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Doctrinal Statement

At PFRS, we have no creed but the Bible. However, we offer the following summary to help others understand our current positions on the most important doctrines, without having to read through the whole website.

1. The Trinity - We believe in one God manifest in three eternally distinct persons, the Father, the Word (Son), and the Holy Spirit.

2. The Person of Jesus Christ - The Word, the second person of the Trinity, "became flesh" through the incarnation. God willingly stooped to become man. Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, although being tempted like any other man. Jesus Christ is both fully human and fully divine, one person with two distinct natures. His deity in no way detracts from His humanity. Nor does His humanity detract from His deity.

3. The Atonement of Jesus Christ - Jesus Christ suffered and died on the cross for the sins of all people. But, atonement (substitutionary sacrifice) is applied to those who obey the Gospel. Those who reject the Gospel are cut off from the atonement and are "condemned already."

4. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ - We believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. That is, the very body that hung on the cross was raised to life again, albeit changed incorruptable. Jesus' resurrection is the prototype of our future resurrection of the flesh. Jesus ascended bodily into heaven, where He sits on the right hand of the Father, interceding for believers, waiting until His enemies are made His footstool (in His coming Kingdom).

5. Salvation - God is ready and willing to save anyone who obeys the Gospel. Obeying the Gospel means hearing the Gospel, believing the message of the Gospel, turning from sin (repentance) to Christ, and being baptized. The moment he obeys the Gospel, God forgives and sets him free from sins, adopts him into the family of God, and baptizes him in the Spirit. Salvation is ultimately of the whole person, spirit, soul, and body. But, salvation of the body awaits the resurrection of the flesh "at His coming." Perseverance in our faith unto the end of life is necessary for our salvation to be complete.

6. The New Covenant - We believe the Old Covenant has been superceded by the New Covenant. All must come to salvation through Jesus and the New Covenant. We are not under the letter of the Law, but under the "Torah of Messiah," (which is Christ's commandments as found in the Sermon on the Mount and throughout the New Testament). The "spirit of the Law" (the basic principles behind the OT Law) is universal and eternal. The blood of the animal sacrifices of the Old Covenant did not actually take away sins. These sacrifices were symbolic representations of Christ. Only the blood of Christ can take away sins and provide eternal redemption. Christ's atonement was applied retroactively to the saints under the Old Covenant.

7. The Holy Spirit - We believe that every repentant believer is baptized in, indwelled, and sealed by the Holy Spirit upon obeying the Gospel. The Spirit is given to comfort, instruct, convict of sin, correct, and sustain the child of God, and is the deposit guaranteeing the future "redemption of our body" and our future inheritance in the Kingdom of God.

8. The Gifts of the Spirit - The "gifts" of the Spirit were various permanent supernatural abilities given to specific believers typically by the laying on of the Apostles' hands. They served to authenticate the ministry and authority of the 12 Apostles of Jesus Christ. We do not believe any single gift was meant to be the "initial evidence" of the filling or receiving of the Spirit. God distributed "spiritual gifts" according to His will in conjunction with the Apostolic ministry. The gifts present in the early Church are not, in general, occurring today because the Apostolic period ended with the deaths of the Apostles. But, God continues doing miraculous things today, including supernatural healing in response to the prayer of faith. We should also distinguish between the "filling" of the Spirit (which occurred both before and after Pentecost) and "baptism in the Spirit." The "filling of the Spirit" is the temporary empowerment to accomplish a certain specific task. (The Apostles were "filled with the Spirit" on several occasions). The "baptism in the Spirit" is synonomous with "receiving" the Spirit, and occurs only once when a repentant believer is baptized in water.

9. The Church - We believe the universal "Church" of Jesus Christ presently consists of all of the redeemed of all ages, and is not limited only to post-Pentecost believers. We believe that the local church, with its office of elder/bishop, is the highest authority on earth. The universal Church is not an organization. It is merely the collective of all believers. It has no offices on earth, nor does the universal Church on earth have any collective authority. Christ alone is the head of the Church. We reject "Apostolic Succession." When the last Apostle died, the local churches remained fully independent and autonomous. The local bishops did not replace the Apostles. They merely were charged with preserving the Apostolic tradition handed down to them by the Apostles. We must maintain this tradition. The Great Commission is the "mission" of the Church on earth until Jesus returns. His coming again is inherently linked to our completing this mission.

10. The Resurrection and Reward of Believers - We believe in the bodily resurrection of the saints who have died, and the catching up of the living saints AFTER the future, literal, tribulation. We believe in the Judgment Seat of Christ where we will be judged and rewarded according to our works, and a future eternal Kingdom of Christ on the restored earth. The first one thousand years of this Kingdom consists of Christ and the saints ruling the nations, with believers from national Israel literally inheriting the land promised to Abraham and his seed.

11. The Resurrection and Eternal Punishment of the Wicked - We believe in the resurrection of unbelievers after the Millennium, the last judgment, and eternal punishment in the Lake of Fire for the unsaved.

12. The Bible - We believe the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments were inspired by God, and free from all errors in their original form. We believe in the preservation of the text of Scripture through the providence of God for each generation. We believe the written and oral teaching of Jesus and the Apostles (along with the Old Testament Scriptures) were the complete revelation of God's plan. The written text of both Testaments is all that survives today, and is therefore our rule of faith. We reject modern "prophecies" claiming to provide additional revelation of God's plan for mankind after the close of the New Testament canon. The exception being the two witnesses which are yet to come.