1. The Holy Scriptures

We believe the Holy Bible (made up of 66 books) was written by Holy-Spirit inspired men and constitutes the completed, written revelation from God to all men and women. Furthermore, we believe the Holy Bible to be written by God through the hands of men and thus every word is inerrant, infallible, true, and trustworthy as it retains the character of its divine author. It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.

With regards to the Holy Bible and creation, we deny the theory of evolution and rather affirm that God created the world in six literal 24-hour days as detailed in the first two chapters of the Holy Bible.

We also deny that the church or any other group of men has any authority to establish traditions or practices that are contrary to the Holy-Spirit inspired scriptures as presented in the 66-book Holy Bible.

Genesis 1:1-31; 2:1-25; Exodus 24:4; Deuteronomy 4:1-2; 17:19; Joshua 8:34; Psalms 19:7-10; 119:11,89,105,140; Isaiah 34:16; 40:8; Jeremiah 15:16; 36:1-32; Matthew 5:17-18; 22:29; Luke 21:33; 24:44-46; John 5:39; 16:13-15; 17:17; Acts 2:16ff.; 17:11; Romans 15:4; 16:25-26; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; Hebrews 1:1-2; 4:12; 1 Peter 1:25; 2 Peter 1:19-21, and Revelation 22: 18-19.

2. The Trinity

We believe that there is one and only one true and living God. From the human viewpoint, He is uncomprehendingly intelligent and, at the same time, a personal Being. God is the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. God is all powerful and all knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future, including the future decisions of His free creatures. We believe God to be eternally-existent (past, present, and future) in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit each one equally deserving worship and obedience.

We deny the teachings of modalism (A modalist views God as one Person instead of three Persons and believes that the Father, Son, and Spirit are simply different modes or forms of the same divine Person. According to modalism, God can switch among three different manifestations).

We deny that the God of the Holy Bible is same god who is worshipped in any other religion including Orthodox Judaism and Islam.

Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 45: 5-7; 1 Corinthians 8: 4; Matthew 28: 19; 2 Corinthians 13: 14; 1 John 5: 7.

1. God the Father

God the Father reigns with divine foresight over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise. He is the creator of all things both visible and invisible through His only begotten son Jesus Christ. God mercifully and graciously redeems any and all of those who come to Him in faith in Jesus Christ and adopts them as His children upon the moment of salvation.

Genesis 1:1-31; 2:7; Exodus 3:14; 6:2-3; 15:11ff.; 20:1ff.; Leviticus 22:2; Deuteronomy 6:4; 32:6; 1 Chronicles 29:10; Psalm 19:1-3; Isaiah 43:3,15; 64:8; Jeremiah 10:10; 17:13; Matthew 6:9ff.; 7:11; 23:9; 28:19; Mark 1:9-11; John 1: 12; 5:26; 6:37; 14:6-13; 17:1-8; Acts 1:7; Romans 8:14-15; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 4:6; Colossians 1:15; 1 Timothy 1:17; Hebrews 11:6; 12:9; 1 Peter 1:17; 1 John 5:7.

2. God the Son

Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation, Jesus Christ was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking upon Himself human nature with its demands and necessities and identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without sin. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His substitutionary death on the cross He made provision for the redemption of men from sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, fully God, fully man, in whose Person is effected the reconciliation between God and man. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission once all things are put under His feet.

We deny that the Jesus Christ of the Holy Bible is the same Jesus Christ worshipped by the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Muslims, or any other occult that denies the full deity of Jesus Christ as presented in the scriptures of the Holy Bible.

We deny the concept of universalism (or similar concepts) and affirm the biblical teaching that there is salvation in no other name than Jesus Christ.

We deny the idea that living a moral life or presenting only the morality of Christ without presenting His deity and redemptive purpose is sufficient to satisfy the command by our Lord Jesus to fulfill His great commission.

