We Believe:

1. All Scripture is the inspired, written word of God and therefore infallible and inerrant (2Timothy 3:16-17, 2 Peter 1:21, Matthew 5:18, 1 Corinthians 2:13).

2. There is one living and true God who exists in three Persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19, 2 Corinthians 13:14). The Father is God (1 Corinthians 8:6); the Son is God (Isaiah 9:6; John 1:1, 14; Hebrews 1:8-10); and the Holy Spirit is God (Acts 5:3-4)

3. The Lord Jesus Christ was born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 1:26-38).

4. Christ rose bodily from the dead and ascended unto God the Father (Matthew 28, Mark 16, 1 Corinthians 15, Romans 1:4).

5. Christ will return: First, for the “dead in Christ” who will be resurrected bodily, and for those who are alive at His coming. This resurrection not only precedes His return to earth to reign 1000, years but also precedes the Tribulation (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, 5:9).

6. All men inherit a depraved nature and are lost sinners in need of salvation (Romans 3:9-19, Ephesians 2:1-3).

7. God has provided salvation through offering His Son on the cross of Calvary, and allowing His BLOOD to be shed to atone for our sins (Romans 3:25, Hebrew 9:22).

8. We are saved and justified when we recognize ourselves as sinners, and put our trust in Christ as the Son of God and His finished work on the cross of Calvary. Salvation is by grace through faith plus nothing (Romans 3:24, 4:5; Ephesians 2:8-9).

9. Once saved, we cannot be lost; we are eternally secure in Christ (John 3:16, 10:27-29).

10. The baptism of the Holy Spirit takes place at the time of conversion and is the act of placing the believer into the body of Christ, but is not a second work of grace (1 Corinthians 12:13, Galatians 3:27). It is different than the filing of the Holy Spirit, which is an ongoing process that may occur at any time in the believer’s life (Ephesians 5:18).

11. (a) We should regularly participate at the Lord’s table (1 Corinthians 11:23-32)

(b) All believers should be baptized by immersion as an act of obedience, but not for securing their salvation (Acts 2:41, 19:4-5).

12. The Bible teaches the eternal blessedness of the saved (John 4:14, 5:24; Ephesians 2:7). It also teaches the eternal punishment of the lost (John 5:28-29; Revelation 20:10, Matthew 25:46).

13. The grace of God teaches us to to “Live soberly, righteously, and godly” (Titus 2:11-13).

(a) Titus 2:13 – “Looking for that blessed hope” of His returning for us.

(b) Colossians 3:2-3, 1 John 2:15-17 – Setting our “affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”

(c) 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 – Living a life of separation from the world.

From the Immanuel Baptist Church Constitution and By Laws, Revised March 2006.

For additional information about doctrinal distinctive, see the Baptist Faith and Message, the official doctrinal statement of the Southern Baptist Convention.