Sevenoaks Gospel Trust

The Statement of Faith sets out the core Biblical doctrine upon which the Sevenoaks Gospel Trust is founded.

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1. There is one God in three persons, the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit (Deuteronomy 6:4, 1 Corinthians 8:6, Matthew 28:19, Matthew 3:16-17);

2. God is sovereign in creation, revelation, redemption and final judgment (Genesis 1:1, 1 Corinthians 2:11, Matthew 11:27, Acts 13:48, Ephesians 1:4-10, Acts 17:31);

3. he Bible, as originally given, is the inspired and infallible Word of God. It is the supreme authority in all matters of belief and behaviour (2 Timothy 3:16, Psalm 12:6, Matthew 22:29, Mark 7:6-8, Luke 6:46);

4. God created humanity as male and female, giving each man and each woman their physical gender at birth, with man and woman having equal dignity and status and complementary roles (Genesis 1:27-28, 1 Corinthians 11:3, Galatians 3:28, Ephesians 5:22-28);

5. Since the fall, the whole of humankind is sinful and guilty, so that everyone is subject to God’s wrath and condemnation (Romans 5:12, Romans 3:10-12, Ephesians 2:3, Romans 1:18, Romans 6:23);

6. The Lord Jesus Christ, God’s incarnate Son, is fully God; he was born of a virgin, his humanity is real and sinless; he died on the cross, was raised bodily from death and is now reigning over heaven and earth (John 1:14, John 8:58, Matthew 1:25, Hebrews 2:17, Hebrews 4:15, 1 Peter 2:24, 1 Corinthians 15:4, Ephesians 1:20-21);

7. Sinful human beings are redeemed from the guilt, penalty and power of sin only through the sacrificial death once and for all time of their representative and substitute, Jesus Christ, the only mediator between them and God (Romans 3:21-26, 1 Peter 3:18, 2 Corinthians 5:14, Mark 10:45, 1 Timothy 2:5-6);

8. Those who believe in Christ are pardoned all their sins and accepted in God’s sight only because of the righteousness of Christ credited to them; this justification is God’s act of undeserved mercy, received solely by trust in him and not by their own efforts (2 Corinthians 5:21, Romans 5:18-19, Romans 3:24-28);

9. The Holy Spirit alone makes the work of Christ effective to individual sinners, enabling them to turn to God from their sin and to trust in Jesus Christ (John 16:8, John 3:5, Acts 11:18, Philippians 1:29);

10. The Holy Spirit lives in all those he has regenerated. He makes them increasingly Christlike in character and behaviour and gives them power for their witness in the world. By the Spirit, the Christian life involves a growing knowledge of God, trust in Christ, conformity to Christ and actions pleasing to God in every area of life as directed by Scripture (Ephesians 1:13-14, Romans 8:5-13, Acts 1:8, Colossians 1:9-10, Galatians 2:20, Galatians 4:19, 1 Thessalonians 4:1-2);

11. God designed marriage to be a public union between one man and one woman for life and that sexual relations should be within the one-flesh union of marriage. Marriage ultimately serves as a type of the union between Christ and his church (Genesis 2:23-24, Matthew 19:5-6, 1 Corinthians 7:9, Ephesians 5:31-32);

12. The one holy universal church is the Body of Christ, to which all true believers belong. Church leaders are required to teach the truths of Scripture and model them in their lives (Ephesians 1:22-23, 1 Corinthians 1:2, 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, Titus 1:6-9, 1 Timothy 3:2-7); and

13. The Lord Jesus Christ will return in person, to judge everyone, to execute God’s just condemnation on those who have not repented and to receive the redeemed to eternal glory (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, Acts 17:31, 2 Thessalonians 1:8, Hebrews 9:28).