Riverside Primitive Baptist Church
Riverside Primitive Baptist Church
Doctrinal Beliefs of Primitive Baptists Return to RPBC Homepage
General Statement of beliefs:
Before the foundation of the world, and therefore before the creation of the first man, God knew that man would sin and would earn death and hell as the just reward for his sins. Since God is holy and will not associate with sin, a means had to be provided for God to associate with man, both as man lives on earth and eternally, after man's death. God provided the means by which man may approach God in a sinless state; the means was the death of Jesus Christ as a sinless Substitute for sinful people.
Also before the foundation of the world, God knew that, once man sinned, his nature would be to continue to sin; in his sinful state, no person would ever voluntarily choose the self-sacrifice which must accompany worship of God. (This is called Total Depravity.) God therefore provided the means by which some people would choose God over sin. (This is called Predestination.) Before the world was created, God chose certain people to be His people. (This is called Election.) During each of those people's lives, at some point God will touch the person's heart and give the person an inclination towards God. (This is called Regeneration.) God has chosen many such people, in all nations and tongues, and all whom God chose will respond to their call. (This is called Effectual Calling.) Any person who wants to love God is showing that God has already called him. The person called by God still remains capable of sin and must control his sinful nature, but because God has touched the person's heart, he now has an inclination to please God by worship and by his actions. Although such a person will still sin on occasion, his sins have all been paid for by Jesus, so the person will go to Heaven to be with God when he dies. (This is called the Final Preservation of the Saints.) For more information on any of the concepts mentioned above, see the questions below.
Further Amplification Regarding Terms Used Above:
1. What is meant by total depravity?
Scripture teaches that the first man, Adam, stood as the legal representative of all mankind under God's law. After Adam sinned, he bequeathed a sinful nature to all his descendants - that is, to all people. The word depraved according to Webster means "crooked; corrupted; perverted". Depravity means "a depraved condition; corruption". All people are born in a state of depravity, which affects every part of a person's being - body, soul, intellect, will and affections. Because it affects all parts of a person's nature, the depravity is referred to as total depravity. Total depravity does not mean that one has no conscience, or that a person is as bad as s/he could be (that would be utter depravity.) Total depravity does not mean one will indulge in every form of sin; nor does it mean that a depraved person will not perform actions that appear good to men. Total depravity refers not so much to what one does, as to what one is. Everyone is born with a sinful nature. Since every part of a person is affected by sin, there is no spark of good in the person that would make him seek God or try to improve his condition. Such a person has no understanding of the things of God; no desire for the things of God; and no ability to seek the things of God. In spiritual terms, that person is dead. Just as a physically dead person cannot reach for help, so a person in a state of spiritual deadness cannot reach for help, either. Every person remains spiritually dead unless and until God moves that person from spiritual deadness to life.. Applicable Scriptures: Gen 6:5; John 6:44, Rom 3:10-18, Rom 5:12, Rom 8:6-8, Rom 9:16, 1 Cor 2:14, 1 Cor 15:22, Eph 2:1-3, Titus 3:3
2. What is meant by predestination?
Predestination is the effective exercise of the will of God by which things determined beforehand by Him are brought to pass. When God says that at a certain time He is going to do a certain thing, it is sure that at the specified time, the specified thing shall be done because God is sovereign, possessing all wisdom and power. Predestination, as presented in Scripture, does not imply that God arranged all things beforehand; it refers solely to the salvation of God's people. The prefix pre means before. The word destination means the end of a journey. The word destine means to determine. Predestination means the previously determined end of a journey. Only one destination was predestinated and that destination is heaven and immortal glory. Predestination did not condemn certain people to hell; anyone who goes to hell does so because of his own sin. In fact, except for predestination, the whole human race would go to hell, because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Applicable Scriptures: John 6:39-44, John 10:27-29, Acts 2:23, Rom 8:29-30, Eph 1:4-5, Eph 1:11, 2 Tim 1:9
3. What is meant by election?
Election is the act by which God chose certain individuals as His own out of all the inhabitants of the earth. This occurred before the foundation of the world and is accomplished according to the will and purpose of God. Ephesians 1:4 says, "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love." In John 15:16, Jesus said, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit." Election is a difficult doctrine to accept, because we all want to have control over our own lives. It is very unpleasant for a human being to admit he cannot do something; yet, in God's Word we are taught that we have absolutely nothing to do with our own salvation. We are totally dependent upon God for that gift. Isaiah 46:9-10 says, "...I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." People tend to compare God with that which they can understand. God is greater than anything we could imagine; therefore, we have nothing or no one else with which to compare Him. Applicable Scriptures: Isaiah 45:4; Matt 24:31, Luke 18:7, John 15:16, Rom 9:9-16, Eph 1:4, 2 Tim 1:9, 1 Peter 1:2 .
