through the law comes the knowledge of sin (Rom 3:20). Nor can other works help him. God's salvation is through grace alone and faith (Eph 2:8; Rom 3:22, 24; 5:1).
The Bible tells us that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16), but that for this purpose, since God is a just and holy God, the Son of Man had to be lifted on the cross (John 3:14, 15). There, on the cross, He bore our sins in His body (1 Pet 2:24). There He, who knew no sin, was made sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor 5:21).
The Bible teaches us that God's offer is ‘against all’ but only ‘for those who believe’ (Rom 3:22). This means that man is responsible for personally accepting the gospel. He must repent (Acts 2:38; 17:30; 2 Peter 3:9; Luke 11:32; 16:30), i.e., accept his lost and hopeless condition before God, believe in the Lord Jesus as his personal savior (Acts 16:31, 20:21, John 3:19, Romans 10:9), and confess his sins (1 John 1:9).
The Bible also tells us that to enter the Kingdom of God, we must be born again of water and the Spirit (John 3:3, 5), for we are dead in sins and children of wrath by nature (2 Cor 5:14; Eph 2:1-3). What God uses for our rebirth is His Word (James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23). We therefore become His children by faith (Galatians 3:26).
The Bible teaches us that the Lord Jesus, even during His lifetime, spoke of His church, which He would build (Matthew 16:18). He loved the church and gave Himself for her (Eph 5:25-27; cf. Acts 20:28). Indeed, the church came into existence on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon the earth and took up residence in the believers (Acts 2:1-4). Thus, the believers were baptized by one Spirit into one body (1 Cor 12:13).
The Bible tells us that all of God's children form one church (1 Cor 12:13; Eph 2:14-16; Eph 4:3-4). Every believer automatically belongs to the one assembly through the new birth and receiving the Holy Spirit. Scripture actually speaks only of one assembly: Christ speaks of His assembly (singular! Mt 16), and Paul writes to Timothy: ‘so that you know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the assembly of the living God’ (singular! 1.Tim 3,15). While the image of the house emphasizes the idea of order and the authority of Christ in the congregation, the image of the body emphasizes the organic unity of the congregation despite the multitude of individuals. ‘For as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ’ (1 Cor 12:12). Christ is the glorified head in heaven (Eph. 1:22). The idea of unity is emphasized in particular by the Lord's parable in Matthew 13. The one pearl the merchant buys (vv. 45-46) derives its beauty precisely from its unity (wholeness, integrity).
The Bible presents us with a threefold view of the unity of the one church:
1. The holistic-eternal view: All the redeemed from Pentecost to the Rapture form the one church (Matt. 16:18; Eph. 1:22-23; 5:25, 27; 1 Pet. 2:5; Acts 2:1-4; 1 Thess. 4:16).
2. The global-temporal view: All the redeemed who are living on the earth at a particular point in time form the one assembly on the earth (Col 2:19; Eph 4:4; 1 Cor 10:17; 12:17, 28; Eph 2:22; 1 Pet 4:17; 1 Cor 3:17).
3. The temporal-local view: All the redeemed in one place form the one assembly in that place (1 Cor 1:1-2; 12:27; 11:18; 14:23; Col 4:16; Mt 18:17).
The local assembly gathered in the name of the Lord Jesus (Matt. 18:20) represents the universal assembly in that place, which has far-reaching practical implications.
The Bible shows us that all Christians are to gather based on the truth of the one assembly, solely to the name of the Lord Jesus (Matt. 18:20). Each local assembly is to keep itself pure in doctrine and godly living through the faithful exercise of discipline (1 Cor 5:7, 13; 1 Tim 3:15; Tit 3:10-11; Heb 12:15-17).
The Bible tells us that the Lord left two visible signs, both related to His death, one introductory and the other ongoing in the Church of God – baptism and the Lord's Supper (Matthew 26:26-28, 28:19; Mark 14:22, 23; 16:16; Luke 22:1 9,20; Acts 2:38; 8:12, 16, 36; 9:18; Rom 6:3; 1 Cor 1:17; 10:14-17; 11:23-26; Eph 4:5; Col 2:12; 1 Pet 3:21).
The Bible tells us that when Christ ascended on high, He received gifts for men, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, and that from Christ, the whole body, joined together and knit together by every joint of the supply, for the growth of the body causes the building up of the body for its own upbuilding in love (Matt. 25:14, 15; Luke 19:13; Acts 2:33; Rom. 12:6; 1 Cor. 12:28; Eph. 4:6–16; 1 Pet. 4:10, 11).
The Bible tells us that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him in love (Eph 1:4).
