WOODSIDE COMMUNITY CHURCH CORE BELIEFS
I. THE SCRIPTURES
We believe in the authority and sufficiency of the Holy Bible, consisting of the sixty-six
books of the Old and New Testaments; as originally written; that it was verbally and completely
inspired, and is the product of Spirit-controlled men, and therefore is infallible and inerrant in all
matters of which it speaks. We believe the Bible to be the true center of Christian unity and the supreme standard by
which all human conduct, creed and opinions shall be tried.
(II Tim. 3:16, 17; II Pet. 1:19-21.)
II. ONE TRUE GOD
We believe there is one and only one living and true God, an infinite Spirit, the Maker
and Supreme Ruler of Heaven and earth; absolutely perfect in knowledge and power;
unchanging and everywhere present; inexpressibly glorious in holiness, righteousness, justice
and mercifulness, and worthy of all possible honor, confidence and love.
We believe in that the unity of the eternally existent Godhead there are three persons, the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit, equal in every divine perfection, and executing distinct but
harmonious offices in the great work of redemption
(Ex. 20:2, Matt. 3:16, 17; 28:19; John 14:16; I Cor. 8:6; II Cor. 13:14; Rev. 4:11.)
III. JESUS CHRIST
We believe that Jesus Christ is the second person of the Divine and Eternal Trinity of
God; that He willingly and voluntarily offered Himself for the sacrificial and substitutionary
work of redemption; that He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of Mary, a Virgin,
thereby laying aside none of His Deity (or Attributes), but becoming genuinely human. We
believe that by becoming human he was no less God, and being God He was no less human.
We believe that He went to the Cross as a Representative and Redeemer of mankind; that
He died for our sins in our place; that He paid the price of our pardon with His own blood; that
He was buried but on the third day rose again in a physical, glorious, immortal body for our
justification.
We believe that He walked among men on earth for forty days after His resurrection and
then ascended to the right hand of God the Father, where He is today, our Intercessor, Advocate,
and Great High Priest; …that he will one day return in power and glory to judge all lawlessness
and disobedience…that He will sit upon the Great White Throne to judge the wicked dead, and
then turn all rule and authority back to the Father.
In summary, Jesus Christ was God's instrument in creation and redemption.
(John 1:1-29; Heb 1:1-4; Heb 9:14-15; Heb 10:19-24; Luke 1 & 2; Rom. 5:1-12; I Cor. 15:1-58;
Cor. 5:19-21; I Thess. 4:16-18; Rev. 20:11-15.)
IV. THE VIRGIN BIRTH
We believe that Jesus was begotten of the Holy Spirit in a miraculous manner; that He was born
of Mary, a Virgin, as no other man was ever born or can be born of women; and that He
is both the Son of God and God, the Son.
(Gen. 3:15; Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:18-25; Luke 1:35; John 1:14.)
V. THE RESURRECTION AND PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST
We believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ and in his ascension into heaven, where
He now sits at the right hand of the Father as our High priest, interceding for us. (Matt. 28:6, 7;
Luke 24:2-6, 39, 51; John 20:27; Mark 16:6; I Cor. 15:4; Acts 1:9-11; Rev. 3:21; Heb. 2:17; 5:9,
10; 7:25; 8:6; 12:2; I Tim 2:5; I John 2:1.)
VI. THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe that the Holy Spirit is a Divine Person, equal with God the Father and God
the Son and of the same substance and nature; that He was active in creation; that in His relation
to the unbelieving world He restrains the evil one until God's purpose is fulfilled; that He
convicts of sin, of unrighteousness and judgment; that He bears witness to the truth of the Gospel
in preaching and testimony; that He is the agent in the new birth; that he seals, and powers,
indwells, guides, teaches, witnesses to, sanctifies, comforts and helps the believer.
(John 1:33; 3:5-6; 14:16-17, 26; 16:7-11; Matt. 28:19; Heb. 9:14; Luke 1:35; 24:49; Gen. 1:1-3;
Acts 5:30-32; 11:16; Eph. 1:13-14; Mark 1:8; Rom. 8:14, 16, 26-27.)
VII. THE DEVIL , OR SATAN
We believe in the reality and personality of Satan, the Devil; that he was created by God
as an angel but through pride rebellion became the enemy of his Creator; that he became the
unholy false god of this age and the ruler of all powers of darkness; and that he is destined to the
judgment of an eternal justice in the lake of fire.
