Statement of Faith
“Contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” (Jude 1:3)
Our Confessional Standards
Ozark Doctrine holds to the historic Reformed faith as expressed in the ecumenical creeds of the ancient Church and the confessional standards of the Reformed tradition. We believe these documents are faithful and authoritative summaries of what Holy Scripture teaches. They are subordinate to Scripture alone but are received by us as trustworthy guides for doctrine, worship, and life.
We affirm the following:
I. The Holy Scriptures
We believe the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments to be the verbally inspired Word of God, inerrant in the original manuscripts, infallible in their authority, and sufficient for all matters of faith and practice. The Scriptures are the supreme and final authority in all controversies of religion.
“The whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man’s salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men.”Westminster Confession of Faith 1.6
II. The Holy Trinity
We believe in one God, eternally existing in three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each fully God, each possessing the same divine essence, power, and glory. The Father is neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son. This is the faith of the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed, and the whole Catholic Church.
“In the unity of the Godhead there be three Persons of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. The Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son.”Westminster Confession of Faith 2.3
III. God’s Eternal Decree
We believe that God, from all eternity, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely and unchangeably ordained whatsoever comes to pass. God’s decree includes His sovereign election of particular persons to everlasting life, not on the basis of foreseen faith, merit, or any other thing in the creature, but solely according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace.
“By the decree of God, for the manifestation of His glory, some men and angels are predestinated unto everlasting life, and others foreordained to everlasting death. These angels and men, thus predestinated and foreordained, are particularly and unchangeably designed; and their number is so certain and definite that it cannot be either increased or diminished.”Westminster Confession of Faith 3.3–4
IV. Creation and Providence
We believe that God created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them by the word of His power, out of nothing. He upholds, directs, and governs all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest to the least, by His most wise and holy providence, according to His infallible foreknowledge and the free and immutable counsel of His own will.
“God the great Creator of all things doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least, by His most wise and holy providence, according to His infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of His own will, to the praise of the glory of His wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy.”Westminster Confession of Faith 5.1
V. The Fall and Original Sin
We believe that Adam, as the federal head and representative of the human race, fell from his original state of righteousness by eating the forbidden fruit, and that by this fall all mankind descended from him by ordinary generation sinned in him and fell with him. The guilt of Adam’s first sin is imputed to all his posterity, and the corruption of his nature is conveyed to all who proceed from him, rendering them wholly inclined to evil, utterly unable to do any spiritual good, and justly subject to God’s wrath and curse.
“From this original corruption, whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions.”Westminster Confession of Faith 6.4
VI. The Covenant of Grace
We believe that after the fall, God was pleased to make a covenant of grace, wherein He freely offers unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ, requiring of them faith in Him that they may be saved, and promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto life His Holy Spirit, to make them willing and able to believe. This covenant of grace is administered differently under the Old and New Testaments, but it is one covenant of grace, with one Mediator.
“This covenant was differently administered in the time of the law, and in the time of the gospel: under the law it was administered by promises, prophecies, sacrifices, circumcision, the paschal lamb, and other types and ordinances delivered to the people of the Jews, all foresignifying Christ to come; which were, for that time, sufficient and efficacious, through the operation of the Spirit, to instruct and build up the elect in faith in the promised Messiah.”Westminster Confession of Faith 7.5
VII. Christ the Mediator
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man by taking to Himself a true human nature, being conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, so that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures, the Godhead and the manhood, were inseparably joined together in one Person, without conversion, composition, or confusion. He is very God and very man, yet one Christ, the only Mediator between God and man.
Christ, in His office as Mediator, perfectly fulfilled the law on behalf of His people, suffered and died on the cross as a substitutionary atonement for their sins, was buried, rose bodily from the dead on the third day, ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father, where He intercedes for His people and from whence He shall come again to judge the living and the dead.
VIII. Effectual Calling and Regeneration
We believe that all those whom God has predestinated unto life, and those only, He is pleased, in His appointed and accepted time, effectually to call by His Word and Spirit out of that state of sin and death in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ. This effectual call is of God’s free and special grace alone, not from anything foreseen in man. Man is entirely passive therein, being dead in sins and trespasses, until being quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit.
