Swedish Baptist Confession of Faith

1. We believe that the Holy Scriptures of both the Old and the New Testament (the commonly so-called Apocryphal Books excepted) are inspired by God and constitute the one perfect rule for our Christian faith and practice.

2. We believe that there is one only living and true God-who is a Spirit infinite in all perfections-; who has revealed Himself in three equal persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

3. We believe that the first man Adam was created holy, in the image of God, but fell by voluntary transgression of the law of God into a state of sin and death; and that in consequence of his fall all his natural posterity have inherited his corruption, are void of all will to turn to God, and without power perfectly to keep His law, and therefore they are guilty before the wrath of God and condemned to eternal punishment.

4. We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ in his one person united true Godhead and true manhood, that he through his perfect obedience before the law of God and through his atoning death has opened for all a way to redemption and salvation from this lost state, and that every one who from his heart believes in him shall become a partaker of this redemption and salvation without any merit or worthiness of his own.

5. We believe that the gospel-viz, the glad tidings of the salva- tion which is acquired through Christ-ought to be preached to the whole world; that every one who hears the gospel is under obligation to repent- viz, with a sincere grief before God to confess and abandon his sins, and at the same time to believe in Christ as his only and all-sufficient Saviour, and that whosoever may refuse to do so will incur upon himself a worse condemnation.

6. We believe that saving faith is a gift from God and entirely a fruit of the working of the Holy Spirit through the word; that all who are to be saved have been given by the Father to the Son and were chosen in him for salvation and sonship before the foundation of this world was laid; and that we ought with utmost diligence to seek to obtain assurance of our own election.

7. We believe that the law of God has for its end to be: 1) a restraint for the ungodly to restrain them from performing all the evil purpose of their heart; 2) a schoolmaster to bring sinners to Christ, inasmuch as it sets before them the just claims of God and his wrath over sin, shows them their inability to fulfil these claims, and thus awakens in them the need of grace and forgiveness of sin; 3) a rule for the walk of believers to be followed in the spirit of the new covenant; and that, therefore, with these ends in view the law ought to be inculcated in all.

8. We believe that baptism ought to be administered only to such as have personally by a trustworthy confession given evidence of possessing a living faith in Christ; that it is properly administered only through the immersion of the whole person in water; and that it should precede admittance into the fellowship of the church and participation in the Lord's supper.

9. We believe that a true Christian church is a union of believing and baptized Christians, who have covenanted to strive to keep all that Christ has commanded, to sustain public worship, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to choose among themselves shepherds or overseers, and deacons, to administer baptism and the Lord's supper, to practice Christian church-discipline, to promote godliness and brotherly love, and to contribute to the general spread of the gospel ;-also that every such church is an independent body, free in its relation to other Christian churches and acknowledging Christ only as its head.

10. We believe that the first day of the week was kept holy by the apostolic churches as the Lord's day, instead of the Jewish Sabbath, and that we specially on this day are together for common worship and to exercise ourselves in godliness.

11. We believe that civil government is ordained by God, and regard it our duty to honor and pray for the King and the magistracy and in all things to obey the laws of the land, unless they plainly are in conflict with the law of Christ.

12. We believe that this world is to come to an end; that our Lord Jesus Christ will again appear on the earth on the last day, wake up the dead from their graves, and execute a general judgment in which all wicked men will be irrevocably condemned to eternal punishment, while all believing and righteous men will be solemnly established in their possession of the kingdom which was prepared for them from the beginning of the world.

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