We believe the Bible is God’s infallible and authoritative Word, written by human authors under the supernatural inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

The Bible Is the Inspired Word of God

“And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the Lord hath said we will do.” Exodus 24:4

See also Exodus 34:27, Hebrews 4:12, and 2 Timothy 2:15.

The Ten Commandments are the first Word and set the pattern for all the rest of Scripture. First, the moment the commandments were written, they were authoritative. In the same way, the rest of Scripture was authoritative the moment it was written. It was not authoritative because the Church later decided it to be. It is not the Church that forms the Word, but the Word that forms the Church.

Second, God commissioned Moses to write and considered Moses’ words to have the same authority as His own. The first stone tablets were written by the finger of God (Exodus 31:18). After this, the people begged for Moses, rather than God, to communicate with them because they were too afraid. After the golden calf incident, God told Moses to cut two new stones like the first, and He would write on them as before (Exodus 34:1). However, this time He also told Moses to write what He said (Exodus 34:27).

The implication is that there is no difference in the authority of what God commanded the authors of Scripture to write. He considers their words to have the same authority as if He had written them with His own finger.

We know that the Bible is the Word of God from the testimony of Scripture itself. Jesus considered the Old Testament, His Bible, to be God’s Word (Matthew 22:41–44). Since we believe Jesus is the Son of God, we must believe His witness concerning Scripture.

The writers of the New Testament also considered the Old Testament and their own writings to be authoritative (1 Corinthians 2:12–13, Romans 3:1–2, 2 Peter 1:20–21, and 2 Peter 3:15–16). Considering the testimony of Scripture to support that the Bible is the Word of God may seem circular. However, we also have the inward witness of the Holy Spirit to know that the Bible is God’s Word (Ephesians 6:17 and Hebrews 4:12).

The inward witness of the Holy Spirit is just as necessary to recognize the Bible as the Word of God as that inward witness is to recognize that Jesus is the Son of God.

We believe that God created the heavens and the earth and all therein. From the sun, moon, and stars to the deepest oceans and the peaks of the highest mountains, God created all living creatures, great and small. He filled the sea, the air, and the earth while covering the land with grass, herbs, and fruit-bearing trees whose seed was in itself.

Heaven and Earth

“And God said, Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” Genesis 1:26

Man and Woman

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created He him: male and female created He them.” Genesis 1:27

“And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Genesis 2:16–17

The Introduction of Sin

“And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.” Genesis 3:6–7

Adam and Eve disobeyed God. Satan, the serpent, was cunning and, as mentioned in Genesis 3:1, more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. Satan was able to entice Eve and Adam to disobey God’s Word, thereby introducing sin into the world. Adam and Eve changed the relationship between God and humanity forever.

“Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.” Genesis 3:23

We believe there is one God, eternally existent in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The Bible speaks of one God but attributes the characteristics of God to three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God the Father created all things and planned the redemption of His people from all eternity (Genesis 3:14–15 and Ephesians 1:3–12). God the Son, Jesus, accomplished that redemption on the cross (Romans 3:21–24 and Galatians 3:13–14). God the Holy Spirit applies the benefits of that eternal redemption to all believers (John 3:5–8 and Titus 3:4–7).

The doctrine of the Trinity is a way of describing this biblical revelation of the nature of God. It states that God is one in essence, but that He exists in three Persons who are equal, eternal, inseparable, and interdependent.

The word “persons” fails to describe God perfectly because it can give the impression of three separate individuals. A more precise view is that God is one Being with three personal self-distinctions.

Why Use the Word Trinity?

Why should we accept the word Trinity as a way to describe God when it is not in the Bible? Heretical groups came onto the early Church scene and denied either the deity of Christ or the deity of the Holy Spirit. This drove Christians to search the Scriptures and develop a formal way to describe the Bible’s teaching about the nature of God.

The doctrine of the Tri-unity was the result. Tertullian, an early Church father, was the first to use the term Trinity around AD 215.

