Article 1 EFCA Statement of Faith

 We believe in one God, Creator of all things, holy, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in a loving unity of three equally divine persons:  the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Having limitless knowledge and sovereign power, God has graciously purposed from eternity to redeem a people for Himself and to make all things new for His own glory.

     God has always been and always will be.  This foundation of an infinite God is the basis for Him being the creator.  He is bigger than His creation and thus has no limits.  The Bible is His perfect gift to mankind for understanding who God is.  It is imperative to understand that God’s word (Bible) is inerrant and is the actual truth of human history.  This perfect manuscript of His love for us states that “They” created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1).  The Bible also clearly states that God made all things and that there would be nothing if not for Him (John 1:3).  They made man in their image which clearly indicates creation coming from God (Gen. 1:26).  I firmly believe that what God teaches about creation is true and that all of man’s attempts to have an alternative theory of creation fall short of being realized when fully and completely reasoned through the concept.  All of them, big bang theory, evolution, aliens, etc., have too many holes that cause us to leap for understanding, thus causing God’s creation story to be an even stronger theory that requires minimal faith to believe.

     When it comes to the Triune nature of God, it can be a little overwhelming as we are finite creatures and He is infinite.  He is three distinct persons that have specific roles for interacting with Their creation, yet They are wholly one God.  To fully explain how this works is impossible since there is nothing like Him to compare to (Isaiah 40:25).  He can be everywhere and with everyone always (Isaiah 57:15).  Many texts in the Bible clearly have God referring to Himself in the plural, or as I like to call it, referring to His relational self (Gen. 1:26, 11:7, 3:22).  This relational portrayal confirms that God has three equal interacting persons that are fully the same being.  While God’s attributes lead us to some understanding of who He is, we can never fully grasp the limitlessness of each one.  While the list of attributes is inexhaustible there are several that are commonly understood.  God is omnipresent as alluded to above, He is perfect (both in relationship with Himself and His being), also omniscient, sovereign, holy and just to name a few.  Somehow, with all of God’s attributes we can see a perfect balance and blending of them.  Yet, we can’t even begin to understand the greatness of these attributes, nor can we ever know all of them.

     The risk in not understanding God’s nature and attributes, is that we risk making God much smaller than He is.  Especially in a western culture that is promoting the idea that we are our own god, it is critical that God is limitless within His nature.  This cultural trend makes it difficult for us to love Him with everything that we are, as we are called to (Deut. 6:5).  We can’t truly appreciate, worship or understand how blessed we are to be grafted into His family when we make Him small, in essence, we take God for granted.  But, when we study His word and begin to understand who and what God is about, we can use our limited minds to make God bigger than any situation, problem or circumstance thus allowing us to truly worship Him with joy and awe.

     We will never fully understand God’s power and sovereignty.  With that as a starting point, it is clear throughout the entirety of scripture that God is only limited by Himself.  An infinite power that has no limits is just that.  His sovereignty is just as baffling while we can begin to scratch the surface of this attribute, God has a plan for all mankind, fully having a plan for each one of us to glorify Him.  This means He will use His power in His time to glorify Himself, while allowing us to be used as His vessels to bring people closer to Him.  How amazing that we can worship Him whole wholeheartedly and trust Him completely as He uses us for the glory of His kingdom.