Our Beliefs
With the universal Christian Church, Immanuel, together with the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, teaches and responds to the love of the Triune God:
the Father, creator of all that exists;
Jesus Christ, the Son, who became human to suffer and die for the sins of all human beings and to rise to life again in the ultimate victory over death and Satan; and
the Holy Spirit, who creates faith through God’s Word and Sacraments.
The three persons of the Trinity are coequal and coeternal, one God.
We believe in the One Triune God...
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
The Trinity | Although Scripture never uses the terms "triune" or "trinity" all three persons of the godhead are mentioned throughout God's Word. God is the Creator and Ruler of the universe. He has eternally existed in three simultaneous persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three are coequal and are one God.
God the Father | Jesus speaks of God the Father, and even states that his mission is to reconcile us to the Father. The Father is the Maker of Heaven and Earth, of all things visible and invisible. Genesis 1 describes his work of creation, and even delighting in it being “very good.” He gave mankind the mandate to care for the earth. We messed it up instead, but that’s why he sent Jesus to restore it and make it new again. As the earth awaits its restoration, God still continues his creative and sustaining work. It’s our job to care for it!
Genesis 1-3 | John 20:17 | John 3:16
Jesus | The only begotten son of God, he was born but not made. Jesus is coeternal with God the Father and is the embodiment of God who, in order to redeem you from your sins, put on the flesh and made his home on earth. Jesus was killed on a cross and he rose from the dead. It's the basis of everything we believe. Because he rose from the dead, we have to take seriously what he claimed, what he taught, and what he believed. Jesus came to the earth as a fellow human being. 100% man. But he lived a sinless life, he taught disciples, healed the hurting, loved the outcasts, and rose the dead. He was also 100% divine. In perfect love, he offered himself as a perfect sacrifice to atone for the sins of all people by dying on a cross. He was raised from the dead after three days to demonstrate his power over sin and death. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father as loving Lord over all. He promises to return again to raise the dead and renew all things in the resurrection to come. Then, he will usher in a new age: a new creation where all things are made new.
Matthew 1:22, 23 | Isaiah 9:6 | John 1:1-5, 14:10-30 | Hebrews 4:14,15 | 1 Corinthians 15:3,4 | Romans 1:3,4 | Acts 1:9-11 | 1 Timothy 6:14, 15 | Ephesians 4:4-6 | Revelation 21:5
The Holy Spirit | The Holy Spirit is God, equal with the Father and with Jesus. He makes us aware of our need for Jesus Christ. He is responsible for bringing us to faith in Jesus; apart from him we are only enemies of God. He provides believers with power for living, understanding spiritual truth, and guidance in doing what is right. As Christians, we seek to live joyfully under his daily control.
2 Corinthians 3:17 | John 16:7-13, 14:16, 17 | Acts 1:8 | 1 Corinthians 2:12, 3:16 | Ephesians 1:13 | Galatians 5:25 | Ephesians 5:18
What We Believe About the Bible
Simply put, the Bible is how God intervened in our human history. We don’t believe the Bible because it fell down from Heaven. It was written by imperfect people. But we trust the Bible as the absolute Word from God because Jesus (who rose from the dead and has such authority) said it was true. The Holy Spirit was active in the authors' writings, both Old and New Testaments. Throughout his ministry, Jesus affirmed the writings of the Old Testament as trustworthy and true. At the end of his earthly ministry, he commissioned his disciples to speak the Word of God and proclaim the Gospel (which includes their writing of the New Testament) by breathing the Holy Spirit upon them. Thus we claim that like Jesus, the Bible is 100% human and 100% divine.
The Bible is God's Word to us, but by recognizing that the Bible came to us through human means over a period of thousands of years, God’s Word is “bigger” than the Bible. The Bible is the standard and primary authority on God’s Word, but knowledge of the Messiah and Jesus predated the Bible. God’s Word is God’s promises and purposes for us. That means we can go out and speak the Word in our own words, as long as it is in agreement with the teachings of the apostles via the Scriptures.
2 Timothy 3:16 | 2 Peter 1:20, 21 | 2 Timothy 1:13 | Psalm 119:105, 160, 12:6 | Proverbs 30:5
What has the Bible taught us?
HUMANS | People are made in the “image of God.” That means that we were made to be like God in taking care of his creation. He made us the crown of creation in order to care for the rest of it. But after sin entered the world through humans, every person is conceived and born with the spiritual condition called original sin. It’s a curse. It’s why we do bad stuff. It’s why bad stuff happens to us. It’s the sickness of the world. It’s why death happens. Worse yet, our disobedience toward God, our sin, is what separates us from God. Our sin and the sins of others cause life's problems. Our sin is why we need forgiveness. It’s why God is doing something about it in Jesus.
Genesis 1:27 | Psalm 8:3-6 | Isaiah 53:6 | Romans 3:23 | Isaiah 59:1, 2
SALVATION | Salvation is God's free gift to us in Jesus Christ. We can never make up for our sin by self-improvement or good works. Only by trusting in Jesus Christ that we are saved from sin—and we can’t even do that apart from the Holy Spirit intervening in our life! We trust in Jesus' death and resurrection as the act of salvation that offers the forgiveness of our sins and our adoption into God's family.
Romans 6:23 | Ephesians 2:8, 9 | John 14:6 | John 1:12 | Titus 3:5 | Galatians 3:26 | Romans 5:1
ETERNITY | People were created to exist forever. That makes death bad—and the enemy. We will either exist eternally separated from God because of sin, or eternally with God through forgiveness and salvation because of Jesus. Hell is simply the eternal separation from God and all the life that he offers. But to be in union with him is eternal life because he is the Life-Giver! We look forward not to just a heavenly existence with clouds, sunshine, rainbows, and strumming harps, but an eternal home. We look forward to Earth, our Home, being made new and perfected. In that New Creation, Jesus will bring Heaven on Earth and we will dwell with him on this planet forever.
John 3:16, 2:25 | John 5:11-13 | Romans 6:23 | Revelation 20-21 | Matthew 1:8, 2:44, 46
