I personally would classify myself as a Reformed Baptist, identifying both with the Biblical definition of Christianity and with the traditional 5-point system of Calvinism. Above all I believe that “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4) and that it is “by grace through faith” that we receive Christ’s atoning death for our sins (Ephesians 2:8).
Listed below is a detailed but not comprehensive list of specific theological beliefs that I hold:
- The Scriptures, both Old and New Testament, to be the inspired Word of God, without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for the salvation of men, and the Divine and final authority for Christian faith and life.
- In one God, Creator of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
- That Jesus Christ is true God and true man, having been conceived of the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary. He died on the cross a sacrifice for our sins according to the Scriptures. Further He arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven, where at the right hand of the Majesty on High, He now is our High Priest and Advocate.
- That the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, and during this age to convict men, regenerate the believing sinner, indwell, guide, instruct, and empower the believer for godly living and service.
- That man was created in the image of God and that through the disobedience of the Adam, sin entered into this world. All of mankind, having descended from Adam, so also the guilt of this sin was imputed; and the same death in sin, and corrupted nature, conveyed to all his posterity descending from him by ordinary generation. From this original corruption, whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions.
- All those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and those only, He is pleased, in His appointed time, effectually to call, by His Word and Spirit, out of that state of sin and death, in which they are by nature to grace and salvation, by Jesus Christ; enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God, taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them an heart of flesh; renewing their wills, and, by His almighty power, determining them to that which is good, and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ: yet so, as they come most freely, being made willing by His grace.
- That the shed blood of Jesus Christ and His resurrection provide the only ground for justification and salvation for all who believe, and only such as receive Jesus Christ are born of the Holy Spirit, and thus become children of God.
- They, whom God has accepted in His Beloved, effectually called, and sanctified by His Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved.
- That water baptism and the Lord’s Supper are ordinances to be observed by the Church during the present age. They are, however, not to be regarded as means of salvation.
- That the true Church is composed of all such persons who through saving faith in Jesus Christ have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and are united together in the body of Christ of which He is the Head.
- That only those who are thus members of the true Church shall be eligible for membership in the local church.
- That Jesus Christ is the Lord and Head of the Church, and that every local church has the right under Christ to decide and govern its own affairs.
If you have any questions about my beliefs or wish to discuss any of them with me, please feel free to contact me at tburus@msn.com.
March 27, 2008 at 8:28 am
Hi there. Greetings from Canada! Congratulations on your very clear website. Looks professional and clean and to the point. One question, if I may (?)…
It says you believe: “That water baptism and the Lord’s Supper are ordinances to be observed by the Church during the present age. They are, however, not to be regarded as means of salvation.” I agree with the first part, but I was always taught that repentance, baptism and rcving the holy spirit was THE way to salvation (because of what it says in Acts 2:38 - please look it up again if you would), but you don’t seem to think baptism is always necessary. How come? Is there something I don’t know?
Thanks for your time (if you have it to respond), and informative website….
L.G.
March 27, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Hi, L.G. Thank you for reading my blog and for your compliments. As for your question I would be glad to go into this further with you.
The verse you mentioned was Acts 2:38, which for the sake of others reading says, “And Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’ ” This is a difficult text, and often given as a proof text for baptismal regeneration (which if you were unaware is the theological term for what you described). However, using it in such a manner is disingenuous in many ways.
First, we must examine the whole context of what is going on. Immediately before this we see Peter is asked by the crowd which is being affected by their teaching, “What shall we do?”, i.e. what must they do to be forgiven and avoid the wrath of God? In reply, Peter tells them to “repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins.” So, if I am saying that the baptism is not a necessary means of salvation then why is it put here? The answer is because it was a public declaration of repentance and an initiation into Christianity, an act which would make them an outcast from the Jewish society, and so would be an indicator of the genuineness of their salvation (since a devout Jew would never do such a thing unless they were truly a follower of Christ).
Second, we must analyze this text in view of other passages, since if we are interpreting it correctly then it should be in agreement with all other parts of the Bible. Thus, if we view this as saying that the order is baptism then regeneration then it stands in blatant contradiction to passages such as John 3:16, Acts 16:31, Romans 4:5, Galatians 2:16. Most importantly we see that it contradicts the order of salvation proposed by Paul in Romans 10:9-10 which says, “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.” Nowhere in this does Paul mention a necessity of baptism. Also, in looking at Ephesians 2:8-9 we see that salvation is a result of grace through faith and not of works, but surely baptism is a work that must be performed by an individual outside of Jesus (Note: it is important in making this comment to point out that it is my belief in accordance with this passage, as well as Philippians 1:29 and Romans 12:3, that the faith which we have in God is actually given to us by God as well, and so is not a work of our own doing).
Third, we must analyze this belief in light of its practice and occurrence throughout the rest of scripture. We see in Acts 3:19 and 26:20 that repentance is its own act and that baptism is one of the deeds which is done in keeping with the obedience that comes from repentance and salvation. Also, in Acts 8:13,21-23 we see through Simon that baptism was not effectual for salvation, that the act of baptism was performed yet the participant was not truly saved. And, in 1 Corinthians 1:17 we see the Apostle Paul declare “Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel,” and so if baptism was inseparable from promise of the gospel then why would Paul say this?
As for the Holy Spirit, I hold that the Holy Spirit is a gift which one receives as a result of salvation. This is made evident in this passage, that being Acts 2:38, and in 2 Corinthians 1:21-22. However, we see in Acts 10:47 that it is also clear that the presence of the Holy Spirit is not a result of a person being baptized.
