Reformed Perspective on Salvation

Salvation is God’s free gift to us, and through His grace alone we must accept it personally. We are incapable of saving ourselves. We can never make up for our sin by self-improvement or good works, because we are saved only by God’s grace. Only by trusting in Jesus Christ, as God’s offer of forgiveness, can anyone be saved from sin’s consequences. When we turn from our self-ruled life and turn to Jesus Christ, in faith and repentance, we are saved. At the moment of salvation we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit. Eternal life begins the moment one receives Jesus Christ into his or her life by grace through faith. Because God gives us eternal life through Jesus Christ, the true believer is secure in that salvation for eternity. If you have been genuinely saved, you cannot “lose” it. Salvation is maintained by the grace and power of God, not by self-effort of the Christian. It is the grace and keeping power of God that gives us this security. The evidence of saving faith will be seen in the fruits of repentance and works produced through God’s work in a believer’s life.

Biblical Interpretation

We believe the way we interpret the Bible (hermeneutics) is very important. Therefore, we depend on the Holy Spirit to teach us as we pray in dependence to interpret the Bible. We believe the historical-grammatical-redemptive approach to studying the Bible leads us to understanding. In other words, we allow Scripture to interpret Scripture; we interpret Scripture in its original context; we interpret Scripture in light of the grammar (meaning of words, grammatical structures, literary genre, verb tenses, etc,) and we interpret Scripture through the redemptive work of God in Jesus Christ. We reject cultural interpretations of Scripture, in which we are tempted to change what Scripture says so that it is accepted by culture. Lastly, we reject placing our experience above Scripture, but instead allow Scripture to interpret our experiences.

Sacraments Explained

In Baptism the water symbolizes the cleansing from sin that each person needs through trusting in Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. According to Matthew 28:19, we are to baptize people in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. We believe that there is Biblical evidence for covenant infant baptism and covenant believer’s baptism and will permit either practice at Grace Reformed Church. We believe that the act of baptism does not save a person, but that baptism ultimately means identification with Christ and His Church.

Communion, also referred to as the Lord’s Supper, points to the reality of our relationship to our Savior and dependence upon Him. It is a reminder and symbol of what Christ has done for us. It is a statement of faith (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). The bread signifies the body of Christ given for our salvation. The fruit of the vine signifies His shed blood for our complete forgiveness.

Sanctity of Life

We believe that all human life is sacred and created by God in His image (Genesis 1 & 2). Human life is to be valued and protected in all of its dimensions, including pre-born babies, the aged, the physically or mentally challenged, and every stage or condition from conception to natural death (Psalm 139). We are therefore called to defend, protect, and value, all human life.

Gender and Marriage

We believe that God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as male or female. These two distinct, complementary genders together reflect the image and nature of God and as such, ones biological sex is not to be rejected (Genesis 1:26-27). We believe that marriage has only one meaning: the uniting of one biological man and one biological woman in a single, exclusive, life-long union that is generative in nature, as delineated in Scripture (Genesis 2:18-25). We believe that God intends sexual intimacy to occur only between a man and a woman who are married to each other (1 Corinthians 6:18, 7:2-5. Hebrews 13:4).

We are complementarian in our leadership—we believe, based on our understanding of Biblical teaching, that men and women were made to complement each other and not compete with each or be interchangeable in how they live out God’s creative design. Distinctions in masculine and feminine roles are ordained by God as part of the created order, however the fall, as sin entered the world, began to distort God’s created design. We believe that male headship and servant leadership in the family and church is God’s design, but that God gives to men and women an equal share in the blessings of salvation; nevertheless, some governing and teaching roles within the church are restricted to men. Therefore, we do no not ordain women to the office of Pastor and Elder, which is based on our understanding of the biblical text (Gen. 3; 1 Cor. 11:3-16; 14:33b-36; Gal. 3:28; Eph. 5:22-33; Col. 3:18-19; 1 Tim. 2:11-15; 1 Pet. 3:1-7).