What We Believe
A STORY OF RESCUE
We believe that the world we live in needs more than just a helper or some divine advice about how to make this world a better place. The human race has, for centuries, fought against sickness, disease, and disaster. Despite all our improvements in technology and education, people still hate, steal, hurt, and kill one another. Despite all the efforts to eradicate poverty, it still persists and perhaps is worse than ever before. Real equality and justice are often the exception rather than the norm.
Why do these problems persist?
As bad as poverty, hatred, prejudice, suffering, and disaster are, they are only a shadow of a much bigger problem, with a much deeper root.
The Bible describes this problem with the word “sin.”
Sin is not merely disobedience, it starts with misplaced love. The heart of sin is to love anything in this world, even good things, more than God himself — which always leads to disobedience. And sin always leaves disorder, destruction, and death in its wake.
The Bible describes the solution in one word: Jesus
We believe that God sent Jesus the Christ into this world in order to save it by having all of the evil of the world turn against him. He was a victim of injustice, hatred, and cruelty when he died on a cross by Roman Crucifixion 2000 years ago. Not only that, he bore the ultimate destruction worked by sin — except it wasn’t his sin — it was that of the whole world. And on the third day, Jesus rose again from the dead, proving that he is indeed all that he claimed to be and that we are indeed forgiven.
Because he died for the world’s sin, every individual can confidently say, “Jesus died for my sin. I am forgiven.” Because Jesus rose from the grave, every individual can say, “Jesus has broken sin and death in me, and even though someday I die, I will be raised from death just like Jesus was.”
When we see Jesus taking our place in death, we find and experience real love. When you believe that Jesus did all that for you, he also gives you the power to love others and to overcome things like hatred and prejudice.
And finally, Jesus promises that there will come a day when he will finally and fully eradicate and destroy not only sickness, suffering, pain, and poverty, but the sin that is behind it all.
From the cross, shortly before he died, Jesus made a loud proclamation for everyone to hear. He said, “It is finished!” He wasn’t talking about his life, though that was coming to a close. He was talking about all that needed to be done to save the world. “It is finished.” He’s done it all. There is nothing we have to add to his work to make it complete. Jesus came. He died. He rose. He will come again.
It is finished.
This is what we believe. This proclamation is the heart of all that we teach at St. Paul.
A summary
Below is a quick summary of what we believe about several important concepts.
God: We believe there is only one true God who is holy, loving, eternal, and all-powerful. He reveals himself in the Bible as Triune -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The Bible: We believe that the Bible is God's Word. From beginning to end, it is true and without error.
Creation: We believe that God created the entire universe in six, 24-hour days -- just as he tells us in the Bible.
Humanity: We believe that human beings are the special crown of all that God created. God made human beings male and female in his own image.
Sin: We believe that human beings lost their perfection when Adam and Eve first sinned. Sin separates us from God, leaving us unable to reconcile ourselves to him.
The Gospel: The gospel is good news! In his love, God sent Jesus Christ to reconcile us to God by fully and freely taking away the sins of all people by living the perfect life we all should have lived, dying the death we all should have died and rising again.
Jesus: We believe that Jesus is fully God (God’s own Son) and also fully human (born of the virgin Mary). We believe that he suffered and died on the cross to pay for the sins of the world and that he rose to life on Easter morning.
Salvation: We believe that God saved us when Jesus died for us and rose again. We believe that he brings us the blessings of our salvation -- full forgiveness and life forever in heaven -- through faith in Jesus.
Faith: We believe that faith is a gift from God, not a choice we make. The Holy Spirit works in our hearts through the gospel to give us faith and to empower us for godly living.
The Church: We believe that while there are many Christian denominations separated by differences in teaching, there is only one holy, Christian Church. This Church is made up of all believers in Jesus Christ from every place and time, regardless of their denominational affiliation.
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper: We believe that Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are means by which God delivers his grace to us, forgives sins, and empowers us for godly living by attaching his promises to something we can see and touch.
Peace: We believe that Jesus is ruling over all things for the good of his people and that he promises to return to take all believers to heaven. Because our eternity is certain, we have peace.
Want to learn more?
If you’d like to learn more about what we believe, feel free to look up the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS). That is our church body and you will find much useful information there.