The Bible teaches that we have one God (Deuteronomy 6:4, Isaiah 43:10, 1 Corinthians 8:4–6, and Ephesians 4:4–6). At the same time, that one God is revealed progressively throughout Scripture as three Persons:

• God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are active in Creation (Genesis 1:1–2 and Colossians 1:16–17).
• Isaiah prophesies that the One born of the virgin would be Immanuel, God with us (Isaiah 7:14), and later calls the Messiah Mighty God and Eternal Father (Isaiah 9:6).
• The New Testament calls the Father God (John 6:27, John 20:17, 1 Corinthians 8:6, Galatians 1:1, Ephesians 4:6, Philippians 2:11, and 1 Peter 1:2).
• The New Testament explicitly declares Jesus Christ to be God (John 1:1, John 20:28, Titus 2:13, and Hebrews 1:8).
• The New Testament writers recognize the Holy Spirit as God (Acts 5:3–4, 1 Corinthians 2:10–11, 1 Corinthians 6:19, John 3:5–6, and Titus 3:5).
• The New Testament writers speak of the presence and work of the Father, Son, and Spirit together (Matthew 28:19, Mark 1:10–11, and 1 Peter 1:2).

We believe in the deity of Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, His sinless life, His miracles, His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, His bodily resurrection, His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and His personal return in power and glory.

Fully God and Fully Man

Crucial to our understanding of the Trinity is the Bible’s presentation of Jesus Christ as fully man (Matthew 8:23–27, Matthew 21:18, and John 11:32–36) and fully God (John 1:1–3, John 10:30, John 17:4–5, and Titus 2:13).

Jesus possessed both divine and human natures, unified in one Person. The two natures of Jesus coexisted in union without confusion or change, separation or division. Jesus Christ had to possess both natures in order to be our Lord and Savior.

Because He was fully divine, Jesus is able to be the perfect and eternal sacrifice for the complete atonement of our sins. Jesus is also our permanent High Priest, allowing us to be eternally reconciled to God (Hebrews 7:23–28).

Because He was fully human, Jesus was able to be our proper substitute on the cross, experience the wrath of God, and become our comfort and example for daily living (Hebrews 2:14–18).

Tempted Without Sin

Being divine, Jesus could not sin because God cannot change His nature (John 5:19). We might wonder, then, how He can truly identify with us in our struggles and temptations as the book of Hebrews promises.

Because He was human, Jesus did not conquer temptation without a struggle. We all struggle with temptation. When the struggle becomes powerful enough, it overcomes us and we eventually give in. Unlike us, Jesus continued resisting temptation until He had overcome.

“For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.” Hebrews 2:18

Born of a Virgin

The essential truth is that Jesus was both fully God and fully man. God was His Father, and Mary was His mother. Mary was a virgin, as Scripture records. In order for her to conceive, it had to be supernatural.

“Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14

See also Matthew 1:18–25.

His Sinless Life, Death, and Resurrection

Jesus lived His life without sin (Hebrews 4:14–16). If He had sinned in any way, His blood would not have qualified to be poured upon the mercy seat in heaven. There can be no forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood (Leviticus 17:11 and Hebrews 9:22).

Jesus’ death was for the sins of the entire world (2 Corinthians 5:15 and 1 John 2:2). Jesus was raised from the dead (Matthew 28:6, Mark 16:6, Luke 24:5, John 20:14–16, and 1 Corinthians 15:3–6). This signified His supreme victory and triumph over death and hell.

Death is the natural result of our separation from God through sin. Physical death is a shadow of spiritual death.

The Reigning King

Jesus now reigns as the immortal, invisible King who will one day return and establish His rule on earth at the appointed time (1 Timothy 3:16).

Jesus possesses all the attributes of God. He is omnipresent (Matthew 28:20), omnipotent (Matthew 28:18), omniscient (John 16:30), eternal (John 1:1–2), holy (Acts 3:14), and Creator (Colossians 1:15–17).

Jesus is the only way to experience a plentiful and fulfilling natural life (John 10:10). Jesus is the only way to God the Father and the only means of salvation (John 10:9 and John 14:6).

We believe in the ministry of the Holy Spirit to glorify Christ, convict humanity of sin and righteousness and judgment, and empower the believer.

The Spirit and the Temple of God

As we saw with the Trinity, God reveals the Person of the Holy Spirit progressively throughout Scripture. Wherever He appears, the Holy Spirit creates and inhabits the temple of God. The temple is the place where God dwells and shows forth His glory.

