Andersonville Theological Seminary

“”ARTICLE I—THE SCRIPTURES

ATS holds that “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim 3.16). ATS understands “by inspiration of God” to mean that the whole Bible is inspired in the sense that God’s Holy Spirit moved holy men of God to pen the very words of Scripture. The words are fully God’s words, though He used human penmen to achieve the writing of the Bible. ATS further understands that God’s inspiration extends equally and fully to all parts of the Bible—historical, poetical, doctrinal, and prophetical. ATS holds that this inspired work has been fully preserved in the King James Version of the Bible without error or contradiction. ATS understands that the Scriptures are centered upon the King, Jesus Christ, and His kingdom. ATS further understands that the no passage of Scripture is properly understood until it leads to Jesus Christ. ATS holds that all Scripture is given for practical instruction in our daily Christian walk with God.

ARTICLE II—THE TRIUNE GOD THE TRINITY

ATS believes that there is only one true and living God, revealed in both the Old and New Testament of the Holy Bible. He alone is the Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer God. He is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. ATS holds that God eternally exists in three persons—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. These three persons are one God, having exactly the same nature and essence. Each person is worthy of identical praise and obedience.

GOD THE FATHER

ATS holds that God as Father personally rules over His universe and all of its inhabitants. ATS believes that God the Father has preordained the outcome of human history according to the purposes of His grace as revealed by the Holy Bible. ATS further holds God is Father to all who come to personal faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Redeemer.

GOD THE SON

ATS holds that Christ is the eternal Son of God, uncreated and identical to the Father in essence and nature. ATS holds that Christ was active in the creation of the universe, and He is the Sustainer of all of the universe. ATS holds firmly to the fact that Christ was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. As such, He was born without the sin nature that has tainted mankind since the Fall of Adam. ATS further holds that Jesus perfectly revealed and performed the will of the Father. Though fully God, He took upon Himself human nature with its accompanying demands and necessities so that He was fully man, yet He remained without sin. ATS believes that by His substitutionary death on the cross Jesus Christ made provision for the redemption of all men from sin. ATS further holds that after three days and nights, Jesus Christ was raised from the dead with a glorified physical body, in which He appeared to His disciples. Forty days following His resurrection, Christ ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God. ATS believes that currently Christ serves as the only Mediator between God and mankind. ATS holds that at His bodily second coming, Jesus Christ will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission. ATS further holds that all people after having been saved owe their allegiance and obedience to Christ as Savior and Lord.

GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT

ATS holds that the Holy Spirit, as the Spirit of God, is the third member of the Trinity and that He is fully God. ATS believes that as God He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures and that through illumination He enables men to understand truth. ATS holds that He calls men to the Savior, and effects regeneration. At the moment of regeneration He baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ. Following the Day of Pentecost, He came into the world in a special sense so that He is present within each believer. Once He has taken up residence within the believer, He will never abandon that believer, regardless of his merit or worth. ATS holds that the Spirit seals the believer unto the day of final redemption.

ARTICLE III—MAN

ATS holds that man originally was created in Adam in the image and likeness of God. ATS holds that man fell in Adam fell through sin, and as a result of his fall, man lost his spiritual life, and became dead in trespasses and in sin. This fallen nature has been communicated to every person, excepting Christ Jesus, who was born of a virgin. As a fallen and sinful creature, man is devoid of spiritual life, needing Divine grace to secure his restoration to fellowship with God.

ARTICLE IV—SALVATION

ATS holds that man is saved by God’s grace alone, with man’s works and efforts being completely excluded. Neither baptism nor any other ordinance affects salvation to any degree whatsoever. ATS holds that salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone. ATS holds that salvation is available to all, but is effective only for those who by faith accept the completed work of Jesus Christ on Calvary’s cross. Man’s redemption is achieved solely by the blood of Jesus Christ, who served as man’s Divine Substitute, being made a curse and sin for us so that He might die in our place. ATS holds that no person can enter into the Kingdom of God unless he is born again of the Spirit of God.

ARTICLE V—ETERNAL SECURITY

ATS holds that due to nature of God’s saving grace, all believers are kept saved until the day of redemption and even forever. ATS further holds that God will not overlook sin in the believer, but will chasten them with Divine correction in love. At no time during this chastening process is a believer’s secure position in jeopardy, but his fellowship with God is broken. Upon repentance from sin and upon asking for forgiveness of sin, Christ will restore the believer to fellowship with God. ATS holds that ultimately Jesus Christ will present the believer faultless before the throne of God. No believer shall be lost from the grasp of the Persons of the Trinity. ATS believes that a believer can have full assurance of their salvation and security in Christ from the moment that he places his trust in Jesus Christ as Savior.

