You are free to use this statement of faith or the RTI version to develop your own. Every believer should do this and continue to test their beliefs against the Scriptures.
What I Believe
1. There is but one God (Deuteronomy 4:39), who is eternal (Isaiah 57:15; Psalms 90:2; Psalms 90:4; Revelation 1:8; Revelation 4:8; John 8:58; Exodus 3:14; Isaiah 45:21; Isaiah 46:9-10; Galatians 4:4-5; Acts 17:30-31), a spirit (John 4:24), sovereign (Hebrews 1:3; Colossians 1:17; Acts 17:28; Nehemiah 9:6; 2 Peter 3:7; Job 12:23; Job 34:14-15; Job 38:32; Matthew 5:45; Matthew 6:26; Numbers 23:19; 2 Samuel 7:28; Psalms 33:14-15; Psalms 104:14; Psalms 104:29; Psalms 135:6; Psalms 139:16; Psalms 141:6; Psalms 148:8; Proverbs 16:1; Proverbs 16:33; Proverbs 20:24; Proverbs 21:1; Proverbs 30:5; John 17:17; Ephesians 1:11; Galatians 1:15; 1 Timothy 6:15; Jeremiah 1:5; 1 Corinthians 4:7), good (Psalms 86:4; Psalms 107:1), loving (1 John 4:16), holy (Isaiah 6:3; Revelations 4:8 ), transcendent (Isaiah 40:25), omnipotent (2 Kings 19:25; Psalms 135:6; Jeremiah 32:17; Jeremiah 32:27; Genesis 8:14; Luke 1:37; Matthew 19:26; Psalms 115:3; Matthew 3:9), omniscient (Job 37:16; 1 John 3:20; 1 Cor. 2:10-11; Hebrews 4:13; 2 Chronicles 16:9; Job 28:24; Matthew 10:29-30; Isaiah 46:9-10; Isaiah 42:8-9; Matthew 6:8; Matthew 10:30; Psalms 139:1-2; Psalms 139:4; Psalms 139:16; Romans 11:33), unchangeable (Psalms 33:11; Psalms 102:25-27; Malachi 3:6; James 1:17; Isaiah 46:9-11; Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:29; Zechariah 8:17), yet not existing in an eternally frozen pose but possessing Godly passions and emotions (Isaiah 62:5; Psalms 78:40; Ephesians 4:30; Exodus 32:10; Psalms 103:13; Isaiah 54:8; Psalms 103:17), and perfectly righteous (Psalms 7:11).
2. Every unregenerate person is a sinner (Romans 3:23), spiritually dead in his sins (Ephesians 2:1), possessing a deceitful heart (Jeremiah 17:9), is full of evil (Mark 7:21-23), wholly unable to understand spiritual truths (1 Corinthians 2:14), is unrighteous, does not understand and does not seek for God (Romans 3:10-12), is helpless and ungodly (Rom. 5:6), is a slave to his own sin nature (Romans 6:14-20), is hostile in mind and deed to God (Colossians 1:21), loves darkness rather than light (John 3:19), is dead in his trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1), naturally and rightfully are objects of God's wrath (Ephesians 2:3), and unless elected to salvation by God, are destined to eternal condemnation in Hell—a place of outer darkness, a lake of fire, a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth, a place of eternal separation from the blessings of God, a prison, a place of torment where the worm doesn’t turn or die (Matthew 8:11-12; Mark 9:42-48; Luke 16:19-31; Jude 1:3-13; Revelation 20:11-15).
3. Because of their sinful condition (Romans 6:14-20), the unregenerate do not and cannot freely choose to believe the gospel (Romans 3:10-12; Romans 6:14-20) and that they cannot come to God unless it has been granted to them, such that no one might boast (1 Corinthians 1:17-20; John 1:13), from the Father (John 6:65) who appoints them to eternal life (Acts 13:48 ) and grants that they believe (Philippians 1:29).
4. God owes no person mercy or grace, only justice. Grace is getting what you don't deserve and mercy is not getting what you do. God in His love and mercy and out of solely the kind intention of His own will (Ephesians 1:5), from before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4), elected (Mark 13:20; Romans 8:33), chose (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14), and predestined (Ephesians 1:5,11) some of the lost to salvation and left the others to go their natural way, to eternal damnation (Ephesians 2:3).
5. God's sovereign predestination of the elect was not based upon God looking into the future to see who would choose Him (this would mean that God learned) for no one would choose Him because they are slaves to their sinful natures (Romans 3:10-12; Romans 6:14-20), full of evil (Mark 7:21-23), enemies of God (Romans 5:10), with nothing good dwelling in them (Romans 7:18 ), hateful, disobedient, and enslaved to their lusts (Titus 3:3). Instead, the election of God was wholly unconditional, based upon His decree, plan, and purpose; it is the expression of His will and good pleasure, not a response to man's free-will choices. (Deuteronomy 7:6-7, Isaiah 55:11, John 6:44, John 15:16, Acts 13:48, Romans 8:28-30, Romans 9:11-13, 1 Corinthians 1:26-29, Ephesians 1:3-5, Ephesians 2:4-7, 2 Timothy 1:9)
6. The elect's believing is based solely on the grace of God (Ephesians 1:7; Ephesians 2:8 ), not the will of man (John 1:13; Romans 9:13), and not based upon any foreseen goodness in man (Romans 9:11-13). If God elected based upon the foreseen goodness or choice of someone, then God would be a respecter of persons. God's decisions are according to His own perfectly holy will, His decrees according to His own purpose (Ephesians 1:4-5), because God is not a respecter of persons (Romans 2:11).
