First Baptist Church’s theological beliefs are based on Holy Scripture and are consistent with doctrinal beliefs affirmed by historic Christian creeds such as the Apostles’ Creed, Nicene Creed, Chalcedonian Creed, and Athanasian Creed and Baptist confessions of faith such as The Baptist Faith and Message 1925, 1963, and 2000. Regarding our theological beliefs: In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity.

1. God. There is one and only one true and living God. God is personal and relational. God is the Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer, and Ruler of the universe. God is holy, just, and merciful. God is infinite in His holiness and other attributes. God is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and present everywhere. God’s perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future. God reveals Himself to humanity in three persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ), and God the Holy Spirit. The three persons of the Godhead are coequal and coeternal, and they are one God without division of nature, essence, or being (Genesis 1:1; 2:7; Isaiah 12:6; Matthew 28:19; 1 Corinthians 8:5-6; Colossians 1:15-20).

2. God the Father. God as Father reigns with providential care over the universe, all living creatures, humanity, and the flow of human history according to the purposes of His grace. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, all wise, and always present everywhere. God is Father to those who become His children through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in His attitude toward all of humanity as he desires to forgive our sins and bring us into relationship with Him (Genesis 1:1; 2:7; Isaiah 66:1-2; Matthew 6:9-15; 7:11; 23:9; 28:19; Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 11:6; 12:9).

3. Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the one and only eternal Son of God, the second person of the triune God. Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He had a human mother, making Him fully human and God as His Father, making Him fully God. He lived a perfect, sinless life. Jesus died on the cross as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all people. He was raised from the dead three days later to demonstrate His power over sin, death, and Satan. Forty days later, he ascended to God’s right hand in heaven where he rules the universe. Jesus will return again one day to bring the end of time as we know it, judge the world, and reign over the heavens and the earth as the King of kings and Lord of lords. Jesus is the only way to God, heaven, and eternal life, and He is the only Mediator between God and humanity (Matthew 1:18-23; 24:26-35; 28:1-6; John 1:1-18; 14:6; Acts 1:9; Colossians 1:15-20; 1 Timothy 2:5).

4. The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, the third person of the triune God. He is a person, not an impersonal force. He works in the world to convict people of their sin, make them aware of their need for salvation, and give them faith to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. He lives in the heart of every Christian from the moment of salvation, and He works to transform us into the image of Christ. He gives Christians power for living, understanding of spiritual truth, and guidance into God’s will. He gives every Christian spiritual gifts to use in the ministry of the church to serve others, and then he gives us the spiritual power to serve Him with our spiritual gifts (John 14:16-17, 26; 15:26; 16:7-14; Acts 1:8; 2:1-4; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:7-16).

5. The Bible. The Bible is God’s written word to us. It was written by human authors under the inspiration – or supernatural guidance – of the Holy Spirit. As the supreme source of truth, God’s word is the basis for Christian belief and living. It reveals God’s plan of eternal salvation through Jesus and His will for our daily lives. Because the Bible is inspired by God, it is truth without mixture of error. The Bible is unique among all religious books in the world as it is the only inspired, infallible word of God (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21).

6. Humanity. All people are created in the image of God as the supreme act of God’s creation. God created us to live in relationship fellowship with Him and to do His will. People are capable of tremendous good, but all of us are marred with an inward propensity to stray from God and disobey Him which the Bible calls sin. Our sin separates us from God and causes us many problems in life. We need God’s grace and forgiveness to bring us into a right relationship with Him through Jesus Christ (Genesis 1:26-27; Romans 3:23; Ephesians 2:8-10). 

7. Salvation. Because of our sinful natures, all people are separated from God until we receive Christ’s forgiveness, and we place our faith in Him. Salvation – forgiveness and eternal life – is God’s free gift to us, but we must accept it in order to possess it. We can’t earn our salvation by human effort, religious activities, or a good life. We must confess our sins to Jesus and place our faith in Him as the Lord of our lives. Eternal life begins the moment we receive Jesus into our lives by faith (Romans 3:23; 5:8; 6:23; 10:9-10; Ephesians 2:8-10).

