Good news.
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There is one God, creator of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three Persons—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. These three are the same in substance, power, and glory, and unified in the Godhead, so that we worship one God.

Genesis 1:26; Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 3:16; Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14; 1 Corinthians 8:6; John 1:1, 14; Isaiah 9:6; Titus 2:13; 2 Peter 1:1; Acts 5:3–4; 2 Corinthians 3:17; Hebrews 9:14; 1 Corinthians 2:11.

Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God who took on humanity to become the God-man at the original Christmas event. As the second Person of the Trinity, He was and continues to be eternally one with God the Father, of whose Person and glory He is the unique and accurate expression. To become human, He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, so that two entire and perfect natures—the divine and the human—were united in the one Person, Jesus of Nazareth.

Isaiah 9:6; John 1:1–2, 14, 18; John 14:9; Romans 9:5; Romans 8:3; Galatians 4:4–5; Hebrews 1:3, 8, 10; 2:14–15; 4:15; 1 Timothy 2:5; Titus 2:13; 2 Peter 1:1; 1 John 1:1–3.

The Holy Spirit, as the third Person of the Trinity, is eternally one with the Father and the Son. He is referred to in the Old Testament Scriptures as “the Spirit of God”, at times emphasising the close, personal care and power of God. In these Old Testament times, the Spirit is the communication from the Godhead, undifferentiated regarding the Persons of the Trinity, with His creation.

In the New Testament, He is called “the Holy Spirit”. There are three great steps in the work of the Spirit in this age. His first great work was the incarnation of the Son, achieved by the Holy Spirit overshadowing the womb of the Virgin Mary so that Jesus was physically born by the Spirit, bringing the eternal Son into her womb. In this unique way Jesus was “born of the Spirit”.

The second great work of the Spirit in the New Testament age was communication between the Father in Heaven and His only begotten Son on earth after our Lord was constituted as the Christ, the “anointed one”. At our Lord’s baptism in the River Jordan, Jesus was baptised by the Holy Spirit and anointed by the same Spirit from the Father for leadership as the Christ, introducing the Kingdom of God on earth. “Messiah” in Hebrew and “Christos” in Greek carry the idea of being anointed to be King. Our Lord did His ministry as the Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit sent from the Father. The Father in Heaven brought His Kingdom down to earth by anointing His chosen ruler, Jesus of Nazareth, as the Christ.

So the Holy Spirit first acted as the Spirit of the Father communicating the Son—the “Word” or “outspeaking” of the Father—to the womb of Mary in the incarnation, and secondly as the Spirit of the Father anointing Jesus as the Messiah. Christ’s ministry was thus the very work of the Father for these two reasons.

The third great work of the Spirit, revealed by the New Testament, began with and after our Lord’s Passion and ascension to the right hand of the Father and continues today. Jesus, the God-man, was made Lord of Lords in glory and was given the Holy Spirit by the Father to send. The Holy Spirit was sent on behalf of and from the Lord Jesus to the waiting believers, parallel to how the Father sent the Spirit onto Christ at His baptism in Jordan. The exalted Lord was now the One on whose behalf the Spirit would operate on earth. The Holy Spirit’s role was to be “the Spirit of Christ”. Thus the Holy Spirit was sent by the Father and the Son from Heaven on the day of Pentecost to be the formal representative (Vicar) of Christ on earth and achieve His divine purpose in the world and through the Church. The ministry of the Spirit now is to glorify the Son and execute His Lordship on earth.

The Holy Spirit also works to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgement. The worst example of sin, which needs the Spirit’s conviction, is to leave Christ out of your life. The Spirit’s conviction of righteousness is about the righteousness of God, offered from heaven through belief in Christ. This gospel offer is available because He has been resurrected and lifted in His ascension to the greatest place of acceptance and justification in Heaven. The Holy Spirit also illumines the fact that all other contenders for leadership over humanity and the world, chief among them Satan, have been judged and dismissed by Christ’s victory at the cross of Calvary. The ministry of the Holy Spirit in the Church is how the Lord of the Church in Heaven continues His work through His Church on earth.

