Articles of Faith

Bethel Church: Articles of Faith

Articles of Faith of the Providence Association of Baptists of the regular faith and order, the same being adopted by Bethel Church, Saturday before the 3rd Sunday in June 1852.

We the Baptist Church of Jesus Christ, being baptized upon a profession of our faith, adopt the following articles, in order to preserve the true faith and order of the Gospel, with peace, harmony, Christian Union and fellowship amongst the members of the body of Christ, to the glory of God.

Article 1

We believe in one only true and living God, who is eternal, immutable – the Creator of all created things, visible and invisible, who governs all things in righteousness, according to the counsel of His own will, and that He has revealed himself to the children of men, in the scriptures of truth, under the character of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

1 John 5:7; 1 Tim. 1:17; Col. 1:9; Col. 1:15-19; Acts 17:29; Rom. 1:20; Isaiah 46:9-11; John 10:30; John 14:9; Eph. 2:18; Matt. 28:19


Article 2

We believe that God created man good and upright – but that man by his sins and transgressions has become dead in trespasses and in sins and is utterly unable to change his own heart, or to deliver himself from the depraved state into which he has fallen, under the influence of the powers of darkness.

Gen. 2:7; Gen 2:15-17; Gen 3:1-6; Ecc. 7:20; Rom. 3:23; Rom. 5:12; Rom. 7:14; Rom. 8:6; Eph. 2:1-5; Col. 1:3; Col. 2:13; Jude 12


Article 3

We believe that God’s elect were chosen in Christ before the world began, and were therefore equipped unto faith and obedience in love, which is effected by the power and Spirit of God, in the work of regeneration, according as God has purposed in himself to do; that Jesus Christ was set up from everlasting as the Head of His Body, the Church, and in consequence of His union or relationship thereunto, as the head of the body, His righteous life, death, resurrection and ascension are the means or meritorious cause, why the Church is ever reconciled to God.

Eph. 1:4-6; Eph. 1:22-23; Eph.  3:11; 2 Thess. 2:13; John 5:25; John 6:63; Col. 1:18; Titus 3:5; Rom. 8:28; Rom. 9:11; 2 Tim. 1:9; 1 John 3:8; 1 Cor. 2:2; 1 Cor. 15:13-26


Article 4

We believe that God’s elect or chosen IN Christ, will, in time, be effectually called, regenerated and born of the Holy Spirit, and stand justified before the purity of God in Christ, which is the Righteousness of God, imputed to them, and they that will persevere in grace to Glory and never finally fall away.

2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 3:3-7; John 6:63; Rom. 3:24; Rom. 8:33; Rom. 5:9; 1 Peter 3:18; Rom. 4:25; Rom 8:30; Rom.5:1; Rom. 1:17; Rom. 3:28; Gal. 2:16; Rom. 4:6-8; 1 Peter 1:3-5


Article 5

We believe that good works in the act of obedience are the fruits of the faith of God’s elect, and follow after they are born of the Spirit as the effect of grace in the heart, by which their justification is externally declared to the glory of God and forms the main basis of Christian union and fellowship which cannot be dispensed with.

Eph. 2:8-10; Phil. 1:6; Phil. 2:12-13; Rom. 4:25; Rom. 5:1-6; James 2:17-26; Acts 2:38-42; Eph. 3:21


Article 6

We believe that the union and relationship of the members in the Church or body of Christ is such that every member should submit themselves to the Church with a feeling interest therein, and that baptism and the Lord’s Supper are standing ordinances in the Church of Christ, to be administered to none but believers in Christ; and that to be legally immersed or buried in water is the only gospel mode or act of baptism.

Mark 16:15-16; Acts 2:38-40; Rom. 6:4-5; 1 Peter 3:21; Matt. 26:26-28; Luke 22:17; John 13:1-17


Article 7

We believe that none have a right to administer the ordinances of the Gospel but such ministers of the Gospel as have received their legal authority from the laws of Zion, by the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery, who act under and by the authority of the Gospel Church; that the Church should hold the keys of government in her own hands and the ministry with which she is blessed, are to be considered her servants – as lights and gifts which God has given her, subject to the government and discipline of the Church.

