What we believe
Statement of Faith
The biblical convictions that guide Paul Tripp Ministries.
As an organization, Paul Tripp Ministries (PTM) creates and distributes biblical content taught exclusively by Paul David Tripp (PDT), and therefore, is directly tied to PDT’s theological and doctrinal beliefs, which are accountable first and foremost to the Lord, and second, under the authority of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), of which PDT is an ordained minister in good standing.
For an extensive (yet not comprehensive or exhaustive) statement and summaries of PDT’s doctrinal beliefs, see the opening paragraphs of chapters 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, and 23 in his book, Do You Believe? 12 Historic Doctrines to Change Your Everyday Life (2021, Crossway).
The staff at PTM come from various theological backgrounds and are members of churches across a wide spectrum of Reformed Protestant denominations, but all must agree to PTM’s Statement of Faith (SoF). The PTM SoF draws from and affirms the evangelical Christian faith as expressed in the historic creeds and confessions of the Reformation (i.e., the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Westminster Confession of Faith, the London and Philadelphia Baptist Confessions, the Five Solas, Heidelberg Catechism).
1. Scripture
The Bible–the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments–is the divinely inspired, infallible, inerrant, sufficient, and authoritative Word of God.
2. God
There is only one true God, infinite in perfection and eternal in existence, in unity as three distinct persons of one substance, power, and glory: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
3. Jesus
Jesus Christ is fully God and fully Man, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, lived a perfect and sinless life, was crucified, died, and was buried, rose bodily from the dead, royally ascended into heaven as our Great High Priest, and will come again in glory and judgment to reign in power forever.
4. Man
God created man in his own image, either as male or female, and God’s perfect design for marriage and sexual activity is between one man and one woman in the covenant of the marriage bond. As image bearers of the Creator, every human being of both genders and of every age, race, ethnicity, and ability has been christened with an intrinsic dignity from conception to death.
5. Sin
Because the first man, Adam, transgressed, every human being since has been born in iniquity, morally corrupt, rebellious, estranged from their Creator, deserving death and eternal damnation, and because of sin, unable to seek out or satisfy God on our own. Redemption was bought by the substitutionary atoning blood of Christ, righteousness imputed, and eternal life promised to all believers who repent of their sins and receive salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus.
6. Sanctification
Those whom God has called and regenerated by the Holy Spirit are now also indwelt by the Spirit, sealed until the day of redemption, and empowered to pursue holiness in every part of their person–yet remnants of the corruption of sin will remain in every part. This ongoing war will finally cease when Christ returns and puts the last enemy under his feet, welcoming believers to see his face, enter into the new heavens and the new earth in a bodily resurrection, and reign with him through all eternity.
7. Church
Christ established the church–comprised of all true believers who are united to him and to one another by the Spirit, thus a living Body, of which Christ is the head–to preach the Word, administer the sacraments (baptism and the Lord’s Supper), disciple, exhort, discipline, and restore, and live as ambassadors, influencing the world through holy living and the proclamation of the gospel, imploring everyone, everywhere to be reconciled with God.