BELIEFS
Discover What We Believe
This page is COTK College’s attempt to summarize core principles of the Bible as non-negotiable tenets of faith, but it is the Bible itself that is the final authority for our Christian beliefs and doctrine, and that governs every ministry and every policy of COTK. COTK College’s Statement of Faith is located in Church of the King’s Bylaws, but this is a general overview of the Statement of Faith, subject to the full Statement of Faith in the Bylaws, which in turn is subject to the Word of God as spoken through the Holy Scriptures.
The Holy Bible
The written words of the Holy Scriptures are divinely inspired and authoritative and are the only writings containing the words of God Himself. The original manuscripts of the Scriptures are inerrant. The Scriptures are clearly understandable by all persons who will read them with a willingness to follow them, seeking proper understanding from the Lord. The Scriptures contain everything God intended to be known for salvation, and are profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness so the man of God may be adequate and equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:15-17; Hebrews 4:12; Psalm 1:2-3, 19:7-8, 119:11, 105; John 17:17; Romans 15:4, 16:25-26; Isaiah 40:8; 2 Peter 1:21
Jesus Christ
Jesus the Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary to live among men on the earth, where He performed miracles and later died on the cross for man’s sin. Jesus was both fully God and fully man and was without any sin. According to the Scriptures, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after His death on the cross, appeared in a glorified body to His disciples and many witnesses, ascended into heaven to take His exalted place at the right hand of God the Father, and will return again in power and glory. Through the shedding of His blood in His substitutionary death on the cross and His resurrection three days later, Jesus atoned for man’s sin once and for all, and is the one Mediator between God and man by which man can be reconciled to God.
Hebrews 1:1-2, 4:14-15, 5:9, 7:24-27, 12:2; 1 Corinthians 15:21-22; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; Colossians 1:15-20, 2:9; Galatians 4:4-5; Isaiah 7:14; Acts 1:9-11, 2:23-24, 9:20; Matthew 1:18, 25, 16:16-17, 26:63-64, 27:33-37, 59-60, 28:6; John 1:1-5, 14, 29, 2:19-22, 11:25-27, 20:14-18; Luke 1:35, 22:70, 24:45-47
Man & The Fall
Adam and Eve were created by God in His own image as His highest creation. They were created with free will and without sin. God placed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden so that Adam and Eve might freely choose life with Him over sin and independence from Him. Satan in the form of a serpent tempted Adam and Eve to choose to disobey God. Because all humanity was in Adam and Eve when they sinned by disobeying God all humanity throughout time fell prey to sin, as well as the curse for sin—death. Each person, while still created in the image of God, sins; because all people sin death falls on all people. Only by God’s grace are people saved from sin and death, and brought into fellowship with God. Only through the Son of God, Jesus Christ, are people saved. The Lord Jesus Christ’s life, death, burial, and resurrection are able to redeem all who trust and receive Him from the power and penalty of sin and death.
Genesis 1:27; 2:22, 3:1-24; Romans 3:23; 5:8; 6:23; 1 Corinthians 15:21-22; Psalm 51:5; John 1:12
Christian Living
A person who has experienced salvation is “born again” and is united with Christ in His death and resurrection, having crucified the old sinful self by appropriating Christ’s death on the cross, and having been delivered from bondage to sin. At the moment of salvation, the believer stands in a right relationship with God, and is adopted as a member of God’s family. As a result of salvation, the new believer has been spiritually transformed and begins walking in the Light of Truth as a child of God, and begins becoming more and more free from sin in obedience to the Lord, being guided by the Holy Scriptures with a desire to practice righteousness—in other words, righteous Christian living. As an example of practiced righteous Christian living, the Scriptures teach that the marriage covenant is reserved only for one man with one woman, and limit the expression of human sexuality to such a marital relationship only. And furthermore, the believer living in righteousness has a special love of one another as God’s love is perfected in the believer, who increasingly bears the fruit of the Spirit including love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, and demonstrates faith through good works.
