I.     God the Father

• We believe in God the Father, Creator of heaven and earth.  Our God, as revealed through Jesus Christ, is a God of love.  God loves humankind us as a good parent loves their child.  God seeks the best for all creation, and God calls us to cherish and protect the earth and all its inhabitants as a sacred trust.

II.    Jesus Christ, God’s Only Son, our Savior and Lord

• We believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, Our Lord.  He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.  Jesus was God incarnate, “God in the flesh.”  God came to us in Jesus Christ and is therefore the perfect revelation to humankind of God’s personality, love, grace, forgiveness, and hope for the future. 

III.   The Holy Spirit

• The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God.  The Spirit’s illumination enables humankind to understand truth.  Through the Holy Spirit God inspired his people to write the Scriptures.  The Holy Spirit convicts of sin and calls humankind to Jesus Christ, the Savior.  The Spirit effects regeneration (new birth/re-creation/new life).  The Holy Spirit cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows spiritual gifts which are embodied to serve God through His church.   The Holy Spirit brings God’s wisdom to our minds.  The Spirit enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service.

IV.   The Resurrection

• Jesus was crucified on the cross, died, was buried, and he arose from the dead by the power of God the Father on the third day.  Jesus' death gives us victory over sin, for it shows that no sin is so vile that it cannot be conquered by God’s limitless, boundless, gracious gift of divine and eternal love and forgiveness.  Likewise, Jesus’ resurrection gives us victory over death in that it proves God has power over the grave.  The resurrection is evidence that death is not final.  Eternal life is God’s gift to his faithful children.

V.     The Scriptures

• The Holy Bible was written by individuals divinely inspired and is the record of God’s revelation of Himself to humankind.  It is the perfect treasure of divine instruction.  It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter.  It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and it is the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds and religious opinions should be tried.  The criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted is Jesus Christ.  Christ, the Word of God made flesh, is the ultimate revelation of God’s love, grace and will to humankind.  Therefore, all scripture is to be interpreted according to the life and teachings of Jesus found in the Four Gospels of the New Testament.  

VI.   Humankind

• Humankind was created by a special act of God.  We are created in God’s image, and we are the crowning work of God’s creation.
• Humankind’s purpose is to love God and to enjoy God forever.   Our responsibility is to join God in service to the world.
• Humanity was endowed by the Creator with freedom of choice.   By choice through temptation humankind sinned against God by willfully rejecting his commandments and by separating ourselves from God’s love and will for our lives.  
• Only God’s forgiveness, given as a free gift of absolute grace, can restore our relationship with God.  Grace brings humanity into fellowship with our Creator, and it enables humankind to fulfill the creative purpose of God on earth.

VII.  Salvation

• Salvation is the re-creation of humankind by the power of God’s grace.  It is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Savior (rescuer) and Lord (master and guide).   In its broadest since salvation includes repentance, regeneration, sanctification and glorification.
• Repentance is rooted in the Hebrew word meaning, “To turn around,” or, “A radical change of direction.”  Repentance is a genuine turning from sin or the life that is created when we are separated from God and his will for our lives.   Repentance occurs when the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin and we turn by choice toward God and his love made known through Jesus Christ.
• Regeneration (new birth/re-creation) is a work of God’s grace whereby the believer becomes a new person in Christ Jesus.  It is a change of heart and mind brought by the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit.  Regeneration (new birth/re-creation) occurs when we choose to stop separating ourselves from God by asking forgiveness of our sins, and thus making Jesus the Lord (guide and master) of our lives.
• Sanctification is the experience of being set apart (made holy) for God’s purposes by God’s grace.   It is the beginning of a process where we are enabled by the Holy Spirit’s power dwelling within us to progress toward moral and spiritual perfection.  This growth in divine grace and love should continue throughout the Christian’s life.
• Glorification is found as we join God in eternal life in heaven.  It is the culmination of an earthly life of faith.

VIII. God’s Purpose for Our Lives

• God’s purpose for humankind is that we should embody and make known the Great Commandment and the Great Commission of Jesus Christ.
• The Great Commandment (Mark 12:29-31, Matthew 22:-40, Luke 12:25-28): “Love the Lord, your God, will all your heart, your soul, your mind and your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.”
• The Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20):  “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all I have commanded you.  And remember, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
• In accordance with this commandment and commission the church is to be a missional, evangelistic and ministry oriented body proclaiming God’s love, grace, hope, justice, liberation and re-creation to all the earth.

