Doctrinal Statement
Washington Reformed Seminary
The doctrinal position of WRS is historically that of conservative, evangelical Christianity. RPSW rests firmly upon the integrity and inerrancy of the Holy Scriptures and, therefore, wholeheartedly accepts the great basic doctrines of the historic Protestant Christian faith. Traditionally, WRS graduates stand for these great truths, and it is the desire of RPSW to continue to provide personnel for service in these ranks. The Doctrinal Statement, which every board, administration, staff and faculty member must sign, is as follows:
- We believe the scriptures of the Old and New Testament of the inspirited Word of God, the only inerrant and infallible rule of faith and practice.
- We believe in the one God revealed as eternally existing in three equal persons, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. We believe in the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe in the Holy Spirit as a divine Person, a personality distinct from the Father and the Son.
- We believe that God created an innumerable host of angels, some of whom followed the lead of Lucifer, now called Satan, in rebelling against God, thereby bringing sin into the universe. We believe in Satan’s complete defeat by the Lord Jesus Christ.
- We believe that man was created in the image of God, that he sinned and thereby incurred not only physical death but also that spiritual death which is separation from God; and that all human beings are born with a sinful nature and, in the case of those who reach moral responsibility, become sinners in thought, word and deed. And with such a nature, they are incapable of producing anything acceptable to God. We believe in the man’s need of repentance, redemption and justification through faith alone in Christ crucified and risen from the dead.
- We believe that Jesus Christ was begotten of the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary, and is true God and true man. We believe that He died for the sins of men as representative and substitutionary sacrifice and that His death was a sufficient expiation for the guilt of all men. We believe in the resurrection of the crucified body of our Lord, in His ascension into heaven and in His present life there for us as High Priest and Advocate also the King of kings. We believe in the personal return in glory to consummate His Kingdom.
- We believe that men are justified by grace through faith, on the ground of the shed blood of Christ, and that all who receive the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior are born again of the Holy Spirit and thereby become children of God the Father.
- We believe in the bodily resurrection of the just and the unjust the everlasting conscious blessedness of the saved and the everlasting conscious punishment of the lost.
- We believe that it is the duty of each believer to live a holy life unto God, keeping himself unspotted from the world, and that it is God’s intention that this shall be accomplished in the believer’s life by his constant dependence on the divine enablement of the indwelling Holy Spirit. We believe in the illuminating, indwelling and sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit enabling the Christian to witness effectively to the gospel and to serve responsibly in the world.
- We believe that the Church of Jesus Christ had its historical beginning at Pentecost; is composed solely of believers; is the Body and Bride of our Lord; and that it will be completed as believers fulfill their duty by making Christ known. We believe in one, holy, and universal church as the body of Christ, and her essential task of worship, preaching, fellowship, praying, service, and mission.
- We believe in the resurrection of all men either to eternal life or to eternal death as God shall judge them in justice and love.
- We believe in the responsibility of the church transforming people and culture in the contemporary context, in obedience to God according to the Scriptures to the realization of the kingdom of God.
- We believe in the personal, bodily and victorial return of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will then set up His kingdom upon the earth, after which He will deliver the Kingdom to God the Father, that the Godhead may be all in all.