Translation. Teaching. Outreach.

Summary

Grace Abroad Ministries affirms the full inspiration, inerrancy, and infallibility of Scriptures in their original autographs. Through the plain interpretation therein, we affirm the existence of the one Triune God, man’s fallen nature, Christ’s payment for sin on the Cross, the necessity and sufficiency of faith in Christ alone for eternal life, and a future pre-tribulational rapture that will proceed a 7-year tribulation followed by a millennial, Messianic kingdom.

The Bible

We affirm

  1. The sixty-six historically accepted books of the Bible are the inspired Word of God, written by men as they were moved by the Holy Spirit to write exactly what was intended by God, while fully preserving each human author’s individual style. (1 Corinthians 14:37; Ephesians 3:1-5; 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21)
  2. The Scriptures are the very words of God with their perfection, authority, and sufficiency extending to the exact vocabulary, grammar, syntax, and literary context. (Exodus 24:3, 4, 8; Matthew 5:18; 1 Corinthians 14:37)
  3. The Bible is infallible; completely without error in the original manuscripts, and is rightly considered the Word of God to the degree that any translation preserves the meaning of the original text. (Psalms 19:7-9; John 10:35; 1 Timothy 4:1)
  4. The Bible is the supreme and final authority for faith and practice, fully addressing all issues of life either directly or in principle. (Matthew 4:4-10; 2 Timothy 3:16-17)
  5. The apostles and prophets were unique messengers of God’s written revelation, being guided by the Holy Spirit through the process of inspiration. After the death of the last apostle, all revelation ceased, as its fullness and culmination are found in the person of Jesus Christ. (2 Timothy. 3:16-17; Hebrews 1:2-4)
  6.  Biblical revelation is always objective truth in both source and content. (Genesis 6:15-22; Exodus 20:1-17; 2 Samuel 7:5-17; Acts 9:3-6; Revelation 1:10-3:22)
  7. The Bible is the revelation of the absolute truth necessary for man to understand the will of God and to live a life that is pleasing to Him. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
  8. Scriptures can only be properly interpreted and understood by consistently applying a literal/normal, historical, grammatical hermeneutic which recognizes the author’s original intent, including the use of literal language, imagery, and figures of speech. (Deuteronomy 4:2; 2 Timothy 2:2; Revelation 22:18-19)
  9. The meaning of any given text is only that intended by the human author and conveyed exclusively by vocabulary, grammar, syntax, and literary context. (2 Peter 1:20-21; Revelation 22:18-19)
  10. Spiritual maturity necessarily involves the Holy Spirit enabling the individual to fully comprehend and accept the Word of God. (1 Corinthians 2:14)

We deny

  1. The notion that there are errors of any sort in the original autographs.
  2. The legitimacy of multiple interpretations of any biblical text.
  3. That the Holy Spirit ever teaches anything contrary to prior revelation.
  4. That the preacher has any legitimate message from God apart from what is found in Scripture.
  5. That any passage of Scripture corrects or militates against any other passage.
  6. That any later Biblical author misinterpreted any prior Biblical passages when quoting from or referring to them.
  7. Neo-Orthodoxy, which, while using evangelical terminology, seriously departs from orthodoxy: in accepting the views of destructive higher criticism, in denying the inerrancy of the Bible as historic revelation, in accepting religious experience as the criterion of truth, and in abandoning important fundamentals of the Christian faith.
  8. The complementary hermeneutic of Progressive Dispensationalism, including the use of the “already/not yet” as an interpretive principle and the softening of progressive revelation and the forcing of a false continuity between the Testaments.

