DOXA CHURCH DOCTRINAL STATEMENT

What we believe and how we live are inseparable. Our doctrinal statement acts as the unifying beliefs that anyone who wants to join the mission of Doxa Church as covenant members must hold in alignment. This statement is made up of non-negotiable, traditionally orthodox, key doctrines of the Christian faith. These beliefs build off our doctrine and act as the theological compass for our church.

THE TRIUNE GOD
We believe in one God, eternally existing in three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who know, love, and glorify one another. (Isaiah 45:5; John 1:18; Colossians 2:9; John 5:18; Acts 5:3-4; John 16:13-15) This one true and living God is infinitely perfect both in his love and in his holiness. (Psalm 18:30) He is the Creator of all things, visible and invisible, and is therefore worthy to receive all glory and adoration. (Hebrews 11:3) Immortal and eternal, he perfectly and exhaustively knows the end from the beginning, sustains and sovereignly rules over all things, and providentially brings about his eternal good purposes to redeem a people for himself and restore his fallen creation, to the praise of his glorious grace. (Isaiah 46:9-10; Hebrews 1:3; Titus 2:11-14; Revelation 7:10) 

THE REVELATION OF GOD (BIBLE)
God has graciously disclosed his existence and power in the created order, and has supremely revealed himself to fallen human beings in the person of his Son, the incarnate Word. (Romans 1:19-20; John 1:1; John 14:9) Moreover, this God is a speaking God who by his Spirit has graciously disclosed himself in human words: we believe that God has inspired the words preserved in the Scriptures, the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, which are both record and means of his saving work in the world. (Genesis 1:3, 12:1; Matthew 3:17; 2 Peter 1:20-21, 3:15-16; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; Acts 1:16; Hebrews 3:7; Luke 1:1-4; James 1:21). These writings alone constitute the verbally inspired Word of God, which is utterly authoritative and without error in the original writings, complete in its revelation of his will for salvation, sufficient for all that God requires us to believe and do, and final in its authority over every domain of knowledge to which it speaks. (Psalm 19:7, 119:160; John 17:17; 2 Peter 1:19; Luke 16:31; John 20:21; James 1:22; Proverbs 30:5-6). We confess that both our finitude and our sinfulness preclude the possibility of knowing God’s truth exhaustively, but we affirm that, enlightened by the Spirit of God, we can know God’s revealed truth truly. (Romans 11:33; 1 Corinthians 2:10-14). The Bible is to be believed, as God’s instruction, in all that it teaches; obeyed, as God’s command, in all that it requires; and trusted, as God’s pledge, in all that it promises. (1 Corinthians 10:11; Luke 8:21; Hebrews 10:23) As God’s people hear, believe, and do the Word, they are equipped as disciples of Christ and witnesses to the gospel. (Revelation 1:3; 1 Peter 1:8; John 17:6)

THE CREATION OF HUMAN BEINGS
We believe that God created human beings, male and female, in his own image. We therefore believe that all human life is sacred and of inestimable worth in all its dimensions, including pre-born babies, the aged, the physically or mentally challenged, and every other stage or condition from conception through natural death. We are therefore called to defend, protect, and value all human life. Adam and Eve belonged to the created order that God himself declared to be very good, serving as God’s agents to care for, manage, and govern creation, living in holy and devoted fellowship with their Maker. (Genesis 1:26-31) Men and women, equally made in the image of God, enjoy equal access to God by faith in Christ Jesus and are both called to move beyond passive self-indulgence to significant private and public engagement in family, church, and civic life. Adam and Eve were made to complement each other in a one-flesh union that establishes the only normative pattern of sexual relations for men and women, such that marriage ultimately serves as a type of the union between Christ and his church. (Genesis 2:21-24; Romans 1:26-28; Matthew 19:3-9) In God’s wise p u r p o s e s , me n a n d wome n a re n o t s i mp l y interchangeable, but rather they complement
each other in mutually enriching ways. God ordains that they assume distinctive roles which reflect the loving relationship between Christ and the church, the husband exercising headship in a way that displays the caring, sacrificial love of Christ, and the wife submitting to her husband in a way that models the love of the church for her Lord. (1 Corinthians 11:3; Ephesians 5:22-33) In the ministry of the church, both men and women are encouraged to serve Christ and to be developed to their full potential in the manifold ministries of the people of God. The Pastor/Elder role within the church given to qualified men is grounded in creation, fall, and redemption and must not be sidelined by appeals to cultural developments. (1 Timothy 2:12-14) 