Genesis 18:1ff.; Psalms 2:7ff.; 110:1ff.; Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 53:1-12; Matthew 1:18-23; 3:17; 8:29; 11:27; 14:33; 16:16,27; 17:5; 27; 28:1-6,19; Mark 1:1; 3:11; Luke 1:35; 4:41; 22:70; 24:46; John 1:1-18,29; 10:30,38; 11:25-27; 12:44-50; 14:6-11; 16:15-16,28; 17:1-5, 21-22; 20:1-20,28; Acts 1:9; 2:22-24; 7:55-56; 9:4-5,20; Romans 1:3-4; 3:23-26; 5:6-21; 8:1-3,34; 10:4; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2:2; 8:6; 15:1-8,24-28; 2 Corinthians 5:19-21; 8:9; Galatians 4:4-5; Ephesians 1:20; 3:11; 4:7-10; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 1:13-22; 2:9; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; 3:16; Titus 2:13-14; Hebrews 1:1-3; 4:14-15; 7:14-28; 9:12-15,24-28; 12:2; 13:8; 1 Peter 2:21-25; 3:22; 1 John 1:7-9; 3:2; 4:14-15; 5:4-5, 9; 2 John 7-9; Revelation 1:13-16; 3:7; 5:9-14; 12:10-11; 13:8; 19:16.

3. God the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures. Through illumination He enables men to understand truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He calls men to the Saviour, and effects regeneration. At the moment of regeneration, He baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ. He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church. He seals the believer unto the day of final redemption. His presence in the Christian is the guarantee that God will bring the believer into the fullness of the stature of Christ. He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service.

We deny that the spiritual gifts bestowed upon believers by the Holy Spirit can ever be manifested in a way that contradicts or overrides the scriptures.

Genesis 1:2; Judges 14:6; Job 26:13; Psalms 51:11; 139:7ff.; Isaiah 61:1-3; Joel 2:28-32; Matthew 1:18; 3:16; 4:1; 12:28-32; 28:19; Mark 1:10,12; Luke 1:35; 4:1,18-19; 11:13; 12:12; 24:49; John 4:24; 14:16-17,26; 15:26; 16:7-14; Acts 1:8; 2:1-4,38; 4:31; 5:3; 6:3; 7:55; 8:17,39; 10:44; 13:2; 15:28; 16:6; 19:1-6; Romans 8:9-11,14-16,26-27; 1 Corinthians 2:10-14; 3:16; 12:3-11,13; 14:40; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30; 5:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:19; 1 Timothy 3:16; 4:1; 2 Timothy 1:14; 3:16; Hebrews 9:8,14; 2 Peter 1:21; 1 John 4:13; 5:6-7; Revelation 1:10; 22:17.

3. The Natural Man

Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image. He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation. The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God’s creation. In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice. By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Through the temptation of Satan man transgressed the command of God, and therefore we believe that, because all men descend from Adam, a nature corrupted by Adam’s sin has been transmitted to all men of all ages, Jesus Christ being the only exception. All men are thus sinners by nature, by choice, and by divine declaration. Therefore, as soon as they are capable of moral action, they become transgressors and are under condemnation. Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God which is ultimately for His (God’s) own glorification. The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore, every person of every race possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.

We deny that man has any ability within himself to restore himself to a righteous standing with his creator outside of faith in Christ’s work on the cross of calvary.

Genesis 1:26-30; 2:5,7,18-22; 3; 9:6; Psalms 1; 8:3-6; 14:1-3; 32:1-5; 51:5; Isaiah 6:5; Jeremiah 17:5, 9; Matthew 16:26; Acts 17:26-31; Romans 1:19-32; 3:9-18,23; 5:6,12,19; 6:6; 7:14-25; 8:14-18,29; 1 Corinthians 1:21-31; 15:19,21-22; Ephesians 2:1-22; Colossians 1:21-22; 3:9-11.