So, I hope that in the end this clarifies my position and may throw further light on what I believe to be the truth of the gospel. This is a difficult text to deal with on its own, but hopefully when viewed in the bigger scheme it makes more sense. Please feel free to continue this discussion with me more, as I believe it can do nothing but help us to increase our understanding of God’s grace and in doing so cause us to glorify Him more. Have a wonderful day.
-Todd
June 24, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Toddicus,
Wow this section is thorough and I appreciate your answer to the above question. You definitely make most blogs I know, includng mine, look shabby!
August 12, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Toddy,
Great website man! Just found it. I will be a frequent reader, probably will not have time to jump into lots of conversation though.
I would add this to your defense of Acts 2:38. The word “for” in this passage is the the Greek “eis”. It means here , “because of”. Repent from your sin and then sins they are forgiven, be baptized as a sign of the new life in Christ.
An example would be this. We say someone goes to prison FOR murder. Not to be murdered or to murder but because of murder. Hope that helps.
August 18, 2008 at 12:49 am
Todd,
It is wonderful to see someone so dedicated to his faith. Although I am not Christian, I believe that every religion has an element of truth and provides a solid moral backbone for its followers.
I am curious, however: I have met many Christians, family included, who have told me repeatedly that because I do not believe in the divinity of Christ that I am destined for damnation. While I understand that Christian tenets say that the only way to come to God is through Christ, I feel that it is extremely alienating and while it follows the letter of the law, so to say, it defies the spirit of the law by prohibiting brotherhood and love among all mankind.
What are your views on such vigorous condemnation of non-Christians? If I met you on the street, would you tell me I was going to Hell, or would you recognize the validity of my own faith and righteousness?
Thank you for your time!
Jamie
August 18, 2008 at 1:59 am
Jamie,
First, I would like to say thank you for taking the time to read my blog and offer your compliments and questions.
That said, I would like to answer your question with as much sincerity and sensitivity as possible. Starting from the basics, you ask what my “views [are] on such vigorous condemnation of non-Christians” and if we met on the street if I would tell you that you are going to hell? Personally, I am against “Christians” in our culture going about vigorously condemning people, behaving like the loons you see on college campuses wearing sandwich boards and calling all of the girls in shorts “whores.” I believe that this type of behavior has done unspeakable damage to the spread of the Gospel in America and feel the Bible opposes it almost always. Neither would I go up myself to anybody and say, “Do you have faith in Christ? No? then you’re going to hell.” Again, this style of evangelism is so against the teachings of the Bible that it should never be considered.
But as to your question of would I “recognize the validity of [your] own faith and righteousness” I would have to say no. Don’t get me wrong. I would certainly recognize that that is what you believe, even that you believe it sincerely, but I would not recognize that those beliefs, if lying outside of faith in Christ as revealed in the Bible, will save you or are capable of producing any true righteousness. As far as righteousness, I don’t even believe that Christians have a righteousness that is their own anyways, but are only righteous in the extent that Christ’s righteousness is made to stand for them (this is called ‘imputed righteousness’ in theology and comes from 2 Corinthians 5.17 among other verses). And with salvation, I believe that Jesus is the only way, that “no man comes to the Father except through [him]” (John 14.6) and that the way you do this is by “confess[ing] with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believ[ing] in your heart that God raised him from the dead” (Romans 10.9).
You make mention of the distinction between the “letter of the law” and the “spirit of the law.” This comes from 2 Corinthians 3.6, which says (starting in verse 5), “Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” So, what we see is that Paul is saying that he and his fellow teachers have been made “ministers of [the] new covenant . . . of the Spirit.” What he is trying to convey is the fact that it is no longer a covenant based on obedience to a set of rules (the letter of the Law) which leads to salvation, but it is a promise based on “the Spirit.” But what does this mean? Well, look back to verse 3 and you will see that “the Spirit” is “the Spirit of the living God.” So, when we say “For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life,” we don’t mean “the spirit of the law” as in its’ essence or motivation, but we actually mean “the Spirit of the living God” which is the Holy Spirit, the third member of the Trinity
And how is it that “the [Holy] Spirit gives life”? Because it is the Holy Spirit which seals us in the faith when we have believed in Christ (Ephesians 1.13-14), who indwells us upon salvation (Acts 2.38). It “gives life” because it is the means by which God can “[cause] us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1.3) even though we are all “dead in the trespasses and sins” in which we walk (Ephesians 2.1).
Now, as far as being alienating, I guess it is; but that alienation is not the result of legalism, it is a result of the exclusive nature of Christ and the exclusive means of faith in him which is presecribed for salvation. Then do Christians need to alienate people in the way they usually do? Certainly not. The unfortunate thing is that a lot of Christians forget that they themselves are no more deserving of being saved than anyone else, and so instead of carrying the Gospel message to all people in humility and performing good deeds of charity they become arrogant and give off an aire of moral superiority which adds to the offense of the cross.
With all this said, I hope you can see where I am coming from and that you don’t feel judged negatively by what I’ve said. I also hope that you don’t see me as saying I am better than you, because I certainly do not feel this way. And I’m not claiming to be smarter than you because I have “found the right way” either. It wasn’t my work, it was God and his grace which brought me to him, and I am just blessed that he revealed his saving grace to me, and I pray that he will do the same for you.
Please feel free to contact me more if you have any other questions or if you want to discuss the things I have written in this post (novel?) further. Have a nice night!