The first temple created was the universe, and so the Holy Spirit first appeared at Creation. When the Spirit hovered over the waters (Genesis 1:2), He was creating a natural revelation of the supernatural glory of heaven. Heaven and earth were established as a holy place of the Creator King.

The Holy Spirit continued to appear throughout the Old Testament. During the ministry of Moses, the people of God built the tabernacle, and the Holy Spirit came and filled it (Exodus 40:34–35), illustrating that this was the place where God dwelled and showed forth His glory.

During the reign of Solomon, a permanent temple was built, and the Spirit of God came and filled the temple in the same way (2 Chronicles 7:1–3).

When Israel was exiled for continually breaking God’s law, Solomon’s temple was destroyed. The prophets told of a magnificent temple in which the Spirit would dwell in an unprecedented way (Ezekiel 43:1–9). He would be poured into the hearts of all God’s people (Ezekiel 36:26–27 and Joel 2:28–29). When the exiles finally returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the temple, the Spirit did not inhabit it as He had before.

Jesus, the True Temple

The Incarnation brought the beginning of the fulfillment of this prophetic hope. At the baptism of Jesus, the Holy Spirit descended for the first time since before the exile because Jesus was the greatest temple of God (Mark 1:9–11).

The Gospel of John tells us that Jesus dwelled, or literally became the tabernacle, among us and embodied the glory of God (John 1:14 and John 2:19). Jesus was the place where God dwelled and showed forth His glory to His people in a new way.

The Spirit and the Church

After His death, resurrection, and ascension, Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit upon His followers. This fulfilled the promise of the prophets that God would pour out His Spirit in an unprecedented way upon His people (Joel 2:28–29 and Acts 2:1–21).

Just as the Holy Spirit inhabited the temple of God in the Old Testament, He now inhabits the people of God. He dwells in the people of God and shows forth His glory. This is the creation of the Church.

We, both individually and corporately, are the temple of God and the dwelling place of His Spirit (Ephesians 2:19–22 and 1 Corinthians 6:19–20).

The Spirit and Salvation

Since the Holy Spirit creates and inhabits the temple of God, and since we are that temple, the Spirit is the primary force throughout the process of our salvation.

The Holy Spirit regenerates believers so that we may turn from our sin, exercise faith in Christ, and receive the gift of salvation (John 3:3–5 and Titus 3:5–7).

In order to do this, the Holy Spirit leads us into truth, illuminating our minds and hearts to understand God’s Word (John 14:26, 1 John 2:20, 1 John 2:27, and Ephesians 1:17–18), and He produces obedience in us (1 Peter 1:1–2).

We believe the baptism in the Holy Spirit is an experience following salvation that empowers believers for life and service. We further believe His power and gifts are available to believers today.

We believe that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is an endowment of power, subsequent to conversion, given by God to anoint the believer for sanctification and evangelism (Acts 2:1–4, Acts 8:14–17, and Acts 19:1–6).

The main purpose in receiving the filling of the Holy Spirit is power (Acts 1:4–8). However, this is power for life, obedience, and holiness.

We believe the filling of the Holy Spirit produces fruit (Galatians 5:22–23). This fruit of the Spirit helps us in our relationships with and service to others.

We also believe the filling of the Holy Spirit produces gifts. We believe these gifts of the Spirit are still active within the Church and will remain active until the second coming of the Lord. Furthermore, we believe the development of the gifts of the Spirit should be encouraged by leadership for the benefit of the entire community of faith (1 Corinthians 12:1–7).

We do not believe that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a requirement for salvation (Acts 19:5–6). However, we encourage believers to pray to receive the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the primary force in creating, inhabiting, and building up the Church (Ephesians 2:21–22). The Holy Spirit works to bring about unity in the Church and power among individual members through the manifestation of fruit and gifts.

The Fruit of the Spirit

The filling of the Holy Spirit means that we will also manifest the gifts of the Spirit, though in varying ways. The Greek word charisma, or gift, is related to the word charis, or grace. The gifts of the Spirit are concrete expressions of the grace of God to us.

The acts of our sinful nature have to do with broken relationships and disunity in the Church (Galatians 5:19–21), and these acts are the opposite of the fruit of the Spirit.

This means the fruit of the Spirit does not refer merely to subjective characteristics. Instead, it refers to specific attitudes and actions, including love, patience, and kindness, that build relationships and unity in the Church. The extent of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives will be most evident in the way we treat the people around us.

