Constitution and Doctrinal Statement

I. The Holy Scriptures:

We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the verbally inspired Word of God, the final authority for faith and life, inerrant in the original writing, infallible and God-breathed. II Tim. 3:16; II Pet. 1:21-22; Mt 5:18; Jn. 16:12-13.

II. The Godhead:

We believe in one triune God, eternally existing in three per-sons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, co-equal in being, co-identical in nature, co-equal in power and glory, having the same perfections. Deut. 6:4; II Cor. 13:14.

III. The Person and Work of Christ:

a. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man, without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man. Jn. 1:1, 14; Luke 1:35.

b. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our personal redemption through His death on the cross as a representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice, and that our justification is made sure by His literal physical resurrection from the dead. Rom. 3:24, 25; I Pet. 1:3-5, 2:24; Eph. 1:7.

c. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God, where, as our High Priest, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate. Acts 1:9-10; Heb. 9:24, 7:25; Rom. 8:34; I Jn. 2:1-2.

d. We believe in the personal imminent return of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jn. 14:1-3.

IV. The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit:

We believe that the Holy Spirit is a person who convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; and that He is the supernatural agent in regeneration, baptizing all believers into the body of Christ, indwelling and sealing them to the day of redemption. Jn. 16:8-11; II Cor. 3:6; I Cor. 12:12-14; Rom. 8:9; Eph. 1:13-14.

V. The Sinfulness of Man:

We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, but that in Adam’s sin the race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God, and that man is himself utterly unable to remedy his lost condition. Gen. 1:26-27: Rom. 3:22-23, 5:12; Eph. 2:1-3, 12.

VI. Salvation:

We believe that salvation is a gift of God brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose precious blood was shed on Calvary for the forgiveness of our sins. Eph. 1:7, 2:8-10; Jn. 1:12; I Pet. 1:18-19.

VII. Assurance of Believers:

We believe that it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God’s Word which, however, clearly forbids Christian liberty as an occasion to the flesh. Rom. 13:13-14; Gal. 5:13, 16-26; Titus 2:11-15; I Jn. 5:10-12.

VIII. Fellowship of Christians:

We believe in the fellowship of Christians in the Church which embraces Biblical doctrine, worships the True God, obeys the Lord’s commands to baptize and to remember Him in the table of the Lord’s supper, exercises discipline, adorns its profession by holiness and love of fellow believers, and proclaims the Christian gospel to the world.

IX. The Eternal State:

We believe in the bodily resurrection of the dead, the believer to everlasting blessedness and joy of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the unbeliever to judgment and everlasting conscious punishment.

X. Identity of Mankind:

We believe that God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as either male or female, and that these two distinct, complementary sexes together reflect the image and nature of God. Gen. 1:26-27.

XI. Definition of Marriage:

We believe that God created marriage to be exclusively the union of one man and one woman, and that intimate sexual activity is to occur exclusively within that union. Gen. 2:18-25; 1 Cor. 6:18, 7:2; Heb. 13:4.

XII. The Final Authority of Scripture

The statement of faith does not exhaust the extent of our beliefs. The Bible itself, as the inspired and infallible Word of God that speaks with final authority concerning truth, morality, and the proper conduct of mankind, is the sole and final source of all that we believe. For purposes of CBF’s faith, doctrine, practice, policy, and discipline, our Executive Board and Chaplain are the Organization’s final interpretive authority on the Bible’s application.