Grace Reformed Church In Rapid City

     We believe the best summary of the Christian faith is found in the historic confessions of the Reformation: the Heidelberg Catechism (1563), the Belgic Confession (1561), and the Canons of Dort (1618). The following is a brief summary of what is contained in these confessions.

 

THE BIBLE

 

We believe that the Bible is God’s Word – God’s message to mankind. “We confess that this Word of God was not sent nor delivered by the will of man, but that men spoke from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit, as the apostle Peter says; and that afterwards God, from a special care which He has for us and our salvation, commanded His servants, the prophets and apostles, to commit His revealed word to writing; and He himself wrote with His own finger the two tables of the law. Therefore we call such writings holy and divine Scriptures” (Belgic Confession, article 3).

 

“We believe that those Holy Scriptures fully contain the will of God, and that whatsoever man ought to believe unto salvation is sufficiently taught therein. For since the whole manner of worship which God requires of us is written in them at large, it is unlawful for any one, though an apostle, to teach otherwise than we are now taught in the Holy Scriptures: nay, though it were an angel from heaven, as the apostle Paul says. For since it is forbidden to add unto or take away anything from the word of God, it does thereby evidently appear that the doctrine thereof is most perfect and complete in all respects” (BC, article 7).

 

GOD

 

“We all believe with the heart and confess with the mouth that there is one only simple and spiritual Being, which we call God; and that He is eternal, incomprehensible, invisible, immutable, infinite, almighty, perfectly wise, just, good, and the overflowing fountain of all good” (BC, article 1).

 

In God’s one single essence are three distinct persons, namely, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. “The Father is called our Creator, by His power; the Son is our Savior and Redeemer, by His blood; the Holy Spirit is our Sanctifier, by dwelling in our hearts” (BC, article 9).

 

It is clear “that the Father is not the Son, nor the Son the Father, and likewise the Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son. Nevertheless, these persons thus distinguished are not divided nor intermixed; for the Father has not assumed the flesh, nor has the Holy Spirit, but the Son only. The Father has never been without His Son, or without His Holy Spirit. For they are all three co-eternal and co-essential” (BC, article 8).

 

“This doctrine of the Holy Trinity has always been affirmed and maintained by the true Church since the time of the apostles to this very day against the Jews, Muslims, and some false Christians and heretics,…Therefore, in this point, we do willingly receive the three creeds, namely, that of the Apostles, of Nicea, and of Athanasius” (BC, article 9).

 

CREATION

 

We believe that God created the heavens and the earth and all they contain in six ordinary days. We will not ordain any one who denies six-day creation. “We believe that a denial of the chronological sequence of the six normal days of light and darkness in Genesis one undermines the clarity of the Bible, and is dangerous to the faith and theology of the churches” (Synod Abstract 1985:105).

 

“We believe that the Father, by the Word, that is, by his Son, has created of nothing, the heaven, the earth, and all creatures, as it seemed good unto Him; giving unto every creature its being, shape, form, and several offices to serve its Creator; that He also still upholds and governs them by His eternal providence, and infinite power for the service of mankind, to the end that man may serve his God” (BC, article 12).

 

PROVIDENCE

 

“We believe that the same God, after He had created all things, did not forsake them or give them up to fortune or chance, but that He rules and governs them according to His holy will, so that nothing happens in this world without His appointment: nevertheless, God neither is the author of nor can be charged with the sins which are committed. For His power and goodness are so great and incomprehensible that He orders and executes His work in the most excellent and just manner, even then when devils and wicked men act unjustly…This doctrine affords us unspeakable consolation, since we are taught thereby that nothing can befall us by chance, but by the direction of our most gracious and heavenly Father; who watches over us with a paternal care, keeping all creatures so under His power, that not a hair of our head (for they are all numbered), nor a sparrow can fall to the ground without the will of our Father, in whom we do entirely trust; being persuaded that He so restrains the devil and all our enemies that without His will and permission they cannot hurt us. And therefore we reject that damnable error of the Epicureans, who say that God regards nothing but leaves all things to chance” (BC, article 13).

 

MAN AND SIN

 

We believe that God created man good and after His own image, that is, in righteousness and true holiness, that man might rightly know and love God his Creator. But man through the instigation of the devil, by willful disobedience, deprived himself and all of his descendants of the ability to please God. As a consequence man became wicked, perverse, and corrupt in all his ways. Man became spiritually dead and liable to eternal death (see Psalm 51:5; Romans 5:12; Ephesians 2:1-2).

 

SALVATION

 

“We believe that our most gracious God, in His admirable wisdom and goodness, seeing that man had thus thrown himself into temporal and eternal death, and made himself wholly miserable, was pleased to seek and comfort him, when he trembling fled from His presence, promising him that He would give His Son (who would be born of a woman), to bruise the head of the serpent and to make him blessed” (BC, article 17).

 

“We confess, therefore, that God did fulfill the promise which He made to the fathers, by the mouth of His holy prophets, when He sent into the world,…His own only-begotten and eternal Son, who took upon Him the form of a servant, and became like unto man, really assuming the true human nature with all its infirmities, sin excepted; being conceived in the womb of the blessed virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit, without the means of man” (BC, article 18).

 

“We believe that God, who is perfectly merciful and just, sent His Son to assume that nature in which the disobedience was committed, to make satisfaction in the same, and to bear the punishment of sin by His most bitter passion and death. God therefore manifested His justice against His Son when He laid our iniquities upon Him, and poured forth His mercy and goodness on us, who were guilty and worthy of damnation, out of mere and perfect love, giving His Son unto death for us, and raising Him for our justification, that through Him we might obtain immortality and life eternal” (BC, article 20). 