The Gifts of the Spirit

The filling of the Holy Spirit means that we will also manifest the gifts of the Spirit, though in varying ways. The Greek word charisma, or gift, is related to the word charis, or grace. The gifts of the Spirit are concrete expressions of the grace of God to us.

Paul speaks of the gifts synonymously with service or ministries and effects or workings (1 Corinthians 12:4–11 and 1 Corinthians 12:27–28). Thus, it seems that a gift of the Spirit does not have as much to do with a personal ability as it does with the outworking of a ministry or an expression of grace.

In other words, the gifts of the Spirit are something we manifest, not something we possess. We manifest the gifts of the Spirit as we help others, teach, exercise faith, pray for healing, or offer a word of prophecy.

“But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all.” 1 Corinthians 12:7

It is easy to feel that your presence and participation are irrelevant, but Scripture teaches that each believer has been given a spiritual gift or gifts to be used for the common good. Your presence and ministry in and through the Church are therefore vital to our ability to be the living temple of God.

We believe salvation is a free gift received by grace through faith in the Person and work of Jesus Christ. Anyone can be restored to relationship as an heir of God through repenting, believing, and receiving Jesus as Savior and Lord.

The truth of salvation is revealed progressively throughout the Bible. God created us to be in relationship with Him, but from very early on that relationship was broken by sin.

God punished Adam and Eve for their sin by sending them out of the Garden of Eden to toil in labor, but He did not punish them eternally. Rather, He promised that a Seed of the woman would render a deathblow to Satan and to sin and death, though not before receiving mortal wounds Himself (Genesis 3:15). The Seed of the woman is Jesus Christ.

God’s forgiveness of Adam and Eve, and of every Old Testament believer after them, made necessary the ultimate sacrifice of Christ. The only way God could forgive sin while remaining true to His holy character was to send Jesus to pay the punishment that all His people, from the beginning to the end of time, deserve for their sin (Romans 3:25–26).

The redemptive work of Christ is the center of all history. God’s people throughout all time have had their salvation secured in the same way: by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Old Testament believers looked ahead through the shadows to that sacrifice, while we look back upon it with clarity.

Past, Present, and Future

The Bible speaks of our salvation as something that is past, present, and future. We have been saved (Romans 8:24, Ephesians 2:5, and Ephesians 2:8). We are being saved (1 Corinthians 1:18, 2 Corinthians 2:15, and Philippians 2:12–13). We will be saved (Romans 5:10, 1 Peter 1:13, and Hebrews 1:14).

It is helpful to think of salvation as encompassing regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. The salvation of our souls includes each of these works of God and more. Salvation is much more than simply the moment we profess faith in Christ.

Regeneration

Salvation is dependent upon the work of God, who must give us new life before we can repent of our sin and exercise faith in Christ.

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” John 3:5–6

Jesus describes the kind of change that must happen to a person in order for him or her to enter the Kingdom of God. It is a change effected by the Holy Spirit.

Because we are in bondage to sin and Satan, we can no more will ourselves to be saved than a dead person can will himself to rise to life or a blind person can will herself to see (Jeremiah 17:9, John 3:5–6, Romans 3:10–12, 1 Corinthians 2:14, and Ephesians 2:1–3).

We need the work of the Holy Spirit to restore our hearts from the pollution of sin and give us a new inclination toward God. We then respond to the Spirit’s work in our hearts by exercising faith in Christ. In this way, we receive salvation by God’s grace through faith in Christ (Galatians 3:6–14 and Ephesians 2:4–10).

Justification

When we are given new hearts and freely respond to the truth of the Gospel in faith, God justifies us. Justification is an act by which God pronounces the sinner righteous, putting him or her in a permanently right relationship with Himself (Romans 3:23–24).

God declares us not guilty by crediting the perfect obedience of Christ to our account (Romans 4:5). When we identify with Christ, the law is fulfilled perfectly in us (Romans 8:3–4).

With justification, an exchange takes place. Jesus took our sin and its punishment upon Himself at the cross. We are now clothed with His righteousness.

We believe Jesus will return one day to bring final judgment and that God will judge those who have believed in Him on the merits of Christ rather than their own merits. Those judged on the merits of Christ will enter everlasting life, while those judged on their own merits will enter everlasting judgment.

