Summit Baptist Church Core Beliefs

The Bible

The Bible is the perfect record of how God has provided for our salvation through the cross and our life through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We receive the Scriptures as the sole authority in matters of faith and practice.

Psalm 19:7-11; Psalm 119:105; Isaiah 40:8; Matthew 4:4; John 5:39; John 17:17; Romans 1:16; 2nd Timothy 3:15-17; Hebrews 4:12

God the Father

God created the universe and made man in His own image. We owe our life and devotion to the One who created us to worship and return the love to Him which He offers through Christ.

Genesis 1:1; Genesis 1:26-27; 1 Chronicles 16:23-31; Psalm 75:1; John 3:16

Jesus Christ

Jesus is God in human flesh, the second person of the Trinity. He provided for our salvation by offering His perfect life on the cross as payment for our sins. He rose from the dead, ascended to Heaven and will return to establish His Kingdom on earth.

Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 28:19; Mark 16:6; Acts 1:9-11; 1st Corinthians 1:30; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17; 1 Peter 2:22; 1 John 3:5; Revelation 19:11-16

The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the personal and operative presence of God. He enables us to understand our need for Christ and then becomes the powerful expression of Christ's character within us.

Genesis 1:2; Matthew 1:18; Matthew 28:19; John 16:13; Romans 8:9-11; 1 Corinthians 2:6-16; 1 Corinthians 3:16

Mankind

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 fell from his original innocence whereby his posterity inherit a nature and an environment inclined toward sin. 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. 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.

Genesis 1:26-30; 2:5, 7, 18-22; 9:6; Isaiah 6:5; Jeremiah 17:5; Matthew 16:26; Acts 17:26-31; Romans 1:19-32; 3:10-18, 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

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. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.

A. 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 and faith are inseparable experiences of grace.

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 is God’s gracious and full acquittal upon principles of His righteousness of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer unto a relationship of peace and favor with God.

C. Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which the believer is set apart to God’s purposes, and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual maturity through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. Growth in grace should continue throughout the regenerate person’s life.

D. 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; Luke 1:68-69; 2:28-32; John 1:11-14, 29; 3:3-21, 36; 5:24; 10:9. 28-29; 15:1-16; 17:17; Acts 2:21; 4:12; 5:11; 16:30-31; 17:30-31; 20:32; Romans 1:16-18; 2:4; 3:23-25; 4:3; 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 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; 3:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; 2 Timothy 1:12; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 2:1-3; 5:8-9; 9:24-28; 11:1-12; James 2:14-26; 1 Peter 1:2-23; Revelation 3:20; 21:1-22

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 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; 5:22-23; 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

BAPTISM AND THE LORD'S SUPPER 

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 and to the Lord’s Supper.

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.

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

HUMAN SEXUALITY 

The Bible teaches that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of marriage between a man and a woman. We also believe that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery, and pornography are sinful perversions of God's gift of sex.

Genesis 2:24; 19:5, 13; 26:8-9; Leviticus 18:1-30, Romans 1:26-29; 1 Corinthians 5:1; 6-9; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8; Hebrews 13:4

MARRIAGE 

Marriage has been created by God to be a lifelong covenant union between one man and one woman.

Genesis 1:27-28; 2:21-24; Malachi 2:14

ABORTION

The Bible teaches that human life begins at conception and that the unborn child is a living human being. Abortion constitutes the unjustified, unexcused taking of unborn life. We reject any teaching that abortions of pregnancies due to rape, incest, birth defects, gender selection, population control, or the mental or physical well-being of the mother are acceptable.

Job 3:16; Psalm 51:5; 139:14-16; Isaiah 44:24; 49:1, 5; 20:15-18; Luke 1:44

 LAWSUITS BETWEEN BELIEVERS 

The Bible teaches that Christians are prohibited from bringing lawsuits against other Christians or the church to resolve personal disputes. We believe that the church possesses all the resources necessary to resolve personal disputes between members. We do believe, however, that a Christian may seek compensation from injuries from another Christian's insurance company as long as the claim is pursued without malice or slander.

1 Corinthians 6:1-8; Ephesians 4:31-32

GIVING

The Bible teaches that every Christian, as a steward of that portion of God's wealth entrusted to him, is obligated to support his local church financially.  We believe that every Christian should give sacrificially and cheerfully in order to support the ministries of the church.  By giving we demonstrate that God is truly the Lord of our lives.

Genesis 14:20; Proverbs 3:9-10; Acts 4:34-37; 1 Corinthians 16:2; 2 Corinthians 9:6-7; Galatians 6:6; Ephesians 4:28; 1 Timothy 5:17-18; 1 John 3:17