What Do We Believe?

Oak Park Baptist Church is a cooperating church of the Southern Baptist Convention. As such, we affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message which explains in detail what we believe. You can link directly to that document at the bottom of this section. Here we simply want to lay out some, not all, of the important things we believe.

1. The Scriptures

We believe that the Holy Scriptures, consisting of both the Old and the New Testaments, are the perfect, inspired, and sufficient Word of God. They stand as the written revelation of Himself and His purposes to mankind. The Bible is inerrant, infallible, and fully authoritative Word of God and stands alone as the sufficient creed for all believers in Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21; Psalm 19:7; Matthew 5:17-18)

We encourage every member to become a student of the Bible.

2. God

There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. God is all powerful and all knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future, including the future decisions of His free creatures. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.

3. Man

We believe that all men and women who have ever lived and will ever live have been created in the image of God. From the moment of conception we bear the image of our Creator. Both men and women are created in unique ways, being of identical value in the eyes of God but having unique roles to play in creation. Because of the sin of Adam and Eve sin has entered the world and marred the human race. Each person inherits a sinful nature and stands without excuse before a holy God. Our only hope is Christ.

4. Sin

Sin is any failure to conform to the law of God. We sin in our actions, words, and our thoughts. Sin entered the world in Genesis 3 as the first human beings, Adam and Eve failed to obey God. The effects of sin entering the world are felt throughout every generation, whereby, every person is born guilty before God and has a corruption nature.

5. Salvation

We believe that salvation is entirely the work of God’s grace toward men. Salvation is granted to the one who places his faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. There is nothing we can do to earn salvation; it is purely by God’s grace. Through our faith in Christ we are justified before a holy God, at peace with Him instead of war, and have obtained access into His presence.

This salvation that we all need because of our sinful nature (see section III and IV) comes only through the person and work of Jesus Christ our Lord.

6. The Church

A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. In such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord. Its scriptural officers are pastors and deacons. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.

The New Testament speaks also of the church as the Body of Christ which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages, believers from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.

Ephesians 1:22-23; 2:19-22; 3:8-11,21; 5:22-32; Philippians 1:1; Colossians 1:18; 1 Timothy 2:9-14; 3:1-15; 4:14; Hebrews 11:39-40

5. Eschatology

We believe that one day, like a thief in the night, Jesus Christ will descend from His throne in heaven and restore all things. He will come and judge those who have not placed their faith in Him by casting them into a real place called hell. Those who have come to Jesus in faith will enter into His kingdom which shall never pass away. We long for that day and until then seek to proclaim the gospel to people from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.

You can read the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 document here: http://www.sbc.net/bfm/bfm2000.asp