The Gospel
The gospel is the good news about God’s salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. This is the core of what we believe at Calvary Chapel. God the Father sent His Son, Jesus Christ, who lived a perfect life, died in the place of sinful people, and rose again, and He gives eternal life and His Holy Spirit to all who believe. We are believers in this gospel gathered in this local church. Thus, the gospel defines who we are!
What is Calvary Chapel’s particular identity within the body of Christ?
First, we hold to the historic Christian faith. We believe the truths that Christians everywhere believe about God (that He is the Triune, sovereign creator of the universe), about Jesus (his deity, humanity, virgin birth, perfect life, miracles, substitutionary and atoning death, resurrection, ascension, and sure return), and about people (that though we are created in God’s image we are fallen sinners).
Second, we stand in the tradition of the Reformation. We believe that the scripture alone is our supreme authority for faith and practice, and that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone.
Third, we are evangelical. We take seriously the Great Commission to “Go and make disciples.” In order to believe the gospel, people first need to hear it.
Finally, it is our conviction that Jesus ordained baptism and the Lord’s table for his church as outward, visible signs of God’s inward, invisible work of grace. We practice believer’s baptism; that is, we baptize those who profess faith in Christ. We celebrate the Lord’s table regularly, typically on the first Sunday of each month.
Statement of Faith
- We believe the Bible to be the inspired, true and authoritative Word of God and supreme authority in all matters of faith and practice.
- We believe God eternally exists as three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; that each person is fully God; and yet there is only one God.
- We believe that Jesus Christ was begotten of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, and is the true Son of God and the true Son of Man.
- We believe that man was created in the image of God; that by sinning he incurred the penalty of death; that all men are born with sinful nature, and upon reaching the age of accountability become sinners in word, thought and deed, and without repentance and faith in Jesus Christ as Savior, are lost.
- We believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, and that He arose again from the dead, and ascended into Heaven, where He is now our Mediator and High Priest.
- We believe in the personal, premillennial and imminent return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to receive His own.
- We believe that we are justified by faith in the finished work of Christ on Calvary.
- We believe in the deity of the Holy Spirit who convicts, converts, sanctifies and endues with power for service.
- We believe that the Church of God, the Bride of Christ, is composed of believers called out from all nations, created anew in Christ Jesus and Baptized by the Holy Spirit into one body.
- We believe in the bodily resurrection of the just and unjust, the everlasting felicity of the saved and the everlasting punishment of the lost.
- We believe that all believers and those who have examined their hearts according to 1 Corinthians 11:23-30 are welcome to sit at the Lord’s Table.