I. Salvation

Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. We believe that salvation is fully of God and in no way is based off any human merit or works.

a) Regeneration

Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God’s grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God. Faith is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire personality to Him as Lord and Saviour.

b) Justification

Justification is God’s gracious and full acquittal of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Justification is made possible by our sins being imputed to Christ (for which He alone has made atonement) and Christ’s righteousness to us by God’s grace. Justification brings the believer unto a relationship of peace and favor with God.

c) Sanctification

We believe that sanctification can be viewed in two primary aspects. First, sanctification is experienced beginning in regeneration by which the believer is set apart to God’s purposes (positional sanctification). This changes the believer’s standing with God. Second, the believer is enabled to progress towards being conformed to the image of Christ through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him (progressive sanctification). This can be viewed as a believer’s walk with God. Therefore, we believe that a Christian is both sanctified (set apart at the moment of regeneration) and being sanctified (being daily conformed to the image of Christ).

d) Eternal Security

We believe in the doctrine of eternal security. That is to say that once a person has sincerely repented and placed their faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, they can never lose their salvation thereafter as in the same way it was fully God who saved them, it will be fully God who keeps them.

We deny the belief that a person can be saved more than once and consider all scenarios where a claim of faith has been made and later denounced by the same individual clear evidence that the original profession was lacking the necessary sincerity to be a true saving faith (apostacy).

e) Glorification

Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and abiding state of the redeemed.

Genesis 3:15; Exodus 3:14-17; 6:2-8; Matthew 1:21; 4:17; 16:21-26; 27:22-28:6; Luke 1:68-69; 2:28-32; John 1:11-14,29; 3:3-21,36; 5:24; 6:37-40; 10:9,27-30; 15:1-16; 17:17; Acts 2:21; 4:12; 15:11; 16:30-31; 17:30-31; 20:32; Romans 1:16-18; 2:4; 3:23-25; 4:3ff.; 5:8-10; 6:1-23; 8:1-18,29-39; 10:9-10,13; 13:11-14; 1 Corinthians 1:18,30; 6:19-20; 15:10; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 5:17-20; Galatians 2:20; 3:13; 5:22-25; 6:15; Ephesians 1:7; 2:8-22; 4:11-16; Philippians 2:12-13; Colossians 1:9-22; 3:1ff.; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; 2 Timothy 1:12; Titus 2:11-14; 3:5; Hebrews 2:1-3; 5:8-9; 9:24-28; 11:1-12:8,14; James 2:14-26; 1 Peter 1:2-23; 1 John 1:6-2:11; Revelation 3:20; 21:1-22:5.

5. Believer’s Baptism and Communion

Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership (See Section X for more details).

The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.

We deny that water baptism is for any person other than someone who has made a profession of faith in Christ as their Lord and Savior. Accordingly, we deny the practice of infant baptism.

We deny that the Lord’s Supper should be taken by anyone who has not made a profession of faith in Christ, and we admonish any believer who is not in good-standing with our Lord Jesus Christ to be mindful of Pauls’ warning to the Corinthians concerning the Lord’s Supper.

We deny the concept of transubstantiation (the bread and wine becoming the literal body and blood of Christ once blessed by the elder/priest).

Matthew 3:13-17; 26:26-30; 28:19-20; Mark 1:9-11; 14:22-26; Luke 3:21-22; 22:19-20; John 3:23; Acts 2:41-42; 8:35-39; 16:30-33; 20:7; Romans 6:3-5; 1 Corinthians 10:16,21; 11:23-29; Colossians 2:12.

6. The Sanctity of Marriage

Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is God’s unique gift to bring Him further glory and to reveal the union between Christ and His church and to provide for the man and the woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship, the channel of sexual expression according to biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human race.

The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are created in God’s image. The marriage relationship models the way God relates to His people. A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. He has the God-given responsibility to provide for, to protect, and to lead his family. A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ. She, being in the image of God as is her husband and thus equal to him, has the God-given responsibility to respect her husband and to serve as his helper in managing the household and nurturing the next generation.

Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord. Parents are to demonstrate to their children God’s pattern for marriage. Parents are to bring their children up in the training and admonition of the Lord and to lead them, through consistent lifestyle example and loving discipline, to make choices based on biblical truth. Children are to honor and obey their parents.

We deny that the biblical gift of marriage can be fulfilled either by a couple living together without a lawful marriage covenant or by any form of same-sex or group cohabitation.

