Your Statement of Faith
The reason a statement of faith is so important is because the Bible exhorts us to “speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine” (Titus 2:1), because we are warned that a time is coming (and now it is here), “when they will not endure sound doctrine... and they will turn their ears away from the truth...” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
Because there are many in the past, present, and future, who have turned away from the truth, by not enduring sound doctrine, the Bible exhorts us to, “earnestly contend for the faith” (Jude 1:3), and to “always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15), so that we can protect the truth and the church from errant teaching (2 John 7-11).
Our statement of faith should not be tools to puff us up, or be used as permission slips to argue with others over the Bible, as Scripture is quite clear that this is not God’s will or desire for us (2 Timothy 2:24-26). But instead it is the vehicle that enables us to know and serve God better (2 Timothy 3:16-17), increase our faith (Romans 10:17), and transform our entire being (Romans 12:2), into the image of Christ (Romans 8:29).
Our statement of faith is essential for us to have and hold onto with immoveable conviction, as the church is “the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15), and there are many who would seek to shipwreck the faith of weaker believers (1 Timothy 1:19). Therefore, we must always be like the Berean’s, who “received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily” (Acts 17:11).