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Northwest Baptist Seminary is committed to
the fundamentals of the Christian faith
within a Baptist perspective. The following
confession of faith forms the basis upon
which the Seminary carries out its mission.
BIBLE
We believe that the Scriptures, consisting
of the sixty-six books of the Old and New
Testament, are verbally and plenarily
inspired by God and inerrant in the original
writings in all matters of which they treat,
scientific and historical as well as moral
and theological.
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GOD
We believe that there is one true God who is
the infinite, eternal, personal spirit. He
is the creator and supreme ruler of the
universe. He is inexpressibly glorious in
holiness, wisdom, power, justice, goodness,
truth, and love and is worthy of all love,
honor, trust, and obedience. God exists in
three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
and these three persons have
the same nature and perfections.
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CHRIST
We believe that Jesus Christ is truly and
eternally God; that He was conceived by the
Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary;
that He became perfect man and remains
forever the theanthropic person; that He
shed His blood for the sins of all men as a
substitutionary sacrifice; that He arose
in the very body, though glorified, in which
He had been crucified; that He ascended into
heaven and is seated at the right hand of
God; and that He now appears in the presence
of God on behalf of His people.
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HOLY
SPIRIT
We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine
person; that He inspired the Scriptures
using human authors; that He convicts the
world of sin, of righteousness, and of
judgment; that He regenerates those who
believe, places them into the Body of Christ
and dwells in them; that as Christ’s
representative on earth He calls out a
people from Jews and Gentiles and makes of
the two “one new man;” and that He calls out
men to God’s service and empowers and
directs them in that service. We believe
that certain gifts of the Holy Spirit, such
as speaking in tongues and miraculous
healings, were intended only for the
apostolic era of the Church; that no
particular gift, such as speaking in
tongues, was the necessary sign of the
baptism of the Spirit.
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CREATION
AND
FALL
We believe that the universe with all that
is in it was created in six literal days by
the Word of God; that man was specifically
created by God; that the first man, Adam,
through disobedience fell from his original
state of innocence, became corrupt in
nature, and came under condemnation
and the sentence of death; and that because
of the unity of the race in Adam, all men
have come under the same consequences of
sin. We further believe that all creation
suffers under the curse of God, and that the
worldwide cataclysmic deluge and the origin
of nations and languages at the tower of
Babel were the result of divine judgment.
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UNIVERSE
We believe that the Lord by the Word of His
power upholds all things that have been
created, together with the laws and
properties with which they have been
endowed, and that God in His sovereign rule
over the universe works out His purposes
through the law of nature and by miraculous
power.
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SALVATION
We believe that through faith alone in the
crucified and risen Christ, man is
justified, regenerated, and given the
position of a son in the family of God; that
there is but one way of salvation, that is,
through faith alone in Christ; and that all
those who have been born of the Spirit of
God will never perish.
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CHURCH
We believe that the church is the company of
all those who have been born of the Spirit
of God and baptized into the body of Christ
by that Spirit; that this church is the body
of Christ, the temple of the Holy Spirit,
and the Bride of Christ; that during this
dispensation all regenerated Jews and
Gentiles are united in the one true church
in Christ; that some day Christ will present
this church to Himself without blemish. We
believe that a local church is an autonomous
body of immersed believers organized
together upon profession of faith, having
two biblical offices, those of pastor and
deacon, and observing two ordinances
(baptism and the Lord’s Supper). The
function of the local church is to encourage
the worship of God, the edification of
believers, and the evangelization of the
lost at home and abroad.
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ANGELS
We believe that God created an innumerable
host of personal spirit beings, commonly
known as angels, to glorify and serve Him.
The ministries of angels include rendering
assistance to believers as God directs.
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SATAN
We believe that the fallen angel known as
Satan was originally perfect in his ways;
that he fell and drew with him a large
number of other angels; that together with
his angels and demons, he is active in
opposition to God and His work; that Satan
and his emissaries were defeated by Christ
on the cross; that they will be bound for a
thousand years at the return of Christ to
the earth; and that ultimately they will be
cast into the lake of fire where they will
be punished eternally.
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FUTURE
THINGS
We believe that the gathering of the church
to Christ in the rapture will be before the
tribulation (Daniel’s seventieth week) and
that the physical return of Christ to the
earth to establish His kingdom over Israel
and the nations will be premillennial; that
all the dead will be resurrected—the
righteous to eternal life at the first
resurrection and following the millennium
the wicked to judgment in the lake of fire
together with Satan and his emissaries where
they will be punished forever.
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SEPARATION
We believe that separation from worldliness
and ecclesiastical apostasy is requisite to
a biblical ministry and that the inclusive
policy is a compromise of the truth of God.
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