Confession
Christicommunity® Confession
A Universal Historic Seven Point Christian Doctrinal Confession of Faith
Christicommunity is a conservative (inerrantist view of scripture) gospel centered (evangelical) organization that accepts and affirms substantively the early confessions and universal faith of the early church as expressed in the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Chalcedon Creed, & the Athanasian Creed. We also affirm the Chicago Statement on Inerrancy and Hermeneutics. Additionally, in concert with those most excellent historical confessions, as an organization we explicitly affirm the following 7 truths that have been historically held through the ages by the gospel centered body of Christ. These truths are affirmed and defended here in Christicommunity with no exceptions.
1. God is love, he is holy, perfect, all-powerful (Omnipotent), present everywhere (Omnipresent), all-knowing (Omniscient), & good to all (Omnibenevolent). He is one being in three persons, the Father, Son, and Spirit.
2. God by his own discretion created the universe from nothing for his own glory; nothing but God existed before creation. All things exist by, through, & for the Lord. God created humanity only as biological male & female, in his image (soul/spirit & body) for his glory & to exercise dominion.
3. God’s revelation of himself to mankind through the fully inspired Bible is without error, infallible, sufficient, & is profitable for training others in righteousness as the ultimate authority for mankind.
4. All of humanity sins against God & the whole person because of sin has fallen into spiritual and moral depravity.
5. Jesus Christ is the sinless Lord & Savior; Born of virgin Mary, he is fully God & fully Man & he died in the place of sinful mankind & he physically arose again on the third day.
6. The Lord Jesus Christ saves and delivers a person from sin by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus & baptizes that person into the body of Christ through the Holy Spirit.
7. Jesus Christ will physically return to earth as Lord & King to magnify his kingdom, complete history, fulfill all of God’s promises to creation, inaugurate the new heavens & new earth, grant the saints with everlasting life with Christ & punish the sinners with everlasting death and hell.
Twelve Christicommunity® Values
1. We Value Our Love for God and Man: The most important of all laws in the Bible, we as disciples will seek to love God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength and to love our neighbors as Christ loved us. Everything else is secondary in light of these two commands from God. All of the right doctrine, truth, and knowledge in the world can be destructive and harmful if the ultimate goal is not to use the doctrine, truth, and knowledge to grow closer to our Lord and more in love with him and our service in love to others. Love is the preeminent motive to living like Christ.
2. We Value Our Love for Education: The mind we have and the life we have is precious. Growing mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and even physically is a true mark of a disciple of Christ. Even Jesus Christ himself grew in wisdom, knowledge, and stature with God and people. Stretching our minds and learning new ideas, new concepts, and interacting with different cultures, philosophies, and experiences makes us more like God who sees all and knows all. As disciples of the Lord we will engage our minds and embark upon new ideas so that we grow.
3. We Value Our Love for Ethical Standards: Every moment in life has to do with some scenario that requires us to apply our knowledge and wisdom so that we honor Christ. Satan constantly seeks to undermine our life in Christ by leading us towards liberalism or legalism. As disciples we love life and we love applying the love, truth, and wisdom of Christ on a graded scale so that the world can see the power, presence, and passion of Christ. We neither ignore tough questions nor deny the reality of perplexing problems in the field of ethics; we face these issues honestly in faith and love.
4. We Value Our Love for Evangelism: Each person on this planet born of woman will spend eternity either in heaven experiencing mercy and grace or in hell experiencing wrath and justice. A love for souls with hope they embrace the Savior drives the disciple of Christ and motivates him or her to sacrifice in order to see the lost come to faith in Christ. Satan is constantly seeking to dilute the gospel of grace or he is seeking to sidetrack the church so she is diverted to secondary tasks. Our goal is make a disciple who can in turn use his or her talents to help make another disciple.
5. We Value Our Love for Personal Holiness: As disciples we love being conformed to the image of Christ. God came to us in Christ and brought down his holiness to us through love. Life is not segmented. All of life is about God. Holistically we pursue God without distinguishing between any idea of sacred and secular. All areas of life belong to God and thus we pursue to see, be, and honor God in every area of life. We reject asceticism, legalism, liberalism, and neo-monasticism as appropriate avenues in being like God and instead embrace the attributes of the Trinity.
6. We Value Our Love for the Spiritual Gifts in Service to the Body: Too often the subject of spiritual gifts have led to division in the body of Christ. Yet each person is gifted either with speaking or serving gifts. A disciple will seek to serve his family, the body of Christ, and the community with his or her respective gifts. Each of us is to fan the flame that the Holy Spirit has birth in us and we will encourage one another to use our gifts to promote God’s grace, glory, and goodness in our respective spheres of influence. Our gifts are to be used to edify and not to destroy.
7. We Value Our Love for Fellowship: Life in the Lord is sweet and life with the Lord’s people is pleasurable. As disciples we recognize that a healthy life is one where we learn to partner with people for common purposes even when we may differ with the same people in various non-essential areas of belief. Relationships reveal the thermometer of our spiritual life. Broken relationships reflect poorly on the grace, glory, and goodness of our God. Thus as disciples we seek to partner with our family of faith and we reject schismatic spirits.