THE “FALL”
We believe that Adam, made in the image of God, distorted that image and forfeited his original blessedness —for himself and all his progeny—by falling into sin through Satan’s temptation. (Genesis 1:27, Genesis 3) As a result, all human beings are alienated from God, corrupted in every aspect of their being (e.g., physically, mentally, volitionally, emotionally, spiritually) and condemned finally and irrevocably to death— apart from God’s own gracious intervention. (Romans 3:23, 6:23) The supreme need of all human beings is to be reconciled to the God under whose just and holy wrath we stand; the only hope of all human beings is the undeserved love of this same God, who alone can rescue us and restore us to himself. (Romans 5:1-11; 1 John 2:2, Revelation 20:11)

THE PLAN OF GOD
We believe that from all eternity God determined in grace to save a great multitude of guilty sinners from every tribe and language and people and nation, and to this end foreknew them and chose them. (Romans 8:28-29; Ephesians 1:11-12; Revelation 5:9-10) We believe that God justifies and sanctifies those who by grace have faith in Jesus, and that he will one day glorify them—all to the praise of his glorious grace. (Ephesians 2:1-10; Romans 3:21-26; Hebrews 10:10-14; Revelation 7:9-12) In love God commands and implores all people to repent and believe, having set his saving love on those he has chosen and having ordained Christ to be their Redeemer. (Mark 1:14-15; 2 Peter 3:9; Revelation 13:7-10)

THE GOSPEL
We believe that the gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ—God’s very wisdom. (John 3:16) Utter folly to the world, even though it is the power of God to those who are being saved, this good news is Christological, centering on the cross and resurrection: the gospel is not proclaimed if Christ is not proclaimed, and the authentic Christ has not been proclaimed if his death and resurrection are not central (the message is ”Christ died for our sins . . . [and] was raised”). (1 Corinthians 1:20, 2:14; Romans 1:16, 3:23-26, 4:24-25; 1 Corinthians 15:2-3) This good news is biblical (his death and resurrection are according to the Scriptures), theological and salvific (Christ died for our sins, to reconcile us to God), historical (if the saving events did not happen, our faith is worthless, we are still in our sins, and we are to be pitied more than all others), apostolic (the message was entrusted to and transmitted by the apostles, who were witnesses of these saving events), and intensely personal (where it is received, believed, and held firmly, individual persons are saved). (Acts 2:22-25; Isaiah 53; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; Romans 5:10; 1 Corinthians 15:12-18, 15:4-8; Acts 1:21-22; 2 Thessalonians 2:13)

THE REDEMPTION OF CHRIST
We believe that, moved by love and in obedience to his Father, the eternal Son became human: the Word became flesh, fully God and fully human being, one Person in two natures. (John 4:31-34; Hebrews 1:8, 13:8; John 1:14; Titus 2:13; 1 John 5:20; Hebrews 2:17, 4:15) The man Jesus, the promised Messiah of Israel, was conceived through the miraculous agency of the Holy Spirit, and was born of the virgin Mary. (2 Samuel 7:13; Isaiah 7:14, 11:1, 53:5; Luke 1:27-35) He perfectly obeyed his heavenly Father, lived a sinless life, performed miraculous signs, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead on the third day, and ascended into heaven. (1 Peter 2:22; John 9:1-34; Matthew 8:23-27; Matthew 27:11-58; John 20:25-27; Luke 24:39-43; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; Acts 1:2-3; Ephesians 4:10) As the Mediator King, he is seated at the right hand of God the Father, exercising in heaven and on earth all of God’s sovereignty, and is our High Priest and righteous Advocate. (1 Timothy 2:5; Ephesians 1:20, 2:6; Jude 1:4; Hebrews 3:1; 1 John 2:1) We believe that by his incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension, Jesus Christ acted as our representative and substitute. He did this so that in him we might become the righteousness of God: on the cross he canceled sin, propitiated God, and, by bearing the full penalty of our sins, reconciled to God all those who believe. (2 Corinthians 5:21; Colossians 2:14; 1 John 2:2; Colossians 2:13-14; Romans 1:16, 3:22, 6:8) By his resurrection Christ Jesus was vindicated by his Father, broke the power of death and defeated Satan who once had power over it, and brought everlasting life to all his people; by his ascension he has been forever exalted as Lord and has prepared a place for us to be with him. (1 Timothy 3:16; Hebrews 2:14; Matthew 25:46; John 14:3). We believe that salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12). Because God chose the lowly things of this world, the despised things, the things that are not, to nullify the things that are, no human being can ever boast before him—Christ Jesus has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. (Job 5:11; Ezekiel 21:26; Galatians 6:14; 1 Corinthians 1:30)

