What Do We Believe?

We believe in One True and Living God, who has created all things, but the One God exists in three Persons. We call this the Trinity. God is One in substance, but exists in three Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. All three are One God, one in substance, equal in power and glory.

We believe in the sovereignty of God. God is in absolute control of all things. He has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass, according to the good pleasure of His own will. God rules over all according to His eternal purpose and for His own glory.

We believe that God is the Creator of all things apart from Himself, who is absolutely eternal. He has created everything that is, in the beginning, out of nothing, by the word of His power, in the space of six days, and all very good.

We believe that mankind has been created in God’s image and likeness, with the purpose of glorifying his Creator, but also to enjoy Him forever. The first man and woman were created upright, in a state of innocence, and made a steward over God’s creation.

We believe God has entered into a special relationship with mankind, beyond the Creator/creature relationship, in order to have a closer fellowship with him. This relationship is called a covenant.

We believe God has communicated these truths to mankind by way of a written account that is recorded in the sixty-six books of the Bible. The Bible is God’s Word, and, as such, is the authoritative Word of God to mankind for all of life and faith. It is a truthful account revealing who God is, revealing who man is, and telling of the world and universe which God has made. The Bible is the sole authority of what we must believe about God and what duty God requires of us. The Bible is the absolute and final authority at Knox Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

We believe mankind has a serious problem: he is a sinner. He has rebelled against God in failing to keep His commandments. And, therefore, all mankind, by nature, truly hate God and are His enemies. Therefore, because of sin, mankind stands under God’s anger and judgment. So, all mankind, because of the fall of our first parents, are subject to God’s wrath and curse, and are subject to all the miseries of this life, to death itself, and hell for all eternity. Therefore…

We believe mankind is in need of salvation before God, because of His anger and judgment toward our sin. All mankind is now born into a state of condemnation and is corrupt in the entire nature of his being, since the beginning of the rebellion of the human race against God. So, since mankind, by nature, hates God and is an enemy of God, he cannot save himself. Therefore…

We believe mankind needs a savior: someone who can rescue us. Who can restore the broken relationship we have with God? Who can bring us back to God? This savior is the man, Jesus Christ. According to the Bible, God, for His own glory, for the sheer mercy of His nature, and for the good pleasure of His sovereign grace, has chosen, from all eternity, to send forth His Son, the Second Person of the One God, from heaven to earth to become fully man, in order to rescue a people to Himself and bring them to God. So Jesus Christ is both fully God and fully man in one person. He alone is the only savior of mankind. In order to save mankind, He had to live a perfectly sinless life obtaining the righteousness God required in His law. He had to satisfy the anger and judgment of God, by paying the price for our sinful rebellion, by taking upon Himself the penalty of mankind’s sin, and experiencing all the wrath of God. He did this by being crucified upon the cross as our substitute, has died, and was buried. Yet, one more thing was necessary…

We believe in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. On the third day after His death and burial, Jesus Christ rose from the dead, never again to die. He thus defeated the power of death forever. This is our great hope. This historically verified fact of Jesus Christ’s life, death, and resurrection from the dead, for the purpose of salvation from sin and death and hell forever, is THE GOOD NEWS! What we call the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But, in order for this historical reality to be good news for you and me, it must be applied to us. How? By our believing in Jesus Christ as the Savior sent from God and by repenting of our sins. We must forsake the life of a sinner, of being an enemy of God, and turn to God by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ, alone, as our Savior, and having confidence in His work for our salvation.

We believe in the Holy Spirit. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to call people to come to Jesus. It is the Holy Spirit who changes the heart of a sinner to turn to Jesus, alone, in faith.

We believe in justification by faith alone, in Christ alone. When the Holy Spirit chooses to apply the work of Jesus to a person, He creates in them a new heart, enabling them to repent and believe in Jesus Christ, alone, for salvation. At that moment, the sinner is justified by God for the sake of the righteousness of Christ, alone.

We believe in adoption. When one has been united to Jesus Christ by faith, they are adopted into God’s family. This family, although spiritual and invisible in nature, is visibly expressed in the unity of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We believe in the sanctification of God’s people. The Holy Spirit changes our heart and desire from hating God to loving God, wanting to obey His law, and serve Him. When one believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, they are set apart and consecrated unto God and His service forever. Therefore, their faith is confirmed by their growth in true holiness, godliness, and doing good works. All true believers will persevere to the end and will be completely sanctified in their glorification.

We believe in God’s Law. God’s law is summarized for us in the Ten Commandments, which still applies to all mankind, as the righteous standard of God. God’s law is further summarized for us in the two great commandments: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength”, and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Therefore, love is the fulfillment of God’s Law.

We believe in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every believer in Jesus Christ is not only united to Jesus Himself, but must be united to Jesus Christ’s Church. The Church is the house of God. It is the family of God and it is the body of Christ. The Bible knows of no relationship with Jesus apart from His church. Therefore…

We believe in Church membership. Jesus tells us, “I will build My church…” God tells us, “That He adds to the church those who are being saved…” This is done through the act of officially becoming a member of a local church, where you are visibly joined with the Triune God through a public profession of your faith, receiving the sacrament of baptism, and joining other believers in the public worship of God on the Lord’s Day (i.e. Sunday).

We believe in the communion of the saints. We need one another. God has created mankind to be a social being, and, as such, we are commanded by God to enter into union and fellowship with God’s people for the mutual love and growth of one another. So, we are required to gather together when God calls us to do so on the day which He has appointed, one day in seven, for public worship. We should also gather together with other believers as often as God permits in His good providence.

We believe in God centered worship. Worship is about God first and foremost. Our desire is to worship God as He has commanded us in the Bible. We believe in honoring the Lord’s Day, the Christian Sabbath, on the first day of every week, which commemorates the Lord Jesus Christ’s resurrection, His work of new creation. This is a special time for God to meet and spend time with His people. All the elements of worship, which God has commanded in His Word, are observed and practiced, but the public proclamation of the Word of God is primary.

We believe in the sacraments. Jesus has instituted two sacraments to be observed until He returns: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Baptism is to be applied to professing believers and their children, who are both members of God’s covenant community, the Church. The Lord’s Supper is to be administered only to those who have publicly professed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We believe in the return of Jesus Christ, which will bring in the final day of judgment and the consummation of all things, including the kingdom of God, for all eternity. It is at the return of the Lord Jesus Christ that the general resurrection of all mankind will occur, both those who believe and those who do not. But all will be judged by Christ in all things that were done in the body: in thought, word, and deed.

We believe in the use of Creeds and Confessions. We hold to all the ancient ecumenical creeds, including the Apostle’s Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed, and the Chalcedonian Creed. However, the secondary standards of our church, after the Bible, are the Westminster Standards, including the Confession and Catechisms, which are the product of the Protestant Reformation in England and Scotland. We believe all these reflect the true faith as it is taught in the Bible. These creeds and confessions are a great help to us, in order to learn the teaching of the Bible in an organized, systematic, and summary way.