Kettering Baptist Church Doctrinal Statement

Pastor Bucas Sterling, III

A. THE SCRIPTURES

We believe that “all scripture is given by inspiration of God,” by which we understand the

whole Bible is inspired in the sense that holy men of God “were moved by the Holy Spirit”

to write the very words of scripture. We believe that this divine inspiration extends equally

and fully to all parts of the writings-historical, poetical, doctrinal, and prophetical-as

appeared in the original manuscripts. We believe that the whole bible in the originals is

about the Lord Jesus Christ in His person and work in His first and second coming, and

hence that no portion, even of the Old Testament, is properly read, or understood, until it

leads to Him. We also believe that all the Scriptures were designed for our practical

instructions.

(Mark 12:26, 36, 13:11; Luke 24:27, 44; John 5:39; Acts 1:16, 17:2-3, 18:28, 26:22-23;

Rom. 15:4; I Cor. 2:13, 10:11; 2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21).

B. THE GODHEAD

We believe that the Godhead eternally exists in three persons – the Father, the Son, and the

Holy Spirit – and that these three are one God, and worthy of precisely the same homage,

confidence, and obedience. (Matt. 28:18-19; Mark 12:29; John 1:14; Acts 5:3-4; 2 Cor.

13:14; Heb. 1:1-3; Rev. 1:4-6).

C. ANGELS, FALLEN AND UNFALLEN

We believe that God created an innumerable company of sinless, spiritual beings, known as

angels; that one, “Lucifer, son of the morning” – the highest in rank – sinned through pride,

thereby becoming Satan; that a great company of the angels followed him in his moral fall,

some of whom became demons and are active as his agents and associates in the prosecution

of his unholy purposes, while others who fell are “reserved in everlasting chains under

darkness unto the judgment of the great day.” (Isa. 14:12; Ezek. 28:11-19; 1 Tim. 3:6; 2

Peter 2:4; Jude 6).

We believe that Satan is the originator of sin, and that, under the permission of God, he,

through subtlety, led our first parents into transgression, thereby accomplishing their moral

fall and subjecting them and their posterity to his own power; that he is the enemy of God

and the people of God, opposing and exalting himself above all that is called God or that is

worshipped; and that he who in the beginning said, “I will be like the most High,” in his

warfare appears as an angel of light, even counterfeiting the works of God by fostering

religious movements and systems of doctrine, which systems in every case are characterized

by a denial of efficacy of the blood of Christ and of salvation by grace alone. (Gen. 3:1-19;

Rom. 5:12-14; 2 Cor. 4:3-4; 11:13-15; Eph. 6:10-12; 2 Thess. 2:4; 1 Tim. 4:1-3.

We believe that Satan was judged at the Cross, though not then executed, and that he, a

usurper, now rules as the “god of this world”; that, at the second coming of Christ, Satan

will be bound and cast into the abyss for a thousand years, and after the thousand years he

will be loosed for a little season and then “cast into the lake of fire and brimstone,” where

he “shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” (Col. 2:15; Rev. 20:1-3, 10).

We believe that a great company of angels kept their holy estate and are before the throne of

God, from whence they are sent forth as ministering spirits to minister for them who shall

be heirs of salvation. (Luke 15:10; Eph. 1:21; Heb. 1:14; Rev. 7:12).

We believe that man was made lower than the angels; and that, in His incarnation, Christ

took for a little time this lower place that He might lift the believer to His own sphere above

the angels. (Heb. 2:6-10).

D. MAN CREATED AND FALLEN

We believe that man was originally created in the image and after the likeness of God, and

that he fell through sin, and, as a consequence of his sin, lost his spiritual life, becoming

dead in trespasses and sins, and that he became subject to the power of the devil. We also

believe that this spiritual death, or total depravity of human nature, has been transmitted to

the entire human race of man, the Man Christ Jesus alone being excepted; and hence that

every child of Adam is born into the world with a nature which not only possesses no spark

of divine life, but is essentially and unchangeable bad apart from divine grace. (Gen. 1:26,

2:17, 6:5; Psa. 14:1-3, 51:5; Jer. 17:9; John 3:6, 5:40, 6:35; Rom. 3:10-19, 8:6-7; Eph. 2:1-3;

1 Tim. 5:6; 1 John 3:8).

E. THE BIBLICAL ROLE OF WOMEN AND MEN

1. Creation

a. Both man (Adam) and woman (Eve) were created by God, equal as persons, yet

distinct by divine design in their manhood and womanhood. (Gen. 1:26-27).

b. Man’s headship over woman was established by God before the fall and did not

originate as a result of sin. (Gen. 2:18-23; 1 Cor. 11:3, 8-12; 1 Tim. 2:11-13).

c. God established heterosexual marriage as the only acceptable pattern for marriage

and the family. (Gen. 2:18-25; Mark 10:6-9; Rom. 1:24—32; Eph. 5:22-33).