8. We Value Our Love for Communion in Prayer: We believe revival, reformation, miracles, and communion are carried out through the means of prayer. Through prayer God provides for his people. We cherish the love relationship we have with our Lord whereby we can call on him privately and corporately so that whatever we individually or corporately need we can trust that God will provide through his sovereign will. Also, prayer is the means to us obtaining the dynamic power of the Holy Spirit for us to carry out the missional work of Jesus Christ in our respective areas.
9. We Value Our Love for Worship: Every moment of life has to do with the glory of God. Our life, our thoughts, our actions, our eating and drinking has to do with God and his glory. Worship is our response to what God has already done. We worship the Lord for who he is, for what he has done, and for what he will do. Worship is a celebratory action whereby we praise our Lord. Worship touches us emotionally and spiritually and is to agree with biblical precedent. Prayer, the Lord’s Supper, and singing with or without music, and even listening to music can all be acts of worship.
10. We Value our Love for Accountability and Discipline: Every person, whether a believer or non-believer, will experience deeper character growth when the other people around him or her challenge him or her in certain areas of life. Eternity is too long and earthly time is too short for us to miss opportunities to be sharpened for our Lord. We, therefore, seek to hold each other accountable to our confessions and beliefs and to even discipline one another when we violate one another, the organization, or even the community as a whole.
11. We Value our Love for Leadership in All Sectors of Life: The world is basically composed of the home life, spiritual or church life from local levels to universal level, and local communities to global community. We believe the younger are to respect the older in all spheres. Younger men are to treat older men like fathers, even when they disagree. Younger women are to treat older women like mothers, even when they disagree. Christian parents are to disciple their children. Elders are to disciple their spiritual children. Employers are to treat their employees fairly with justice and mercy.
12. We Value our Love for Civic Duty: Every community has some form of government that aids in the common grace sphere of regulating society. We as disciples of the Lord and as leaders of the discipleship movement must engage the culture in this sphere. Even when we are at odds with one another in special grace doctrine, and even when we may not totally agree in the best common grace regulations, so long as we are arguing from a biblical base, from a theist worldview, and from a love for our neighbor’s good the influence is salt and light. God will use it for the good.
Scripture with Confession
The Godhead (Theology Proper; Paterology; Christology; Pneumatology)
1. God is love, he is holy, perfect, all-powerful (Omnipotent), present everywhere (Omnipresent), all-knowing (Omniscient), & good to all (Omnibenevolent). He is one being in three persons, the Father, Son, and Spirit.
“God is love.” Psalm 106:1, “Praise the LORD! Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.” 1 John 4:8, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
“God is holy, perfect.” Leviticus 11:44, “For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:15-16, “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.”
“all-powerful (Omnipotent).” Job 42:2, “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” Revelation 19:6, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.”
“present everywhere (Omnipresent).” Psalm 139:7-10, “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven your are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.” Acts 17:24, 27-28, “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man. . . .he is actually not far from each one of us, for ‘In him we live and move and have our being. . . .” Hebrews 4:13, “And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”
“all knowing (Omniscient).” Psalm 33:13-15, “The LORD looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man; from where he sits enthroned he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth, he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds.” Psalm 147:4-5, “He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names. Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is without limit.” Acts 1:24, “They prayed and said, ‘You, Lord, who know the hearts of all. . . .’” 1 John 3:20b “God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.”
“good to all (Omnibenevolent).” Psalm 103:8, “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” Matthew 5:44-45, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
“He is one being in three persons, the Father, Son, and Spirit.” Genesis 1:26, “God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” Genesis 11:7, “Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” John 1:1-2, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” Matthew 28:19, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” John 10:30, “I and the Father are one.” John 14:11, “Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” Acts 5:3 & 5, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit. . . . You have not lied to man but to God.”
God’s Creation (Anthropology)
2. God by his own discretion & power created the universe from nothing for his own glory; nothing but God who is eternal existed before creation. All things exist by, through, & for the Lord. God created humanity (non-material & material), only as biological male & female, in his image for his glory to rule over the earth.
“God by his own discretion & power created the universe from nothing for his own glory.” Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Psalm 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the sky displays his handiwork.” Psalm 33:6, “By the Lord’s decree the heavens were made; by a mere word from his mouth all the stars in the sky were created.” Jeremiah 10:12, “The Lord is the one who by his power made the earth. He is the one who by his wisdom established the world. And by his understanding he spread out the skies.” Colossians 1:16, “for all things in heaven and on earth were created by him {Christ Jesus}.”
“nothing but God who is eternal existed before creation.” Deut. 33:26 & 27, “There is no one like God. . . .The everlasting God is a refuge, and underneath you are his eternal arms.” 1 Timothy 1:17, “Not to the eternal king, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever! Amen.”
“All things exist by, through, & for the Lord.” Colossians 1:16, “for all things in heaven and on earth were created by him {Christ Jesus}.” Revelation 4:11, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, since you created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created.”
