Articles of Faith
(printable view)

Scriptures
We believe that the Holy Bible is the inspired Word of God. By the Holy Bible, we mean the collection of sixty-six books from Genesis through Revelation which, as originally written, is the very Word of God (II Timothy 3:16-17). By inspiration, we mean that the books of the Bible were written by holy men of old as they were moved by the Holy Spirit in such a definite way that their writings were supernaturally inspired and free from error, as no other writing has ever been or ever will be (II Peter 1:21). Therefore, the Bible is and shall remain to the end of the age the only complete and final revelation of God to man, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all Christian conduct, creeds, and opinions should be tried (I Corinthians 2:13; Mark 12:26-36).


One True God
We believe that God is Spirit (John 4:24) and infinite in every excellence; that the Godhead eternally exists in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and that these three are one God (Mark 12:29), having precisely the same nature, attributes, and perfections, and worthy of precisely the same homage, confidence, and obedience (Matthew 28:19-20; II Corinthians 13:14).


Person and Work of the Father
God the Father is enthroned in heaven. He sent and gave the Son to be our Savior (John 3:16). He sent the Holy Spirit to be our comforter (John 14:16). He draws sinners to Himself and eternally secures the salvation of the saints (John 10:29). He is the giver of every good and perfect gift, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort (II Corinthians 1:3); He may be seen in the Son and known through the Son (John 14:9,11,16); He is to be loved, worshipped (John 4:23), obeyed, and reverenced.


Deity and Virgin Birth of Christ
We believe in the absolute deity of the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:1-2), co-equal with the Father and the Spirit; that in His humanity He never ceased to be God; that as man He was miraculously begotten of the Holy Ghost (Matthew 1:20; I Timothy 3:16) and born of the virgin Mary (Isaiah 7:14). His substitutionary death on the cross is man's only hope of salvation and His bodily resurrection from the dead is proof of His divinity (John 14:6; Isaiah 53:4-6; Hebrews 2:9; Romans 1:4).


Person and Work of the Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine person (John 14:16-17), the source and power of all acceptable worship and service, and our abiding comforter and helper (John 15:26); that He is equal with the Father and the Son; that He convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment, bears witness to the truth, and is the agent of the new birth; that He guides, teaches, witnesses to, sanctifies, and helps the believer (Romans 8:16); that He indwells every true child of God (Romans 8:9); that with Him the believer is endued with power (Acts 1:8) and sealed in Christ (Ephesians 1:13-14); that He glorifies Christ and not Himself (John 16:13-14).


Person and Work of Satan
We believe that Satan was one of God's highest created beings (Ezekiel 28:14-17), that through pride and ambition he fell (Isaiah 14:12-15; II Corinthians 4:4), that he is the god of this age and the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2), that he is the enemy of God and the accuser of the brethren, that he is the author of all false religions (II Corinthians 11:13-15), that he is destined to final defeat at the hand of Jesus Christ (II Thessalonians 2:8-11), and that he shall be cast into the lake of fire forever (Revelation 20:10).


Divine Creation
We believe that God created the heavens and the earth, including all life, each after its own kind, by a direct act and not by the process of evolution (Genesis 1:2; Colossians 1:16-17; John 1:3).


Creation and Fall of Man
We believe that man, originally created in the image and after the likeness of God (Genesis 1:26), fell from his high and holy estate by disobedience to God. As a consequence, the threatened penalty of death was then and there inflicted so that his moral nature was not only grievously injured by the fall (Genesis 2:17), but his spiritual life was totally lost and he became dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1-3), and subject to the power of Satan (I John 3:8). We believe that his spiritual death, or total corruption of human nature, has been transmitted to the entire race of man, with the exception of Christ Jesus alone (Romans 5:12-19), and hence, every child is born into the world with a sinful nature (Jeremiah 17:9), having enmity against God (Psalms 14:1-3) and being incapable of subjection to His law (Romans 8:6-7).


Salvation
We believe that our redemption has been accomplished solely by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:7), who was made to be sin for us (II Corinthians 5:21). We believe that, owing to the universal depravity of man and death that sin causes (Romans 3:23), no one can enter the kingdom of God unless born again (John 3:3-5).

We believe that Christ is received by faith alone (Romans 4:5; Ephesians 2:8-9), and that the moment we trust Him as our Savior we pass out of death into everlasting life, sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24).

We believe that there are three words that describe faith: believe, meaning “to trust”, specifically in the finished work of Christ on the cross (John 20:31); repentance, meaning “to change one’s mind”, in that, one would not accept Christ as Savior, but now would (Romans 2:4); and receive, meaning “to take or accept” Christ as Savior (John 1:12).

We believe that all who take Christ as Savior are born from above and are kept by the power of God (John 10:28-29). Good works cannot earn salvation. We exhort the believer to live a godly, separated, and abundant life in Christ as the Bible teaches (Ephesians 2:10; John 15:1-17).


