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May 13, 2008
Church      About Us      What We Believe
 Church
 Summary Statements of What We Believe   

...the Triune God is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Son, Jesus Christ, is true God and true man. The Holy Spirit desires to give faith to everyone through God's Word, the Bible.

... the entire Bible is God's verbally inspired revelation of Himself to man. The Bible is, therefore, without any error. Its central message is the saving work of Jesus Christ through his life, death and resurrection.

... God created man righteous and holy. When man fell into sin, as evidenced by his inability to keep the Ten Commandments, God sent his only and eternal Son, Jesus Christ, to bear the guilt and punishment of all our sin.

... Jesus shared our human nature but lived the only perfect life on earth. He suffered crucifixion in our place, resulting in His death. He rose again from the dead to bring victory over death and sin to all who trust in Him.

... through our Lord's Supper God offers the body and blood of Christ in, with, and under the bread and wine for the forgiveness of sins.

... through baptism God creates and strengthens faith in Christ, promises the forgiveness of sins and new life in Him to be received by faith.

... because of Jesus' payment for our sins, full and free forgiveness is offered to everyone. Those who believe this, trusting in Jesus Christ as their Savior, can be sure they will join Him in Heaven when they die.


The Doctrine of the Trinity

    God is a trinity of persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father is not the same person as the Son; the Son is not the same person as the Holy Spirit; and the Holy Spirit is not the same person as Father. They are not three gods and not three beings. They are three distinct persons; yet, they are all the one God. Each has a will, can speak, can love, etc., and these are demonstrations of personhood. They are in absolute perfect harmony consisting of one substance. They are coeternal, coequal, and copowerful. If any one of the three were removed, there would be no God.
    Jesus, the Son, is one person with two natures: Divine and Human. This is called the Hypostatic Union. The Holy Spirit is also divine in nature and is self aware, the third person of the Trinity.
    A further point of clarification is that God is not one person, the Father, with Jesus as a creation and the Holy Spirit is a force (Jehovah's Witnesses). Neither is He one person who took three consecutive forms, i.e., the Father, became the Son, who became the Holy Spirit. Nor is God the divine nature of the Son (where Jesus had a human nature perceived as the Son and a divine nature perceived as the Father (Oneness theology). Nor is the Trinity an office held by three separate Gods (Mormonism).
    The word "person" is used to describe the three members of the Godhead because the word "person" is appropriate. A person is self aware, can speak, love, hate, say "you," "yours," "me," "mine," etc. Each of the three persons in the Trinity demonstrate these qualities.
    The chart below should help you to see how the doctrine of the Trinity is systematically derived from Scripture. The list is not exhaustive, only illustrative.
    The first step is to establish the biblical doctrine that there is only one God. Then, you find that each of the persons is called God, each creates, each was involved in Jesus' resurrection, each indwells, etc. Therefore, God is one, but the one God is in three simultaneous persons. Please note that the idea of a composite unity is not a foreign concept to the Bible; after all, man and wife are said to be one flesh. The idea of a composite unity of persons is spoken of by God in Genesis (Gen. 2:24).

    There is only one God
    The first step is to establish how many Gods exist: one! Isaiah 43:10; 44:6,8; 45:5,14,18,21,22; 46:9; 47:8; John 17:3; 1 Cor. 8:5-6; Gal. 4:8-9 
    "I am the LORD, and there is no other; besides Me there is no God" (Isaiah 45:5).
    "Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel And his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: ‘I am the first and I am the last, And there is no God besides Me," (Isaiah 44:6). 
    "I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides Me there is no God, (Isaiah 55:5).

THE TRINITY
                       FATHER                 SON                        HOLY SPIRIT
Called God         Phil. 1:2                         John 1:1,14; Col. 2:9            Acts 5:3-4
Creator               Isaiah 64:8                     John 1:3; Col. 1:15-17          Job 33:4, 26:13
Resurrects         1 Thess. 1:10                  John 2:19, 10:17                  Rom. 8:11
Indwells             2 Cor. 6:16                      Col. 1:27                             John 14:17
Everywhere       1 Kings 8:27                   Matt. 28:20                          Psalm 139:7-10
All knowing      1 John 3:20                     John 16:30; 21:17                1 Cor. 2:10-11
Sanctifies         1 Thess. 5:23                   Heb. 2:11 1                          Pet. 1:2
Life giver          Gen. 2:7; John 5:21        John 1:3; 5:21                      2 Cor. 3:6,8
Fellowship        1 John 1:3                       1 Cor. 1:9                             2 Cor. 13:14; Phil. 2:1
Eternal             Psalm 90:2                      Micah 5:1-2                           Rom. 8:11; Heb. 9:14
A Will               Luke 22:42                       Luke 22:42                           1 Cor. 12:11
Speaks             Matt. 3:17; Luke 9:25      Luke 5:20; 7:48                    Acts 8:29; 11:12; 13:2
Love                 John 3:16                        Eph. 5:25                             Rom. 15:30
Searches the heart Jer. 17:10                 Rev. 2:23                             1 Cor. 2:10
We belong to     John 17:9                       John 17:6                              . . .
Savior             1 Tim. 1:1; 2:3; 4:10        2 Tim. 1:10; Titus 1:4; 3:6     . . .
We serve         Matt. 4:10                       Col. 3:24                                . . .
Believe in        John 14:1                       John 14:1                               . . .
Gives joy         . . .                                 John 15:11                            John 14:7
Judges             John 8:50                      John 5:21, 30                         . . .

