Everything LeClaire Baptist Church believes comes from what God says in the Bible, not our opinions. We have briefly listed the major doctrinal principles we believe the Bible teaches clearly along with those verses to allow you to look up and see for yourself.
Articles of Faith
I. OF THE SCRIPTURES:
We believe that the Holy Bible as originally written was verbally inspired and the product of Spirit-controlled men, and therefore has truth without any mixture of error for its matter. We believe the Bible to be the true center of Christian union and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and opinions, shall be tried. 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21.
II. OF THE TRUE GOD:
We believe there is one, and only one, living and true God, who is an infinite, intelligent Spirit, and who is the Maker and supreme Ruler of heaven and earth. He is inexpressively glorious in holiness, and worthy of all possible honor, confidence, and love. In the unity of the Godhead there are three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, who are equal in every divine perfection, and who execute distinct but harmonious offices in the great work of redemption. Exodus 20:2-3; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Revelation 4:11; 1 John 5:7.
III. OF JESUS CHRIST:
We believe that Jesus Christ was begotten of the Holy Spirit, was born of the virgin Mary, and is true God and true man. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice and that all who believe on Him are justified on the grounds of His eternal shed blood. We believe in the resurrection of the crucified body of our Lord and His ascension into heaven and that He is the High Priest who is an advocate for us. We believe in the return of our Lord Jesus Christ to catch up His people to meet Him in the air. His return is imminent and premillennial. We believe in the personal and bodily resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ to set up His kingdom upon the earth.
We believe that Jesus was begotten of the Holy Ghost in a miraculous manner and was born of Mary, a virgin, as no other man was ever born or can ever be born of woman, and that He is both the Son of God and God the Son. Genesis 3:15; Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:35; John 1:14; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4.
IV. OF THE HOLY SPIRIT:
We believe that the Holy Spirit is a Divine Person. He is equal with God the Father and God the Son and of the same nature. He was active in the creation. In His relation to the unbelieving world, He restrains the evil one until God’s purpose is fulfilled. He convicts of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He bears witness to the truth of the Gospel in preaching and testimony and He is the agent in the new birth. He seals, endues, guides, teaches, witnesses, sanctifies and helps the believer. John 14:26-27; Matthew 28:19; Hebrews 9:14;John 16:8-11; John 3:5-6; Luke 1:35; Genesis 1:1-3; Acts 5:30-32; Mark 1:8; Ephesians 1:13-14; Acts 11:16;Romans 8:14-15; Romans 8:26-27.
V. OF THE CREATION:
We accept the Genesis account of creation and believe that man came by direct creation of God and not by evolution. Genesis 1 and Genesis 2; Colossians 1:16-17; John 1:3.
VI. OF THE FALL OF MAN:
We believe that man was created in innocence under the law of his Maker, but by voluntary transgression fell from his sinless and happy state. Consequently all mankind are now sinners, not only by constraint, but also by choice, and therefore are under just condemnation without defense or excuse. Genesis 3:1-6 & Genesis 3:24; Romans 1:32; Romans 5:10-19.
VII. OF THE DEVIL, OR SATAN:
We believe in the personality of Satan and that he is the unholy god of this age. He is the author of all the powers of darkness, and is destined to the judgment of an eternal justice in the lake of fire. Matthew 4:1-3; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Revelation 20:10.
VIII. OF THE ATONEMENT FOR SIN:
We believe that the salvation of sinners is wholly of grace and is through the mediatorial offices of the Son of God, who by the appointment of the Father, freely took upon Him our nature. Yet he was without sin and honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and by His death made a full and vicarious atonement for our sins. His atonement consisted not in setting us an example by His death as a martyr, but was a voluntary substitution of Himself in the sinner’s place, the Just dying for the unjust. Christ, the Lord, bore our sins in His own body on the tree and having risen from the dead, is now enthroned in Heaven, and is in every way qualified to be a suitable, compassionate and all-sufficient Savior. Ephesians 2:8; Acts 15:11; Romans 3:24;John 3:16; Matthew 18:11; Philippians 2:7; Isaiah 53:4-7; Romans 3:25; 1 Corinthians 15:3.
IX. OF GRACE IN THE NEW CREATION:
We believe that in order to be saved, sinners must be born again. That the new birth is a new creation in Christ Jesus, that it is instantaneous and not a process, that in the new birth the one dead in trespasses and in sins is made a partaker of the divine nature and receives eternal life, the free gift of God. The new creation is brought about in a manner above our comprehension, solely by the power of the Holy Spirit in connection with divine truth, so as to secure our voluntary obedience to the gospel. Its proper evidence appears in the holy fruits of repentance and faith and newness of life. John 3:5-8; 2 Corinthians 5:17-19; 1 John 3:6-7; Acts 16:30-33; Romans 6:23; Colossians 2:13.
