We believe all the teaching of the Bible. The Holy Scriptures, being inspired by God, infallible, and inerrant, are the only supreme authority for individual Christians and for the gathered assembly of the church in all matters of faith, morals, and conduct. Therefore, the authority of Scripture must always be upheld above every human document (Acts 5:29; 2 Timothy 3:16; John 12:48).
At First Baptist Church of Pharr, we embrace “the faith once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3) and declare "the whole counsel of God" (Acts 20:27). The Baptist Faith and Message is a brief summary of what we believe, and it forms the guardrails for our teaching and preaching ministry.
1. SCRIPTURE ALONE
We have in the Bible the only infallible and final rule for faith and practice. Scripture is the supreme judge by which all controversies are decided, shaping our doctrine, guiding our worship, and directing our life. We do well to learn from Christian wisdom and tradition throughout history, while recognizing that Scripture maintains supreme authority over all tradition (2 Tim. 3:16–17).
2. GRACE ALONE
We cannot save ourselves; our salvation is God’s free and gracious work from start to finish, not a result of our works. Our entire salvation is a divine act of pure grace on the part of God (Eph. 2:8–9).
3. FAITH ALONE
God justifies sinners by faith alone, on the basis of Christ alone. Faith is the receiving and resting on Christ and his righteousness, apart from works. By faith we trust that Christ has borne our past, present, and future sins, and we receive freely his perfect righteousness (Rom. 3:28).
4. CHRIST ALONE
Christ alone is the one Mediator and Savior. His once-for-all atoning work is sufficient to save his people; no other mediator or merit can add to it. All saving grace—faith, repentance, and perseverance—comes from his saving work (1 Tim. 2:5).
5. GOD'S GLORY ALONE
Everything—especially our salvation and our life of faith—is ultimately for the glory of the triune God alone, excluding all boasting and all rival glory. Our worship must therefore remain centered on God alone and reject every form of idolatrous praise (Isa. 42:8).
Our doctrine is grounded in God’s Word and evidenced in historic Christianity, for that reason we gladly join our brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the centuries in affirming the historic creeds of christianity to find light, wisdom and instruction in the biblical faith.
As a church committed to doctrinal purity and biblical Christianity in the face of modern challenges, we promote the use of the following documents as guides for our theological teaching:
We are a church that believes the Bible is God's Word — fully true, fully sufficient, and the final authority for everything we believe and do. That conviction shapes all the rest.
We are Christian because we hold to the essentials of orthodox doctrine confessed by the church in every age: we believe in the Trinity: one God in three persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit); Jesus Christ as fully God and fully man, who died for sinners and rose bodily from the grave; and salvation found in Him alone. We stand with the historic Christian faith summarized in the early creeds and upheld throughout 2000 years.
We are Reformed because we hold to the great truths recovered in the Protestant Reformation: that salvation is by God's grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, for the glory of God alone, as taught in Scripture alone. We believe God is sovereign in saving sinners by His sovereing grace. No one earns salvation; it is a gift from beginning to end.
We are Baptist because we believe the local church is made up of those who personally trust in Jesus Christ, and that baptism is for believers as a public confession of that faith. Each congregation is governed under Christ, its Head, with the Bible as its rule.
In practice, this means our worship is simple and centered on God's Word — we sing it, read it, pray it, and preach it. Our preaching works through books of the Bible so that the whole counsel of God is taught.