THE JUSTIFICATION OF SINNERS
We believe that Christ, by his obedience and death, fully discharged the debt of all those who are justified.
(Philippians 2:8; Colossians 2:13-14). By his sacrifice, he bore in our stead the punishment due us for our sins, making a proper, real, and full satisfaction to God’s justice on our behalf. (2 Corinthians 5:21). By his perfect obedience he satisfied the just demands of God on our behalf, since by faith alone that perfect obedience is credited to all who trust in Christ alone for their acceptance with God. (Romans 5:21; Ephesians 2:8). Inasmuch as Christ was given by the Father for us, and his obedience and punishment were accepted in place of our own, freely and not for anything in us, this justification is solely of free grace, in order that both the exact justice and the rich grace of God might be glorified in the justification of sinners. (Isaiah 53:6,10; John 10:18; Ephesians 2:8; Romans 5:1-2). We believe that a zeal for personal and public obedience flows from this free justification. (Titus 3:5-8; Ephesians 2:8-9)

THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe that this salvation, attested in all Scripture and secured by Jesus Christ, is applied to his people by the Holy Spirit. (Ezekiel 36:26-27; John 3:8). Sent by the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ, and, as the “other” Paraclete, is present with and in believers. (John 14:26, 15:26, 16:14, 14:16-17). He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and by his powerful and mysterious work regenerates spiritually dead sinners, awakening them to repentance and faith, baptizing them into union with the Lord Jesus, such that they are justified before God by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. (John 16:18, 3:8; Acts 16:14; 1 John 5:1; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Romans 3:23-25). By the Spirit’s agency, believers are renewed, sanctified, and adopted into God’s family; they participate in the divine nature and receive his sovereignly distributed gifts. (Titus 3:5; 1 Peter 1:2; Romans 8:14-15; 1 Corinthians 12:7). The Holy Spirit is himself the down payment of the promised inheritance, and in this age indwells, guides, instructs, equips, revives, and empowers believers for Christ- like living and service. (Ephesians 1:14; Romans 8:12; John 16:13; John 14:26; 1 Corinthians 12:11; John 6:63; Acts 1:8).   

THE KINGDOM OF GOD
We believe that those who have been saved by the grace of God through union with Christ by faith and through regeneration by the Holy Spirit enter the kingdom of God and delight in the blessings of the new covenant: the forgiveness of sins, the inward transformation that awakens a desire to glorify, trust, and obey God, and the prospect of the glory yet to be revealed. (Colossians 1:13-14; 2 Corinthians 3:18). Good works constitute indispensable evidence of saving grace. (Ephesians 2:8-10). Living as salt in a world that is decaying and light in a world that is dark, believers shouldn’t withdraw into seclusion from the world, or become indistinguishable from it: rather, we are to do good to the city, for all the glory and honor of the nations is to be offered up to the living God. (Matthew 5:13-16; John 17:16-18; Jeremiah 29:7; Revelation 21:24-27). Recognizing whose created order this is, and because we are citizens of God’s kingdom, we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, doing good to all, especially to those who belong to the household of God. (John 18:36; Matthew 22:39; Romans 12:16-18; Galatians 6:10). The kingdom of God, already present but not fully realized, is the exercise of God’s sovereignty in the world toward the eventual redemption of all creation. (Matthew 4:17; Matthew 7:21-23; Romans 8:22-23; Revelation 21:1-4). The kingdom of God is an invasive power that plunders Satan’s dark kingdom and regenerates and renovates through repentance and faith the lives of individuals rescued from that kingdom. (Matthew 16:18; Acts 26:18). It therefore inevitably establishes a new community of human life together under God. (1 Peter 2:9-12)

