What We Believe

Our core values and beliefs guide everything we do at Vesture+Vine.

God: We believe in one holy and perfect triune God (Deut. 6:4-5). God eternally exists in three co-equal, co-eternal persons which are all fully God and not parts of God (cf. Matt. 28:19, 2 Cor. 13:14). The Father is not the Son, nor the Spirit. The Son is not the Father, nor the Spirit. The Spirit is not the Father, nor the Son (Matt 3:13-17). God is a good and just judge. He has holy wrath toward sin (Psalm 7:11, Col. 3:5-6). Anything imperfect is destroyed when it comes in contact with the presence of God (Exod. 19, 33:20, Heb. 12:29). This is the main issue that humans face: their death, due to their depravity, in God's presence (Isa. 59:2, Rom. 6:23a).

Creation: All things were created by the one God (Gen 1:1) out of no pre-existent spiritual or physical materials (creatio ex nihilo: cf. Heb 11:3). God creates the same way he redeems, by Word and Spirit (Gen 1, Psalm 33:6). All things were created through Christ, by Christ, and for Christ (John 1:3, Col. 1:16-17).

The Fall: Sin entered God's good creation through the disobedience of its head, Adam (Gen. 3, Rom. 5:12-14). In God's design, he placed Adam as a vice-regent over all of creation (Gen. 1:28). Adam was given roles of prophet, priest, and king; and commanded to have dominion over creation and everything on and in it (Gen. 1:28-30, 2:15-17,19). In his silence and passivity, he disobeyed a holy God and failed his ordained positions (Gen. 2:15, cf. Num. 3:7-8). His wife, Eve, was deceived by the serpent into breaking God's only prohibition at the time of not eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam failed as prophet by not speaking God's word. Adam failed as priest by not interceding for his wife. Adam failed as king by not executing God's word and will. Not only did Adam sin in passivity, he ate of the fruit with little to no coercion (Gen. 3:6c). Due to creation's head being corrupted by sin, it became cursed by God and corrupted in every way (Gen. 3:17-19, Rom. 8:20-22). All people are born into corruption, a sin inclination, and guilt due to Adam being their federal head (Psalm 51:5, Rom. 5:12-19, Eph. 2:3, 1 Cor. 15:22).

Redemption: Praise be to God that he did not abandon creation and his people (John 3:16)! God chose to redeem through his only begotten Son. Sending the Son was not God's plan B, it was the original plan (1 Pet. 1:20, Eph. 1:4, Rev. 13:8). About 2,000 years ago, God the Son took on flesh in the form of the human Jesus of Nazareth (John 1:14, Col. 2:9, Phil. 2:7-8). In fulfillment of prophecy and scripture, he came humbly, not in grandeur or splendor or kingly form, but as a lowly babe in Bethlehem, truly God and truly man (vere homo, vere Deus) (Mic. 5:2, Isa. 53, Luke 2:7). Jesus Christ, although tempted in every respect, lived a life on this earth (about 30 years) free from sin (Heb. 4:15, 1 Pet. 2:22). In obedience to the Father, he laid down his life to the wish of the Pharisees and Sadducees and Roman crucifixion (Matt. 27, Phil. 2:8). He was flogged, beaten, marched, humiliated, and nailed to a cross where he suffocated to death. What's more is the physical pain was nothing in comparison to what he endured for atonement. He willingly drank the foaming cup down to the bottom (Psalm 75:8, Isa. 53:10, Matt. 26:39). The full wrath of God reserved for the wickedness and disobedience of his elect was redirected and poured out upon the shoulders of the everlasting savior. Christ was the propitiation of God's elect; the perfect and sufficient sacrifice for all their sins (1 John 2:2, Heb 10:14. The fall was not a surprise to God, instead he sovereignly permitted it for his good plan (cf. Gen. 50:20, Acts 2:23). In eternity past, and by no merit or work of their own, God set his favor and affection upon his elect (Eph. 1:4-5, Rom. 9:11-16). God the Spirit regenerates the dead spiritual hearts and eyes of the elect in order that they may see the goodness and light of God (Ezekiel 36:26, John 3:3). Simultaneously, God calls his elect to repent from their sins and trust in Christ's finished work (Mark 1:15). Upon repentance and faith in Christ, one is saved from the holy wrath of God for their sins (Rom. 6:23b). Through the imputation of Christ's merit, they are counted as innocent and blameless (2 Corinthians 5:21). A believer is molded into the image of Jesus, by sanctification of the Holy Spirit, for the rest of their earthly lives (2 Thess. 2:13, Phil. 1:6, 2:12-13). After passing from this temporal world, those in Christ are perfected in glorification to live eternally in the Kingdom of God in the new creation (Rom. 8:30).

