Joshua's Way: Detailed Statement of Faith
What we believe
B. Our God
There is but one God, the Creator, Sustainer, and Preserver of all things, infinite in being and perfection. He is sovereign over all creatures, actions, and things. God exists eternally in three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who are equal in power and glory.
(1) God the Father
The Father sent forth His Son to redeem those who, in repentance and faith, turn to the Lord Jesus Christ as their only way of salvation.
(2) God the Son
The Son became incarnate without human father, being conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. In the Son, who is the Lord Jesus Christ, divine and human natures were inseparably united in one person, both natures being whole, perfect, and distinct. He was and is fully God and fully man. To effect salvation, He lived a sinless life, and died on the cross as the sinner's substitute, shedding His blood for the forgiveness of sins. On the third day, He physically and bodily rose from the dead. He ascended to the right hand of the Father, where He performs the ministry of intercession. He shall come again, personally and visibly, to complete His saving work, to judge the living and the dead, and to consummate the eternal plan of God.
(3) God the Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Triune God who indwells every person who has been saved by God's grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He regenerates us and enables us to turn to Christ in repentance and faith. He applies to us the work of Christ and helps us to grow in Christ.
C. Our sin and our salvation
God created Adam and Eve in His own image. By disobedience, they fell from their sinless state through the temptation by Satan. This fall plunged humanity into a state of sin, spiritual death, separation from God, and brought upon the entire race the sentence of eternal death. From this condition we can be saved only by the grace of God, through faith and repentance, on the basis of the work of Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit. By justification and adoption we are given a right standing before God; by regeneration, sanctification, and glorification we are renewed.
D. Our mission as the body of Christ
The body of Christ, in its broadest sense, is the world-wide community of true Christian believers who are joined together with Christ as their Head. As the body of Christ, we are to serve God with a passion to see Him glorified and enjoyed by all people. Guided by God’s Word and Spirit, we are to delight in and worship the Triune God, diligently seek the expansion of His reign and will on earth, persuasively proclaim and teach the whole counsel of God as set forth in the Scriptures, consistently display God’s love to believers and nonbelievers, and compassionately aid the poor, sick, disadvantaged, and others in need. As citizens of heaven, we are to be involved in the world, but not of the world, living holy lives, separated from sin, obedient to God’s Word, displaying the fruit of the Spirit, and using individual gifts and abilities to serve God and others.
E. Our destiny
Those who die in Christ shall enter into full possession of eternal life and eternal bliss in the presence of God, while those who die without Christ shall be condemned to eternal separation from God and eternal punishment. After Christ’s return, the bodies of believers and unbelievers will be raised, the bodies of believers to eternal life and the bodies of unbelievers to eternal judgment.