GOD’S NEW PEOPLE
We believe that God’s new covenant people have already come to the heavenly Jerusalem; they are already seated with Christ in heaven. (Hebrews 12:22; Ephesians 26). This universal church is manifest in local churches of which Christ is the only Head; thus each “local church” is, in fact, the church, the household of God, the assembly of the living God, and the pillar and foundation of the truth. (Ephesians 1:22, 5:23; Colossians 1:18; Ephesians 2:19-22; 1 Timothy 3:14-16). The church is the body of Christ, the apple of his eye, graven on his hands, and he has pledged himself to her forever. (1 Corinthians 12; Romans 12:3-5; Psalm 17:8; Isaiah 49:6). The church is distinguished by her gospel message, her sacred ordinances, her discipline, her great mission, and, above all, by her love for God, and by her members’ love for one another and for the world. (Matthew 28:19; 1 Corinthians 11:17-34; Matthew 18; Galatians 6:1-5; Matthew 28:16-20; Mark 12:31; Galatians 6:10). Crucially, this gospel we cherish has both personal and corporate dimensions, neither of which may properly be overlooked. (Hebrews 10:15). Christ Jesus is our peace: he has not only brought about peace with God, but also peace between alienated peoples. (Ephesians 2:14; Romans 5:1). His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both Jew and Gentile to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 3:27-29). The church serves as a sign of God’s future new world when its members live for the service of one another and their neighbors, rather than for self-focus. The church is the corporate dwelling place of God’s Spirit, and the continuing witness to God in the world. (Ephesians 2:19-22)

BAPTISM & THE LORD’S SUPPER
We believe that baptism and the Lord’s Supper are ordained by the Lord Jesus himself and reserved for believers. (Acts 2:38, 4:12, 8:12; Matthew 3:13-15, 28:19; 1 Corinthians 11:23-32). The former is connected with entrance into the new covenant community, the latter with ongoing covenant renewal. (Romans 6:3-4; 1 Corinthians 11:23-25). Together they are simultaneously God’s pledge to us, divinely ordained means of grace, our public vows of submission to the once crucified and now resurrected Christ, and anticipations of his return and of the consummation of all things. (1 Corinthians 11:26; John 6:53-57; Romans 6:1-10; Colossians 2:12).

THE RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS
We believe in the personal, glorious, and bodily return of our Lord Jesus Christ with his holy angels, when he will exercise his role as final Judge, and his kingdom will be consummated. (1 Thessalonians 4:16; Revelation 1:7; James 5:7-9; Matthew 25:31-46; 2 Timothy 4:1). We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the just and the unjust—the unjust to judgment and eternal conscious punishment in hell, as our Lord himself taught, and the just to eternal blessedness in the presence of him who sits on the throne and of the Lamb, in the new heaven and the new earth, the home of righteousness. (Revelation 20:12; Romans 2:5-7, 14:10, 12; 7:17; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Matthew 25:30, 46; Revelation 14:9-11; Revelation 22:3; 2 Peter 3:11-13). On that day the church will be presented faultless before God by the obedience, suffering and triumph of Christ, all sin purged and its wretched effects forever banished. (Hebrews 2:10; Ephesians 5:25-27; Revelation 19:6-9). God will be all in all and his people will be enthralled by the immediacy of his ineffable holiness, and everything will be to the praise of his glorious grace. (Jude 1:24; Revelation 21:3-4, 23, 22:4).

GENDER, MARRIAGE, & SEXUALITY
We believe that God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as male or female. These two distinct, complementary genders together reflect the image and nature of God (Genesis 1:26-27). Rejection of one’s biological sex is a rejection of the image of God within that person. We believe that the term “marriage” has only one meaning: the uniting of one man and one woman in a single, exclusive union, as delineated in Scripture (Genesis 2:18-25). We believe that God intends sexual intimacy to occur only between a man and a woman who are married to each other (1 Corinthians 6:18; 7:2-5; Hebrews 13:4). We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman (Matthew 5:16; Philippians 2:14-16; 1 Thessalonians 5:22). We also believe that God offers redemption and restoration to all who confess and forsake their sin, seeking His mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ (Acts 3:19-21; Romans 10:9-10; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11). We believe that every person must be afforded compassion, love, kindness, respect, and dignity (Mark 12:28-31; Luke 6:31). Hateful and harassing behavior or attitudes directed toward any individual are to be repudiated and are not in accord with Scripture nor the doctrines of Doxa Church.

DOXA DISTINCTIVES
Along with each of the points of doctrine above, Doxa Church holds 5 additional distinctives that guide us in our doctrine and ministry philosophy. They are stated as follows: 

1. Jesus is the hero of the Bible and the hero of every story. (Gospel Centrality)
2. We embrace God’s sovereignty in saving sinners with enthusiasm. (Reformed Soteriology)
3. We recognize and rest upon the necessity of the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit for all of life.(Spirit-Filled)
4. We are deeply committed to the fundamental, spiritual and complementary equality of male and female and to men as responsible servant-leaders in the home and church.(Complementarian)
5. We embrace a missionary understanding of the local church and its role as the primary means by which God chooses to establish his kingdom on earth. (Missional)