OUR DOCTRINE & OUR DISTINCTIVES
Hutto Bible Church is a Non-Denominational Bible church that believes in and is based upon the historic Christian faith. Doctrine matters, because what we believe influences who we are and what we do. This isn’t just true of us as a church, but this is true of us as individuals.
THE BIBLE
We believe the Bible is the divinely inspired Word of God. As God’s written Word, we
believe that all 66 books (both the Old and New Testament) are supremely
authoritative and completely trustworthy for matters of faith and conduct. We believe
the Bible is without error as every word written by the human authors was inspired by
the Holy Spirit. (2 Timothy 3:16-17, 2 Peter 1:21)
GOD / THE TRINITY
We believe in one God eternally existing as one essence and three distinct persons:
God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Each person is fully God, yet there
is one God. Each person is fully, equally and eternally God, sharing fully in all of His
divine nature and attributes - and therefore each person is worthy of the same
worship, honor and praise. The entire Christian faith is bound together with the
confession of God’s Trinitarian nature. (Mark 12:29, John 4:24, Matthew 28:18-20)
JESUS
We believe that Jesus Christ is the pre-existent and eternal Son of God who became
man in order to reveal God and redeem mankind. As the Son, we believe that Jesus is
God from God, eternally begotten but not made, who in history assumed a truly human
nature for the sake of our salvation. Jesus is truly God and truly man. In Him all things
were made, and by the power of His word all things hold together. We believe that
Jesus suffered, died, was buried, resurrected, ascended and now sits at the right hand
of God the Father until he returns for the final judgment and consummation of the
Kingdom. (John 1:14, Hebrews 1:3, Colossians 1:15-20)
THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe in the full deity of the Holy Spirit who unites believers to Jesus Christ in faith,
brings about the new birth and dwells within the regenerate. The Holy Spirit has come
to glorify the Son and leads the Church into a right understanding and rich application
of the truth of God’s Word. We believe the Holy Spirit has an active ministry in the
world, generally, which includes the restraining of evil, convicting of the unsaved and
bestowing God’s goodness on all mankind. We believe that the Holy Spirit seals,
indwells, gives assurance, teaches, comforts, guides, baptizes into the Body of Christ
20and gives spiritual gifts to every believer. Finally, we believe it is the power of the Holy
Spirit that enables us as believers to walk in obedience to Christ, and it is the Holy Spirit
who progressively forms us into the image of Christ throughout the remainder of our
lifetime. (Acts 5:3-4, 2 Thessalonians 2:3-9, John 16:7-11, Matthew 5:45, Titus 3:5,
Ephesians 1:13, 1 Corinthians 6:19, 12:13, Ephesians 3:20, James 5:14, Romans 8:16)
CREATION
We believe that the Triune God, according to His sovereign will and for His own glory,
created the heavens and the earth without the use of pre-existent material. All living
things, we believe, came into being by a direct creative act of God, and thus have an
existence that is both distinct from His and entirely dependent upon His. God did not
create out of necessity, but out of the overflow of His love. All of God’s creation was
good. (Genesis 1:1-2, Psalm 24:1, Genesis 2:4, Proverbs 16:4, Acts 17:24, Colossians
1:16-17)
HUMANITY
We believe that all humanity - male and female - was made by God and was made in
His image. Because all humanity was made in God’s image, every human possesses
intrinsic dignity and worth. All men and all women are meant to represent God in His
creation. We believe God made man - male and female - as complements to one
another. Men and women both enjoy equal access to God by faith in Jesus Christ and
are both called to move beyond passive self-indulgence to significant private and
public engagement in family, church and civic life. Adam and Eve were made to
complement each other in a one-flesh union within the covenant of marriage that
established the only God-ordained pattern of sexual relations for men and women. In
God’s wise purposes, men and women are not simply interchangeable, but rather they
complement each other in mutually enriching ways.
DISTINCTIVE OF HUTTO BIBLE CHURCH | COMPLEMENTARIANISM
While men and women are equal in essence, dignity and value - they are distinct by
divine design. As part of God’s good created order, men and women are to have
different yet complementary roles and responsibilities in the home and church. As it
relates to church, men and women are both called to lead; however, the office of elder
is reserved for men who meet the qualifications as spelled out in God’s Word. Likewise,
any offices or duties that are tied directly to the office of pastor/elder is reserved for
those qualified men who have been called and ordained to the office of pastor/elder
at Hutto Bible Church. (Genesis 1:26-30, 1 Corinthians 10:31, 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1)
SIN
We believe that sin has fractured all things, leaving the world in desperate need of
salvation and redemption. Through the deliberate disobedience of Adam and Eve,
humanity fell from their sinless state and as a consequence lost fellowship with God
and became subject to spiritual and physical death. Through Adam’s transgressions
the entire human race has inherited a corrupt nature which is essentially evil and
unable to please God. Each person is born into the world separated from God and
completely incapable of earning salvation and avoiding the judgment of God.
