Fairview Bible Church Doctrinal Statement

1. THE HOLY SCRIPTURES
   We believe the Holy Scriptures to be the inspired Word of God, authoritative, inerrant, infallible and God-breathed. (II Timothy 3:16,17; II Peter 1:20,21; Matthew 5:18; John 16:12,13).


2. THE GODHEAD
   We believe in one Triune God, existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, eternal in being, identical in nature, equal in power. (Deuteronomy 6:4; II Corinthians 13:14).


3. THE TOTAL DEPRAVITY OF MAN
   We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God but that by Adam's sin the race fell, inherited a sinful nature, became alienated from God, and is totally unable to retrieve his lost condition. (Genesis 1:26,27; Romans 3:22,23: 5:12; Ephesians 2:12).


4. THE PERSON AND WORK OF CHRIST
   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 the virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful men; that He accomplished our redemption through His death on the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice; that our redemption is made sure to us by His literal physical resurrection from the dead (John 1:1,2; 14; Luke 1:35; Romans 3:24,25; 4:25; I Peter 1:3-5); that the Lord Jesus Christ is now in Heaven, exalted at the right hand of God, where as the High Priest of His people, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor and Advocate. (Hebrews 9:24; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30; 5:18).


5. THE PERSONALITY AND WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
   We believe that the Holy Spirit is a person who convicts the world of sin, indwells all believers in the present age, baptizes them into the body of Christ, seals them unto the day of redemption, and that it is the duty of every believer to be filled with the Holy Spirit. (Romans 8:9; John 16:8-11; I Corinthians 12:12-14; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30; 5:18).


6. SALVATION
   We believe that salvation in every dispensation is the gift of God brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ whose precious blood was shed for the forgiveness of our sins. (Ephesians 2:8-10; John 1:12; Ephesians 1:7; I Peter 1:18-19).
7. THE ETERNAL SECURITY OF BELIEVERS
   We believe that all believers are kept secure forever. (Romans 8:1, 38, 39; John 10:27-30; I Corinthians 1:4-8).
8. THE CHURCH
   We believe that the Church, which is now the body and shall be the bride of Christ, is a spiritual organism made up of all born-again persons of this age, from Pentecost to the rapture, irrespective of their affiliation with Christian organizations. (Ephesians 1:22,23; 5:25, 27; I Corinthians 12:12-14).


9. THE PERSONALITY OF SATAN
   We believe in the personality of Satan, who is the open and declared enemy of God and man. (Job 1:6,7; Matthew 4:2-11; Isaiah 14:12-17).


10. THE BLESSED HOPE
    We believer that the next great event in the fulfillment of prophecy will be the coming of the Lord Jesus in the air to receive to Himself the dead in Christ and believers who are alive at His coming, otherwise known as the Rapture and Translation of the Church. (I Corinthians 15:51-57; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; Titus 2:11-14).


11. THE TRIBULATION
    We believe that the Rapture of the Church will be followed by the fulfillment of Israel's seventieth week, the latter half of which is the time of Jacob's trouble, the great tribulation. (Daniel 9:27; Jeremiah 30:7; Matthew 24:15-21; Revelation 6:1-19; 21).


12. THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST
    We believe that the great tribulation will be climaxed by the premilennial return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth to set up His Kingdom (Zechariah 14:4-11; Matthew 24:15-25, 46; II Thessalonians 1:7-10; Revelation 20:6).


13. THE ETERNAL STATE
    We believe that the soul and human spirit of those who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation do at death immediately pass into His presence, and there remain in conscious bliss until the resurrection of the body at His coming, when soul, human spirit and body reunited shall be associated with Him forever in Glory; but 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 punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. (Luke 16:19-26; 23:43; II Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23; II Thessalonians 1:7-9; Jude verses 6,7; Revelation 20:10-15).


14. THE RESPONSIBILITY OF BELIEVERS
    We believe that all believers should seek to walk in such a manner as not to bring reproach upon the Lord and Savior, that it is the obligation of every believer to witness by life and by word to the truths of the Holy Scriptures and to seek to proclaim the Gospel to all the world (Acts 1:8), that it is the responsibility of all believers to remember the work of the Lord in prayer and to support it with their means as the Lord has prospered them. (I Corinthians 16:2).


15. CHURCH ORDINANCES
    We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ instituted the Ordinances of Water Baptism and the Lord’s supper to be observed until His return. (Matthew 28:19,20; I Corinthians 11:23-26).


16. SOVEREIGNITY
    We believe that God, existing as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is sovereign, and exercises supreme and absolute rule over all creation as a part of and consistent with the essence and attributes of deity. (I Chronicles 29:11,12; Daniel 4:35; Psalms 24:1; Ephesians 1:11; I Timothy 6:15).


17. SPIRITUALITY
    We believe spirituality is an absolute condition in the life of a believer in this dispensation wherein he is filled or controlled by the Holy Spirit, walking in love and fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ.We believe that spirituality is distinct from maturity, that a believer becomes carnal through any act of mental, emotional, verbal or overt sin and that spirituality or fellowship with Christ is restored solely by personal confession of that sin to God the Father. (John 15:7,8; II Corinthians 5:6; Galatians 5:16; Ephesians 5:18; Romans 6:11-13; I John 1:9; I John 1:5-20; 2; I Corinthians 11:30,31).


18. SPIRITUAL GIFTS
    We believe that God the Holy Spirit in grace and apart from human merit sovereignly grants spiritual gifts to all believers at the point of salvation in this dispensation. There are ten Edification gifts which are permanent and operative today: pastor-teacher, teacher, exhortation, evangelist, leadership, administration, giving, service, helps and showing mercy. There are also ten Sign gifts which were temporary and ceased not later than 96 AD, when the canon was technically closed: apostles, prophets, miracles, healings, word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, distinguishing of spirits, tongues and the interpretation of tongues. (Romans 12:4-8, I Corinthians 12:1-31, Ephesians 4:7-12, I Peter 4:7-11).