Sanctification
We believe that sanctification is a separation. In relation to the believer, there is:

Positional sanctification, which takes place at conversion instantaneously (I Corinthians 6:11) and separates the believer from the eternal condemnation of sin (Hebrews 10:10-14);

Progressive sanctification, which obligates the believer to separate himself, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, from the power and reign of sin in this life (Romans 6:12; Galatians 5:16) by submitting to divine pruning, growing in grace, abounding in love, a godly walk, and bringing every thought into obedience to Christ (I Thessalonians 5:23); and

Complete sanctification, which separates the believer from the very presence of sin, will be experienced by the believer at death (II Corinthians 5:1) or at the coming of Jesus Christ when he shall receive a glorified body like Christ's (Philippians 3:20-21).


Christian Liberty
We believe that we should limit our Christian liberty if it will cause physical or spiritual harm to ourselves (Hebrews 12:1; I Corinthians 6:12) or to a fellow Christian (I Corinthians 8:9-13; Romans 14:12-15:3), and as an expediency to win unbelievers to Christ (I Corinthians 10:23-33; Colossians 4:5).


Eternal State of Righteous and Wicked
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 (II Corinthians 5:8) and there remain in conscious bliss until the resurrection of the body at His coming (Revelation 14:13) when soul and body reunited shall be with Him forever in glory (Philippians 3:20-21); but that the souls of unbelievers remain after death in conscious misery (Luke 16:19-26) until the final judgment of the great white throne, when soul and body reunited shall be cast into the lake of fire, not to be annihilated (Revelation 20:11-15) but to be punished with everlasting destruction, and with eternal separation from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power (II Thessalonians 1:7-9).


The Return of Christ and Related Events
We believe in the bodily, personal, and pre-millennial return of Jesus Christ. At His coming, the dead in Christ shall be raised and the living believers shall be changed and raptured with them and shall be with the Lord forever (Acts 1:11; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; I Corinthians 15:51-52).


The Church
We believe that the universal church consists of the whole number of regenerated persons from Pentecost until the rapture, referred to as the body and Bride of Christ (I Thessalonians 4:13-17; I Corinthians 12:12-13; Ephesians 1:22-23, 4:5; II Corinthians 11:2-4).

We furthermore believe that the local church (I Corinthians 1:2; I Thessalonians 2:14; Galatians 1:1-3) is a company of born-again persons; baptized upon a profession of faith in Jesus Christ; united for worship, prayer, instruction, the observance of the Christian ordinances, and for such service as the gospel requires; recognizing Christ as their supreme Lord and Lawgiver (Genesis 49:10); and taking His Word as their only rule of faith and practice in all matters of conscience, daily walk, and doctrine (II Timothy 3:16-17). The task of the church is to present the gospel of Christ to all people (Acts 1:8) and to disciple the saints in righteousness (Matthew 28:19-20).


Church Ordinances
We believe that Scripture commands the observation of two ordinances:

Baptism
We believe that Christian baptism is the immersion of the believer in water (Acts 8:36-39; Matthew 3:6; John 3:23), in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:18-20); and shows forth in a solemn and beautiful emblem his faith in and his identification with the crucified, buried, and risen Savior (Romans 6:3-5; Colossians 2:12). In scriptural order, baptism precedes the privileges of local church membership and is the public profession of personal faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:41).

The Lord's Supper
We believe that the Lord's Supper is not a means of grace, but an ordinance (Luke 22:1-20) to be shared in only by those who are born-again and consciously in fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 11:23-26).

Additional Doctrines
The following scriptural truths are commonly held and taught at NPBC. However, agreement with these doctrines is not required for membership or fellowship.

Infant Salvation
Each member of the human race is alive in Christ until they come to an age of accountability (Romans 5:15-21; 7:9). Therefore, all children who die in infancy are covered by the blood of Christ and are safe in the arms of God (II Samuel 12:22-23).


Cessation of Sign Gifts
The supernatural gift of tongues and other apostolic sign gifts have ceased (I Corinthians 13:8) in that their purpose has been fulfilled in confirming the original apostolic message (II Corinthians 12:12; Mark 16:20).

We consider the contents of written scripture to be entirely sufficient to equip us with all information needed to accomplish every work for God that we have been assigned to pursue (II Timothy 3:16-17). Therefore, we expect no further verbal revelations from God in addition to His will as it is expressed in holy Scripture and that further information is unsearchable and past finding out (Romans 11:33-36).


The Pre-Tribulation Rapture of the New Testament Saints
We should expect Christ to return at any moment to meet all New Testament saints in the air before the tribulation begins (I Corinthians 4:5; Philippians 3:20; I Thessalonians 1:10; 4:13-18; Titus 2:13; James 5:7-9; I John 2:28; Revelation 22:20).