Beliefs

First Presbyterian is, (surprise!), a Presbyterian church, so we have certain unique beliefs as Presbyterians that we believe the Bible teaches. But we hold in common the basics essential beliefs of the Protestant Christian faith with most all other orthodox Protestant Christians.

A summary of the Christan faith is as follows:

God created the world for his own glory. His creation reflected his goodness and beauty. He made man in his own image, with a reasonable soul, with knowledge, righteousness, and moral purity. He made man to rule over the creation that God had made, so that man was the pinnacle of his creation, lacking nothing and full of happiness. God’s pronouncement over creation was, “It was very good.”

But the man and woman, having been deceived by an evil spirit, Satan, in their pride rebelled against God, choosing autonomy over submission to God’s authority and God’s word. This rebellion was catastrophic, and plunged God’s good creation into decay and chaos. Men, even in their closest relationships, now have strife with each other. The environment of men is now a threat to him, and we are subject to inevitable death. Worst of all, man is estranged from God, who is the source of all good.

Though God is holy and just, instead of destroying all men permanently, He promised mercy to men through a Savior he would send into the world. The Savior would restore men to their true humanity in relation to God, and all the Old Testament Scriptures point to the coming of this Savior. God would accomplish this promised salvation through the eternal Son of God, Jesus Christ, who took on our human nature, to accomplish all that would restore man to happiness and love, by reconciling him to God and renewing the creation man lives in.

Jesus loved men in his incarnation, taking on human nature to join his divine nature. He carried out the work of God in his human nature. All that he did and said demonstrated plainly that he was the one the Old Testament had written about. He went about doing good, healing diseases, casting out demons, and pitying the misery of sinners. Jesus called his presence and work the presence of God’s kingdom amid men.

Jesus lived the perfect human life. Everything he did was to glorify God and to do good to men. Nevertheless, he was rejected by men, as was written about him in the Old Testament, and was put to death on the cross. Though men put Jesus to death, this was the plan of God to save men. Jesus died the death we deserved to die on the cross. The cross was a symbol of a curse. Jesus took the curse of our sin on the cross, suffering the justice of God in our stead. He paid the debt we owed to God’s justice for our sin. This means that God can forgive our rebellion without compromising his just standards, that he can end injustice without ending us. The penalty has been fully paid.

Therefore, Jesus loved men on the cross. He willingly gave himself up for us as an offering to God. And God was well pleased by it, proving this by raising Jesus from death after 3 days. His resurrection destroyed the power of the devil, by ending human autonomy to all who come to Christ. The resurrection of the body of Jesus is our first glance at what the renewed creation will be like. His promise is that all who belong to him will be raised with bodies like his at the end of history, live in a restore, blessed creation, where our relationships are healed, the physical world is made new and good, and we will know God in a flourishing relationship of love. Jesus ascended to heaven and is now on the throne of God, directing the spread of this gospel of good news to sinners on earth through his church. The promise is for all who believe. Christ will come back to judge the world, and God has proved this by raising him from the dead.

The emphasis on the gospel of Christ is that it is all given by grace. Undeserved. Unearned. The Bible says, “by grace you have been saved through faith, not as a result of works so that no one may boast.” The idea that we don’t have to earn God’s favor through devout actions or good intentions, or anything we do, goes against the inherent pride in our sinful natures, and is contrary to all other religious ideas in the world. Jesus has earned all God’s love and blessing for us. Does this mean the Christian has nothing to do? Certainly not! Christians are redeemed by Christ to do good works for God, but from motives of love to God in view of his mercies and service to their neighbor as Christ served them. We, as Christians, are the people of grace, and we give all glory to God.

A relationship with Christ is not given automatically to all men, but rather offered indiscriminately to everyone. If you have heard the gospel of Christ, then God has intended you to hear it and is offering you salvation in Christ. None who come to Christ in sincerity will be rejected. The Bible makes clear that Jesus is the fulfilment of all the promises of God and that no one will have salvation apart from him.  The Bible warns that to reject Christ is to take the part of the devil and to mock God.

The Bible makes these things clear: There is nothing lacking, on God’s part, for man’s salvation. There is room in heaven for the chief of sinners. There is willingness in Christ to receive the most ungodly. But there is also desperate unbelief in man; he will not believe what God tells him in the Bible. Pride in man is such that he will not bow his heart to receive Christ as a little child.

Whereas many will not believe what Christ says and will not rejoice by faith in what Christ did, there will be a multitude on the last day who will be welcomed by Christ into the eternal kingdom of God. Our life’s mission is making sure we are in that blessed multitude.