IX.   The Church

• The church is the local gathering of baptized believers who are associated by covenant in the faith.  Its purpose is to gather for worship, to glorify God, to proclaim God’s Word, and to accomplish God’s work in the world as Jesus Christ’s “body” on earth (I Corinthians 27:12-31).
• The local church is an autonomous body, operating through democratic processes under the Lordship (divine guidance) of Jesus Christ. 
• Through the church the people of God celebrate the Ordinances (Christ’s orders) of the Lord’s Supper (Holy Communion) and Baptism.
• The New Testament church is also the universal fellowship of all Christians united by faith in Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of the world.   All Christians are one in Christ, and His church is therefore all people on earth who accept and love Him.   

X.    Baptism and the Lord’s Supper

      (the Ordinances of the Church)

• Christian Baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as an act of obedience symbolizing one’s faith in Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of humankind.
• Baptism is our public profession of faith.   It proclaims to the world our love for Jesus and our confession that he is the way, the truth and the life of all creation.
• Baptism by immersion symbolizes the believer’s death to sin (being buried beneath the water symbolizes the burial of our old life of sin), and resurrection to new life (being raised from the water symbolizes arising to newness with God). 
• Baptists practice believer’s baptism.  We will only baptize those who can and will confess their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.   Baptists do not practice infant baptism since an infant cannot confess faith for themselves.   No one can confess faith for us.  We must do this for ourselves.   
• Baptists generally practice baptism by immersion in keeping with Jesus baptism by John the Baptist, and in keeping with the traditions of the early church.  However, in cases of physical infirmity or advanced age where immersion is not possible or safe for the baptismal candidate, Blacksburg Baptist Church, like many Baptist churches, will baptize the believer by sprinkling or pouring.
• The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby the members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the cup (wine or grape juice), memorialize the death of Jesus Christ while proclaiming our faith in his resurrection.
• Jesus commanded that we celebrate the Lord’s Supper “in remembrance” of him.   A remembrance in the Hebrew world was more than a memory of a loved one.  A Hebrew remembrance was an act of commitment.  You remembered those gone before you by embodying their love, values and spirit.  You honored their life by proclaiming them to others and by living forth the gifts and wisdom they had given you.   By partaking of the Lord’s Supper we commit ourselves to live forth the love, grace, values and spirit of our Living Lord.   The Lord’s Supper is not a memorial to a dead man of history.   It is a proclamation of our faith in the One who lives to empower us through the Holy Spirit for a life of meaning and purpose in the name of God.  Through this meal we not only remember the price Jesus paid (death on a cross) to give us salvation, but we embody his life and values in honor of him.

XI.   The Priesthood of the Believers

• The Priesthood of the Believers has a three fold meaning.  First, every person has the right and privilege of approaching God directly without need of another human mediator (priest/pastor).  Second, every believer is charged with the responsibility of ministering to one another in the name of Christ.  We are all called to be “priests” to one another and to the world.  Third, each believer is free to read and interpret the Scriptures for themselves under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. 
• Through Christ we all have free, easy and direct access to God (Matt 27:51, Mark 5:38, Luke 23:45).
• We are summoned to be a race, a royal priesthood called for service in God’s name to the world (1 Peter 2:9). 
• The Holy Spirit enables every Christian to interpret the Bible for themselves without need of an ordained “priest” or pastor who is sanctioned by the church (John 14:16, 26). 

XIII. Stewardship

• God is the source of all blessings, both earthly and spiritual.  All we have and all we are come from God, and our possessions and lives are God’s gifts to us.  Therefore, we are called and commanded to serve God with our time, talents, and material possessions.  
• We should recognize these gifts as sacred trusts given to enable us to glorify God, to enjoy the gift of life, and to help others. 
• Stewardship is the giving of our time, talents, money and possessions to the church (the body of Christ) for the work of God on earth.   The Bible commands that we bring a tithe (one-tenth or ten percent) of our income for God’s work, and that our lives are at God’s service at all times. 
• Stewardship is an act of worship.   By giving of our time, talents, money and possessions (cheerfully, regularly, systematically and proportionally) we are proclaiming our love for Christ.  Stewardship is an act of gratitude given in response to God’s gifts of life, grace and salvation. 

XIV. A Free Church in a Free State

• Following our interpretation of scripture, Baptists have historically opposed any government establishment of a state religion or preference by the government of one religion over another.
• Baptists believe in the separation of church and state.  We believe in absolute religious liberty for all people without state interference in the free practice of faith.
• We believe in freedom of conscience.  Each church and religious body should be free to establish its creeds, doctrines and beliefs without government interference.
• Likewise, the state should not be subject to the dictates of the church.  While the Christian faith should guide the decisions of every believer including those holding public office, the government should not be subject to official church review.
• In 1789 Virginia Baptists, led by Reverend John Leland, persuaded future President James Madison to call for a constitutional guarantee of religious freedom through a Bill of Rights.  The first amendment to the US Constitution, which was authored primarily by Reverend Leland, says in part, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ….”  As Baptists, we ardently support and defend the need for a free church in a free state.