Of the Scriptures

We believe that the Holy Bible was written by men and supernaturally inspired; it has truth without any admixture of error for its matter and, therefore, is, and shall remain to the end of the age, the only complete and final revelation of the will of God to man. It is the true centre of the Christian union and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and opinions should be tried.

We believe that the Scriptures, interpreted in their natural, literal sense, reveal divinely determined dispensations or rules of life which define man’s responsibilities in successive ages. These dispensations are no ways of salvation but instead divinely ordered stewardship by which God directs man according to His purpose.

Of the True God

We believe that there is one, and only one, living and true God: an infinite, intelligent Spirit, the maker and supreme ruler of Heaven and earth. He is inexpressibly glorious in holiness and worthy of all possible honour, confidence, and love; in the unity of the Godhead, there are three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All three are equal in every divine perfection and execute distinct but harmonious offices in the great work of redemption.

Of the Lord Jesus Christ and Salvation

Virgin Birth

We believe that the Holy Spirit begot Jesus Christ in a miraculous manner, born of Mary, a virgin, as no other person was ever born or can ever be born of a woman. He is the Son of God, God the Son, and the Son of Man.

Atonement

We believe that the salvation of sinners is divinely initiated and wholly of grace through the mediatorial offices of the Son of God, who by the appointment of the Father, freely took upon Him our nature, yet without sin, honoured the divine law by His obedience and by His death made a full and vicarious propitiation atonement for our sins through His blood. His atonement consisted not in setting us an example of his death as a martyr but was the voluntary substitution of Himself in the sinner’s place, the just dying for the unjust. Christ the Lord, bearing our sins in His own body on the tree and having risen from the dead, is now enthroned in Heaven and uniting the most tender sympathies with divine perfection in His wonderful person. He is, in every way, qualified to be a suitable, compassionate, and all-sufficient Savior.

Salvation

We believe that salvation is God's gift brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose precious blood was shed on Calvary for the forgiveness of our sins.

Eternal Security and State

We believe the believer who has exercised saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ has eternally secure salvation and will be bodily resurrected to eternal life with Christ in Heaven. The unbeliever will be resurrected to everlasting punishment in Hell.

Second Advent of Christ

We believe in the “blessed hope,” the personal, imminent pre-tribulation and pre-millennial coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for His redeemed ones, and His subsequent return to earth, with His saints, to establish His millennial Kingdom.

Of the Holy Spirit

We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine person, equal to God the Father and the God the Son, and of the same nature. He was active in creation, and in His relation to the unbelieving world. He restrains the evil one until God’s purpose is fulfilled. We believe that He convicts of sin, of judgement, and of righteousness; He bears witness to the truth of the Gospel in preaching and testimony. We believe He is the agent in the new birth; He seals, baptises, endues, guides, teaches, witnesses, sanctifies, and helps the believer.

We believe that God is sovereign in the bestowment of all His gifts, and that the gifts of evangelists, pastors, and teachers are sufficient for perfecting the saints today. In addition, speaking in tongues and the work of sign miracles gradually ceased as the New Testament Scriptures were completed and their authority became established.

Of the devil or satan

We believe that satan was once holy and enjoyed heavenly honours but, through pride and ambition to be the Almighty, fell and drew after him a host of angels; that he is now the malignant prince of the power of the air and the unholy god of this world. We hold him to be man’s great tempter, the enemy of God and His Christ, the accuser of the saints, the author of all false religions, the chief power behind the present apostasy, the lord of the antichrist, and the author of all powers of darkness; destined to final defeat at the hands of God’s Son and to the judgment of eternal justice in hell, a place prepared for him and his angels.

Of the Creation

We believe in the Genesis account of creation that it is to be accepted literally and not allegorically or figuratively. Man was created directly in God’s image and after His own likeness, and man’s creation was not a matter of evolution or evolutionary change of species or development through interminable periods from lower to higher forms; and all animals and plant life was made directly and God’s established law was that they should bring forth only “after their kind.”

Of the Fall of Man

We believe that man was created in innocence under the law of his Maker but, by voluntary transgression, fell from his sinless and happy state in consequence of which all mankind are now sinners, not by constraint but of choice and therefore under condemnation without defence or excuse.

Of the Church

We believe that the visible church of Christ is any congregation of baptised believers by an agreement of faith and fellowship of the gospel, observing ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, and exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word. Its officers are pastors or elders and deacons whose qualifications, claims, and duties are clearly defined in the Scriptures. We believe that the church is commissioned to go to all nations and make disciples, baptise them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe everything that Christ has commanded. We believe in two ordinances of the local church, both symbolic:

1. Believers baptism by immersion
2. The Lord’s supper

Of Separation

We believe that all the saved should live so as not to bring reproach upon their Lord and Savior. That separation from all religious apostasy, all worldly and sinful pleasures, and practices and associations is commanded by God.

Of the Civil Government

We believe that civil government is of divine appointment and for the interests and good order of human society; that its magistrates are to be prayed for and conscientiously honored and obeyed, except only in things opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ who is the only Lord of the conscience and the Prince of the kings of the earth.

NOTES

1. The Scripture references are representative; not exhaustive.
2. This Statement of Faith is meant to define the essential beliefs held by the Fundamental Baptist Mission of Trinidad & Tobago; it is not meant to represent all beliefs or set aside any Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.