“This effectual call is of God’s free and special grace alone, not from anything at all foreseen in man, who is altogether passive therein, until, being quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit, he is thereby enabled to answer this call, and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it.”Westminster Confession of Faith 10.2
IX. Justification
We believe that justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein He pardons all our sins and accepts us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone. We are not justified on account of anything wrought in us or done by us, but solely on account of Christ’s active and passive obedience received and rested upon by faith, which faith is itself the gift of God.
“Those whom God effectually calleth, He also freely justifieth: not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous; not for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ’s sake alone.”Westminster Confession of Faith 11.1
X. Sanctification and Perseverance
We believe that those who are effectually called and regenerated, having a new heart and a new spirit created in them, are further sanctified, really and personally, through the virtue of Christ’s death and resurrection, by His Word and Spirit dwelling in them. This sanctification is progressive, though imperfect in this life, with remnants of corruption remaining in every part.
We further believe that those whom God has accepted in His Beloved, effectually called and sanctified by His Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end and be eternally saved.
“They whom God hath accepted in His Beloved, effectually called, and sanctified by His Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved.”Westminster Confession of Faith 17.1
XI. The Church
We believe in the holy catholic and apostolic Church, which is the body and bride of Christ. The visible Church consists of all those throughout the world who profess the true religion, together with their children. Christ has given to His Church officers (ministers of the Word, ruling elders, and deacons) for the building up of the saints and the administration of the means of grace.
We believe that the marks of a true church are the faithful preaching of the Word of God, the right administration of the sacraments, and the proper exercise of church discipline. We affirm the Presbyterian form of church government as most consonant with Scripture.
“Unto this catholic visible Church Christ hath given the ministry, oracles, and ordinances of God, for the gathering and perfecting of the saints, in this life, to the end of the world: and doth, by His own presence and Spirit, according to His promise, make them effectual thereunto.”Westminster Confession of Faith 25.3
XII. The Sacraments
We believe that the sacraments of the New Testament are Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. These are holy signs and seals of the covenant of grace, instituted by Christ, to represent and apply to believers the benefits of His mediation, to strengthen and increase their faith, and to obligate them to obedience.
We believe that Baptism is rightly administered to believers and their infant children as members of the visible covenant community, by the pouring or sprinkling of water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. The Lord’s Supper is to be observed regularly by the gathered church as a means of spiritual nourishment, a proclamation of Christ’s death, and a bond of communion among believers.
XIII. The Last Things
We believe that at the last day, the Lord Jesus Christ shall return visibly and bodily to judge the world in righteousness. The dead shall be raised, the righteous to everlasting life and the wicked to everlasting punishment. God shall make all things new, and His people shall dwell with Him forever in the new heavens and the new earth, where righteousness dwells.
“The bodies of men, after death, return to dust, and see corruption: but their souls, which neither die nor sleep, having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to God who gave them. The souls of the righteous, being then made perfect in holiness, are received into the highest heavens, where they behold the face of God, in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies.”Westminster Confession of Faith 32.1
Our Confessional Documents
In addition to the above summary, we commend the following documents as faithful expressions of the Reformed faith and as our confessional standards:
The Ecumenical Creeds
- The Apostles’ Creed
- The Nicene Creed (325/381)
- The Athanasian Creed
- The Definition of Chalcedon (451)
The Westminster Standards
- The Westminster Confession of Faith (1646)
- The Westminster Larger Catechism (1648)
- The Westminster Shorter Catechism (1648)
The Three Forms of Unity
- The Belgic Confession (1561)
- The Heidelberg Catechism (1563)
- The Canons of Dort (1618–1619)
These confessions are subordinate standards. Scripture alone is our supreme authority. But we receive these documents as trustworthy, tested, and faithful guides that express what we believe the Bible teaches. To confess with the Church is to stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us in the faith.
“What is your only comfort in life and in death? That I am not my own, but belong, body and soul, in life and in death, to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.”Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 1