What We Believe

Faith Radio is a ministry of the University of Northwestern – St. Paul. Northwestern’s educational programs and radio ministries are firmly founded upon definitively formulated and explicitly stated biblical doctrines as follows:

I. THE SCRIPTURES

We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are verbally and plenary inspired of God, are inerrant in the original writings, and are the infallible authority in all matters of faith and conduct (II Timothy 3:16).

II. THE GODHEAD

We believe in one God, eternally existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (John 1:1,2). These three are equal in every divine perfection and execute distinct but harmonious offices in the work of creation and redemption (John 15:2).

III. THE FATHER

We believe in God the Father, Creator of heaven and earth, perfect in holiness, infinite in wisdom, measureless in power (Gen. 1:1, Ex. 15:11, Job 12:13, Matthew 19:26). We rejoice that He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men, that He hears and answers prayer (Matthew 6:6), and that He saves from sin and death all who come to Him through Jesus Christ (John 1:12).

IV. THE SON, JESUS CHRIST

We believe in Jesus Christ, the eternal and only begotten Son of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, sinless in His life, making atonement for the sin of the world by His substitutionary death on the cross. We believe in His bodily resurrection, His ascension into heaven, His present high priestly intercession for His people (Hebrews 9:24), and His personal, visible, imminent (Hebrews 9:28), and bodily return to this earth according to His promise.

V. THE HOLY SPIRIT

We believe in the person of the Holy Spirit who comes forth from God to draw the world to Himself, and to regenerate, sanctify, and comfort those who believe in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit transforms the believer, gives gifts to empower the body of Christ, and produces fruit in those who live by the Spirit.

VI. SALVATION

We believe that humans are created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26), that sin entered in Adam, and that all people by nature and by choice are sinners having incurred not only physical death but also that spiritual death which is separation from God (Rom. 3:23). We also believe that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Therefore, those who by faith, apart from human merit, works, or ceremonies, accept Christ as Lord and Savior are justified on the grounds of His shed blood and become children of God. We believe in the bodily resurrection of the just and the unjust (I Cor. 15:22, Acts 17:31). The saved will rejoice forever in God’s presence, and the lost will be forever separated from God in everlasting conscious punishment. We believe that every human being is responsible to God alone in all matters of faith (Jude 24).

VII. THE CHURCH

We believe in the Church – a living, spiritual body of which Christ is the Head and of which all regenerated people are members. We believe that a visible church is a company of believers in Jesus Christ, buried with him in baptism and associated for worship, work, and fellowship (Ephesians 1:22,23). We believe that to these visible churches were committed for observance “till He come” the ordinances of baptism (Matthew 3:13-15) and the Lord’s Supper (I Corinthians 11:25-26); and that God has laid upon these churches the task of persuading a lost world to accept Jesus Christ as Savior and to enthrone Him as Lord and Master. We believe that human betterment and social improvement are essential products of the Gospel. We believe that Church and State must be kept separate as having different functions, each fulfilling its duties free from the dictation or patronage of the other.

VIII. THE RESPONSIBILITY

We believe that we are under divine obligation to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered unto the saints by proclaiming to a lost world the acceptance of Jesus Christ as Savior and the enthroning of Him as Lord and Master (Jude 3, Acts 16:30, Colossians 3:1-3).