What We Believe

The following are the core beliefs of Community Bible Church - OH based on the foundational truths taught in the bible. All of our teaching and ministry is rooted in and flows out of these biblical doctrines.

The entire Bible, inerrant in its original writings, is verbally inspired of  God. (II Timothy 3:16 -17; II Peter 1:21) “Entire” means the 39 books of the Old Testament  beginning with Genesis and ending with Malachi along with the 27 books of the New  Testament beginning with Matthew and ending with Revelation; 66 books, the complete Bible.

THE GODHEAD: There is one God, eternally existing in three persons; Father,  Son, and Holy Spirit. (Matthew 3:16-17; John 1:1-14, 10:30, 20:28; Acts 5:3-4; Romans 1:7; I  Corinthians 3:16, II Corinthians13:14; Ephesians 2:18; I John 5:20)
THE PERSON OF CHRIST: Jesus Christ was begotten by the Holy Spirit and  born of the Virgin Mary and is fully God and fully Man. (Luke 1:27-35; Romans 1:3-4;  Philippians 2:5-11; Titus 2:13).
 PERSONALITY AND WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: The Holy Spirit is the third  person of the Godhead who convicts the world of sin, and who regenerates, baptizes,  indwells, seals, enlightens, and empowers the saved. (John 14:16-17, 26, 16:7-8; I  Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 1:13, 17-18, 3:16; Titus 3:5)

MISSION AND COMMISSION: The mission and commission of the Church,  which is His Body, is to proclaim the message of reconciliation (II Corinthians 5:14-20) and to  endeavor to help all men understand what is the Dispensation of the Mystery (Ephesians 3:8- 9). In this, we follow the teachings of the Apostle Paul (I Corinthians 4:16, 11:1; Ephesians  3:14-18; I Timothy 1:11-16). That distinctive message which the Apostle of the Gentiles  (Romans 11:13; 15:16) calls “my gospel” (Romans 2:16, 16:25) is also called the “gospel of  the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). We, like Paul, must preach this Gospel (Gal. 1:8-9) and strive  to reach those not yet reached with the Gospel. (Romans 15:20; II Corinthians 10:16)

 God justifies ungodly sinners by His grace, by the blood of Christ,  through the means of faith. This complete salvation is bestowed as the free gift of God apart  from works. (Romans 3:24-28, 5:1-9; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5-7)  
All of the saved are eternally secure in Christ; they can  never be lost again having been sealed into the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit. This  complete salvation is the free gift of God apart from the works. (John 5:24, 6:37, 6:47, 10:28- 29; Romans 8:1, 38-39; II Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Philippians 1:6; Hebrews  7:25; I John 5:12-13)  

All saved persons in this Dispensation of Grace have been made  members of the Body of Christ by one divine baptism. By that one baptism every member of  the Body of Christ is identified with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. In light of the  statement concerning the one baptism in Ephesians 4:5; and the statement concerning  baptism in Romans 6:3-4; I Corinthians 12:13; Colossians. 2:12, and Paul’s statement in I  Corinthians 1:17, that “Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the Gospel” we affirm that  water Baptism is not required in God’s spiritual program for the Body of Christ in this day of  Grace.

 The manifestations of the sign gifts during the Acts period were  necessary at that time because the Word of God was not yet completed. Upon the  completion of the Word through the Apostle Paul (Colossians 1:25), the sign gifts such as  speaking in tongues, miraculous healing, raising of the dead, and prophecy have passed  away according to I Corinthians 13:8-11. Believers are to earnestly covet the best gifts; faith,  hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love. (I Corinthians 12:31; 13:13)

In the present dispensation, there is only one Church, which is  called the Body of Christ, with Christ as the head. (I Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 1:22-23;  3:6) The Body of Christ was not previously revealed to any being in any previous  dispensation but was hidden in God. (Ephesians 3:9; Colossians 1:26) The Body of Christ  began with the revelation given to the Apostle Paul, a revelation separate and distinct from  that given to the twelve Apostles. (Romans 6:23; I Corinthians 3:10-12; Galatians 1-8;  Ephesians 3:2-3; 5-9; Colossians 1:26; II Tim. 1:11)  

For the good of mankind God has commanded that no  intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage relationship between a man and  a woman, and that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, incest, fornication,  adultery, or pornography are sinful perversions of God’s gift of sex and therefore  unacceptable behavior for anyone professing to be saved through personal faith in Jesus  Christ (Gen. 2:24; 19:5,13; 26:8,9; Lev. 18:1-30; Rom. 1:26-29; I Cor. 5:1; 6:9; Gal. 5:19;  Eph. 5:1-7; Col. 3:2-5; I Thess. 4:1-8; Titus 2:11-14; 3:3-8; Heb. 13:4).

The only legitimate marriage relationship is the joining together of  one biological man and one biological woman as husband and wife (Gen. 2:24; Rom. 7:2; I  Cor. 7:10; Eph. 5:22,23).  

Human life begins at conception and the unborn child is a living  human being. Abortion constitutes the unjustified, unexcused taking of unborn human life  and is therefore considered to be murder, for man is made in the image of God, Gen. 9:6.  Any teaching that abortions of pregnancies due to rape, incest, birth defects, gender selection, population control, or the mental well-being of the mother are unacceptable (Job  3:16; Ps. 51:5; 139:14-16; Isa. 44:24; 49:1,5; Jer. 1:5; 20:15-18; Luke 1:44).

Men and women are spiritually equal in position  before God but that God has ordained distinct and separate spiritual functions for men and  women. Husbands are to be the leaders in the home and men are to be the leaders in  evangelism, pastoring, and teaching. (Gal. 3:28; Col. 3:18; I Tim. 2:8-15; 3:4,5,12).

For the Church the Body of Christ - At the close of the present Dispensation of  Grace and before the seven-year tribulation period, the Lord will descend from heaven to  meet the members of the Body of Christ in the air. The dead in Christ will rise first, the living  in Christ shall experience a bodily change, and together they shall be caught up to meet the  Lord in the air. This coming is commonly referred to as the rapture of the church which is His  Body. (I. Corinthians 15:51-52; I. Thessalonians 4:13-17)
 For Israel and the nations - After the church has been “raptured”, Anti-Christ  will be revealed and the seven-year tribulation period will begin upon the earth. (Daniel 9:27;  Matthew 24:21-22; II Thessalonians 2:1-8) At the height of wickedness and terror, during the  rule of Anti-Christ, Christ will return to the earth with fire and wrath to rule as “KING OF  KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS: The second coming of Christ. The beast and the false  prophet shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone and the devil shall be bound in the  bottomless pit for a thousand years. (II Thessalonians 1:7-9; Revelation 19:11 through 20:2)  Christ shall then reign upon the earth for a thousand years; reigning with Him shall be the  twelve apostles and those saved before the revelation of the mystery. (Matthew 19:27-28;  Luke 13:28-29), the resurrected Old Testament saints (Ezek. 37:13-14, Dan. 12:1-2, Isa.  26:19 ), and those that died for their witness during the tribulation. (Revelation 20:4)