X. OF JUSTIFICATION:
We believe that the great gospel blessing that Christ secures for those who believe in Him is justification;
(a) That justification includes the pardon on sin, and the gift of eternal life on declaration of righteousness;
(b) That it is bestowed not in consideration of any works of righteousness which we have done, but is solely through faith in the Redeemer’s blood, and His righteousness is imputed to us. Acts 13:39; Isaiah 53:11;Zechariah 13:1; Romans 5:1-9; Romans 8:1
XI. OF FAITH AND SALVATION:
We believe that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the only condition of salvation. Acts 16:31
XII. OF THE LOCAL CHURCH:
We believe that a local church is a congregation of immersed believers, associated by covenant of faith and fellowship of the Gospel, observing the ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, and exercising the gifts, rights and privileges invested in them by His Word. Its officers are pastors and deacons whose qualifications, claims, and duties are clearly defined in the Scriptures. We believe the true mission of the church is the faithful witnessing of Christ to all men as we have opportunity. We hold that the local church has the absolute right of self-government, free from the interference of any hierarchy of individuals or organizations, and that the one and only superintendent is Jesus Christ. It is scriptural for true churches to cooperate with each other in contending for the faith and for the furtherance of the Gospel. Each local church is the sole judge of the measure and method of its cooperation. On all matters of membership, polity, government, discipline, benevolence, the will of the local church is final. Acts 2:41-42; Ephesians 1:22-23; Acts 20:17-28; 1 Timothy 3:15; Ephesians 5:23-24 & Acts 15:13-18
XIII. OF BAPTISM AND THE LORD’S SUPPER:
We believe that Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water that shows forth in a solemn and beautiful emblem our faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Savior, with its effect in our death to sin and resurrection to a new life. It is prerequisite and effective to the privileges of church membership. We believe that the Lord’s Supper is the commemoration of His death until He comes, and should be preceded always by solemn self-examination. Acts 8:30-39; John 3:23; Matthew 3:16, Colossians 2:12; 1 Corinthians 11:23-28
XIV. OF THE ASSURANCE OF SALVATION:
We believe that all who are truly born of the Spirit of God are kept forever by God the Father for Jesus Christ.Jude 1:1-2; John 13:1; John 10:28-30; Romans 8:28-39; 1 John 2:1
XV. OF THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED:
We believe that there is a radical and essential difference between the righteous and the wicked, that only through faith are we justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and sanctified by the Spirit of our God and are truly righteous in His sight. All who continue in impenitence and unbelief are in His sight wicked, and under the curse, and this distinction holds among men both in and after death, in the everlasting blessing of the saved and the everlasting conscious suffering of the lost. Genesis 18:23; Romans 8:17-18; 1 John 5:19;Romans 6:23; Luke 6:25; Matthew 25:34-41; John 8:21.
XVI. OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT:
We believe that civil government is of divine appointment, for the interests and good order of human society and that magistrates are to be prayed for, conscientiously honored, and obeyed, except in things opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ who is the only Lord of the conscience, and the coming Prince of the kings of the earth. Romans 13:17; Exodus 18:21-22; Acts 23:5; Matthew 22:21; Acts 4:19-20; Daniel 3:17-18.
XVI. OF THE RESURRECTION, PERSONAL, VISIBLE:
We believe in the Premillennial return of Christ and related events:
(a) The Bodily Resurrection. Matthew 28:6-7; Luke 24:39; John 20:27; 1 Corinthians 15:4; Luke 24:2-6.
(b) The Ascension. Acts 1:9-11; Luke 24:51; Mark 16-19; Revelation 3:21; Hebrews 12:2
(c) The Priesthood of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 8:6; 1 Timothy 2:5; 1 John 2:1; Hebrews 2:17; Hebrews 5:9,10.
(d) The Second Coming. John 14:3; Acts 1:11; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; James 5:8; Hebrews 9:28.
(e) The Resurrection of the Righteous Dead. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:42-44; 1 Corinthians 15:52
(f) The Change of the Living in Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:51-53; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Philippians 3:20-21.
(g) The Throne of David. Luke 1:32; Isaiah 9:6,7; Acts 2:29-30.
(h) The Millennial Reign. 1 Corinthians 15:25; Isaiah 32:1 & Isaiah 11:4-5; Psalms 72:8; Revelation 20:14.