4. What is meant by regeneration?
Regeneration means the new birth. In John 3:3, Jesus said to Nicodemus, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." All people are dead in sin and are completely void of spiritual life until they are born of the Spirit of God. John the Baptist was evidently born of the Spirit while he was still in his mother's womb; Paul the Apostle was born of the Spirit while on the road to Damascus; one of the thieves crucified by the side of Christ was born of the Spirit as he hung on the cross. The new birth, or regeneration, is an act of God the Holy Spirit, whereby spiritual life is implanted in the soul of God's elect. This new creature which is implanted within those born of the Spirit of God is as holy and righteous as God Himself. This new creature cannot sin, but our old fleshly, or carnal, nature is not changed in regeneration. It is just as sinful and corrupt as before, but the Spirit of God within us wars against the carnal so that we cannot continue to live in sin and love it as we did before our regeneration. Before the new birth we have the nature of the flesh and after the new birth we have implanted within us the new nature of the Spirit. Applicable Scriptures: Ezekiel 36:26; John 1:12-13, John 5:25, John 6:37, 2 Cor 5:17, Eph 2:1, 1 Peter 1:23 .
5. What is meant by effectual calling?
Effectual calling is the consequence of God's election and predestination of some people to salvation. The Holy Spirit calls each of God's elect in regeneration and this calling is effectual, which means no one is able to resist the power of God's Spirit in regeneration. What God has determined will happen cannot be annulled. At God's own appointed time, each of God's elect is brought to Christ by the Spirit of God in regeneration. God is effectual in all His works, and that includes His call to His children. It is the effectual divine call which makes God's chosen people willing to respond. The Bible actually describes two distinct calls which must be carefully distinguished. The first is an outward or Gospel call, which goes out to everyone who hears the Gospel. The other is an inward call that is extended by God only to His elect; this is the powerful call that produces life. Some individuals will never hear the Gospel call, and many who hear it will not respond to it. Every individual who is chosen of God and predestinated for glory will hear the inward call of God, and everyone who hears that call, without exception, will be brought from death to life. Scripture says God's chosen are called out of darkness into God's marvelous light. The elect are called to glory, to liberty, to fellowship and to holiness. The Bible contains many promises to "the called". Applicable Scriptures: John 6:37, John 10:27-29, Rom 8:28-31, 1 Peter 2:9
6. What is meant by the final preservation of the saints? Do you believe that after a person is saved he can fall from grace?
The final preservation of the saints deals with one class of people - the regenerated. Regeneration does not depend upon the work of the one being eternally saved. If a person can do something to get saved, he can surely do something to undo his salvation, but Scriptures clearly show that our preservation is based entirely upon the work of God. Since regeneration is entirely the work of God, why would an all-knowing God save someone whom He knew would not be finally preserved. God could rightly be charged with doing a work He knew would not last. In truth, once a person has been chosen by God, that person WILL be finally saved and will NOT be finally lost. To believe that a saved person can be lost is to believe that God is not all-powerful and all-wise. Salvation is of the Lord, and if that salvation becomes ineffective, the wisdom of God must not have been enough to provide for every need, and God must not have been powerful enough to overcome every enemy. It is certain that a person saved by God will never fall into final condemnation. A person may fall from the doctrine of grace (disbelieve that doctrine), but never from God's grace itself. Since the final preservation of the saints applies only to the regenerate, people who make a false profession of Christ and who are not saved to begin with will not be preserved. No doubt there are some who have joined the church without experiencing the grace of God in salvation. Those who fall away from Christ and do not return were never saved to begin with. The Apostle John said, "They went out from us, but they were not of us: for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us." (1 John 2:19) The final preservation of the saints simply means that the good work begun by God in His child will be carried to a successful conclusion. Applicable Scriptures: Psalm 37:28, Eccl 3:14, John 6:37-40, John 10:27-29, Rom 8:38-39, Phil 1:6, 2 Tim 4:18, 1 Peter 1:3-5, Jude 24-25