ARTICLE VI—THE CHURCH

ATS holds that all believers from the Day of Pentecost until the Rapture of the Church prior to the Tribulation of the last days are members of the Church, the Body of Christ and the Bride of Christ. Having begun at Pentecost and not before, the Church is wholly separate from and distinct from Israel. ATS holds all believers of this present age, whether Jew or Gentile, are baptized by the Spirit into the Body of Christ.

ARTICLE VII—THE ORDINANCES

ATS holds that there are two and only two ordinances for the Church, these being water baptism by immersion and the Lord’s Supper. Baptism serves as a sign that a person who is already saved through the blood of Christ alone is identifying himself with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the new life which He alone can grant. The Lord’s Supper is a memorial, looking back to the cross of Jesus Christ and the blood which He shed upon that cross, and is anticipatory, looking forward to the return of Jesus at His coming again.

ARTICLE VIII—LAST THINGS

ATS holds that the Rapture of the Church prior to the coming Tribulation is the next great event in the fulfillment of biblical prophecy. This rapture will be due to the Lord Jesus Christ coming in the air to call out all members of His Church, both living and dead, to meet Him in the air. He will then immediately remove these saints to Heaven, where He has prepared a home for them. They will be judged at the Bema Judgment, the Judgment Seat of Christ for eternal rewards, salvation already having been secured.

ATS holds that following the Rapture of the Church, the world will undergo the most severe of judgments, fulfilling Daniel’s Seventieth Week, a time known as the Tribulation and a time of Israel’s trouble. The Tribulation will end with the Second Coming of Christ, who will fight the Battle of Armageddon and who will defeat the Antichrist and the False Prophet.

ATS holds that at the Second Coming of Christ, following the Battle of Armageddon, and the Judgment of Israel, and the Judgment of the Nations, the Lord Jesus Christ will introduce the Kingdom of God upon earth. This Kingdom will endure throughout the Millennium, the literal one-thousand year reign of Christ upon earth, and will bring about a lifting of the curse which now rests upon all creation. Israel, having been purged and judged, will dwell safely within the Promised Land, and the Church, having been judged, will rule with Christ over the nations of the earth. Satan shall be bound for the thousand years, being released at the end of the period to raise an army to resist and attack God and His holy saints. Satan and his army shall be destroyed immediately, and the final judgment of lost souls, the Great White Throne Judgment, shall ensue.

ATS holds that following the Great White Throne Judgment, Christ shall yield up the Kingdom to the Father that God might be all in all. All believers from all ages shall dwell with Christ in glory throughout all eternity. All unsaved sinners shall be cast into the Lake of Fire, where they shall be tormented day and night for all eternity.

ARTICLE IX—THE FAMILY

ATS affirms and values God’s gift of marriage between man and woman that God created in His own image. Genesis 1.27, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him: male and female created he them.” As ATS is committed to providing our students with a biblical worldview, ATS believes and practices what the Bible says about marriage and operates by faith according to that faith commitment. ATS abides by Jesus’ teaching on marriage when he said in [[:RationalWiki:Annotated Bible/Matthew

1. Matthew 19:4|Matthew 19.4b-6]], “…Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” The definition of marriage provided by Jesus includes several important truths that ATS expects all board members, faculty members, students, and staff to value and abide by. Firstly, marriage is a covenant designed by God (Matthew 19.4b). Secondly, His biblical definition of marriage is not conditioned by cultural or personal perspective but decided by God from the beginning and expected to continue until eternity (Matthew 19.4b-6). Thirdly, marriage is intended to be between one man and one woman as God biologically created them male and female at birth (Matthew 19.4b). Hence, any other proposals for marriage are outside of God’s intended design (see Leviticus 18.22; 20:13-16; Romans 1.26-27; 1 Corinthians 6.9-11; and 1 Timothy 1.9-10). Fourthly, the marriage covenant is sealed through sexual intercourse which should be reserved for one husband and one wife after they have entered the holy covenant of marriage (Matthew 19.5). Fifthly, God’s design is for marriage to last until the death of one of the spouses (Matthew 19.6; 22.30).

Therefore, ATS defines marriage as a divinely designed biblical covenant between one man and one woman and God that is intended to represent the relationship of Christ and the Church. This view of marriage is affirmed by the authorized King James Bible in both its Old and New Testaments. (See Genesis 1.27; 2.23-24; Malachi 2.14; Song of Solomon 2.7, 16; 1 Corinthians 7.1-16; Ephesians 5.22-33; Hebrews 13.4).

ARTICLE X—THE GREAT COMMISSION

ATS holds that it is the explicit commandment of Jesus Christ to all believers to go forth into the world to spread the Gospel message of the Person and Work of Jesus Christ on Calvary’s cross.