The Forest Church

THE SCRIPTURES

We believe that the sixty‑six books of the Bible are the written word of God given by the Holy Spirit and are the complete and final canonical revelation of God for all time. We believe these books were written by a process of dual authorship in which the Holy Spirit so moved the human authors that, through their individual personalities and styles, they composed and recorded God’s word which is inerrant. We believe that all the Scriptures center about the Lord Jesus Christ in His person and work in His first and second coming, and hence that no portion, even of the Old Testament, is properly read, or understood, until it leads to Him. The Bible can be understood only through the regenerative power of the Holy Spirit and is to be interpreted first and foremost by itself, using all relevant passages that relate to a particular subject. Since the Bible supplies all the resources necessary for godly living, it is totally sufficient to guide every individual in what to believe, how to think, speak, and act in every relationship and circumstance. Nothing is to be added to or removed from its teachings.

(Psalm 19:7‑10, 1 Thessalonians 2:13, Hebrews 4:12, 2 Timothy 3:16‑17, Luke 24:44,
John 5:39, Acts 26:22–23, Romans 15:4, John 17:17, 1 Corinthians 2:10‑13)

THE GODHEAD

We believe that the Godhead 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, attributes, and perfections, and worthy of precisely the same homage, confidence, and obedience.

(Matthew 28:18–19, Mark 12:29, 2 Corinthians 13:14, Hebrews 1:1–3)

JESUS CHRIST

We believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, His virgin birth, His sinless human life, His divine miracles, His vicarious and atoning death, His bodily resurrection, His ascension, His mediatorial work, and His personal return in power and glory.

(John 1:1, Matthew 1:18‑25, Hebrews 4:15, 1 Corinthians 15:1‑8, Acts 1:9‑11, Hebrews 9:27‑28)

THE NATURE OF MAN

We believe that man was originally created in the image and after the likeness of God, and that he fell through sin, and, as a consequence of his sin, lost his spiritual life, becoming dead in trespasses and sins, and that he became subject to the power of the devil. We also believe that this spiritual death, or total depravity of human nature, has been transmitted to the entire human race of man, the Man Christ Jesus alone being excepted; and hence that every child of Adam is born into the world with a nature which not only possesses no spark of divine life, but is essentially and unchangeably bad apart from divine grace.

(Genesis 1:26, 2:17, Psalm 14:1–3, Jeremiah 17:9, Romans 3:10–19, Ephesians 2:1–3)

SALVATION

We believe that, owing to universal death through sin, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless born again; and that no degree of reformation however great, no attainments in morality however high, no culture however attractive, no baptism or other ordinance however administered, can help the sinner to take even one step toward heaven; but a new nature imparted from above, a new life implanted by the Holy Spirit through the Word, is absolutely essential to salvation, and only those thus saved are sons of God. We believe, also, that our redemption has been accomplished solely by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that when an unregenerate person exercises faith in Christ, he passes immediately out of spiritual death into spiritual life, and from the old creation into 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.

(John 1:12, 5:24, 17:22‑23, Romans 5:1, Ephesians 1:7, 2:8‑9, 1 John 5:11‑12, 1 Peter
1:18‑19)