I. The Scriptures: We affirm the 66 books of the Bible as the one and true, and the only, revelation of God, inspired in each letter, word and sentence by the Holy Spirit.
II. The Nature of God: God is the Creator of all that is and shall be. He is King, LORD, Sovereign Ruler of all the universe. The Godhead is One Being, and Three Persons, Father, Son and Spirit. We affirm the Nicene, Chalcedonian councils, and the other Evangelical confessions that agree with these councils.
III. The Natures of the Son: The Son was never created, always generated, and eternal. He is the Logos of God, was with God, and is, in fact, God. Jesus is YHWH (”LORD”) is our confession. As regards His Humanity, we affirm that He was very Man in every respect. He was born of the holy Virgin, Mary. He died, was buried, and was raised on the third day by the power of God.
IV. The Work of the Son: God, the Father, sent His Son into the world in order to redeem it. The work of Christ is viewed in each thing He did in accordance with the fulfillment of Scripture: His birth, life, miracles, trial, execution, burial, resurrection, ascension, session at the right hand of the Father, and coming again according to the Spirit. In these, Christ, by the power of the outpoured Holy Spirit, accomplished and completely satisfied all the prophecies of the Scriptures, thus accomplishing the redemption of Israel and the Nations.
V. Redemption: We affirm realized soteriology. The Body of Christ is the One New Man, made from the New Covenant of Christ, and was raised from the dead. It is through the Body of Christ that peace is proclaimed, the Gospel is preached, and the Nations converted. The Body of Christ is justified by righteousness, sanctified through holiness, and glorified by unity with the Son. The Son has made His Body one with the Father by the Holy Spirit. God is all in all.
VI. Ethics: The Law of God written on the hearts of believers. Our ethics are rooted in the Scriptures and only the Scriptures as God’s revealed plan for all mankind.
VII. Eschatology: Preterism. We affirm with the Scriptures that the Son completely and entirely fulfilled the Law of Moses and the Prophets of the covenant made with Israel. We affirm that the Greek Scriptures of the Apostles record the fulfillment in their own generation as the Spirit inspired them. We affirm that John’s holy vision of God is fulfilled. We proclaim that we live in the Age of Redemption, Grace, and Righteousness.
[This is a working outline to a systematic theology I have been working on. In it, I believe that we are to make room for each other; those preterists that affirm an old earth, or local flood; those who use an evidentialist approach to Scriptures; those who affirm an immortal body to be received immediately upon the physical demise of the believer's body; those who affirm a corporate view of the resurrection of the body; those who affirm a rationalist (non-empirical) philosophy; those who affirm a young earth creationists view. These all affirm, and work within a larger, agreed upon framework. We should extend the hand to each other].
http://thereignofchrist.com/towards-a-preterist-worldview
{ 2 comments }
Amen! Good job Sam. Could you post your article on justification as well?
Thanks,
Mike S.
Well written, good points. Concise presentation. (All of the characteristics my articles seem to lack)…
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