What we Believe
The short version of what we believe here at Trinity-St. James are the three historic creeds of the Christian Church: the Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed. We confess all the doctrines contained in these creeds to be true.
The importance of sound doctrine
The centrality of Christ
The inerrancy of Scripture
Law and Gospel One way of looking at Scripture is to divide it into two categories, Law and Gospel. If what you are reading is telling you to do something, it is Law; if it is telling you something God did, is doing, or will do for you, it is Gospel. The Law The Law has three purposes:
The Gospel is the best news that anyone could ever hear. The Gospel gives life, sets free, forgives and empowers. The Gospel is simply this: that God sent Jesus to bear our sin and be our Savior, that forgiveness of sins and eternal life are free gifts of God—not things to be earned through a process of good works or intellectual decision—and that we have been accepted by God on account of Christ and have eternal life. Salvation
The Sacraments We believe that a “Sacrament” is when God attaches the promise of forgiveness of sins to a physical element. We believe that, according to Scripture, God has done this two times. Those two times are Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Baptism It’s hard to find another practice in the Christian church that has created more division than Baptism. It seems like every denomination, or even every Christian congregation, has a different understanding of Baptism. So here’s ours.
The Lord’s Supper
The Church
The Parousia (The Last Day)
Final Thoughts There’s a lot more to the Christian faith than what’s written here. We didn’t talk about things like hell, the role of clergy, the structure of ministry at Zion, our stance on different social and political issues, the role of women in the church, and our take on the beliefs and practices of other denominations or world religions (just to name a few). What’s written here are the basics of the faith we confess, a faith that has its beginning and end in Jesus Christ and that trusts in Him, and Him alone, for forgiveness, life, and salvation. |