2. Fall

a. As a result of the fall, woman’s joy in childbearing and joy in submission to her

husband was turned to sorrow. (Gen. 3:16).

3. Redemption

a. Women and men alike through personal faith in Christ enjoy the benefits of

Christ’s redeeming work. (Gal. 3:26-29).

4. Ministry

a. God desires that every regenerate man and woman fulfill their biblical potential in

ministry to the glory of God, the edification of the church, and the good of this

fallen world. (1 Cor. 1:26-31; 1 Cor. 12:4-31; Eph. 4:15-16; Phil. 2:12-16; 1 Pet.

4:10).

b. Women and men alike should study the Word of God in order to improve their

effectiveness in ministry. (2 Tim. 2:15-16; Col. 3:16).

c. God desires to use women in significant ministry in personal evangelistic ministries

around the world (John 4:39; Rom. 1:14-17), in teaching ministries to women and

children (Rom. 12:7), in service ministries such as visitation, benevolence, and

hospitality (Jas. 1:27; Rom. 16:1-2), in assisting her husband in ministries (Gen.

2:18-23; Rom. 16:3; 1 Tim. 3:11), in family ministries to her children (1 Tim. 2:15;

2 Tim. 1:5, 3:15; Prov. 31:10-31; Prov. 1:8), in counseling ministries to other

women (Tit. 2:4-5), and in many other ways.

5. Role Distinctions

a. God has made a distinction in both responsibility and authority between male and

female, This is based on the difference in gender and creation order rather than on

an inherent superiority or inferiority. These distinctions are not removed by

redemption in Christ. (1 Cor. 11:3-5; 1 Tim. 2:11-13).

b. God has ordained men to have the responsibility and authority for the family. The

husband should lead the family in love. He should encourage his wife to

participate in the decision-making process. (Eph. 5:22-33; Col. 3:18-19; 1 Tim.

3:4-5; Tit. 2:3-5; 1 Pet. 3:1-7).

c. God has ordained men to have the responsibility and authority for the church.

(Mark 3:13-19; Acts 20:17, 28; 1 Tim. 3:2-12; 1 Pet. 5:1-4). Women are not to

teach biblical truth to men (1 Cor. 11:2-16; 1 Cor. 14:34-35; 1 Tim. 2:11-15).

Precludes women from teaching biblical or theological truth to, or having authority

over, men who are training for ministry.

d. Women may be appointed or commissioned to biblically prescribed ministries; but

women should not be ordained to the gospel ministry as pastors or to any other

ministry restricted to men. (Tit. 1:5-6).

e. No alleged “call” of “leading of the Holy Spirit” is to take precedence over God’s

Word in these matters. Failures by others do not justify violation of these biblical

guidelines. (Jam. 4:17).

F. THE FIRST ADVENT

We believe that, as provided and purposed by God and as in the prophecies of the

Scriptures, the eternal Son of God came into this world that He might manifest God to men,

fulfill prophecy, and become the redeemer of a lost world. To this end He was born of the

virgin, and received a human body and sinless human nature. (Luke 1:30-35; John 1:18,

3:16; Heb. 4:15)

We believe that, on the human side, He became and remained a perfect man, but sinless

throughout His life; yet He retained His absolute deity, being at the same time very God and

very man, and that in His earth-life sometimes functioned within the sphere of that which

was human and at times that which was divine. (Luke 2:40; John 1:1-2; Phil. 2:5-8).

We believe that in fulfillment of prophecy He came first to Israel as her Messiah-King, and

that, being rejected of that nation, He, according to the eternal counsels of God, gave His

Life as a ransom for all. (John 1:11; Acts 2:22-24; 1 Tim. 2:6).