8. Eternal Security. Because God gives us eternal life through a relationship to Jesus Christ, true believers are secure in our salvation for eternity. If we have been genuinely saved, we cannot lose our salvation. Our salvation is maintained by the grace and power of God, not by our own self-effort (John 10:28-29; Ephesians 1:13-14; Colossians 3:3; 2 Timothy 1:12; Hebrews 7:25, 10:10,14; 1 Peter 1:3-5).

9. Christians. Christians are people who have come to know Jesus personally by confessing their sins to Him and receiving Him into their lives by faith. Every Christian serves as Jesus Christ’s representative in the world. We are to live as Christ’s followers, share Christ’s plan of salvation with others, and be active members of a church where we worship God, grow in discipleship, build relationships with other Christians, and serve our church and community by using the spiritual gifts which the Holy Spirit has given to us (Romans 10:9-10; 12:3-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; Ephesians 4:11-13; 1 Peter 4:9-11).

10. The Church. The church is not a building or organization.The church is the family of Christian believers who have committed their lives to Jesus and followed Him in believer’s baptism. The purpose of the church is to glorify Jesus Christ by worshiping Him, proclaiming Jesus as Lord and Savior to lost people, equipping people for the Christian life, serving God in ministry, and building Christian relationships with each other. All members are “ministers” that meet the needs of other members. Pastors are “equippers” who equip God’s people to do ministry with them. In other words, pastors are not supposed to do all the ministry alone. That’s not God’s plan. Pastors are leaders of ministry teams of church members who do ministry together with their pastors (Matthew 16:18-19; Ephesians 4:7-16). 

11. Eternity, Heaven, and Hell. God created us to be in relationship with Him now and throughout eternity. We have the choice of receiving Jesus as our Lord and living with Him throughout eternity in heaven or rejecting Jesus as our Lord and spending eternity separated from God by sin. Heaven and hell are real places of eternal existence. Eternal separation from God is hell. Eternal life with God is heaven (Matthew 25:31-46; Revelation 20:10-22:5).

12. The Return of Christ. The God who created the world will one day bring it to an end. God is moving history to its completion according to His plan. One day Jesus will return publicly and universally for all the world to see and bring the end of time as we know it. At His return, Jesus will judge everyone who has ever lived and assign them to heaven or hell for all eternity. Jesus will reign over the heavens and the earth as the King of kings and Lord of lords for all eternity. Christians will spend all eternity in heaven in meaningful activities with our Lord (Matthew 24:1-25:46; Mark 13:1-37; Luke 21:5-36). 

13. Baptism. Christian baptism is the immersion of a follower of Christ totally under water in the name of God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Spirit. Baptism is an act of obedience that symbolizes our faith as a Christ follower in the crucified, buried, and risen Jesus. In addition, believer’s baptism by immersion images our death to sin, the burial of our old life prior to following Christ, and the resurrection to a newness of life in relationship with Jesus Christ. Baptism is also a testimony to our in faith Jesus and in the final resurrection of the dead. It is a prerequisite to church membership (Matthew 28:19; Acts 8:26-40; Romans 6:3-4). 

We accept the baptism of Christians who have been immersed as believers following their commitment to Jesus as Lord. We are careful to instruct young children when they desire baptism that they must repent of their sins and place their faith in Jesus before their baptism. 

14. The Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Supper – also known as Holy Communion and the Eucharist – is a symbolic act of obedience whereby Christians, through the eating of the bread and drinking of the cup, celebrate the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and anticipate his second coming. As we partake of the Lord’s Supper, Jesus commands us to remember his body and blood given as a sacrifice for our sins. The Lord calls us to examine our lives before God and confess our sin and broken relationships before we take of the bread and the cup that represents the body and blood of Jesus (Matthew 26:20-30; Luke 22:113-23; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26).

15. Disciple-Making. After his resurrection from the dead, the Lord Jesus Christ gave the Great Commission to make disciples of all people everywhere in the world. Disciple-making is the mission of all churches and the responsibility of every follower of Jesus. Every Christian should build relationships with people who need Jesus in order to find Holy Spirit-led opportunities to lead them to a faith relationship with Jesus and his church.Christians serve this call as “salt” and “light” in our relationships and around the world (Matthew 5:13-16; 28:19-20; Acts 1:8; 17:17).