The Bible tells us that those who have believed have been sealed with the Holy Spirit, who is the pledge of our inheritance, to the redemption of the acquired possession (2 Cor 1:22; Eph 1:13-14); that through Him the love of God has been poured out in our hearts (Rom 5:5), and that we have not received a spirit of bondage again to fear, but the Spirit of sonship, in which we cry, ‘Abba, Father’ (John 14:20; Rom 8:15; Gal 4:6)! And those who have received this Spirit not only cry, ‘Abba, Father,’ but they also know that they are in Christ and Christ in them, and so they know that He not only appears for them in God's presence but that they are in Him who sits at the right hand of God, from where He waits until His enemies are laid low at the foot of His feet (Eph 2:6; Heb 9:24; 10:12, 13). They are dead to sin in the sight of God and should count themselves so, having put off the old man and having put on the new man for that purpose; they live unto God in Christ Jesus (Christ is their new life), they are crucified to the world and dead to the law (Rom. 6:6, 11; Gal. 2:20; 6:14; Col. 3:3, 4, 9, 10).
We learn from the Bible, then, that if believers are in Christ, Christ is in them, and that they are called to reveal the life of Jesus in their mortal bodies (John 14:20; Romans 8:10; 2 Corinthians 4:10) and walk as He walked (1 John 2:6), in that God has set them in the world as epistles of Christ (2 Cor. 3:3), whose grace is sufficient for them, and whose power is made perfect in their weakness (2 Cor. 12:9).
The Bible tells us believers are converted to expect God's Son from heaven (Luke 12:35-37; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; Titus 2:12, 13). They have the promise that they will never perish and that no one will snatch them out of the hand of Christ (John 10:28); God will establish them to the end, that they may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor 1:7-9).
The Bible tells us that they share in many privileges through faith in Christ Jesus, through whom they are counted righteous (Acts 13:39; Romans 4:16, 24–25; 5:1 .2; 2 Cor 5:7; Gal 2:20; 3:6, 9, 11, 14, 24-26; Eph 2:8; Heb 11:4; and many other passages). Christ, who was obedient unto death, and who accomplished a perfect work for them on the cross (John 17:4; Philippians 2:8; Hebrews 7:27; 9:25 –28; 10:12, 18), is now their righteousness, having become theirs from God for this purpose (1 Cor 1:30), and we have become God's righteousness in Him (2 Cor 5:21). As His precious blood cleanses us from all sin, we are personally accepted in the Beloved (Eph. 1:6), and as by one man's disobedience the many were placed in the position of sinners, so by one Man's obedience the many will be placed in the position of righteous (Rom. 5:19).
The Bible tells us that we are sanctified, that is, set apart for God by God the Father, through the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and by the working and power of the Holy Spirit, through the truth, so that all Christians are saints (John 17:17, 19; Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 6:11; Eph 1:1; 2 Thes 2:13; Heb 10:10; 1 Pet 1:22; Jud l and other passages); and that we further need in our practical state to pursue holiness (Heb 12:14; 2 Pet 3:14) and grow up to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ, being transformed into His image, in whom we shall soon be fully conformed in glory (2 Cor 3:18; Eph 4:11, 15; Col 1:10; 1 Thes 2:12; 5:23; 1 John 3:2).
The Bible tells us that the grace and unconditional love of God is the source and origin of all blessing (John 3:16, 27; 1 Corinthians 2:12; 4:7; Ephesians 2:7-10; Titus 2:11), but that on our part, constant reliance on that grace is needed, whereby we follow Him and walk in His glory, in that He has left us an example that we should follow in His footsteps (Luke 18:1; John 8:12; 10:4; 12:26; 15:5; Romans 12:1, 12; 14:7, 8; 1 Corinthians 6,19.20; 10,31; 2 Cor 5,15; Phil 2,12.13; Col 3,17; 1 Thes 5,17; 1 Pet 2,21; 2 Pet 1,5–10; 1 John 2,6 and many other passages).
The Bible tells us that while God alone has immortality in and of Himself (1 Timothy 6:16), that angels are not subject to death (Luke 20:36), and that the death of a person, be he godless or born again, does not affect the life of his soul, but that all, as far as God, even though they have died, are still alive (Matt. 10:28; Luke 12:4-5, 16:23; 20:38; John 5:28-29), and that the wicked will be raised just as the righteous (Acts 24:15).
The Bible tells us that Christ will come again to take us to be with Him in the Father's house (John 14:3). At that time He will resurrect His own and transform those who are still alive, changing their bodies to conform to His glorious body, according to the power with which He is able to subject all things to Himself (1 Cor. 15:23, 51-52; Phil. 3:20-21; 1 Thes. 4:16-17). Those who die first go to be with Him (Luke 23:43; Acts 7:59; 2 Corinthians 5:8).
The Bible tells us that God has set a day when He will judge this world in righteousness through the Lord Jesus (Acts 17:31). The Lord Jesus will also be the One who, in the end, will sit on the great white throne and judge the dead, great and small (Rev 20:11, 12).
The Bible tells us that each of us will give account of himself to God at the judgment seat of Christ (Rom. 14:12) and that each will receive what he has done in the body, whether good or evil (2 Cor. 5:10). And as the righteous inherit eternal life (Matt. 25:46; Rom. 6:22, 23), so the wicked will be punished with eternal destruction from the presence of the Lord; they will go away into eternal punishment and be thrown into the lake of fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Everyone whose name is not found written in the Book of Life will be thrown into the lake of fire (Matt. 25:46; 2 Thess. 1:7–9; Rev. 20:15).
