Eagle River Grace Statement of Faith

The Statement of Faith which this church shall embrace, preach, and defend is specifically set forth as follows:

1. THE BIBLE: The Word of God, the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, verbally inspired in all parts, and therefore wholly without error as originally given of God (2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21).

2. THE ONE TRUE GOD: existing eternally as three persons – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:22, Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14).

3. THE LORD JESUS CHRIST: His pre-existence and deity (John 1:1-3), incarnation by virgin birth (John 1:14; Matt. 1:18-23), sinless life (Heb 4:15), substitutional death (2 Cor. 5:21), bodily resurrection (Luke 24:36-43), ascension into heaven and present ministry (Heb 4:14-16), and coming again (Acts 1:11).

4. THE HOLY SPIRIT: His personality (John 16:7-15); and deity (Acts 5:3-4), ; and his work in each believer: baptism and indwelling at the moment of regeneration (1 Cor. 12:13; Rom. 8:9); and filling (Eph. 5:18), to empower for Christian life and service (Eph. 3:16; Acts 1:8; Gal. 5:22-23).

5. MAN: his direct creation in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-28), his subsequent fall into sin resulting in spiritual death (Gen. 3:1-24; Rom. 5:12), and the necessity of the new birth for his salvation. (John 3:3-5).

6. SALVATION: a complete and eternal salvation by God’s grace alone, received as the gift of God though personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work (Eph. 2:8-9; Titus 3:5-7; 1 Peter 1:18-19).

7. THE CHURCH: one true church, the body and bride of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23; 5:25-32), composed of all true believers of the present age (1 Cor. 12:12-13); and the organization of its members in local churches for worship, for edification of believers, and for world-wide gospel witness, each local church being autonomous but cooperating in the fellowship and work. (Eph. 4:11-16)

8. CHRISTIAN LIFE: A life of righteousness, good works, and separation unto God from the evil ways of the world (Rom. 12:1-2), manifested by speaking the truth (James 5:12), maintaining the sanctity of the home (Eph. 5:22-6:4), settling differences between Christians in accordance with the work of God (1 Cor. 6:1-8), not engaging in carnal strife but showing a Christ-like attitude toward all men (Rom. 12:17-21), exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23), and maintaining a life of prayer (Eph. 6:18, Phil. 4:6), including the privilege, when sick, of calling for the elders of the church to pray and to anoint with oil in the name of the Lord (James 5:13-18).

9. ORDINANCES: The Christian should observe the ordinances of our Lord Jesus Christ which are (1) the baptism of believers¹ (Matt. 28:19, Acts 2:38, Romans 6:3-4), and (2) the communion service² (Matt. 26:26-28, John 13:1-17, 1 Cor. 11:20-34, Jude 12).

10. SATAN: his existence and personality as the great adversary of God and His people (Rev. 12:1-10), his judgment (John 12:31), and final doom (Rev. 20:10).

11. SECOND COMING: the personal, visible, and imminent return of our Lord Jesus Christ to remove His church from the earth (1 Thes. 4:16-17) before the final tribulation (1 Thes. 1:10; Matt. 24:4-22; Rev. 3:10, 7:13-17), and afterward to descend with the church to establish His millennial kingdom on the earth (Rev. 19:11-20:6). 

12. FUTURE LIFE: the conscious existence of the dead (Phil. 1:21-23; Luke 16:19-31), the resurrection of the body (John 5:28-29), the judgment and reward of believers (Rom. 14:10-12, 2 Cor. 5:10), the judgment and condemnation of unbelievers (Rev. 20:11-15), the eternal life of the saved (John 3:16), and the eternal punishment of the lost (Matt. 25:46; Rev. 20:15).

13. GENDER:  God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as male or female. These two distinct, complementary genders together reflect the image and nature of God. (Gen. 1:26-27.) Rejection of one’s biological sex as assigned by God at conception (Ps. 139:13) is a rejection of the image of God within that person (Romans 1:24-27).

14. MARRIAGE:  the term “marriage” has only one Biblical meaning: the uniting of one biological man and one biological woman in a single, exclusive union, as delineated in Scripture. (Gen. 2:18-25.)  Because God has ordained marriage and defined it as the covenant relationship between a biological man, a biological woman, and Almighty God, ERG will only acknowledge marriages between a biological man and a biological woman (Matt. 19:4-6).

15. SEXUALITY:  God intends sexual intimacy to occur only between a biological man and a biological woman who are married to each other (1 Cor. 6:18; 7:2-5; Heb. 13:4).  All other sexual activity (including, but not limited to, adultery, fornication, homosexual or bisexual behavior, bestiality, incest, and use of pornography) is immoral, sinful, and offensive to God. (Matt. 15:18-20; 1 Cor. 6:9-10.)  At the same time, every person must be afforded biblical: compassion; love; kindness; respect; and dignity (Mark 12:28-31; Luke 6:31).