What We Believe About God

Covenant Presbyterian Church stands firmly in the tradition of historic, orthodox, and Reformed Christianity.

Historic in that we believe we are part of a tradition dating to the early Apostolic church of Jesus and Paul which inherited the promises of God to Israel.

Orthodox in that we have sought to stay true to “right belief” in an age that too easily and quickly compromises and assimilates for the sake of peace and growth.

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, the Scriptures are authoritative, and Jesus is the only hope for the world.

This Reformation thought was summed up in five solas:

sola Scriptura (the Scriptures alone are the Word of God);
sola gratia (salvation is by the grace of God alone);
sola fide (this salvation by grace alone is obtained by faith alone);
solo Christo (salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone);
soli Deo Gloria (to God alone is all the glory).

God

In the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament we see that God is Love, God is Light, God is supremely holy. We agree with Dr. R.C. Sproul who has said, “Though God remains transcendent and our human language cannot exhaustively comprehend His love, nevertheless we can learn meaningful truth about His love from His revelation to us” (The Love of God, p. 19). In fact, when we think about summing up what the Scriptures say about God, we cannot say it better than the Westminster Confession of faith which says, “God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth."

Jesus

We believe Jesus is the second person of the triune God, perfect in deity and humanity, fulfilling in his life the righteous requirement of God’s Law (active obedience); accepting in his death the punishment due to each of us for sin (passive obedience). We agree with James Montgomery Boice who wrote, “Jesus has done the necessary work of salvation utterly and completely, so that no merit on the part of man, no merit of the saints, no works of ours performed either here or later in purgatory can add to his completed work” (Whatever Happened to the Gospel of Grace? , p. 88). We believe the Cross of Christ is central to historic, orthodox and Reformed Christianity. We believe Jesus was crucified, died, and according to the Scriptures rose from the dead, conquering death for all who trust in him alone. With Boice we believe the Cross accomplishes “substitution, sacrifice, satisfaction, atonement, expiation, propitiation, purchase, redemption, ransom, mediation, reconciliation, and so on” (p. 90).We believe he ascended to heaven and there intercedes for God’s children, promising to return to reestablish his kingdom on earth.

Holy Spirit

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life who proceeds from the Father and the Son and inhabits his people the church, sanctifying and nurturing us, preparing the church for the Bridegroom. We agree with Sinclair Ferguson who has written, “The Spirit who hovered over the waters on the first day of creation also hovered over the virgin Mary in the conception of the head of the new creation, Jesus. Now, in the present day (which also constitutes “the last days”), the same Spirit hovers over men and women to bring new birth to them “from above” (The Holy Spirit, p. 241).