Statement of Faith
GOD
There is but one God, the Maker, Preserver and Ruler of all things, having in and of Himself all perfections, and being infinite in them all; and to Him all creatures owe the highest love, reverence and obedience.
TRINITY
We believe in one, true and living God, infinite in being and holy perfection, immutable, eternal, and incomprehensible. In Him is all life, glory, and goodness for He alone is in Himself all-sufficient. In the unity of the Godhead there are three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
HOLY SCRIPTURE
The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by inspiration of God, and are the only sufficient, certain and authoritative rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience.
CREATION
Not of any necessity, but of His own pleasure, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. All things were created out of nothing, all very good. We believe that science and theology are compatible disciplines that both must operate under the authority of the Holy Scriptures.
FALL
God originally created man in His own image, and free from sin; but, Adam, our federal head, fell from original righteousness by disobeying God, and sin entered the whole world. In choosing rebellion and lawless separation from God, our first parents became dead in sin, and their original sin is passed on to all humankind who inherit a nature corrupt and wholly opposed to God and his law. Humankind now stands under condemnation, and as soon as they are capable of moral action, become actual transgressors.
INCARNATION
Christ, the Son of God, is of one substance and equal with the Father. He was conceived by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and took on flesh yet without sin, being in two whole, perfect and distinct natures, one person, fully God and fully man.
SALVATION
Our loving and merciful Father has called a numberless elect out of spiritual death in Adam into eternal salvation and life in Christ. Those whom He effectually called are united to Christ’s death, burial and resurrection by no work of their own but by God’s free gift.
COVENANT
God’s elect, united in Christ, are His children, and He is a gracious, loving Father. God’s children, moved by the proclamation of the gospel, are gathered together as the visible and invisible catholic Church.
MARRIAGE AND BIBLICAL SEXUALITY
We believe that God has designed marriage to be a life-long covenant between one man and one woman, and that all forms of sexual activity outside of marriage are sin. According to God’s good creational design we believe that God immutably creates each person to reflect His image as male or female for His glory and human flourishing.
ESCHATOLOGY
As Christ bore God’s love to the world, so Christ’s Church bears the gospel unto the farthest corners of the world. God works through the Church to preach and to embody the gospel, and we long for the day that “the earth will be filled with the knowledge and glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” Habakkuk 2:14
Theological Perspective
Christ College exists to glorify our Triune God and enjoy communion with Him forever. We believe that God has spoken supremely in our Lord Jesus Christ and in Holy Scripture teaching us to trust in the sovereign, eternal, just, and merciful decrees of the Father, the atoning life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and the work of the Holy Spirit as our ongoing Counselor, Guide, Equipper and Friend. These fundamental Trinitarian truths define us first and foremost as mere Christians.
Moreover, we are orthodox Christians. We are grateful heirs of the historic Christian Church and of the pioneers and patriarchs of faith who gave us the creeds and the early Church councils: The Apostles Creed, The Nicene Creed, and the Definition of Chalcedon. Thus, we continue to be linked with the orthodox Christian tradition as it has continued, uninterrupted, across the centuries.
Within this tradition, Christ College believes in the confessions of faith consistent with the Protestant Reformation. We believe that these confessions best articulate orthodox Christian doctrine revealed in the Holy Scriptures. Christ College stands in this rich confessional Protestant tradition manifested through a living faith. Because sound theology is inseparable from holiness, we believe that the fruits of the Spirit, and service in word and deed are essential marks of true theology. Indeed, these outworkings of faith are more than the result of our theological perspective, they are essential to our theological perspective.
All faculty, part-time and full-time, and the board of trustees must pledge in writing their commitment to uphold the statement of faith above. Students are not required to pledge their assent to these doctrines.