7. Furthermore, those who receive Christ (John 1:12) are justified by faith alone (sola fide) (Romans 5:1), through grace alone (sola gratia) (Ephesians 2:8; Galatians 3:6-11), in Christ alone (solus Christus) (John 14:6(John 14:6; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; Colossians 1:13-18 ), all due strictly to the glory of God alone (soli Deo gloria) (1 Corinthians 10:31; 1 Pete 4:11; Revelation 1:6; 2 Peter 3:1; Ephesians 3:21; Revelation 7:12; Romans 11:36).
8. God loves all peoples of the world (Matthew 5:43-48; John 3:16), not just the Jews (John 7:35; Romans 1:16; Romans 2:10), and gave His Son as a propitiation (1 John 4:10), not only for the Jews to whom the Son was sent (Matthew 15:24; Acts 13:46), but also for all peoples of the whole world (1 John 2:2), that is, both Jews and Gentiles (Romans 1:16).
9. As many as receive Christ (John 1:12) do so because they have been appointed to eternal life (Acts 13:48 ), granted that they believe (Philippians 1:29), granted that they repent (2 Timothy 2:25), and caused to be born again (1 Peter 1:3), not by their own wills (John 1:13).
10. The atoning work of Jesus who is God in flesh, fully God and fully man, (John 1:1,14; John 8:40; John 8:58; Colossians 2:9), the second person of the Triune Godhead (John 1:1-3; John 10:30; Philippians 2:5-7; Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 1:3), who in His humiliation became sin on our behalf (2 Corinthians 5:21), who bore our sins in His body on the cross (1 Peter 2:24), who died, was buried, and rose from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:3-4), in the same body that He died in (John 2:19-21; Luke 24:39; John 20:27), whose sacrifice was sufficient to save all, but was intended only for the elect and therefore, Jesus only bore the sins of the elect (John 10:11,15; Romans 5:18; 2 Corinthians 5:14; Psalm 34:22; Isaiah 53:8; Matthew 1:21;Matthew 20:28; Luke 1:68; John 3:16; John 10:14 -18; John 17:2,6,9; Acts 20:28; Romans 5:8-9; Galatians 3:13; Ephesians 5:25; Hebrews 10:14; Titus 2:14; Revelation 5:9).
11. God, by His irresistible grace (Ezekiel 11:19-20; John 5:24; John 6:37-39,44; Romans 8:8; Romans 8:30; Ephesians 2:1-10; Philippians 2:12-13; Colossians 2:13; James 1:18; Titus 3:5; 1 John 5:1; 1 John 3:7, John 1:12-13), first regenerates the hearts (Ezekiel 36:26-27) and minds of the unsaved so that they are then able to respond to the Gospel message and then, by faith, they receive Christ as is evidenced in the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:22-23), the third person of the Triune Godhead, and that they are born again not of their own wills, but of God's will (John 1:13) who has caused them to be born again (1 Peter 1:3).
12. Because the salvation of the elect is completely grounded in Christ, they cannot fall away (John 10:27-28; 1 John 2:19; Isaiah 43:1-3; Jeremiah 32:40; John 3:36; John 10:28; Romans 8:35-39; Ephesians 1:13-14; Ephesians 2:10; Philippians 1:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; 2 Timothy 1:12b & 4:18; 1 Peter 1:4-5; Jude 24-25) and will love God, that is, will obey God (1 John 5:3).
13. The innately perspicuous Scripture and the Scripture alone is authoritative for the faith and the practice of the believer (sola Scriptura). "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness." (2 Timothy 3:16). If something is inspired, that is God-breathed (theopnuestos), and God is perfect, then what He has delivered is also perfectly true and infallible. Inspiration is not just a stirring of the mind of the author, it was the very means by which the author's wrote, and accurately wrote, exactly what God wanted written. The authors of the Scriptures were supernaturally influenced, and divinely superintended for the exact words that they used. The authors clearly wanted to communicate God's messages to His creation (2 Peter 1:20-21; Jeremiah 1:9; Exodus 4:22; Genesis 15:4; Exodus 17:14; 2 Corinthians 13:3; 1 Corinthians 2:13; 1 Corinthians 14:37). The Bible alone, and the Bible in its entirety, is the Word of God written and is therefore inerrant in the autographs. When all the facts are known and proper interpretations are applied, the Scriptures are completely true in all that they assert or affirm, including doctrine, morality, social, life, or physical sciences.
In summary, I am a five-point Calvinist Christian, infralapsarian, inerrantist, moderately preterist, rapture at the Final Judgment, paedo-baptistic (not for salvation), cessationalist, and covenantal.
