We agree with the Protestant Reformation’s emphasis on God’s revealing Himself in the Bible alone, and that we can be saved by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone:
- Bible Alone
- Grace Alone
- Faith Alone
- Christ Alone
More about what we believe
By the 1500’s corruption of the simple truth of salvation through faith in Christ alone had raised alarm among men like Martin Luther and John Calvin. Horrified that such corruption had led to people trying to pay for the salvation of family members with money. These men preached salvation as it was preached by Jesus and the disciples, recorded in the Bible. They encouraged Christians to trust in the accomplished work of Jesus evident in His life, death and resurrection (Romans 3: 21-26). They taught what the Bible says, that it is possible to be assured of being saved and loved by the All Holy God in spite of our guilt and sins. They taught what the apostle Paul wrote, that God does not compromise His holiness and perfect justice by saving sinners, but, rather, by pouring his wrath out on Jesus (Matthew 27: 46), He was willing to have Jesus pay the price for our guilt. When we place our faith in Jesus, acknowledging that He is righteous in contrast to our sinfulness, His obedience of the Law is considered as our obedience (Romans 3: 21-26). This key truth is referred to in the Bible as justification.
As the Biblical truth taught by Luther, Calvin, John Knox, Guido de Bres and others was debated, those who were determined to look to God’s Word alone to inform their understanding of God, man, salvation and the Church, wrote documents to serve as road maps of the Bible. They knew that their writings was not inspired and without error as the Bible alone is, but they trusted that to the degree that their writings were in submission to the Bible, they would be helpful in refuting understandings of God and man that contradict the Bible. The pastors who wrote these documents realized that Jesus kept His promise to rule His Church after His resurrection and return to heaven, known as the ascension, through the discussion and unity of a plurality, first of His apostles, and then through officers described in the Bible as elders (Acts 20: 17-32; 1 Peter 5: 1-5). The word, “Presbyterian,” is an English transliteration of the Biblical term for, “elders.” The Biblical, “road maps,” or secondary standards as they are known, of our denomination, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, are the Westminster Standards.