What We Believe

New Hope Baptist Church

What We Believe

We believe the scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, to be the verbally inspired Word of God, written by men in God’s control, inerrant and infallible in the original manuscripts, and the final authority in faith and life. (2 Timothy 3:15-17; 2 Peter 1:20, 21; Psalm 19:7-9)
We believe in one God, eternally existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, these three being identical in essence, equal in power and glory, and possessing precisely the same attributes and perfections. (Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14)
We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God in innocence and without sin, but that in Adam’s sin the race fell, inherited a sinful nature, became spiritually dead and alienated from God, and now man of himself is incapable of remedying his lost and depraved condition. (Genesis 1:26, 3:1-24; Romans 3:10-18, 5:12; Ephesians 2:1-3)
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man without ceasing to be God, having been conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man. This redemption He accomplished by voluntarily giving Himself as a sinless substitutionary sacrifice on the cross, thereby satisfying God’s righteous judgments against sin. After substantiating the accomplishment of that redemption of His bodily resurrection from the grave, He ascended to the right hand of His Father where He intercedes on behalf of those who trust Him. (John 1:1, 2, 14, 18; Luke 1:34, 35; Romans 3:24-26; Romans 8:34)
We believe that the Holy Spirit is the Divine Person who convicts the world of sin, that He alone brings new life to those who are spiritually dead, that He baptizes (or places) all believers into the one true Church, which is the Body of Christ, that He indwells them permanently, seals them, and fills (or controls) those who are yielded to Him. (John 16:7-11; 3:5-8; I Corinthians 12:13; John 14:16, 17; Ephesians 4:30; I Corinthians 12:7-11; Ephesians 5:18)
We believe that salvation is the gift of God’s grace. It cannot be gained by meritorious works, but is freely bestowed upon all who put their faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ at Calvary. All who so trust the Savior are forgiven of their sins and born into the family of God by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 2:8,9; 1:7; John 1:12)
We believe that all the saved, those in whom God has accomplished His transforming work of grace, are kept by His power and are thus secure in Christ forever. It is their privilege to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation. However, this assurance must not be the occasion for sin, for God in holiness cannot tolerate persistent sin in His children, and in infinite love He corrects them. True faith in Christ is expressed by a fruitful, God-pleasing life. (John 10:27-29; Romans 8:29-39; 1 John 5:13; Hebrews 12:6; Matthew 7:20; James 2:20)
We believe that the true Church, called in Scripture the Body of Christ, is a spiritual organism into which every person who has trusted Jesus Christ for salvation in this present age has been baptized by the Holy Spirit. The Scripture also teaches the establishment and continuance of local churches, groups of redeemed individuals joined together for worship, instruction, fellowship and service. (Ephesians 1:22; I Corinthians 12:13; Acts 2:42; 13:1, 2)

We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ instituted two ordinances to be observed until His return, baptism by immersion and the Lord’s Supper. (Matthew 28:19; I Corinthians 11: 23-26)

We believe in the personal, imminent coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for His Church, and His subsequent return to earth to establish His kingdom.
We believe that at death the souls of those who have trusted Christ for salvation pass immediately into His presence and there remain in conscious bliss until the resurrection of the body at His coming for the Church, when soul and body reunited shall be associated with Him forever in glory. We believe that the souls of unbelievers remain after death in conscious misery until the final judgment of the Great White Throne at the close of the millennium, when soul and body reunited shall be cast into the Lake of Fire, not to be annihilated, but to be separated from God forever in conscious punishment. (Luke 16:19-26; 2 Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; Revelation 20:11-15).

Statements Concerning Other Pertinent Beliefs

We believe that human life begins at conception and that the unborn child is a living human being. Abortion constitutes the unjustified, unexcused taking of unborn human live. Abortion is murder. We reject any teaching that the abortions of pregnancies due to rape, incest, birth defects, gender selection, birth or population control or the mental well-being of the mother are acceptable. (Job 3:16; Psalms 51:5, 139:14-16; Isaiah 44:24; 49:1,5; Jeremiah 1:5, 20:15-18; Luke 1:44)

We believe that God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as male or female. These two distinct, complementary genders together reflect the image and nature of God. (Gen 1:26-27) Rejection of one’s biological sex is a rejection of the image of God within that person.

We believe that the term “marriage” has only one meaning: the uniting of one man and one woman in a single, exclusive union, as delineated in Scripture. (Gen 2:18-25) We believe that God intends sexual intimacy to occur only between one man and one woman who are married to each other. (1 Cor 6:18; 7:2-5; Heb 13:4)

We believe that any form of sexual immorality is sinful and offensive to God. (Matt 15:18-20; 1 Cor 6:9-10) We believe that God offers redemption and restoration to all who confess their sin, seek His mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ. (Acts 3:19-21; Rom 10:9-10; 1 Cor 6:9-11)

We believe that every person must be afforded compassion, love, kindness, respect, and dignity. (Mark 12:28-31; Luke 6:31) Hateful and harassing behavior or attitudes directed toward any individual are to be repudiated and are not in accord with Scripture nor the doctrines of New Hope Baptist Church.

We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage, which is between a man and a woman. We believe that any form of homosexuality, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery and pornography are sinful perversions. (Leviticus 18:22-23; 20:13, I Timothy 1:9-10; II Timothy 3:1-4; Romans 1:26-27, etc.)

We believe that Christians are prohibited from bringing civil lawsuits against other Christians or the church to resolve personal disputes. We believe the church possesses all the resources necessary to resolve personal disputes between members. We do believe, however, that a Christian may seek compensation for injuries from another Christian’s insurance company as long as the claim is pursued without malice or slander. (I Corinthians 6:1-8; Ephesians 4:31-32)

The New Hope Baptist Church does not endorse the modern tongues-speaking movement for the following reasons:

  • It usually gives an undue prominence to a gift that had only limited value even in New Testament times. (I Corinthians 12-14)
  • It often suggests that tongues-speaking is the necessary evidence of the special work of the Spirit when in fact the New Testament does not say this
  • It tends to place more emphasis on tongues-speaking as an external manifestation of the Spirit than on the Spirit within to produce character and behavior.
  • It claims that “ecstatic utterances” is also tongues-speaking when there seems to be good reason for believing that the gift in New Testament times was that of speaking in previously unlearned foreign languages.

 

We do not deny that God sovereignly gives His gifts, including tongues; we do doubt that most of the emphasis of the modern tongues-speaking movement is Biblically sound. In stating our position on the modern tongues-speaking movement, we do not mean to detract from the sincerity of Christian character of many within the movement.

In accordance with our long-standing policy against propagating within our fellowship any doctrines not in agreement with our position, we must ask that neither member, staff, speakers or attendees propagate the teaching and emphases of the modern tongues-speaking movement within our fellowship. We should rather seek the more excellent way of love and be zealous about the more useful and edifying gifts. (I Corinthians 12:13-14:1)

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