(Matt 4:1-11; II Cor. 4:4; Rev. 20:10.)
VIII. CREATION
We believe in the biblical account of the creation of the earth, physical universe, angels
and man; that this account is neither allegory or myth, but a literal historical account of the
direct, immediate creative acts of God without any evolutionary process; that man was created
by a direct work of God and not from previously existing forms of life; and that all men are
descended from the historical Adam and Eve, first parents of the entire human race.
(Gen. 1, 2; Col 1:16, 17; John 1:3.)
IX. THE FALL OF MAN
We believe that man was created under the law of his Maker in innocence and in the
image and likeness of God (that is, having intellect, sensibility, and will). However, by voluntary
transgression, Adam fell from his sinless and happy state and all men sinned in him (as the
representative of mankind), in consequence of which, all men are totally depraved, are partakers
of Adam's fallen nature, are sinners by nature and by conduct and are, therefore, under just condemnation without defense or excuse.
(Gen. 3:1-6; Rom. 1:18, 32; 3:10-19; 5:12-19.)
X. SALVATION
We believe that the salvation of sinners is divinely initiated and wholly of grace through
the mediatorial offices of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Who, by the appointment of the Father,
voluntarily took upon Himself our nature, yet without sin, and honored the divine law by His
personal obedience, thus qualifying Himself to be our Savior; that by the shedding of His blood
in His death He fully satisfied the just demands of a holy and righteous God regarding sin; that
His sacrifice consisted not in setting us an example by His death as a martyr, but was 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; that having risen from the dead He is now enthroned in
Heaven; and that uniting in His wonderful person the tenderest sympathies with divine
perfection, He is in every way qualified to be a suitable, compassionate and all-sufficient Savior.
We believe that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the only condition of salvation.
Repentance is a change of mind and purpose toward God prompted by the Holy Spirit and is an
integral part of saving faith.
(Jonah 2:9; Eph. 2:8; Acts 15:11; Rom. 3:24, 28; John 3:16; Matt. 15:11; Phil. 2:7, 8; Heb. 2:14-
17; Isa. 53:4-12; I John 4:10; I Cor. 15:3; II Cor. 5:21; I Pet. 2:24)
XI. GRACE AND THE NEW BIRTH
We believe that in order to be saved, sinners must be born again; that the new birth is a
new creation in Christ Jesus; that it is instantaneous and not a process; that in the new birth the
one dead in trespasses and sins is made a partaker of the divine nature and receives eternal life,
the free gift of God; that the new creation is brought about by our sovereign God in a manner
above our comprehension, solely by the power of the Holy Spirit in connection with divine truth,
so as to secure our voluntary obedience to the Gospel; that its proper evidence appears in the
holy fruits of repentance, faith and newness of life.
(John 3:3, 8; II Cor. 5:17; I John 5:1; Acts 16:29-33; II Pet. 1:4; Rom. 6:23; Eph. 2:1-10; Col.
2:13)
XII. JUSTIFICATION
We believe that justification is that judicial act of God whereby He declares the believer
righteous upon the basis of the imputed righteousness of Christ; that it is bestowed, not in
consideration of any works of righteousness which we have done, but solely through faith in the
Redeemer’s shed blood.
(Rom. 3:24; 4:5; 5:1, 9; Gal. 2:16; Phil. 3:9)
XIII. SANCTIFICATION
We believe that sanctification is the divine setting apart of the believer unto God, accomplished in a threefold manner; first, an eternal act of God, based upon redemption in Christ, establishing the believer in a position of holiness at the moment he trusts the Savior; second, a continuing process in the saint as the Holy Spirit applies the Word of God to the life; third, the final accomplishment of this process at the Lord’s return.
(Heb. 10:10-14; John 17:17; I Cor. 1:30; II Cor. 3:18; Eph. 3:25-27; I Thess. 4:3, 4; 5:23, 24; I
John 3:2, 3; Jude 24, 29; Rev. 22:11)
XIV. THE SECURITY OF THE SAINTS
We believe that all the redeemed (the truly born again) are kept by God’s power and are
thus secure in Christ forever.
(John 6:37-40; 10:27-30; Rom. 8:1, 35-39; I Cor. 1:4-8; I Pet. 1:5; Jude 1)