We believe that in infinite love for the lost, He voluntarily accepted His Father’s will and

became the divinely provided sacrificial Lamb and took away the sin of the world, bearing

the holy judgments against sin which the righteousness of God must impose. His death was

therefore substitutionary in the most absolute sense – the just for the unjust – and by His

death He became the Savior of the lost. (John 1:29; Rom. 3:25-26; 2 Cor. 5:14; Heb. 10:514;

1 Pet. 3:18).

We believe that, according to the Scriptures, He arose from the dead in the same body,

though glorified, in which He had lived and died, and that His resurrection body is the

pattern of that body which ultimately will be given to all believers. (John 20:20; Phil. 3:2021).

We believe that, on departing from the earth, He was accepted of His Father and that His

acceptance is a final assurance to us that His redeeming work was perfectly accomplished.

(Heb. 1:3).

We believe that He became Head over all things to the church, which is His body, and in

this ministry He ceases not to intercede and advocate for the saved. (Eph. 1:22-23; Heb.

7:25; 1 John 2:1).

G. SALVATION ONLY THROUGH CHRIST

We believe that owing universal death through sin, no one can enter the kingdom of God

unless born again; and that no degree of reformation however attractive, no baptism or other

ordinance however administered, can help the sinner to take even one step toward heaven;

but a new nature imparted from above, a new life implanted by the Holy Spirit through the

Word, is absolutely essential to salvation, and only those thus saved are sons of God. We

believe, also that our redemption has been accomplished solely by the blood of our Lord

Jesus Christ, who was made to be sin and was made a curse for us, dying in our room

instead; and that no repentance, no feeling, no faith, no good resolutions, no sincere efforts,

no submission to the rules and regulations of any church, nor all the churches that have

existed since the days of the Apostles can add in the very least degree to the value of the

blood, or to the merit of the finished work wrought for us by Him who united in His person

true and proper deity with perfect and sinless humanity. (Lev. 17:11; Isa. 64:6; Matt. 26:28;

John 3:7-18; Rom. 5:6-9; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3:13, 6:15; Eph. 1:7; Phil. 3:4-9; Tit. 3:5; James

1:18; 1 Pet. 1:18-19, 23).

We believe that the new birth of the believer comes only through faith in Christ and that

repentance is a vital part of believing, and is in no way, in itself, a separate and independent

condition of salvation; nor are any other acts such as confession, baptism, prayer, or faithful

service, to be added to believing as a condition of salvation. (John 1:12, 3:16, 18, 36, 5:24,

6:29; Acts 13:39, 16:31; Rom. 1:16-17, 3:22, 26, 4:5, 10:4; Gal. 3:22).

H. THE EXTENT OF SALVATION

We believe that when an unregenerate person exercises that faith in Christ which is

illustrated and described as such in the New Testament, he passes immediately out of

spiritual death into spiritual life, and from the old creation into then new being justified from

all things, accepted before the Father according as Christ His Son is accepted, loved as

Christ is loved, having his place and portion as linked to Him and one with Him forever.

Though the saved one may have occasion to grow in the realization of his blessings and to

know a fuller measure of divine power through the yielding of his life more fully to God, he

is, as soon as he is saved, in possession of every spiritual blessing and absolutely complete

in Christ, and is therefore in no way required by God to seek a so-called “second blessing,”

or a “second work of grace.” (John 5:24, 17:23; Acts 13:39; Rom. 5:1; 1 Cor. 3:21-23; Eph.

1:3; Col. 2:10; 1 John 4:17, 5:11-12).

I. SANTIFICATION

We believe that sanctification, which is a setting-apart unto God, is threefold: It is already

complete for every saved person because his position toward God is the same as Christ’s

position. Since the believer is in Christ, he is set apart unto God in the measure in which

Christ is set apart unto God. We believe, however, that he retains his sin nature, which

cannot be eradicated in this life. Therefore, while the standing of the Christian in Christ is

perfect, his present state is no more perfect than his experience in daily life. There is,

therefore, a progressive sanctification wherein the Christian is to “grow in grace,” and to “be

changed” by the unhindered power of the spirit. We believe, also, that the child of God will

yet be fully sanctified in his state as he is now sanctified in his standing in Christ when he

shall see his Lord and shall be “Like Him.” (John 17:17; 2 Cor. 3:10, 7:1; Eph. 4:24, 5:2527;

