Doctrinal Statement
Christ Theological Seminary adheres to the unrevised Westminster Confession of Faith (1643-7), with its Larger and Shorter Catechisms. We believe that this Confession represents the clearest and most concise statement of biblical, apostolic Christianity. Following Scripture and our Confession, we affirm that the sixty-six books of the canonical Scriptures are the inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word of God, all-sufficient for the man of God, to equip him for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16,17). From this objectively true, epistemologically necessary, and subjectively sufficient starting point, we affirm that God is eternally triune, the Creator of the world in six, twenty-four days, the summum bonum of man, and sovereign, providential Lord of the universe. We affirm that Adam was the first man, created immediately and personally by God, fell into sin, and thus lost his desire and ability to please God. We affirm the eternal deity of Jesus Christ, the historical incarnation of the Son of God for our salvation, his vicarious, propitiatory, and efficacious atonement, and the necessity of personal faith and repentance for salvation. We affirm the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, his ascension to the right hand of the Father in power and glory, and his Mediatorial rule over all men and nations. We affirm the necessity of the work of the Holy Spirit to apply efficaciously to God’s elect the saving benefits obtained by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We affirm that the visible catholic church is the institution over which he rules specifically and savingly as Head and King, through which he has determined to make the nations his disciples, and outside of which there is ordinarily no possibility of salvation. We believe that the purpose and goal of history is to reveal both the glorious justice and unfathomable mercy of God in the salvation of sinners, and that the discipleship work of the Church will result in the conversion of the nations to Jesus Christ, until all his enemies are made a footstool for his feet.
These core truths of revealed, biblical religion are the foundation and guiding standard of Christ Theological Seminary, in all its academic programs, administrative decisions, and ministerial training. We believe that a vigorous, confident, courageous, and exegetical defense and proclamation of these truths retain their apostolic, God-ordained power to confront the errors of our day, shut the mouths of God’s enemies, overthrow every thought raised in opposition to Jesus Christ, and convert the world to the true religion (Romans 1:16; 1 Corinthians 1:18; 2 Corinthians 10:5; Titus 1:11;1 Peter 3:15). It is of special concern to us to recover and apply cardinal applications of biblical truth to the needs of the day: the relevant application of God’s law to the totality of man’s life, the defense of the faith through methods that are consistent with rather than overthrow biblical epistemology, and eschatology that reflects the present reign and glory of Jesus Christ.