What We Believe About God

Remember the example of a body? It is structured in such a way as to be most effective when all the individual parts are functioning as one. A bunch of loose parts quickly fitted together does not a body make.

Covenant Presbyterian Church is a body that is part of a larger body (the Presbyterian Church of America) that is part of the church found around the world, called in the Bible the 'body of Christ.' The body, or framework, that CPC identifies with can be described as Historic, Evangelical, and Reformed.

It is Historic in that we believe we are part of a tradition dating to the early church as it was established by Jesus in the New Testament, whose death and resurrection were proclaimed by the Apostles in fulfillment of the promises of God to Israel in the Old Testament.

It is Evangelical in that Covenant continues to preach and teach the message of Jesus Christ in our own day that is called the Gospel or the Good News about what he has done and is doing.

It is Reformed in that we are connected to that body of believers who, 500 years ago, saw a need to recapture the truth that God is sovereign as Lord, the Scriptures are authoritative as the rule for faith and life, and Jesus is the only hope for the world.

The Reformed Faith can be summed up, as many creeds and confessions are designed to do, as follows:

• The Scriptures alone are the Word of God
• Salvation is by the grace of God alone
• This salvation by grace alone is obtained by faith alone
• Salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone
• To God alone is all the glory

God

On the pages of the Bible we read that God is Creator; God is Redeemer (one who saves or rescues;) it is even said that God is love.  As people have names, so God has a name and the most common expression for God in the Bible is the name Lord.

In Deuteronomy 6:4-5 the nation of Israel was told, "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength."

The Bible shows that God is a person, someone with whom human beings can have a relationship. This is important to remember when we examine the person of Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus

Remember Deuteronomy 6:4-5? That can be called the confession of faith of the Old Testament. The confession of faith of the New Testament is "Jesus is Lord."

Paul writes in Romans 10:9, "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Christian believers from the past paid homage and worshiped Jesus and we do the same today. It is Jesus who fully reveals God to us.

The death and resurrection of of the Lord Jesus Christ is central to the message of the New Testament and is central to what we believe at Covenant. We believe Jesus was crucified, died, and rose from the dead, according to the Scriptures, conquering death for all who trust in him alone. We can speak the same words as Paul in Galatians 2:20: "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

Holy Spirit

There is an ancient church creed called the Nicene Creed. There the words concerning the Holy Spirit state, "We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified." Jesus promised his followers that when he returned to his Father he would not leave them alone. God gave the gift of the Holy Spirit.

It is the Holy Spirit who dwells with his people the church, restoring the true image of God by making us more like Jesus. God is with us! The same Spirit that hovered caringly over the creation at the beginning of the world, is the same One that draws us to Christ, cares for us, and is everpresent with us.