1 Thess. 5:23; Heb. 10:10, 14, 12:10).

J. ETERNAL SECURITY

We believe that, because of the eternal purpose of God toward the objects of His love,

because of His freedom to exercise grace toward the meritless on the ground of the

propitiatory blood of Christ, because of the very nature of the divine gift of eternal life,

because of the present and unending intercession and advocacy of Christ in heaven, because

of the immutability of the unchangeable covenants of God, because of the regenerating,

abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of all who are saved, we and all true

believers everywhere, once saved shall be kept saved forever. We believe, however, that

God is a holy and righteous Father and that, since He cannot overlook the sin of His

children, He will when they persistently sin chasten them and keep them forever, apart from

all human merit. He, who cannot fail, will in the end present every one of them faultless

before the presence of His glory and conformed to the image of His son. (John 5:24, 10:28,

13:1, 14:16-17, 17:11; Rom. 8:29; 1 Cor. 6:19; Heb. 7:25; 1 John 2:1-2, 5:13; Jude 24).

K. ASSURANCE

We believe it is the privilege, not only of some, but of all who are born again by the Spirit

through faith in Christ as revealed in the Scriptures, to be assured of their salvation from the

very day they take Him to be their Savior and that this assurance is not founded upon any

fancied discovery of their own worthiness or fitness, but wholly upon the testimony of God

in gratitude and obedience. (Luke 10:20, 22:32; 2 Cor. 5:1, 6-8; 2 Tim. 1:12; Heb. 10:22; 1

John 5:13).

L. THE HOLY SPIRIT

We believe that the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the blessed Trinity, through

omnipresent from all eternity, took up His abode in the world in a special sense on the day

of Pentecost according to the divine promise, dwells in every believer, and by His baptism

united all to Christ in one body, and that He, as the Indwelling One, is the source of all

power and all acceptable worship and service. We believe that He never takes His departure

from the church, nor from the feeblest of the saints, but is ever present to testify of Christ;

seeking to occupy believers with Him and not with themselves nor with their experiences.

We believe that His abode in the world in this special sense will cease when Christ comes to

receive His own at the completion of the church. (John 14:16-17, 16:7-15; 1 Cor. 6:19; Eph.

2:22; 2 Thess. 2:7).

We believe that, in this age certain well-defined ministries are committed to the Holy Spirit,

and that it is the duty of every Christian to understand them and to be adjusted in his own

life experience. These ministries are the restraining of evil in the world to the measure of

the divine will; the convicting of the world respecting sin, righteousness, and judgment; the

regenerating of all believers; the indwelling and anointing of all who are saved, thereby

sealing them into the day of redemption; the baptizing into the one body of Christ of all

who are saved, and the continued filling for power, teaching, and service of those among the

saved who are yielded to Him and who are subject to His will. (John 3:6, 16:7-11; Rom.

8:9; 1 Cor. 12:13; Eph. 4:30, 5:18; 2 Thess. 2:7; 1 John 2:20-27).

We believe that some gifts of the Holy Spirit such as speaking in tongues, prophecy and

miraculous healings were sign gifts. We believe that speaking in tongues was never the

common or necessary sign of the baptism nor of the filling of the Spirit, and that the

deliverance of the body from sickness or death awaits the consummation of our salvation in

the resurrection. (Acts 4:8, 31; Rom. 8:23; 1 Cor. 13:8).

M. THE CHURCH, A UNITY OF BELIEVERS

We believe that all who are united to the risen and ascended Son of God are members of the

church which is the body and bride of Christ, which began at Pentecost and is completely

distinct from Israel. It’s members are constituted as such regardless of membership or nonmembership

in the organized churches of earth. We believe that by the same Spirit all

believers in this age are baptized into, and thus become, one body that is Christ’s whether

Jews or Gentiles, and having become members one of another, are under solemn duty to

keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, rising above all sectarian differences, and

loving one another with a pure heart fervently. (Matt. 16:16-18; Acts. 2:42-47; Rom. 12:5; 1

Cor. 12:12-27; Eph. 1:20-23, 4:3-10; Col. 3:14-15).

N. THE SACRAMENTS OR ORDINANCES

We believe that water baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the only sacraments and

ordinances of the church and that they are a scriptural means of testimony for the church in

this age. (Matt. 28:19; Luke 22:19-20; Acts 10:47-48, 16:32-23, 18:7-8; 1 Cor. 11:26.

