Beit Hallel Messianic Fellowship's Statement of Beliefs
(Please note: This Statement of Beliefs does not exhaust the extent of our beliefs. It is a summary of those points we consider most important. The Bible itself is the sole and final source of all that we believe.)
1. We believe in the God of the Bible, the Creator of heaven and earth, whose Name is יהוה (Gen. 1-2, Ex. 3:14-15). יהוה is revealed to mankind in the persons of Father, Son, and Ruach haKodesh (Holy Spirit), but יהוה , who refers to Himself as “Elohim,” is One God. (Gen. 1:26, Deut. 6:4).
2. We believe the Scriptures, both the TANAK (“Old Testament”) and the Gospels and Apostolic writings (“New Testament”), as originally written, are the inspired and inerrant Word of יהוה. They contain all necessary instructions for living life in a manner acceptable and pleasing to יהוה . (Tim. 3:16-17).
3. We believe in the deity of Y’shua of Nazareth, the Messiah of Israel – that He was fully human and fully divine. He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died as an atoning sacrifice for our sins, was resurrected from the dead, and has ascended to the right hand of יהוה. He fulfilled a great number of prophecies in the TANAK at His first coming and will fulfill the remainder when He physically returns to earth as King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Luke 24:25-27).
4. We believe that יהוה created all things good, including mankind, but mankind willingly sinned against יהוה, ushering death, both physical and spiritual, into the world. All have sinned and are in need of salvation. By the grace of יהוה, every person can be restored to right fellowship with Him through repentance and faith in the atoning work of Y’shua completed at Golgotha. One day, all mankind will be resurrected – the redeemed to everlasting joy in the presence of יהוה, and the lost to everlasting damnation and separation from יהוה
5. We believe the written Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) contains יהוה ‘s loving instructions to us, His children, for living a righteous life once we have been reconciled with Him through faith in Y’shua. As disciples (followers and imitators) of Y’shua, who kept יהוה‘s commandments perfectly, it is our duty to strive to do so as well (1 John 2:3-6). The Ruach haKodesh is our Counselor and Friend, and He will guide us along the path of sanctification, leading us and empowering us to follow יהוה‘s commandments as established in the Torah and further explained in the remainder of Scripture, until the likeness of Messiah is formed within us and the Torah is written upon our hearts.
6. We believe that all who put their faith in Israel’s Messiah, Y’shua, regardless of their ethnicity, are grafted into the Commonwealth of Israel (Ephesians 2 and Romans 11) and are rightful heirs to both the unconditional covenant of Abraham and the conditional covenant of Moses, as established by יהוה.
7. We believe that after salvation a person’s past is dead, buried, and gone; יהוה creates a new creature in Y’shua haMashiach (Y’shua the Messiah). After salvation, one should follow Y’shua’s example and seek to learn of and experience water baptism by immersion, signifying the death of the old life of sin and rebirth unto a new life of holiness.
8. We believe that the Body of Messiah, His called-out ones commonly known as His Church, has a mission. That mission is to convocate at His appointed times to worship יהוה, to learn of His ways, to exhort one another, to lift one another up, to bear one another’s burdens, to seek and facilitate the salvation of the lost, and to meet human needs, both local and afar, with love and compassion.
9. We believe that the local congregation should be led by a Council of Elders. Elders must be selected according to the guidelines established by יהוה in Scripture (1 Tim. 3). Empowered by the Holy Spirit, it is the duty of these Elders to direct, correct, exhort, and love the brethren under their care. Part of this duty is to determine “halakhah” – to decide what constitutes the proper practice of the commandments – as it pertains to members of the congregation for which they are responsible (Matt. 5:23).
10. We believe that יהוה will restore all things to His original plan and purpose for creation, that this will be a divine act of יהוה, and that we must work to spread the gospel until that day.