Matthew 1:18–20; 3:16; Mark 1:8; Luke 1:35; 4:1, 14; John 1:1, 33; 15:26; 16:7–25; Acts 1:5; 2:33; Romans 8:11.

The Scriptures, consisting of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, are the infallible Word of God. Their verbal inspiration by the Holy Spirit has guaranteed their full inerrancy. As God-breathed, the Scriptures ensure the full truthfulness of the language of the first writers and so are without error in their original documents. These Scriptures are the full and complete revelation of His will for the salvation of people and the final divine authority on all matters that they affirm, not just faith and doctrine.

John 17:17; 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21.

Humankind was made in the image of God and for fellowship with Him. By transgression of God’s command, humanity fell from fellowship with God and was corrupted. The image was marred but not destroyed, and all humanity is still in the image of God. We, the human race, are like a beautiful cathedral set on a hill but bombed and scarred by sin, no longer able to reflect God’s glory and fulfil the purpose for which we were created. As a consequence of the Fall, all humans are spiritually dead, under Satan’s dominion and control, and subject to God’s wrath and condemnation. Apart from God’s grace, humankind is helpless, hopeless, and totally depraved in the sense that sin has affected every area of humanity.

Romans 3:23; Romans 5:12; Galatians 3:22; Ephesians 2:8–9.

To redeem humankind from the guilt, penalty, and power of sin, Jesus Christ took on humanity to become the God-man and died a sacrificial death as our substitute and representative. By His resurrection, God’s acceptance of His atoning death was demonstrated and Christ’s righteousness made available to us for justification. This atonement is sufficient for the whole world but effective only in those who receive it.

Sinners are justified and reconciled to God through repentance and faith, not through personal merit, but solely on the basis of God’s gracious gift of righteousness in Jesus Christ, received through faith.

John 1:11–12; John 3:16–18; 4:42; 11:51; Acts 13:38–39; Galatians 4:4–5; 1 Timothy 2:3–6; 4:9–11; 2 Peter 2:1; 1 John 2:2; 4:14–15.

The ministry of the Holy Spirit is necessary for the initial understanding of the gospel, being drawn to Christ, and the ability to exercise a choice in accepting God’s provision of salvation. No person comes to faith in Christ and is saved on their own initiative alone. Rather, it is the sovereign grace of God that awakens people to search for God.

The Holy Spirit convinces sinners of their sinfulness, leads them to personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, and brings them to spiritual new birth to become God’s children and participate in fellowship in Christ. The Holy Spirit makes the presence of Christ real in believers, witnesses to their relationship with God, leads them into all truth, bestows gifts for effective service, and produces graces for holy living and empowerment for evangelism.

John 3:3; 6:44; Acts 11:15–16; 1 Corinthians 12:13; 2 Corinthians 1:21–22; Galatians 3:2; 1 John 3:24; 4:13.

The “universal church” is the body of people whom God has separated from the world through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. All regenerate (born again) people are members of this universal church, which takes local form wherever groups of believers unite for worship, fellowship, and service in accordance with scriptural principles. Salisbury Baptist Church is such a local expression of the universal church.

The universal church is not tied to any denomination or human organisation. As a local expression of the universal church, Salisbury Baptist Church may affiliate with similar Bible-believing churches where this can be done without too much compromise. While feasible, we choose fellowship with the Queensland Baptist Union and balance the dangers of independence against too close a dependence on organisations or fellowships distant from the truth of the Word of God.

The ministries of the Old Testament priests, prophets, and kings were Spirit-anointed roles in that period, preparatory for the coming Messiah. Christ’s work has taken over these three offices, so the New Testament Church needs no further ministry other than Christ’s. Jesus is God’s one true High Priest, and His heavenly ministry comes out in two ways in the church:

1. All New Testament believers express Christ’s heavenly Ministry. This is the “Priesthood of all Believers” and the ministry of all church members; the members of the Church are its ministers.
2. Christ from Heaven has given the church an outworking of His leadership Ministry in the charismatically based “offices of leadership” discussed in Ephesians 2:20 and 4:11–12. This is the Ministry of the Church, which the Baptist denomination has in the past ordained.