O. THE CHRISTIAN WALK

We believe that we are called with a holy calling, to walk not after the flesh, but after the

Spirit, and so to live in the power of the Spirit. But the flesh with it’s fallen, Adamic nature,

which in this life is never eradicated, being with us to the end of our earthly pilgrimage,

needs to be kept by the Spirit constantly in subjection to Christ, or it will surely manifest it’s

presence in our lives to the dishonor of our Lord. (Rom. 6:11-13, 8:2, 4, 12-13 ; Gal. 5:1623;

Eph. 4:22-5:2; Col. 2:1-10; 1 Pet. 1:14-16; 1 John 1:4-7, 3:5-9.

P. THE CHRISTIAN’S SERVICE

We believe that divine, enabling gifts for service are bestowed by the Spirit upon all who are

saved. While there is a diversity of gifts, each believer is energized by the same spirit, and

each is called to his own divinely appointed service as the Spirit may will. In the apostolic

church there were certain gifted men – who were appointed by God for the perfecting of the

saints unto their work of the ministry. We believe also that today some men are especially

called of God to be evangelists, pastors and teachers, and that it is to the fulfilling of His will

and to His eternal glory that these shall be sustained and encouraged in their service for God.

(Rom. 12:6; 1 Cor. 12:4-11; Eph. 4:11).

We believe that, wholly apart from salvation benefits which are bestowed equally upon all

who believe, rewards are promised according to the faithfulness of each believer in his

service for his Lord, and that these rewards will be bestowed at the judgment seat of Christ

after He comes to receive His own to Himself. (1 Cor. 3:9-15, 9:18-27; 2 Cor. 5:10).

Q. THE GREAT COMMISSION

We believe that it is the explicit message of our Lord Jesus Christ to those whom He has

saved that they are sent forth by Him into the world even as He was sent forth of His Father

into the world. We believe that after they are saved, they are divinely reckoned to be related

to this world as strangers and pilgrims, ambassadors and witnesses, and that their primary

purpose in life should be to make Christ known to the whole world. (Matt. 28:18-19; Mark

16:15; John 17:18; Acts 1:8; 2 Cor. 5:18-20; 1 Pet. 1:17, 2:11).

R. THE RAPTURE

We believe that, according to the Word of God, the next great event in the fulfillment of

prophecy will be the coming of the Lord in the air to receive to Himself into heaven both

His own who are alive and remain unto His coming, and also all who have fallen asleep in

Jesus, and that this event is the blessed hope set before us in the Scripture, and for this we

should be constantly looking. (John 14:1-3; 1 Cor. 15:51-52; Phil. 3:20; 1 Thess. 4:13-18;

Tit. 2:11-15).

S. THE TRIBULATION

We believe that the translation of the church will be followed by the fulfillment of Israel’s

seventieth week (Dan. 9:27; Rev. 6:1-19, 21), during which the church, the body of Christ,

will be in heaven. The world period of Israel’s seventieth week will be a time of judgment

on the whole earth, at the end of which the times of the Gentiles will be brought to a close.

The latter half of this period will be the time of Jacob’s trouble (Jer. 30:7), which the Lord

called the great tribulation (Matt. 24:15-21). We believe that universal righteousness will

not be realized previous to the second coming of Christ, but that the world is day by day

ripening for judgment and that the age will end with a fearful apostasy.

T. THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST

We believe that the period of great tribulation in the earth will be climaxed by the return of

the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth as He went in person on the clouds of heaven, and with

power and great glory to introduce the millennial age, to bind Satan and place him in the

abyss, to lift the curse which now rests upon the whole world to the knowledge of God.

(Deut. 30:1-10; Isa. 11:9; Ezek. 37:21-28; Matt. 24:15-25, 46; Acts 15:16-17; Rom. 8:19-23,

11:25-27; 2 Tim. 3:1-5; Rev. 20:1-3).

U. THE ETERNAL STATE

We believe that at death the spirits and souls of those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus

Christ for salvation pass immediately into His presence and there remain in conscious bliss

until the resurrection of the glorified body when Christ comes for His own, whereupon soul

and body reunited shall be associated with Him forever in glory; but the spirits and souls of

the unbelieving remain after death conscious of condemnation and in 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, 23:42; 2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23; 1 Thess. 4:16-18; Jude 6-7; Rev. 20:11-15).

V. STEWARDSHIP

We believe that God has established a law of tithing. The word tithe means 10%. What

does God do with His tithe? He uses it for His ministry to preach His message of the

kingdom of God. (2 Cor. 9:7).