We, the Members of PTX Church, believe each member shall abide by the following doctrinal essentials.
The Holy Bible is the true, inerrant, and infallible Word of God. The Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth without any mixture of error for its matter. Scripture reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of the Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinion should be tried. All scripture is a testimony to Jesus Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.
Ex 24:4 * Deut 4:1-2, 17-19 * Josh 8:34 * Ps 19:7-10, 18; 119:11, 89, 105, 140 * Is 8:20; 34:16;
40:8 * Jer 15:16; 36:1-32 * Matt 5:17-18; 15:1-9; 22:29 * Luke 21:33; 24:44-46 * John 5:39;
16:13-15; 17:17 * Acts 2:16-47; 17:11 * Rom 15:4; 16:25-26 * 1 Cor 2:13 * Col 2:8; 16-23 * 1 Thes
2:13 * 1 Tim 1:3-7 * 2 Tim 3:15-17 * Heb 1:1-2; 4:12 * 1 Pet 1:25 * 2 Pet 1:19-21 * Rev 22:18-19
The LORD our God is one God who is Holy, infinite, and immortal. God is infinite in greatness, wisdom, power, love and righteousness. He is merciful and gracious, patient, and abundant in goodness and truth. He is the Creator of all things, designer of all things, sustainer of all things, and will bring all things to their proper end in His time. God infinitely exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each having the whole divine essence, distinguished but undivided, all infinite without any beginning or end.
Gen 50:20 * Ex 4:6-7 * Deut 6:4 * 1 Kings 8:27 * Job 42:2b * Ps 103:8-9; 104:20-24, 27-30;
145:11-13 * Prov 16:4, 33; 19:21 * Is 6:1-3; 40:13-14; 43:15; 45:7; 46:9-11 * Jer 10:12 * Ez
36:22-23 * Dan 4:29 * Hos 2:21-22 * Amos 3:6 * Matt 3:16-17; 11:27; 28:19 * Luke 1:35 * John
1:1, 14, 17-18; 4:24a; 10:30; 12:37-40; 15:26; 17:9 * Acts 2:23; 4:27-28; 17:24-25, 28 * Rom
8:10-11, 28-30; 9:14-23; 11:29-36 * 1 Cor 1:3, 20-25; 2:11b; 8:6; 12:11 * 2 Cor 13:13 * Eph
1:4-6, 11-12, 14; 2:18 * 1 Tim 6:16 * Heb 6:17 * Jam 1:12-17 * 1 John 4:7-10 * 1 Pet 2:8 * 2 Pet
1:1; 3:9 * Rev 1:8; 4:8, 11; 13:8; 15:4; 17:8
In the beginning God made all things very good. He created man in His own image. Satan, using the subtlety of the serpent, tempted Eve who in turn tempted Adam to rebel against God and choose their selfish desires over God’s command. This did not catch God off guard as He knew before creation mankind would rebel, or sin, against Him. Before creation God established man would be saved from sin into eternal life through Jesus Christ alone to the praise and glory of His grace. God also established an eternal punishment for those who reject His grace in a place called Hell to the praise of His justice.
In order for man to receive God’s salvation, Jesus, fully God and fully man, came into this world being born of a virgin. He was tempted in all ways as we are, yet did not sin. Being sinless, fully God and fully man, Jesus Christ is made the mediator of the new and everlasting covenant of grace between God and man ever to be perfectly and fully the prophet, priest, and king of the Church of God forevermore. We are saved when we repent of our sin and trust in Jesus as the LORD and savior of our life. Once we have truly been saved, we can never lose our standing with God. We will sin, but nothing will separate us from God’s grace. When we sin, we must repent and allow God to restore us.
There are three (3) stages to the Christian life: justification, sanctification, and glorification. Justification is what is referred to as, “being saved.” To be saved, you are a sinner and because of your sin you are separated from God. There is nothing we can do to close this gap - we cannot earn our way to God. Jesus came to bridge the gap for us. He died on the cross to make atonement for sin. He died and was buried in the tomb. If He had just stayed dead nothing would have changed; mankind would still be separated from God. But, on the third day Jesus rose from the dead. He established victory, not only over death, but over sin! He calls us into an eternal relationship with Him. We must acknowledge our sin and turn from it while trusting in Jesus as LORD of our life. This means allowing Him to reign on the throne of our heart and putting Him first in everything we do. Justification is a one-time event; once saved, always saved. If we have truly been saved we cannot lose our forever standing with God.