"God created humanity (non-material & material), only as biological male & female, in his image for his glory to rule over the earth." Genesis 1:26-27, “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind {humankind} in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth.’ God created mankind {humankind} in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.” Matthew 19:4, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator made them male and female.” Psalm 103:1, “Praise the Lord, O my soul!” Matthew 10:28, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
God’s Revelation (Bibliology)
3. God’s revelation of himself to mankind in a fully inspired Bible is without error & is profitable for training others in righteousness as the ultimate authority for mankind.
"God’s revelation of himself to mankind." Exodus 32:15-16, “Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hands. The tablets were written on both sides. . . . Now the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.” Jeremiah 36:2, “Geta scroll. Write on it everything I have told you to say about Israel, Judah, and all the other nations. . . .” Habakkuk 2:2, “Write down this revelation. Record it legibly on tablets, so the one who announces it may read it easily.” Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made.” Romans 2:14-15, “For whenever the Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature the things required by the law, these who do not have the law are a law to themselves. They show that the work of the law is written in their hearts, as their conscience bears witness. . . .”
"in a fully inspired Bible is without error & is profitable for training others in righteousness." Proverbs 30:5, “Every word of God is flawless. . .” 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “Every scripture is inspired by God (God breathed) and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work.” 2 Peter 1:20-21, “No prophecy of scripture ever comes about by the prophet’s own imagination, for no prophecy was ever borne of human impulse; rather, men carried along by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”
"the ultimate authority for mankind." Proverbs 30: 6, “Do not add to his words, lest he reprove you, and prove you to be a liar.” Matthew 4:4, “It is written, ‘Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” John 17:17, “Set them apart in the truth; your word is truth.”
Mankind’s Sin (Hamartiology)
4. All of humanity sins against God & the whole person because of sin has fallen into spiritual and moral depravity.
"All of humanity sins against God." Psalm 51:5, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 5:12, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.”
"the whole person because of sin has fallen into spiritual and moral depravity." John 8:34, “Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.” Romans 6:20, “For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.” Ephesians 2:1, “You were dead in your transgressions and sins.” Titus 1:15, “to those who are corrupt and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their minds and consciences are corrupted.”
Christ as God in the Flesh Who Died and Arose Again (Christology)
5. Jesus Christ is the sinless Lord & Savior; He is fully God & fully Man & he died in the place of sinful mankind & he physically arose again on the third day.
"Jesus Christ is the sinless Lord & Savior." Luke 2:11, “Today your Savior is born in the city of David. He is Christ the Lord.” John 1:29, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” John 13:13, “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and so correctly, for that is what I am.” 1 John 4:14, “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.”
"He is fully God & fully Man." Isaiah 40:3, “A voice cries out, ‘In the wilderness clear a way for the LORD; construct in the desert a road for our God.’” Matthew 3:3, “For he is the one about whom Isiah the prophet had spoken: ‘The voice of one shouting in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make his paths straight.’” Matthew 1:16&18, “and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. Now the birth of Jesus Christ5 took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed6 to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.” “Matthew 1:23, “Look! The virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will call him Emmanuel, which means ‘God with us.’” John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God.” John 1:14, “Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us.” Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.”
"he died in the place of sinful mankind." Genesis 22:13, “Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son.” Isaiah 53:4-6, “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.” Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” John 10:11, “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” 1 Timothy 2:6, “who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.” 1 Peter 2:24, “and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.” 1 Peter 3:18, “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.”
"he physically arose again on the third day." John 11:25-26, “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?’” Luke 24:6-7, He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’” Matthew 28:5-6, “The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.” 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”
The Work of Christ in Redemption & Salvation (Soteriology)
6. The Lord Jesus Christ saves and delivers a person from sin by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus & baptizes that person into the body of Christ through the Holy Spirit.
"The Lord Jesus Christ saves and delivers a person from sin by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus." Luke 24:46, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” John 1:12, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” John 3:16, “For God so loved the world,[a] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Romans 10:9-10, “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
"& baptizes that person into the body of Christ through the Holy Spirit." Romans 6:3, “Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?” 1 Corinthians 12:13, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.” Galatians 3:27, “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” Ephesians 4:4-5, “There is one body and one Spirit. . . . one Lord, one faith, one baptism.”
Christ’s Work of Consummation (Eschatology)
7. Jesus Christ will physically return to earth as Lord & King to magnify his kingdom, complete history, fulfill all of God’s promises to creation, inaugurate the new heavens & new earth, grant the saints with everlasting life with Christ & punish the sinners with everlasting death and hell.
"Jesus Christ will physically return to earth as Lord & King to magnify his kingdom, complete history," Acts 1:11, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” Revelation 1:7-8, Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 22:13, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Matthew 25:31, ““When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.”
"fulfill all of God’s promises to creation." 2 Corinthians 1:20, “For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.” 2 Peter 3:13, “But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.”
"inaugurate the new heavens & new earth." Romans 8:20-21, “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” 2 Peter 3:10, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.” Revelation 21:1-5, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”
"grant the saints with everlasting life with Christ & punish the sinners with everlasting death and hell." Matthew 25:46, “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” John 14:1-3, ““Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” Revelation 22:14-15, “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. 15 Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.” Revelation 20:10-15, “and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each