The Triune God

We affirm

  1. There is exactly one, unique, infinite God who eternally exists as three distinct persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—who are in a perfect relationship with one another. These three persons are fully God and coequal in every way, each with a distinct role in God’s program. (Deuteronomy 6:4–6; Isaiah 61:3; Matthew 3:16–17; 28:19; John 1:1; 10:30, 33-36; 14:26; 2 Corinthians 13:14)
  2. The second Person of the Godhead came to this earth, was born of a virgin by the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit, took on human flesh and nature, becoming fully man while continuing to be fully God and was named “Jesus.” (Matthew 1:21-23; 2 Corinthians. 8:9; Hebrews 2:14-18)
  3. Jesus Christ lived a sinless life, perfectly fulfilling the Law of Moses and living in perfect accordance with all the eternal principles and laws of God. (John 8:46; Hebrews 4:15; I John 3:5)
  4. Jesus was crucified unto death at the hands of men, dying at the moment of His choosing. His death was a substitutionary, atoning sacrifice for all mankind. His shed blood fully paid the penalty due for all the sins of every person against a holy God. However, only those who turn to Him in faith experience the salvation He offers on the basis of His sacrifice. (Matthew 27:50; John 1:29; 3:16–18; Philippians 2:6–11)
  5. Jesus died according to the Scriptures, was buried, physically arose from the grave according to the Scriptures, and was seen by many witnesses after His resurrection. (1 Corinthians 15:3–4)
  6. Forty days after the resurrection, Jesus ascended into heaven, where He is presently at the right hand of the Father interceding on behalf of believers as our High Priest, though not ruling from the throne of David as the Messianic King. (Psalms 110:4; Acts 1:9; Hebrews 1:3; 5:5–10; 1 John 2:1)
  7. At the moment of faith in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit permanently regenerates, indwells, and baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ (the Church), which includes all born-again believers in Christ from Pentecost to the Rapture. (Acts 2:1-4; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 1:11–14, 4:4-6)
  8. The indwelling Holy Spirit works in believers to enlighten, guide, convict of sin, and empower them to fulfill God’s will by living a life that is pleasing to Him. (John 14:16-17; 1 Corinthians 2:10-12; Ephesians 5:15-21)

We deny

  1. That any ecclesiastical body is authoritative in defining the doctrines of the Triune God.
  2. The doctrine of modalism, that the members of the Trinity are not distinct persons, but rather three modes or forms of activity through which God manifests Himself.
  3. The doctrine of Patripassianism, that the Father suffered with the Son on the Cross.
  4. The doctrine of ontological subordination, that the Son is less than the Father in power, glory, and/or being.
  5. The Openness of God theory that says, in so many words, that God does not know the future.

Creation

We affirm

  1. That God created an innumerable company of sinless, spiritual beings, known as angels; that one, “the anointed cherub” – the highest in rank – sinned through pride, thereby becoming Satan, the open and declared enemy of God and man, that a great company of the angels followed him in his moral fall, some of whom are active as his agents and associates in the prosecution of his unholy purposes, while others who fell are “reserved in everlasting chains under darkness until the judgment of the great day.” (Job 1:6,7; Isaiah 14:12-17; Ezekiel 28:11-19; Matthew 4:2-11; 25:41; 1 Timothy 3:6; 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6; Revelation 20:10)
  2. That the Garden of Eden was an actual place, that Adam and Eve were actual people, and that they did indeed rebel against God, eating from the literal Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. (Genesis 1:26–3:24; Luke 3:23–38; Romans 5:12–17)
  3. That God rightfully destroyed the world in a flood as written in the Scriptures. (Genesis 6:1–9:17; Matthew 24:37–38; Luke 17:26–27; Hebrews 11:7; 1 Peter 3:18–20)
  4. That after the flood, man rebelled yet again against God by building the Tower of Babel and that God rightfully confounded the languages (Genesis 10:1–11:9)

We deny

  1. That any passage of Scripture conflicts with genuine scientific reality.
  2. That the narratives of Genesis 1–11 are mythical.
  3. That the Bible presents the earth as anything other than a round and spinning ball.
  4. That scientific hypotheses about origins of life or matter may legitimately be invoked to overthrow Scriptural teaching about creation.

Salvation

We affirm

  1. That the saving transaction between God and the sinner is simply the giving and receiving of a free gift, such that no act of obedience, preceding or following faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, may be added to, or considered part of, faith as a condition for receiving everlasting life. (John 4:10; Romans 4:5; Galatians 2:16; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5; Revelation 22:17)
  2. At the moment of faith in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit permanently regenerates, indwells, and baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ (the Church), which includes all born-again believers in Christ from Pentecost to the Rapture. (Acts 2:1-4; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 1:11–14, 4:4-6)
  3. We believe that sanctification, which is a setting apart unto God, is threefold: it is already complete for every saved person because his position toward God is the same as Christ’s position. Since the believer is in Christ, he is set apart unto God in the measure in which Christ is set apart unto God. Therefore, while the standing of the Christian in Christ is perfect, his present state is no more perfect than his experience in daily life. There is, secondly, a progressive sanctification wherein the Christian is to “grow in grace,” and to “be changed” by the unhindered power of the Spirit. We believe, thirdly, that the child of God will yet be fully sanctified in his state as he is now sanctified in his standing in Christ when he shall see his Lord and shall be “like Him.” (John 17:17; Romans 6:1-14; 8:1-5; 2 Corinthians 3:18, 7:1; Ephesians 4:24, 5:25-27; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; Hebrews 10:10, 14, 12:10; 1 John 3:1-3)
  4. That every saved person still possesses his old sin nature but also has a new nature with provision made for victory of the new nature over the sin nature through his identification with Christ and the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Romans 6:1-13, 8:12,13; Galatians 5:16-25; Ephesians 4:22-24; Colossians 3:10; 1 Peter 1:14-16; 1 John 3:5-9)

