SAN ANTONIO BIBLE CHURCH

We believe the Holy Scriptures, in the original autographs, to be the Word of God, God-breathed, authoritative, and inerrant.2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:20-21; Matt. 5:18; John 16:12-13; Heb. 4:12

We believe in one Triune God, existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, eternal in being, equal in power and glory, and having the same attributes and perfections.
Deut. 6:4; Matt. 29:19; 2 Cor. 13:14

We believe that man was created in the immaterial image and likeness of God, but that in Adam's sin the race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God.
Gen. 1:26-27; Rom. 3:22-23; Rom. 5:12; Eph. 2:12

We believe the Father is the sovereign planner of creation and redemption and that His plan for the human race is one of grace, eternally centered in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ.
I Cor. 8:6; Eph. 1:11

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man, without ceasing to be God, having been conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man; that He accomplished redemption for all mankind through His death on the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice; that eternal life is made real to us by His literal physical resurrection from the dead (John 1:1-2, 14; Doctrinal Statement #2 Luke 1:35; Rom. 3:24-25; I Pet. 1:3-5); that the Lord Jesus Christ is now in heaven, exalted and seated at the right hand of God, where as the High Priest for His people, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate (Heb. 9:2; Rom. 8:34; I John 2:1-2).

We believe that the Holy Spirit is a Person who ministers to mankind in these ways:

• A. The unbeliever is convicted of the sin of unbelief, of righteousness, and of judgment (John 16:8-11) and restrained from maximum evil (2 Thes. 2:6-7).

• B. At the moment of salvation, the believer is permanently regenerated, baptized into the body of Christ, indwelt, and sealed unto the day of redemption. (John 3:3-7; I Cor. 6:19; Eph. 1:13; I Cr. 12:13)

• C. The believer is commanded to be filled with the spirit (Eph. 5:18), but the Spirit is grieved or quenched by sin in the life (Eph. 4:30; I Thes. 5:19). Control (filling) by the Holy Spirit is restored by confession of sin (I John 1:9; I Cor. 11:31); the result is the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23), which becomes more apparent as the believer grows in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 3:18).

• D. Spiritual gifts are bestowed by the Holy Spirit on every believer at the moment of salvation (Rom. 12:6-8;1 Cor. 12:7- 11, 28-30; Eph. 4:11). These spiritual gifts are the means by which every Christian fulfills their full-time ministry in the Christian way of life.

We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to men by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ whose precious blood was shed for the forgiveness of our sins (I Pet.1:18 - Doctrinal Statement #3 19; Eph. 2:8-10; John 1:12; Eph. 1:7). God does not overrule man's free will in accepting or rejecting His provision of salvation. (2 Pet. 3:9; John 3:16, 18). Man appropriates this salvation on the simple basis of belief (Acts 16:31; John 20:31; I John 5:11-12).

We believe that all believers are kept secure forever; that is, that the believers salvation cannot be lost or taken away.
Rom. 8; John 10:27-30; I Cor. 1:4-9; I Pet. 1:3-5; Jude 24; I John 5:11-13

We believe that the Church, which is the body of Jesus Christ, is a spiritual organism made up of all born-again believers of the Church Age irrespective of affiliation with Christian or ecclesiastical organizations.
Eph. 1:22-23; Eph. 5:25-27; Col 1:18; I Cor. 12:12-14

We believe that the body of Christ is visibly functional through autonomous organizations called local churches. The establishment and continuance of autonomous local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures.
Acts 14:17; Acts 20:17, 28:32; I Tim. 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11; I Cor.1:1-2; Phil. 1:1

We believe that Satan is a real created being, the fallen angel, Lucifer, who is the open and declared enemy of God and man.
Matt. 4:2-11; Job 1:6-7; Isa. 14:12-17; Ezek. 28:14-18

We believe that the next great event in the fulfillment of prophecy will be the coming of the Lord Jesus in the air to receive to Himself the dead in Christ and believers who are alive at His coming, otherwise known as the Rapture of the Church.
I Cor. 15:51-57; I Thes. 1:9-10; I Thes 4:13-18; Titus 2:11-14 - Doctrinal Statement #4

We believe that the Rapture of the Church will be followed by the fulfillment of Daniel's Seventieth Week, the Great Tribulation, the latter half of which is the Time of Jacob's Trouble.
Dan. 9:27; Jer. 30:7; Matt. 24:15-21; Rev. 16:1-19, 21

THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST - We believe that the Great Tribulation will be climaxed by the Premillennial return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth to set up His kingdom.
Zech. 14:4-11; Matt. 24:27-31; 2 Thes. 1:7-10; Rev. 20:6

THE ETERNAL STATE - We believe that the souls of those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation do at death immediately pass into His presence (2 Cor. 5:8; Luke 23:43; Phil. 1:23) and there remain in conscious bliss until the resurrection of the body at His coming, when soul and body, reunited, shall be associated with Him forever (I Thes. 4:17). But the souls of unbelievers remain after death in conscious misery (Luke 16:19-26) until the Final Judgment of the Great White Throne at the close of the Millennium, when soul and body, reunited, shall be cast into the Lake of Fire, not to be annihilated, but to be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence and glory of the Lord (2 Thes. 1:7-9; Jude 6-7;Rev. 20:11-15).

We believe that all believers should seek to walk in such a manner as not to bring reproach upon their Lord and Savior which includes Biblical separation, though not isolation (I Cor. 5:9-13; Rom. 12:1-2; Rom. 14:13; 2 Cor. 6:14-7:1); that it is the obligation and privilege of every believer to witness by life and by word to the truths of Holy Scripture and to seek to proclaim the Gospel to all the world (Acts 1:8; 2 Cor. 5:20); that it is the responsibility of all believers to remember the work of the Lord in prayer and support it with their means as the Lord has prospered them (I Cor. 16:2; 2 Cor. 9:7).