Statement of Faith

Introduction

The Church of God (sanctified) in Christ Jesus (I Corinthians 1:2) in the Philippines, presents our Statement of Faith based on the holy scriptures. God the Father and his Son Christ Jesus own the church (I Thessalonians 1:1). Christ is the head and the savior of the church (Ephesians 5:23; Colossians 1:18). God choose a people for His Name from the Gentiles (Amos 9:11-12; Acts 15:14-18). We believe ourselves an addition to the church of God mentioned 12 times in most popular bible translations that bears His Name (Acts 2:46-47). We believe that true Christians must perform the commandments of God in the God’s household which is the church of the living God (I Timothy 3:15) because this is the gateway to heaven (Genesis 28:17). We enjoined everyone to examine our faith and be united with Christ together with all those who call on the name of the Lord (Romans 10:12; I Corinthians 1:2).

God the Father

We believe in the same God that appeared to Abraham, as the God Almighty (Genesis 17:1), God the Most High (Genesis 14:18-20; Psalm 57:2), creator of heaven and earth (Acts 17:24), eternal God (Genesis 21:33), and the eternal King (I Timothy 1:17). God is spirit (John 4:24) and no one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son (John 1:18). The Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself (John 5:26). God the Father and the Son are two separate beings. In fact, the Father knows something that the Son does not know (Matthew 24:36).

The Son of God

Jesus, the Son of God (Matthew 16:16; Mark 1:1; Galatians 2:20) is God (Psalm 45:6; Hebrew 1:8) / The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation (Colossians 1:15). He was with God in the beginning and through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made (Proverbs 8:22-30; John 1:1-3). He was conceived by the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:20-21) and became flesh (John 1:14). The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being (Hebrew 1:3), spokesperson of the Father in the last days (Hebrew 1:1-2) and the mediator between God and man (I Timothy 2:5). Whoever believes in Him shall have eternal life (John 3:16, I John 5:13). Jesus is Lord (Romans 10:9; 14:9) He died for our sins (I Corinthians 15:3), raised by God from the dead (Acts 2:32) and has now ascended into heaven and at the right hand of the Father (Mark 16:19; Colossians 3:1) In God’s time, Jesus Christ shall return and will reign for a thousand years together with the faithfuls (Revelations 20:6).

The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the power of God given to man (Romans 15:13; Acts 1:8; I Thessalonians 4:8; II Timothy 1:14) Those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God (Romans 8:14). Those who acknowledge that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh has the Spirit of God (I John 4:2). The Holy Spirit is given after baptism (Acts 2:38; Acts 8:18-20).

Baptism

Baptism is being born again of water and the Spirit (John 3:5). Man must have faith in God and to his Son Jesus Christ (Mark 16:16, Acts 16:31, 33), confess his sins to God (Matthew 3:6; Mark 1:5) and repent for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38) before he can be baptised. After baptism, his sins will be forgiven and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38), have the right to be called son of God (John 1:12; Galatians 3:26-27), become heir of God and co-heir with Christ (Romans 8:16-17); and shall have eternal life (John 3:16, 36; 5:24). Baptism is a requirement to become a member of the Church of God (sanctified) in Christ Jesus.

Prohibition on the Eating of Blood

Eating of blood is forbidden because the life of every creature is in its blood (Leviticus 17:14; Deuteronomy 12:23). God prohibited the eating of meat that has its lifeblood still in it since the time of Noah (Genesis 9:1, 3-4). The descendants of Israel including those residing among them are advised not to eat blood and any meat with blood still in it and anything they found already dead (Leviticus 7:26-27; 17:10, 12-14; 19:26). This was the lasting ordinance for the descendants of Israel (Leviticus 3:17). The same prohibition was also carried out among Gentiles (Acts 15:20, 29).

The Greatest Commandment of God

The first and the greatest commandment is Love the Lord your God with all year heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind (Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:36-38), and the second is Love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 22:39), for these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 7:12; 22:40).

Commemoration of the Death of the Lord Jesus Christ

The bread without yeast symbolizes the body of Jesus Christ (Luke 22:19; I Corinthians 11:24) while the cup of fruit juice of the vine that the disciples drank during the last supper symbolizes the blood of Jesus Christ which is the new covenant that was poured for the forgiveness of sins of mankind (Luke 22:20; I Corinthians 11:25). Every time we eat the bread without yeast and drink in the cup of fruit juice of the vine, we proclaim the death of the Lord Jesus Christ till he come (I Corinthians 11:26). The followers of Jesus Christ must do this throughout their lifetime in remembrance of him (Luke 22:19; I Corinthians 11:24-25), to have eternal life (John 6:53-56, 58).

Resurrection and Eternal Life

The first to be resurrected are those believers who died in Christ, while those believers who are still alive will be caught up together to meet the Lord Jesus Christ in the air (I Thessalonians 4:16-17). Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection because the second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years (Revelations 20:6). People’s body will be changed from perishable to imperishable and will be like angels (Matthew 22:30; I Corinthians 15:42). ‘Eternal life’ means knowing the only true God, and Jesus Christ, that whoever believes in him shall have eternal life (John 3:16,17:3). The wicked shall not come to life until the thousand years were ended (Revelations 20:5). Afterwhich, the wicked shall go to eternal punishment, while the righteous to eternal life (Matthew 25:46).

Offerings for the Lord

Give offerings that you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver (II Corinthians 9:7), for He will bless you abundantly (II Corinthians 9:8). People who have the capacity to give but gives sparingly will also reap sparingly, while those who gives generously will also reap generously (II Corinthians 9:6).