However, there is a vitally important second stage to the Christian life called sanctification. Sanctification is walking daily with Jesus and growing in our relationship with Him. We spend time with Jesus through Bible reading, prayer, and having fellowship with other Christians. We learn how to grow with Jesus through discipleship. We are to be discipled and become disciplemakers. Sanctification is an ongoing process which begins at justification and continues through our lifetime until the third stage occurs, glorification.
Glorification occurs at the end of our life on Earth. When we die in the LORD, we enter into eternity in the presence of Jesus. We will receive a new resurrection body and will fully realize the glory of God and will join all of the others who have trusted in Jesus as LORD and Savior. Jesus’ ascension gives us hope as He promised to prepare an eternal place for us and return to call us to our eternal home.
Gen 1:1, 26-28, 31; 2:16-17, 25; 3:1-7, 17-19, 23-24 * Ex 14:14 * Lev 19:2 * Neh 9:6 * Job 2:9 *
Ps 8:4-7; 42:6, 12; 32:1-2; 33:6-9; 51:7, 14; 77:8-9 * Ecc 7:29 * Is 49:13-16; 53:5 * Jer 31:3 * Ez
36:26, 37:5, 14 * Matt 1:21; 2:6; 9:13; 13:49-50; 16:15-17; 19:25-26; 26:28, 69-75; 28:18-20 *
Mark 10:45 * Luke 2:11; 10:20; 19:10 * John 1:11-13, 18; 3:3-16, 36; 4:13-14; 5:21; 6:35-40,
44-45, 63-69; 7:37-39; 8:34; 10:14-16, 26-29; 11:25-27; 14:6; 15:5, 9-18; 17:2-3, 6-9, 19-24;
20:24-31 * Acts 2:36-38; 4:12; 5:30-31; 13:48, 52; 14:22; 16:13-15 * Rom 1:5; 2:4; 3:24-27; 4:3,
5; 5:1-11, 12-14, 18a, 19a; 6:12-18, 19-24; 8:14-25, 29-39; 9:10-18; 10:4, 13-17; 11:29; 16:26 * 1
Cor 1:2, 26-31; 6:11; 15:1-3, 10, 21a, 22a * 2 Cor 1:20; 3:18; 4:3-6, 17; 5:7, 14, 17-21; 7:1, 9-10;
11:3; 12:7-10 * Gal 1:11-12; 2:11-13, 19-20; 3:26-29; 4:4-5; 5:24 * Eph 1:4-5, 9-10, 13-14, 18-20,
21-23; 2:1-5, 8-9, 11-19; 3:6; 5:2, 25; 6:10-12 * Phil 1:9, 25; 2:12-13; 3:10; 4:3, 7 * Col 1:13-16,
19-23, 27; 2:9-14; 3:2 * 1 Thes 1:4, 10b; 3:3-4, 12; 5:9 * 2 Thes 1:3, 8-9; 2:13 * 1 Tim 1:15; 2:14 *
2 Tim 1:9, 12, 15-16; 2:19; 3:12; 4:18 * Titus 2:11-12 * Heb 2:11; 4:14-16; 7:25-26; 8:10; 9:14-15,
26; 10:10-18, 26-31; 11:1, 13, 39; 13:8-9 * Jam 1:2-4, 12-14, 17; 3:2, 9 * 1 Pet 1:2-5, 15-19,
23-25; 2:9; 4:12-14; 5:8-9 * 1 John 1:7, 9; 2:1-2, 15-17; 3:1-3; 4:10, 15-19; 5:11-13 * Rev 3:5;
5:9-10; 7:9-10; 13:8; 14:1; 20:10, 14-15
The Church is the fulfilment of God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3. Paul makes this clear in Galatians 3:7-29. The coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost launched the Church age. The Church is the Bride of Christ. One day Jesus will return to claim His bride to Himself as God brings judgment on this world.
A New Testament church of the LORD Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each congregation operated under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. In such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as LORD. Its scriptural officers are pastors, elders, and deacons. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the offices of pastor and elder are limited to men as qualified by scripture. The New Testament speaks also of the church as the Body of Christ which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages, believers from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.
