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What We Believe.
What We Believe.
A Confessional Church
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Providence Reformed Baptist Church is a confessional church. This means that we adhere to an historic, written confession as a faithful, accurate summary of biblical teaching. Our confession, the London Baptist Confession of 1689, is considered one of the faithful, orthodox confessions of the Protestant Reformed Tradition.
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Our church affirms the historic creeds of orthodox Christianity such as the Apostles Creed and the great historic councils which affirmed the Trinity, the deity of Christ, substitutionary atonement, and the other doctrines of historic Christianity.
An Evangelical Church
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Our theology is evangelical in that it affirms the historic Protestant tenants such as Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone) and Sola Fide (Faith Alone). Sola Scriptura declares that the Bible is the sole inspired, inerrant, infallible authority which directs the faith and practices of believers. Sola Fide declares that the sole ground of our justification before God is the gift of saving faith in which the merits of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, the perfect God-man, are imputed to the sinful believer. Though good works will absolutely be the fruit of every believer, these works are not the grounds of our justification.
A Reformed Church
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Our theology is Reformed in that it affirms the distinct doctrines rediscovered during the Protestant Reformation by men such as Martin Luther, John Calvin, and John Knox - particularly affirming the sovereignty of God and the centrality of God in all of life. The structure of this theology is the biblical Covenant of Grace. These doctrines included a strong Biblical emphasis on what is often referred to as the “Regulative Principle of Worship” in which the local church embraces what God calls us to do in a service of worship - joyfully emphasizing faithful, exegetical preaching, the public reading of Scripture, heartfelt prayer, theologically sound songs, hymns and spiritual songs, and the Lord’s Supper. Important tenants rediscovered during the Reformation were known as the “Five Solas”.
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The Solas of the Protestant Reformation
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Sola Scriptura - The Bible is the sole written divine revelation and it is the sole source of authority and instruction for humanity on all matters of life and godliness.
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Sola Fide - Justification is by faith alone in the imputed righteousness of the sinless Savior, Jesus Christ
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Solus Christus - Jesus Christ is the only mediator through whom we are redeemed and receive all of the benefits of our redemption
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Sola Gratia - Our salvation rests completely upon the grace of God given to us, not based on anything we have done
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Soli Deo Gloria - To God alone belongs the glory for all things, including our salvation
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Key points of issue in theology are summarized by the acrostic TULIP; the Five Points of Calvinism:
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T - total depravity - humanity was so corrupted by the fall that no individual would ever, of his own accord, be inclined to God except for His sovereign work of regeneration.
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U - unconditional election - From all eternity God chose to save a people to Himself, not based on anything they would ever do, but solely based on His good will.
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L - limited atonement - the merit purchased by Christ through His perfect life, crucifixion, and resurrection was unlimited and sufficient to save the entire world; by God’s design the effectiveness of Christ’s substitutionary atonement is applied only to the elect. All for whom Christ died will be saved.
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I - irresistible grace - when God calls a person to Himself savingly, He persuades the individual to freely come to Christ in a monergistic work of the Holy Spirit
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P - perseverance of the saints - those called and given new life in Christ cannot completely fall away from Christ but will in the end be saved
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