However, God has made provision for forgiveness of sin through the blood of Jesus
Christ and victory over sin through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. (Genesis 3,
Romans 3:10, 23, 6:23, Ephesians 2:1-3, 1 John 1:8-10, Galatians 5:16-17)
THE GOSPEL / SALVATION
We believe that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
Salvation from the penalty and power of sin is provided only through the blood of
Jesus Christ, which He shed for us on the cross when He was made sin for us and died
in our place. There is nothing man can do to attain this salvation through good works,
moral achievement, or religious status. The one and only condition for salvation is
personal faith in Jesus Christ as one’s own substitute for and Savior from sin. At the time
of salvation, a person is spiritually regenerated, his sins are forgiven, God’s
righteousness is imputed to him and he is declared righteous in the sight of God. This
salvation is complete and a present possession of all believers which remains theirs
forever. (1 Peter 1:18-19, John 3L5-8, Galatians 2:20, Hebrews 10:19-25, 2 Corinthians
5:21, 1 Peter 2:24, Ephesians 2:8-9, 4:23, Romans 8:23-39)
DISTINCTIVE OF HUTTO BIBLE CHURCH | SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD IN SALVATION
The salvation of humanity is fundamentally the work of God. Before the foundation of
the world, God elected His people, setting His affection and grace upon them. In love,
God predestined His people for adoption. Faith, therefore, is a gift of grace that is given
by the mercy and pleasure of God. Apart from the intervention of God, humanity
cannot choose of his own accord to worship God and pursue righteousness. God’s
22sovereignty in salvation is comprehensive: from first to last, all salvation is a work of
God. (Ephesians 1:3-6; 2:1-10, Romans 9:1-29, 1 Peter 1:3-9, 2 Peter 1:3-4, John 3:5-8)
THE CHURCH
We believe that the Church is the body of Christ sent into the world to shine forth the
glory of God as living representatives of the gospel. The Church is a unique organism
composed of individuals who have placed their faith in Christ as their Savior. The
Church exits in both a universal and local sense, and has a twofold purpose of edifying
believers and evangelizing the lost. The two ordinances of the church are baptism and
the Lord’s Supper. (1 Corinthians 12:12-31, Acts 2:1-4, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17, Ephesians
4:7, Matthew 28:19-20, 1 Corinthians 11:23-28)
DISTINCTIVE OF HUTTO BIBLE CHURCH | GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe that the gifts of the Holy Spirit put on display in the New Testament are still
available to the Church and are active within the life of the Church. We do not believe
that any of the spiritual gifts ceased with the end of the apostolic era - and all spiritual
gifts should be desired and practiced appropriately according to God’s Word to build
up the body, to advance the Kingdom of God and to bring honor to the name of Jesus.
(1 Corinthians 12:1-11, 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21)
DISTINCTIVE OF HUTTO BIBLE CHURCH | BAPTISM BY IMMERSION
We believe that the precedent established in the New Testament is that baptism
following conversion is done by full immersion into water. We believe that baptism by
immersion is meant to symbolically depict the believer’s real union with Christ in His
death and resurrection, as well as the believer being transferred out of death into life
as a part of God’s redeemed community. (Romans 6:1-14)
DISTINCTIVE OF HUTTO BIBLE CHURCH | THE LORD’S TABLE
As a church we believe that Christ - while physically located at the right hand of the
Father until He returns - is really, spiritually present to fellowship with His church at the
Lord’s Table. We believe that Christ is present among His people in a way that is distinct
from the rest of the gathering, through the indwelling presence of the Spirit within the
church. We believe that as we partake in the elements, we fellowship with Christ as
one church, through the presence of the Spirit who unites us to Christ. As the people of
23God, we are nourished as we take communion together, and likewise we are reminded
that the Lord’s Table is a foreshadow of the meal to come at Christ’s return.
(1 Corinthians 10:14-17; 11:23-34, John 6:35-40, Matthew 26:26-29, Revelation 19:6-10)
THE FUTURE
We believe that Jesus Christ will return physically, visibly, personally and gloriously to
restore creation and judge the living and the dead. All who have died will be
resurrected, and those who have not trusted in Christ for their salvation will experience
eternal separation from God, while those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ
will experience eternal joy in the presence of God. (John 14:3, Hebrews 10:37, 2
Corinthians 5:10, Matthew 24:21-31, Revelation 20-22)
ANGELS & DEMONS
We believe that God created an order of spiritual beings known as angels before the
formation of the world for the purpose of worshipping and serving Him. We believe
angels possess individual personalities and are intelligent, powerful, and inferior to God
but superior to man. Satan, we believe, was one of the highest ranking angels in
eternity past, but he sinned through pride and rebelled against God. We believe the
Devil’s proclaimed purpose is to oppose the plan of God and to promote his own evil
program by deceiving and attacking man. In carrying out his work, we believe Satan is
aided by other fallen angels known as demons or evil spirits. We believe these demons
can influence, tempt, and control men and even “posses” unbelievers. We believe there
are unfallen angels, known as elect angels or holy angels, who carry out the will of
God by ministering to man. (Colossians 1:16, Hebrews 1:6, 2 Peter 2:11, Isaiah 14:12-15, 1 Peter 5:8, Ephesians 6;12, Hebrews 1:14)