We deny that that the state or federal government has the right to usurp authority over the parents of each child to whom it is biblically designated.

Genesis 1:26-28; 2:15-25; 3:1-20; Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Joshua 24:15; 1 Samuel 1:26-28; Psalms 51:5; 78:1-8; 127; 128; 139:13-16; Proverbs 1:8; 5:15-20; 6:20-22; 12:4; 13:24; 14:1; 17:6; 18:22; 22:6,15; 23:13-14; 24:3; 29:15,17; 31:10-31; Ecclesiastes 4:9-12; 9:9; Malachi 2:14-16; Matthew 5:31-32; 18:2-5; 19:3-9; Mark 10:6-12; Romans 1:18-32; 1 Corinthians 7:1-16; Ephesians 5:21-33; 6:1-4; Colossians 3:18-21; 1 Timothy 5:8,14; 2 Timothy 1:3-5; Titus 2:3-5; Hebrews 13:4; 1 Peter 3:1-7.

7. The Church

A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. In such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord. Its scriptural officers are pastors (elders, overseers, and bishops are interchangeable terms) and deacons. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.

The New Testament speaks also of the church as the Body of Christ which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages, believers from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.

Matthew 16:15-19; 18:15-20; Acts 2:41-42,47; 5:11-14; 6:3-6; 13:1-3; 14:23,27; 15:1-30; 16:5; 20:28; Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 3:16; 5:4-5; 7:17; 9:13-14; 12; Ephesians 1:22-23; 2:19-22; 3:8-11,21; 5:22-32; Philippians 1:1; Colossians 1:18; 1 Timothy 2:9-14; 3:1-15; 4:14; Hebrews 11:39-40; 1 Peter 5:1-4; Revelation 2-3; 21:2-3.

8. Church Discipline

We believe the Holy Bible clearly teaches the concept of church discipline and being that we seek to honor every word of the holy scriptures, we practice (when necessary) church discipline. We believe church discipline should be exercised with love for Christ and love for the individual in question. The goal of church discipline is to protect the purity of the Lord’s church and to restore the individual in question to a righteous fellowship with our Lord Jesus Christ.

Matthew 5:8; 18:12-20; 1 Corinthians 5:9-13; 16:13-14; 2 Corinthians 2:4-11; 1 Timothy 1:18-20; 5:19-21; 1 John 3:2-3.

9. Evangelism and Missions

It is the duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and of every church of the Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to make disciples of all nations. The new birth of man’s spirit by God’s Holy Spirit means the birth of love for others. Missionary effort on the part of all rests thus upon a spiritual necessity of the regenerate life, and is expressly and repeatedly commanded in the teachings of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ has commanded the preaching of the gospel to all nations. It is the duty of every child of God to seek constantly to win the lost to Christ by verbal witness undergirded by a Christian lifestyle, and by other methods in harmony with the gospel of Christ.

Genesis 12:1-3; Exodus 19:5-6; Isaiah 6:1-8; Matthew 9:37-38; 10:5-15; 13:18-30, 37-43; 16:19; 22:9-10; 24:14; 28:18-20; Luke 10:1-18; 24:46-53; John 14:11-12; 15:7-8,16; 17:15; 20:21; Acts 1:8; 2; 8:26-40; 10:42-48; 13:2-3; Romans 10:13-15; Ephesians 3:1-11; 1 Thessalonians 1:8; 2 Timothy 4:5; Hebrews 2:1-3; 11:39-12:2; 1 Peter 2:4-10; Revelation 22:17.

10. Church Membership

We believe strongly in the concept of church membership. In order to be a member of GSBC, a person must: be a born-again believer in Jesus Christ, be baptized in the name of the Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit or agree to schedule their baptism at the soonest possible date, and be a believer in good-standing with our Lord Jesus Christ. For more details on the process of joining our church, see the ‘Interested in Becoming a Member?’ tab.

Matthew 18:12-20; Acts 2:38-47; Romans 12:4-5; 15:5-7; 1 Corinthians 5:9-13; 12:12-27; Ephesians 2:19-20.