    Therefore, the doctrine of the Trinity is arrived at by looking at the whole of Scripture, not in a single verse. It is the doctrine that there is only one God, not three, and that the one God exists in three persons: Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. An analogy would be time. Time is past, present, and future. But, there are not three times, only one.


The Lutheran Confessions
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod accepts the Scriptures as the inspired and inerrant Word of God, and subscribes unconditionally to all the symbolical books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church as a true and unadulterated statement and exposition of the Word of God. We accept the Confessions because they are drawn from the Word of God and on that account regard their doctrinal content as a true and binding exposition of Holy Scripture and as authoritative for all pastors, congregations and other rostered church workers of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.

At the link below you will find the entire Book of Concord in PDF Format (2MB file).
These texts are in the public domain and may be copied and distributed freely. The source of these translations is Triglot Concordia: The Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921).
 The Lutheran Confessions   
 How Does Christ Come to Live in You?   

CHURCH BODY

HOW DOES CHRIST COME INTO YOU?

WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?

LUTHERAN

Five hundred years ago, facing persecution and even death, the first Lutheran Christians confessed: "For the apostle Peter [2 Pet. 1:4] testifies clearly that even we, in whom Christ dwells only by grace, become `participants in the divine nature' in Christ because of this great mystery" (Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, VIII:34).

On the basis of the Scriptures, the first Lutheran Christians stated that Jesus Christ does not dwell in you by your choice or your action of inviting Him in. Rather, He dwells in you only "by grace ... through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Eph. 2:8-9). In His Word, God teaches these things so that you know that Christ living in you "does not depend on the man who wills ... but on God who has mercy" (Rom. 9:16, see also 1 Cor. 1:30). When you, by your own effort, try to have Christ live in you, you have no assurance that you have done enough. When God does everything, you can be sure that Christ lives in you. That's the difference it makes.

BAPTIST, HOLINESS

BODIES, PENTECOSTALS, AND CHARISMATICS

These groups reject the Biblical teaching that Jesus is united to the sinner by God's miracle of Baptism , (as our Lord explains in Rom. 6:3ff.). In the official document, The Baptist Faith and Message, they ' claim: "Salvation ... is offered freely to all who accept Jesus as Lord and Savior" (Art. IV). In other words, Baptists, Pentecostals, and holiness bodies , emphasize what they mistakenly believe man must do to get Jesus into his heart. These groups also use Jn. 1:12 to emphasize man's free will to accept ' Jesus - ignoring verse 13 - which denies man any role in inviting Christ to come into his heart.

If you believe Jesus comes into and remains in your heart as a result of "decisions" or "invitations" you make, then your salvation depends on you, rather than on Christ. If you believe that you are the one who invites Jesus into your heart, you can never be sure that you are united with Him.

ROMAN CATHOLIC

The Roman Church says: "We must continue to accomplish in ourselves the stages of Jesus' life and His mysteries and often to beg Him to perfect and realize them in us and in His whole Church..." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, #521).

According to Roman Catholicism, you must "accomplish" Christ's life in yourself through your own efforts. Then, after you have accomplished this task, you must ask Jesus to finish and perfect the work that you started. This, according to Rome, is a life-long process. However, when St. Paul proclaims "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27), he also says that "in Him you have been made complete" (Col. 2:10). God's promise of Christ in you is a life-long, certain promise.

ORTHODOX

The Orthodox say: "Christian spiritual life depends on the conscious choice of the `way of life.' To `choose life' and to walk in the `way of life' is the way that man shows himself to be in the image and likeness of God" (Hopko, Thomas. The Orthodox Faith, vol. IV).

According to the Orthodox, you must "choose life" in order that Christ may live in you. Jesus, however, contradicts this teaching when He says, "You did not choose Me, but I chose you" (Jn. 15:16).