We deny

  1. That man’s works are meritorious toward his salvation.
  2. The possibility that eternal salvation may be lost.
  3. Universalism, which in its various forms teaches that all men will one day be saved.
  4. The possibility of salvation while trusting in one’s own works rather than Christ’s.
  5. That assurance of salvation comes from turning to one’s own works rather than Christ’s.
  6. That salvation has ever been or ever will be by works regardless of the dispensation in which he lives.
  7. The theory of the eradication of the sin nature, which in so many words, says that sin in a believer’s life does not hinder his fellowship with God.

Israel and the Church

We affirm

  1. The Church does not replace national Israel in God’s program or promises; nor is it “spiritual Israel.” (2 Samuel 7:12–16; Psalms 89:28–37; Jeremiah 33:25–26; Romans 11:1–32)
  2. The universal Church (the “Body of Christ,” the “Bride of Christ”) began on the day of Pentecost and is made up of all born-again believers in Christ from Pentecost to the Rapture. (Matthew 16:18; Acts 1:4–8; 2:1–4, 46–47; Ephesians 2:19–22; 1 Thessalonians 4:13–17)
  3. Christians are not under the Mosaic Law, although they are responsible to follow the moral principles that form the basis of the Law as confirmed in the New Testament. (Romans 3:20; 4:3; 6:1–4; Ephesians 2:8–9)
  4. The Church is represented by local churches made up of born-again believers who regularly gather for fellowship, mutual edification, instruction, prayer, and worship. (Acts 2:46–47; 1 Corinthians 1:2; Philemon 1–2, Hebrews 10:25)
  5. Men are exclusively responsible to fulfill the roles of leadership and teaching in the church, particularly in matters of Bible exposition, theology, or other matters that would include exercising spiritual authority over other men. Women have a vital and privileged role in ministry to their families, to younger women, and to children. (1 Timothy 2:11-15; 3:1-15; 5:14)
  6. During the Church Age, the Holy Spirit distributes spiritual gifts of service to all believers according to His will for the building up of the Body of Christ. (Romans 12:4–7; 1 Corinthians 7:7; Ephesians 4:11–13)

We deny

  1. That any form of misogyny brings proper glory to God.
  2. The practices and philosophy of ecumenism or any other movement that seeks to bring believers in Christ into an unequal yoke with those following theological liberalism, Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, or any other divergent group.
  3. That the Church has replaced Israel as the recipient of God’s promises to Israel.
  4. That Christ is currently ruling from the Davidic Throne.
  5. That any form of anti-Semitism is glorifying to God.

The Future

We affirm

  1. In an imminent moment, Jesus will return in the clouds, at which time all the dead in Christ will be resurrected and all the living in Christ will be caught up (raptured) to be with Him forever. After the Rapture, there will be a seven-year Tribulation (Daniel’s 70th week), (Daniel 9:24–27; 1 Corinthians 15:50–54; 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18)
  2. After the Tribulation, Christ will physically return to the earth to establish His kingdom on the earth for 1,000 literal years (the Millennium), ruling the nations from the throne of David in Jerusalem. (2 Samuel 7:8–16, Matthew 25:31; Revelation 20:1–6)
  3. Every Christian will stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ, to assess the quality of his Christian life on earth. The Judgment Seat of Christ is for believers and is distinct from the Great White Throne Judgement, which is for unbelievers. The anticipation of rewards at the Judgment Seat of Christ should motivate believers to persevere. (1 Corinthians 9:24-27; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 1 John 2:28)

We deny

  1. General Judgement Theory, which equates the Great White Throne Judgment with the Judgment Seat of Christ and holds that all people, believers, and unbelievers alike, will be judged at this general judgment to determine their eternal destiny.
  2. That the Old Testament promise of a literal, physical, earthly, Messianic Kingdom has been redefined or abrogated by New Testament revelation, such that the promised kingdom will not literally be fulfilled and instead has been replaced with a current spiritual reality.