God also calls the Church to lift individual Christians into leadership roles that are not charismatically defined but based in character and godly aspiration, as detailed in 1 Timothy 3. The intersection of the charismatically gifted ministry leadership offices of Ephesians 2 and 4 and the leadership offices of church members as part of their ministry is seen in the Bible when apostles sat with the group of elders in the first church and evangelists and pastor-teachers sit with elders in the continuing church. The church recognises this by ordaining pastor-teachers, commissioning missionaries, appointing elders and other leaders, and receiving and sending itinerant ministries following New Testament practice.

Matthew 16:18; John 15:1–8; Acts 6:1–6; 13:1–3; 14:23; 20:28; Galatians 6:2; Ephesians 4:1–16; 5:21–25; Colossians 1:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:11, 14; 2 Timothy 5:22.

Baptism is an ordinance of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a public declaration of a person’s faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. In accordance with New Testament Scripture, it should be administered to believers only and by total immersion, symbolising the believer’s identification with Christ in death, burial, and resurrection; the remission of sins; and the believer’s dedication to God to live and walk in newness of life.

Matthew 28:19; Mark 16:16; Acts 8:36–38; 10:46–48; 18:8; Romans 6:3–4; 1 Corinthians 12:12–13; 1 Peter 3:21.

The Lord’s Supper, or Communion, is an ordinance instituted by the Lord Jesus Christ to be celebrated by believers with the elements of bread and wine until the end of the age. It commemorates, declares, and gives thanks for the Lord’s substitutionary death. Its celebration expresses our communion with God and the saints of all ages and our special fellowship in the Body of Christ, of which Christ is Head.

Acts 2:42; 1 Corinthians 10:16; 1 Corinthians 11:23–30.

At the end of this age, according to His promise, Jesus Christ will return personally, physically, and visibly to earth in His glory. This blessed hope purifies and enlivens true Christian faith. The full consummation of the Kingdom of God awaits His return.

Matthew 24:42–44; 28:1–20; Mark 13:26–36; Luke 12:37–40; 1 Corinthians 1:7–8; 11:26; 1 Thessalonians 2:19; 3:13; 4:13–18; 5:1–11; Titus 2:13; 1 Peter 1:13; 2 Peter 3:11–12; 1 John 2:28; Revelation 3:11; 20:4–6.

There is to be a bodily resurrection from the dead for all people. Jesus was resurrected bodily from the grave. The believer will be resurrected to everlasting blessedness and joy in the presence of the Lord; the unbeliever to everlasting and conscious punishment. The timing of these resurrections is that Jesus was the “first fruits” on the original Easter Sunday morning; believers will be raised at the aspect of the Second Coming relevant to them; and the lost just before the final judgement at the great white throne in the Book of Revelation.

Daniel 12:2; Matthew 22:29–32; Luke 24:39; John 5:21–29; 6:39–40; Romans 3:4; 1 Corinthians 15:35–38; Revelation 20:4–6, 11–15.

God has appointed a final judgement for the world. After that time, Jesus Christ will judge every person, and each will receive reward or punishment according to their deeds. This judgement of our works does not change that salvation is by faith; our works will declare the presence or absence of saving faith.

Every human life, without exception other than Christ Himself, is sinful and hopelessly lost. Without the righteousness of Christ graciously imputed, all are lost and headed for eternal damnation. Those judged saved by Christ, in their resurrected and glorified bodies, will receive their rewards and dwell forever with the Lord. The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment.

Daniel 12:2; Matthew 13:39–43; John 3:18–20, 36; 1 Corinthians 3:10–15; Philippians 3:20–21; Revelation 14:9–13; 20:11–15.