 

We believe “the Holy Spirit kindles in our hearts an upright faith, which embraces Jesus Christ with all His merits, appropriates Him, and seeks nothing more besides Him….Therefore, for any to assert that Christ is not sufficient, but that something more is required besides Him, would be too gross a blasphemy; for hence it would follow that Christ was but half a Savior” (BC, article 22).

 

“Therefore we justly say with Paul, that we are justified by faith alone, or by faith apart from works. However, to speak more clearly, we do not mean that faith itself justifies us, for it is only an instrument with which we embrace Christ our righteousness. But Jesus Christ, imputing to us all His merits and so many holy works which He has done for us, and in our place, is our Righteousness” (BC, article 22).

 

“We believe that our salvation consists in the remission of our sins for Jesus Christ's sake, and that therein our righteousness before God is implied: as David and Paul teach us, declaring this to be the blessedness of man, that God imputes righteousness to him apart from works….This is sufficient to cover all our iniquities, and to give us confidence in approaching God; freeing the conscience of fear, terror, and dread” (BC, article 23).

 

SANCTIFICATION

 

“We believe that this true faith, being wrought in man by the hearing of the Word of God, and the operation of the Holy Spirit, sanctifies him and makes him a new man, causing him to live a new life, and freeing him from the bondage of sin” (BC, article 24). 

 

Christians produce good works as the fruit of their faith. They strive to keep God's law, which is summarized in the Ten Commandments, not to earn salvation, but because they love their Savior and want to obey him. God is the Lord of the conscience, so that men are not required to believe or do anything contrary to, or in addition to, the Word of God in matters of faith or worship.

 

THE CHURCH

 

We believe that Christ’s Church “is a holy congregation of true Christian believers, all expecting their salvation in Jesus Christ, being washed by His blood, sanctified and sealed by the Holy Spirit….Furthermore, this holy Church is not confined, bound, or limited to a certain place or to certain persons, but is spread and dispersed over the whole world; and yet is joined and united with heart and will, by the power of faith, in one and the same Spirit” (BC, article 27).

 

Not every Church is a true Christian Church. “The marks by which the true Church is known are these: If the pure doctrine of the gospel is preached therein; if it maintains the pure administration of the sacraments as instituted by Christ; if church discipline is exercised in chastening of sin: in short, if all things are managed according to the pure Word of God, all things contrary thereto rejected, and Jesus Christ acknowledged as the only Head of the Church” (BC, article 29).

 

Christ has established His church to gather and sanctify His people, by means of the ministry of the Word, and the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper. Christians assemble on the Lord's Day to worship God by hearing the preaching of God’s Word, by praying, singing psalms and hymns, giving offerings, and receiving the sacraments. Our worship is God-centered rather than man-centered. Rather than catering to man, we seek to worship God only in the ways that He specifies in the Bible.

 

We believe the most important part of the worship service is the preaching of God’s word. When the gospel is faithfully proclaimed the Lord uses it to open people’s eyes to believe the truth. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). For example, while Lydia listened to the Apostle Paul preach the gospel the Lord opened her heart (Acts 16:14).

 

BAPTISM

 

“We believe and confess that Jesus Christ, who is the end of the law, has made an end, by the shedding of His blood, of all other sheddings of blood which men could or would make as a propitiation or satisfaction for sin; and that He, having abolished circumcision, which was done with blood, has instituted the sacrament of baptism instead thereof; by which we are received into the Church of God,…and which serves as a testimony to us that He will forever be our gracious God and Father. Therefore He has commanded all those who are His to be baptized with pure water, into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, thereby signifying to us, that as water washes away the filth of the body when poured upon it,… so does the blood of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit internally sprinkle the soul, cleanse it from its sins, and regenerate us from children of wrath unto children of God. Not that this is effected by the external water, but by the sprinkling of the precious blood of the Son of God” (BC, article 34).

 

We also believe that the infants of believers “ought to be baptized and sealed with the sign of the covenant, as the children in Israel formerly were circumcised upon the same promises which are made unto our children [Romans 4:11]….Moreover, what circumcision was to the Jews, baptism is to our children. And for this reason Paul calls baptism the circumcision of Christ” (BC, article 34).

 

LORD’S SUPPER

 

“We believe and confess, that our Savior Jesus Christ did ordain and institute the sacrament of the holy supper to nourish and support those whom He has already regenerated, and incorporated into His family, which is His Church” (BC, article 35)

 

The Lord’s Supper is a sign and seal of conscious fellowship with Christ, and is observed repeatedly by the self-conscious, confessing members of the church. The children of believers are not allowed to partake of the Lord’s Supper until they profess their faith through Confirmation.

 

THE FUTURE

 

“Finally, we believe, according to the Word of God, when the time appointed by the Lord (which is unknown to all creatures) is come and the number of the elect complete, that our Lord Jesus Christ will come from heaven, bodily and visibly, as He ascended, with great glory and majesty to declare Himself judge of the living and the dead; burning this old world with fire and flame to cleanse it [2 Peter 3:10]. And then all men will personally appear before this great judge, both men and women and children, that have been from the beginning of the world to the end thereof….For all the dead shall be raised out of the earth, and their souls joined and united with their proper bodies, in which they formerly lived. As for those who shall then be living, they shall not die as the others, but be changed in the twinkling of an eye, and from corruptible, become incorruptible. Then the books (that is to say the consciences) shall be opened, and the dead judged according to what they shall have done in this world, whether it be good or evil” (BC, article 37).

 

The wicked “will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteousness into eternal life” (Matthew 25:46).