A biblically sound, historically rooted and culturally engaged gospel.
A biblically sound, historically rooted and culturally engaged gospel.
‘Gospel’ literally means ‘good news.’ And the good news we’re talking about here is the good news of Jesus Christ. But good news doesn’t make sense unless you know the bad news first. So here’s the short version of the story. When God created the world, he said it was good, and it was. But then sin entered the picture through man’s willful choice against God. And sin broke everything. It broke our relationship with God, with ourselves, with others and broke society as a whole. Sin is the reason for all of the pain and hurt in the world. But sin isn’t just something outside of us, it’s something in us. We are all sinners. And what this sin deserves from God is punishment.
Yet throughout human history, God has been at work to do what we could not, bringing about the restoration of his people and all of creation. The story runs across the Old and New Testaments, and finds its focal point in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ, God came among us and put on flesh, taking up our weaknesses and paying the penalty for sin as he died on the cross, sealing the final victory over death for his people through his resurrection. The benefits of Christ’s work are freely offered to all, and are obtained through faith alone.
Left on our own, it’s impossible to know God rightly. Yet God delights to reveal himself. The Old and New Testaments are the reliable record of that revelation, and both speak the same story of God’s gracious gospel that has come to us most fully in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Because the Bible is breathed out by God, it is authoritative, perfect in its original manuscripts and completely true. It is the standard by which all descriptions of God must be judged, and is our trustworthy guide for faith and life. We preach the gospel by preaching the Scriptures, and we are faithful to God and his gospel by being faithful to the Scriptures.
We are not the first people to hear and believe the gospel. The family of God stretches across geographies and cultures, and also stretches across time. People have trusted in Christ alone for their salvation, looking to him as King and Redeemer, for centuries. For these reasons, our faith maintains a unity in essentials across the ages. We embrace the Apostles’ and Nicene creeds, and all of our pastors and elders subscribe to the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms as faithful representations of the system of doctrine taught in the Scriptures. Our denominational affiliation with the Presbyterian Church in America is another expression of this same conviction.
That Jesus came to save sinners and will return to redeem the whole of creation matters just as much today as it did when Jesus himself walked the earth and proclaimed the coming of his kingdom 2000 years ago. The adventure of proclaiming the gospel in our current moment is not about discovering new truth, but in finding creative ways to faithfully declare truth that is timeless. This requires us to understand, celebrate and critique our own culture as we seek to apply God’s Word.
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty. From there he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made; who for us* men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary and was made man; and was crucified also for us* under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried. And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures and ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father. And He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end. And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And I believe in one holy Christian and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins, and I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.
*Us men: means all people. Christian: the ancient text reads “catholic,” meaning the whole Church as it confesses the wholeness of Christian doctrine.
