What We Believe

Bayview Bible Church is a local body of orthodox and reformational Christians. We are orthodox in that we affirm the historic Christian statements of the Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Chalcedon statement on Jesus Christ. We are reformational in that we are a product of the Protestant Reformation, affirming that a sinner is saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, according to the Scriptures alone, to the glory of God alone.

We believe the Bible is God’s written revelation to man. It is composed of sixty-six books of the Old and New Testament. It is verbally inspired in every word and absolutely inerrant in the original manuscripts. We affirm the infallibility, sufficiency, and authority of Scripture. We affirm its supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct.

(Isaiah 40:8; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; Jude 1:3; Psalm 119:105; 2 Peter 1:19; Isaiah 40:8; Matthew 5:17-18, 7:24; Luke 11:49-51, 24:27; John 10:34-35; Acts 20:32; Romans 15:4)

We believe that there is but one living and true God, an infinite, all-knowing being, perfect in all his attributes, one in essence, eternally existing in three Persons — the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – each equally deserving worship and obedience. The triune God is the creator and sustainer of all things, and it is to God all creation is accountable.

(Genesis 1:1-28; Colossians 1:15-20; Romans 8:18-25; Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 45:21-22; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Ephesians 1:17, 2:18; John 14:26; Acts 2:33; Mark 1:10-11; Matthew 3:16-17, 28:19; John 14:24; 1 Peter 1:1-2)

We believe in God the Father, an infinite, personal spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, power, and love. We believe that he, in keeping with his justice, possesses righteous anger toward all those who do wicked. Yet, according with his steadfast love, he concerns himself mercifully in the affairs of men. He hears and answers our prayers, and he willfully and joyfully saves from sin and death all that come to him through faith in Jesus Christ.

(1 John 3:1; Matthew 6:8-9, 32; 1 Corinthians 8:6; 2 Corinthians 1:3,4; James 1:17; John 4:23, 5:21,46, 6:44, 14:2; Acts 1:6-7)

We believe that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God, and that as such, he possesses precisely the same nature, divine characteristics, and perfection as God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. We believe that he is not only fully God but also fully man, conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of a virgin. We also believe in his sinless life, his substitutionary atonement, his bodily resurrection from the dead, his ascension into heaven, his priestly intercession on behalf of his people, and his personal and visible return from heaven for which the church eagerly waits.

(Luke 1:35, John 1:1, 2, 14, 3:16, 14:6, Romans 3:24-26, Isaiah 53:5, 1 Peter 1:3-5, 2:24, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Acts 1:9-11, Romans 8:34, Hebrews 7:25, 9:24)

We believe the Holy Spirit is a person and is fully God. As the supernatural and sovereign agent in regeneration, the Holy Spirit baptizes all believers into the Body of Christ at the moment of salvation. The Holy Spirit also indwells, sanctifies, instructs, empowers for service, and seals all believers unto the day of redemption.

(Genesis 1:2; Psalm 139:7; John 15:26, 16:7-11, 13-14; Romans 8:9-16; 2 Corinthians 3:6; Ephesians 1:13-14, 2:22, Acts 1:8)

We believe God created human beings to bear his image and represent him on the earth as they extend a representative and productive lordship over all creation. The first people, Adam and Eve, chose rebellion against God by sinning, and therefore all their descendants would share in an inherited sinful nature, unable to reconcile themselves to God. Though humanity has fallen from our original standing with God, all people still bear God’s image and are worthy of foundational, basic human dignity, protection, and preservation.

(Genesis 1:26-28; 3:1-24; 9:6; Ecclesiastes 7:29; Romans 5:12; 8:7-8)

We believe that every person is a sinner by nature and by choice and is, therefore, under condemnation. We believe that those who repent of their sins and trust in Jesus Christ as Savior have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and empowered to live a new life. We believe that the salvation of man, who is sinful and lost, is instantaneous and accomplished solely by the power of the Holy Spirit through the instrumentality of the Word of God when the repentant sinner — enabled by the Holy Spirit — responds in faith. This salvation is wholly of God by grace on the basis of the redeeming work of Jesus Christ, the merit of his shed blood and perfect obedience, and not on the basis of human merit or works.

(Titus 3:3-7; Romans 6:5-11, 10:9; 2 Corinthians 3:18, 5:17; Colossians 3:9-11; John 1:12-13, 3:5-8; Ephesians 4:20-24)

We believe that all who put their faith in Jesus Christ are immediately placed by the Holy Spirit into one united spiritual body, the church, of which Christ is the head. The purpose of the church is to glorify God by building its members up in the faith, by instruction of the word, by fellowship, by keeping the ordinances, and by advancing and communicating the gospel to the entire world. We believe in the local church consisting of a company of believers in Jesus Christ, baptized on a credible profession of faith and associated for worship, discipleship, ministry, fellowship, and evangelism.

(1 Corinthians 1:2, 3:9, 16, 5:4-7, 10:16-17, 12:14-27; 1 Timothy 3:15; 1 Peter 2:9, 5:1-4; Ephesians 3:10, 4:4-6, 5:23-32; Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 20:28; Hebrews 10:24-25)

(Titus 3:3-7; Romans 6:5-11, 10:9; 2 Corinthians 3:18, 5:17; Colossians 3:9-11; John 1:12-13, 3:5-8; Ephesians 4:20-24)

We believe in Jesus’ visible and glorious return to judge the living and the dead. We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the saved and the unsaved; the saved unto the resurrection of life and the unsaved unto the resurrection of damnation.

(Job 19:25-26; Daniel 12:2; Zechariah 14:4-11; John 5:29, 11:24; Acts 24:14-15; 1 Corinthians 15:42-44; 1 Thessalonians 1:10, 4:13-18, 5:9; Revelation 3:10, 19:11-16, 20:1-6)

We believe that the term, “marriage” has only one valid meaning and that is a covenantal union sanctioned by God which joins one biological man and one biological woman in a single, exclusive union, as delineated in Scripture.

(Genesis 2:18-24; Deuteronomy 24:1-4; Matthew 19:4-6; Mark 10:6-9; 1 Corinthians 7:1-16, 39)

We believe that God intends marriage between a biological man and a biological woman to be the only context for sexual intercourse to occur. We believe that any form of sexual immorality, such as adultery, fornication, homosexuality, bestiality, incest, pornography or any attempt to change one’s sex, or disagreement with one’s biological sex, is sinful and offensive to God in any context.

(Proverbs 5:15-19; Hebrews 13:4; Matthew 5:27-30; Ephesians 5:3; Galatians 5:19; 1 Corinthians 6:9, 18-20; 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5)