what we believe
At Covenant Presbyterian we embrace the Westminster Standards (The Westminster Confession of Faith, The Larger Catechism and The Shorter Catechism) as our Confession of Faith. The following Statement of Faith summarizes our central beliefs.
We believe the Bible is the written Word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit and without error in the original manuscripts. The Bible is the revelation of God’s truth and is infallible and authoritative in all matters of faith and practice.
We believe in the Holy Trinity. There is one God, who exists eternally in three persons: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each member of the Trinity is the same in substance and equal in power and glory. God created all things out of nothing and continues to uphold all things by His sovereign will.
We believe that by the one man, Adam, sin entered the world, and thereby resulted in mankind being totally depraved by nature and unable to save himself from God’s wrath. All men are in need of salvation through the personal Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
We believe that salvation is by God alone as He sovereignly chooses those He will save. We believe His choice is based on His will and by His grace, not on any human individual merit, or foreseen faith.
We believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, and is fully divine. At the incarnation He took a real human nature so that from the incarnation on He is fully God and fully man. Jesus was born of a true virgin, lived a sinless life, died as a substitute for the sins of His people, rose again bodily from the grave on the third day, and ascended into heaven.
We believe salvation is a gift of God's free grace, received through faith in Christ's finished work on the cross where He paid for man's sin. Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death for atonement of sin and His perfect life (righteousness), which is imputed to the justified, are the sole bases for justification and that God declares sinners justified through the gift of faith. Sinners are saved on the merits of Christ alone.
We believe that God is gracious and faithful to His people not simply as individuals but as families in successive generations according to His Covenant promises.
We believe that the Holy Spirit indwells God’s people and gives them the strength and wisdom to trust Christ and follow Him.
We believe Jesus Christ is Lord over individual believer's lives and that all of life is to be lived for the glory of God.
We believe that Jesus will return, bodily and visibly, to judge all mankind and to receive His people to Himself.
We believe that all aspects of our lives are to be lived to the glory of God under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
We believe that marriage is between one man and one woman.