Sanctification

Although we have been saved through justification and experience many of God’s blessings, we still struggle with sin and live in a world where Satan rules. Sanctification is the process by which we are being saved as the Holy Spirit works in us to progressively free us from sin and make us more like Christ.

While obedience merits nothing toward our salvation, it is the necessary result of the Spirit’s presence in the lives of believers (Romans 6:1–7 and James 2:24–26).

The miracle of the New Covenant promised by the prophets is not that God would one day lower His holy standards for our lives. Instead, His Spirit would write His laws upon our hearts rather than upon tablets of stone, so that we would love and obey Him (Jeremiah 31:33, Deuteronomy 30:6, and Ezekiel 36:26).

As we examine our lives to see the fruit of obedience (Philippians 2:12–13 and 1 Peter 1:2–11), we must keep two things in mind. First, obedience is not something we produce but something the Spirit produces in us. Second, a Christian is not someone who is better than everyone else, but someone who is better than he or she once was.

Glorification

We look forward to the time when Christ comes again, our salvation reaches its culmination, and we are glorified with Him. This hope is founded upon the resurrection of Christ and the fact that the same Spirit who raised Him from the dead now dwells in us.

In Romans 8:28–30, Paul describes the progressive parts of our salvation, ending by saying, “Those whom He justified, these He also glorified.” Glorification was a future event for those in Paul’s day, just as it is for us. Yet Paul uses the past tense to stress the assurance of our hope.

He speaks as though it has already happened because it is guaranteed to come about according to God’s sovereign plan and work in our lives.

“Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6

We believe it is important to uphold the scriptural practices of the early Church. Therefore, we practice water baptism and regularly receive communion. We do not believe either practice is essential for salvation, but that they serve as demonstrations of our living faith in Christ.

An ordinance is an outward sign that we have faith in our covenant relationship with God (Romans 4:11). We consider an ordinance to be a visible demonstration of an invisible reality.

Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians prefer the term “sacrament” because it is associated with being a means of grace. While a sacrament is seen as a means of grace, an ordinance is a practice that demonstrates the participants’ faith.

We do not call them sacraments because we believe these rituals are outward expressions of faith rather than impartations of God’s grace.

At The Well Ministry, we recognize two ordinances, as do many Protestant churches: baptism and communion. Both ordinances were instituted by Jesus (Matthew 3:13–17 and Luke 22:14–20) and are specifically for the covenant community of faith.

Baptism

It is important to understand the symbolism of water baptism in order to grasp its significance. The New Testament tells us that washing with water symbolizes the washing away of our sin (Acts 2:38 and Acts 22:16).

The act of being placed under the water symbolizes being dead and buried with Christ (Romans 6:3–7 and Colossians 2:11–12). Only when we identify with Christ in His death and burial can we be raised out of the water to share in a spiritual resurrection to newness of life.

There is also significant symbolism in the water itself. In the Old Testament, water often symbolized the judgment of God. During the flood, most of humankind was consumed by the waters of God’s judgment while Noah and his family passed through.

Noah and his family were not less sinful or more deserving than those who were consumed by God’s wrath. Instead, God showed great mercy to them and saved them by His grace.

In 1 Peter 3:20–22, Peter calls the flood a baptism and compares it to the baptism we experience in the Christian community. Being underwater during baptism symbolizes the fact that a person is rightly under the judgment of God and that only God, by His mercy and grace, can bring that person through judgment and save him or her.

This salvation is through faith in Christ, who is our ark.

Communion

The Lord’s Supper, or communion, is an act of worship and a ceremonial meal in which we remember and renew our covenant relationship with God vertically and with our brothers and sisters in Christ horizontally.

Jesus instituted communion on the day the Passover lamb was to be sacrificed (Exodus 12:14–20 and Matthew 26:17–30), signifying that He would be the true Passover Lamb.

As the Passover celebration reminded the Israelites of their redemption from Egypt, communion reminds us of our redemption from death and the forgiveness of sin (1 Corinthians 11:23–26).

This covenant meal is our regular renewal of faith and recommitment to the Lord. This is why we should examine our hearts before partaking of communion.

We often hear people speak of recommitting their lives to the Lord. We should remember that this is what we do every time we receive communion. We remember His sacrifice and His love for us.