Is 55:11 * Matt 16:15-19; 18:15-20; 28:20 * John 10:11, 26-28 * Acts 2:37-47; 5:11-14; 6:3-6;
8:35-38; 9:31; 13:1-3; 14:23, 27; 15:1-30; 16:5, 30-34; 20:28 * Rom 1:7; 6:3-6; 10:10; 16:3-5 * 1
Cor 1:2; 3:16; 5:4-5; 7:17; 9:13-14; 12:1-31; 16:19 * 2 Cor 6:16-18 * Gal 1:4 * Eph 1:3-5, 22-23;
2:19-22; 3:8-11, 21; 5:22-32 * Phil 1:1* Col 1:13-14, 18; 2:19 * 1 Tim 2:9-14; 3:1-15: 4:14 Titus
2:14 * Heb 10:23; 11:39-40 * 1 Pet 2:9-10; 3:21; 5:1-4 *1 John 1:3 * Rev 2:1-3:22; 18:4
God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. It is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood, or adoption. Marriage is the uniting of one (1) man and one (1) woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is God’s unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His Church and to provide for the man and the woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship, the channel of sexual expression according to Biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human race. The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are created in God’s image. The marriage relationship models the way God relates to His people. A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the Church. He has the God-given responsibility to provide for, to protect, and to lead his family. A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the Church willingly submits to the headship of Christ. She, being in the image of God as is her husband and thus equal to him, has the God-given responsibility to respect her husband and to serve as his helper in managing the household and nurturing the next generation. Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the LORD. Parents are to demonstrate to their children God’s pattern for marriage. Parents are to teach their children spiritual and moral values and to lead them, through consistent lifestyle example and loving discipline, to make choices based on Biblical truth. Children are to honor and obey their parents.
Gen 1:26-28; 2:15-25; 3:1-20 * Ex 20:12 * Deut 6:4-9 * Josh 24:15 * 1 Sam 1:26-28 * Ps 51:5;
78:1-8; 127:1-5; 128:1-6; 139:13-16 * Prov 1:8; 5:15-20; 6:20-22; 12:4; 13:24; 14:1; 17:6; 18:22;
22:6, 15; 23:13-14; 24:3; 29:15, 17; 31:10-31 * Ecc 4:9-12; 9:9 * Mal 2:14-16 * Matt 5:31-32;
18:2-5; 19:3-9 * Mark 10:6-12 * Rom 1:18-32 * 1 Cor 7:1-16 * Eph 5:21-33; 6:1-4 * Col 3:18-21 * 1
Tim 5:8, 14 * 2 Tim1:3-5 * Titus 2:3-5 * Heb 13:4 * 1 Pet 3:1-7
God creates each person as male or female as established at conception. These two distinct, complementary genders each reflect the image of God. Marriage is a Biblical institution established by God as described by scripture. Biblical marriage is the uniting of one (1) man and one (1) woman in an exclusive covenant commitment. Sexual intimacy is to occur only between a man and a woman who are married to each other. If engaged in outside of Biblical marriage, such sexual activity is sinful and offensive to God.
Gen 1:26-27, 2:21-25 * Ex 20:14 * Ps 139:13-16 * Matt 5:27-28 * 1 Cor 6:15-18; 7:2-5 * Eph
5:21-33 * Heb 13:4
God made mankind in His image. He did not do this with any other creature, only us. This means there is something special about people which separates us from the rest of creation. In fact, God set mankind to watch over and care for all living creatures and things. Not only did God create mankind to be special, He also created each person to be a unique individual. Not only does God create each person to be unique, but He gives us each talents, abilities, and interests which will help us live the life He designed for us. But, He also gave us free will. We can choose to follow God or not. He calls us each into a relationship with Him, but gives us the freedom to follow Him or not.
Since God has put so much thought and effort into each of our lives, it is clear we are each very special to Him. God desires us to not only have a relationship with Him, but also with each other. He tells us to be kind to one another, care for each other, and disciple one another. He also specifically instructs us to protect life and not have anger and hate towards one another.
Human life is special to God, and it must be special to us as well. God says to not murder, but also to protect the innocent which means there is a place for the defending of others and self defense. Scripture teaches there is a place for capital punishment, not out of revenge, but justice. The Church must stand against abortion, euthanasia, and any other action which lessens the value of life God has established.
Gen 1:26-27, * Ex 20:13 * Deut 6:1-9 * Job 31:15 * Ps 10:17-18; 34:17; 72:4, 12-14; 127:3;
139:13-14 * Prov 6:16-17; 24:11-12, 24-25; 28:17 * Is 44:24; 49:16; 61:1 * Jer 1:5 * Matt 5:21-22;
7:12; 19:14; 25:40; 28:18-20 * Luke 12:6-7 * Eph 4:32 * 1 Tim 5:1-25 * Jam 1:1-27 * 1 John 3:15