At Maranatha, we believe...
These statements are taken from the Articles of Faith, the official doctrinal statement of Maranatha Baptist Church. We believe the entire Bible to be the true Word of God. This document is a concise listing of what we hold to be the fundamentals of our faith.
We believe the Holy Bible is the inspired Word of God. It is the final authority for all faith and practice. 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:21; 1 Corinthians 2:13
Maranatha Baptist Church also holds to the principles of faith and practice that Baptists have traditionally believed throughout the church age. These Biblical principles can be easily remembered with the acrostic for Baptists:
We believe in one true God. We believe that God is Spirit and infinite in every excellence; that the Godhead eternally exists in three Persons; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and that these three are one God, having precisely the same nature, attributes and perfections and worthy of precisely the same homage, confidence and obedience. John 4:24; Mark 12:29; Matthew 28:19,20; 2 Corinthians 13:14
We believe in the deity of Jesus Christ, co-equal with the Father and the Spirit. We believe His substitutionary death on the cross is man’s only hope of salvation and His resurrection from the dead is proof of His divinity. Matthew 1:20; John 1:1,2; John 14:6; Romans 1:4; 1 Timothy 3:16
We believe the Holy Spirit is a divine person, the source of power of all acceptable worship and service, and our abiding comforter and helper. He is equal with the Father and the Son. He convicts of sin, righteousness and judgment, bears witness to the truth and is the agent of the New Birth. John 14:16,17; John 15:26; John 16:13,14; Romans 8:9; Ephesians 1:13,14
We believe God created the heavens and the earth in six literal days, including all life, each after its own kind, by a direct act and not by the process of evolution. Genesis 1:2; Colossians 1:16,17; John 1:3
We believe in the fall of man: That man was originally created in the image of God and after His likeness. As a consequence of the fall of man the penalty of death was then inflicted, so that his moral nature was not only injured by the fall, but his spiritual life was totally lost and he became dead in trespasses and sins. We believe that his spiritual death has been transmitted to the entire human race. Genesis 1:26; 2:17; 1 John 3:8; Ephesians 2:1-3; Romans 5:1-9; 8:6,7
We believe that our redemption has been accomplished solely by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was made to be sin for us. We believe that Christ is received by repentance and faith alone. The moment a person trusts Christ as Savior they pass out of spiritual death into everlasting life, sealed by the Holy Spirit, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
Romans 3:23,24; 5:15-21; John 3:3-5; 10:28,29; Ephesians 1:7; 2:8,9
We believe in an eternal state of the Righteous and the Wicked: Those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation do at death immediately pass into His presence to forever to be with the Lord in Heaven. The souls of those who do not believe remain after death in conscious misery until the Great White Throne Judgment, when soul and body are reunited and shall be cast into the lake of fire. 2 Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 3:20,21; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; Revelation 20:11-15
Maranatha Baptist Church is an independent Baptist church not affiliated with any organized denomination. The church does partner with other churches and ministries that hold to the same Biblical truths.
© 2024 Maranatha Baptist Church of Cedar Springs, MI. All rights reserved.
Equipping the People of God
...for Love and Service