Matt. 16:18-19; Eph. 1:22-23; Eph. 4:8-14; 1 Tim. 3:15; 1 Tim 4:14; 2 Tim. 1:6


Article 8

We believe in the internal work of the Holy Spirit, both in experiential religion and the call to – and the work of – the ministry, and that it is the duty of the Church of God to distinguish herself from all false sects, by expression of faith in Christ and her understanding in the word of God, as taught her by the Divine Spirit, and we will therefore have no Christian union or fellowship with those who deny these things.

Matt. 7:15; Matt. 24:4-5; John 5:25; John 6:63; Rom. 8:30; 1 Cor. 1:26; 1 Cor. 5:9-11; 2 Cor. 6:14-17; Eph. 3:7; Eph. 4:1; Eph 5:11; 2 Thess. 3:6; Titus 3:10; Heb. 5:4; Rev. 18:4


Article 9

We believe the scriptures of the old and new testament are of divine origin and authority, and are the only infallible rules of faith and practice; and we therefore agree that the scriptures of divine truth are and shall be by us considered the only standard by which our faith and practice shall be tried, keeping in view the expressions of our understanding therein as principles upon which we have agreed to unite.

Duet. 4:1-2; Duet. 26:26; Psalms 12:6-7; Psalms 119:89; Psalms 105:1; Psalms 140:1; Prov. 30:5-6; Mark 13:31; John 10:34-35; Rom. 15:4; Gal. 3:10; 2 Tim. 2:15; 2 Tim 3:15-17; James 2:10; 2 Peter 1:19-21; Rev. 22:18-29


Article 10

We believe that the Church or Kingdom of God is a spiritual Kingdom, and that men in a state of nature cannot see it. As to the spiritual existence, that it is the door or medium by or through which the children of God (the converted souls) are the subjects of the Redeemer’s Kingdom, may step into their Christian duty and shew forth the praise of Him, who hath called them out of darkness into His marvelous light; and that it is therefore the duty of the Church to receive members by their relating their hope in Christ, as their experiential knowledge of salvation, wrought by that Divine Spirit, which the world cannot receive, by which the heart-felt union takes place with those who have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Dan. 2:44; Matt. 3:2; Matt. 4:17; Matt. 6:33; Matt. 9:35; Matt. 13: 11-47; Matt. 16:18-19; Matt. 18:1-3; Matt. 19:24; Matt. 20:1; Matt. 22:2; Matt. 25:1-34; Luke 22:29-30; John 3:3-5; John 10:1-14; John 18:36; Acts 28:31; 1 Peter 2:9; 2 Peter 1:1


Article 11

We believe that the Lord’s day or first day of the week, should be spent in the private or public worship of God, and on that day we should rest from all temporal concerns except in cases of necessity and mercy.

Exodus 20:8; Lev. 23:7-8; Lev. 23:21; Lev. 23:25; Lev. 23:35-36; Num. 15:32-35; Num. 28:18; Num. 28:25-26; Num. 29:1; Mark 2:27-28; Luke 14:1-5; Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2; Heb 4:4-5


Article 12

We believe in the resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust, and in the general judgement and that the joys of the righteous will be eternal, and the punishment of the wicked of endless duration.

Matt. 16:21; Matt. 20:18-19; Matt. 25:31-34; Acts 2:24; Acts 3:15; Acts 4:2; Acts 13:30-37; Acts 17: 31-32; John 5:28-29; Rom. 1:4; Rom. 4:25; Rom. 8:11; 1 Cor. 6:14; 1 Cor. 15:412-18; 2 Cor. 4:14; Gal. 1:1; Eph. 1:20; Phil 3:10-11; Col. 3:3-4; 1 Thess. 4:13-17; 1 Thess. 5:23; 2 Tim. 2:8; Heb. 9:28; Heb. 13:20; 1 Peter 1:3; 1 Peter 3:21; 2 Peter 3:10-13; Rev. 19:20; Rev. 20:6; Rev. 20: 10-15

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