John 3:1-8; 1 Corinthians 6:1-11, 19-20, 9:24-27, 13:1-13; 2 Corinthians 7:1; 1 John 1:7, 2:3, 15-17, 3:3-10, 4:12, 19, 5:3-4; 1 Peter 1:14-16, 2:24; 2 Peter 3:14; 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8; Titus 2:11-14; Ephesians 4:22-24; Galatians 5:22-23; Romans 6:11-14, 12:2; John 15:12; Matthew 19:4-6
Last Things
God has appointed a day when He will judge the world. On that day, God will demonstrate His mercy by eternal salvation in Heaven for all who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, and His justice by eternal damnation in Hell for those who have rejected God’s free gift of salvation in Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:52-57; 2 Corinthians 5:1, 10; 1 Peter 1:3-4; 2 Peter 3:7, 10; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; 2 Timothy 4:8; Joel 2:30-32; Revelation 20:11-15, 22:1-5; Acts 1:11, 17:30-31; Matthew 16:27, 24:27, 36, 44, 25:31-34, 41; John 14:1-3; Luke 13:28, 17:34-35, 21:27-28; Hebrews 9:27
God
There is only one God, creator of the heavens and the earth, and eternally existing in the three persons of the Trinity including God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. God is love and demonstrated his love by sending His only begotten Son Jesus into the world to die for man’s sin, while we were yet sinners. Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.
1 John 4:7-10, 5:7; Romans 5:8, 8:38-39; Genesis 1:1; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Jeremiah 10:10, 32:17; Hebrews 11:3; Revelation 1:8; Deuteronomy 10:14; John 17:21-22; Matthew 3:16-17, 28:19
The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the fully divine Spirit of God that inspired men to record the Scriptures, convicts men of sin, calls men to Jesus Christ for redemption, comforts believers, and enables understanding of truth and the meaning of the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit enables every believer to live a Spirit-filled and Spirit-empowered life. Furthermore, all the gifts of the Holy Spirit are in operation in the church today through the lives of believers.
John 14:16-17, 26, 15:26, 16:7-11, 13-15; 1 Corinthians 2:10-16, 3:16; Joel 2:28-29; Titus 3:5-6; Galatians 4:6, 5:25; Mark 13:11; Acts 1:5, 8, 2:1-4, 38-39, 4:31, 9:31, 10:44-45, 15:8, 16:6; Romans 5:5, 8:11, 16, 26-27; 1 Corinthians 12:4-7
The Church
The Church is the fellowship of God in Christ and the family of all believers who have accepted the free gift of salvation and profess the Lordship of Christ in their lives. The Church engages in worship to God and the singing of psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to the praise of His glory. The Church nurtures believers, admonishing and teaching every believer with all wisdom in order to present every man mature and complete in Christ, equipping believers for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ, and attaining to the unity of faith in Christ. As instructed by Jesus at the end of His ministry on earth, the Church brings His teachings to all nations, teaching them and baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Colossians 1:24-28, 3:12-17; Ephesians 2:19-22, 3:10; Hebrews 10:24-25; Matthew 28:19-20; John 17:20-23
Salvation
Salvation and redemption from the power and penalty of sin and death are offered to all who by faith alone confess their sin and believe in their heart that Jesus is the risen Lord and Savior. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and resurrection from the dead after three days atoned for sin and is the only way to be reconciled to God, as Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to God the Father but by Him.
1 Corinthians 15:3-4; Romans 3:12, 22-24, 5:8, 6:23, 8:1-4, 10:9-10; 1 John 1:8-9, 4:9-10, 15, 5:1; John 1:12, 3:16, 14:6, 17:3, 20:31; 1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, 6:2; Revelation 3:20; 1 Peter 1:18-21, 3:18a; Colossians 1:13-14; Ephesians 1:7, 2:8-9; Galatians 2:16; Psalm 32:5; Acts 4:12, 16:30-31; Titus 3:5