Church: Christians are saved not for individual pleasure, but in and for the universal church (1 Cor. 12:12-27). Humans are not omnipresent or omniscient, so this reality is made manifest through the participation of the local church (Heb. 10:24-25, ) The local church is an established, committed body of believers led by the right preaching of God's word and right administration of the ordinances (Baptism and the Lord's Supper). The only way to live out the commands for the church are through the participation of the local church. A local church has clear leaders and clear members who submit to those leaders (Heb. 13:17, Acts 20:28, 1 Pet. 5:2-3). A church has church discipline (Matt. 18:15-17, 1 Cor. 5:12-13). Christ has given explicit "one another" commands to the church (John, 13:34-35, 15:12, Mark 9:50, Rom. 12:16, John 13:14, Gal. 4:13, 6:2, Eph. 4:32, Rom. 15:14, Col. 3:13-16).

Reconciliation: We have not come to a polished eschatology yet, but we can affirm and reject a few things. Christ is the new Adam and federal head for God's chosen, adopted children (1 Cor. 15:22,45). In the end of the end of the days, Christ will return to claim his bride (the church) (Eph. 5:27, Rev. 19:7-9). We affirm that Jesus has won and it will be fully manifested in that day (Col. 2:15, Rev. 17:14). We affirm that God's adopted children are the great prize of new creation (1 Cor. 15:42-44, Phil. 3:21). We affirm that all the saints (believers) will receive glorified, physical bodies. We affirm that this current creation that we live in will all pass away and will be replaced with a completely new (also material and physical), incorruptible creation (2 Pet. 3:13, Rev. 21:1-4). 

Christians in Culture: Believers are strongly commanded to be in this world but not of this world (John 17:14-15, 1 Cor. 5:9-10). This does not mean a call to separation from society to communes or monastic lives. Instead the church is an embassy for the Kingdom of God (2 Cor. 5:20, Phil. 3:20). Embassies reside within and interact with foreign lands while submitting to the laws and customs of the home nation. Consequently, believers are ambassadors for the Kingdom of God in this broken world. Believers are citizens of the Kingdom of God, so even as ambassadors in a foreign land they are to live according to the law and customs of their home (1 Pet. 2:11-12). This truth is manifest through the work of local churches in the service to their communities, domestic and foreign missions, and internal equipping of the saints. It does no good for churches to speak nice words to those hurting. They have the joyful obligation to meet the physical needs of those in need as a means to reaching them with their spiritual need, the gospel (Matt. 25:35-40, James 2:15-17). The work of missions, reaching the lost with the gospel, is central to the heart of the triune God. This is the new manifestation of the creation mandate, the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20). Local churches must equip and send missionaries while supporting them in prayer and finances. This work is not reserved for the church leadership, but required participation for every member of the body. No work of the church is possible without equipping the saints. The head shepherd, Christ, ordains under-shepherds in pastors, elders, deacons to equip the members of the church for the work of ministry (Ephesians 4:11-16, 1 Pet. 5:1-3).

Modern Moral Dilemmas: This section is an overview of our stances concerning some of the most volatile moral discussions plaguing our world based upon a biblical theology of God's good design. Equipped saints must not conform to the moral standards of the culture (Rom. 12:2). Morality is not objective, not subjective. Therefore, it can be defined and obeyed. God defines morality out of his good and perfect character (Lev. 19:2, 1 Pet. 1:16). There are only two genders/sexes: male and female (Genesis 1:26). They have always been and will always be binary and non-fluid (Matt. 19:4). God designed them to complement one another beautifully, so that one cannot live without the other. Husbands are the head and wives are the helpers (Gen. 2:18, 1 Cor. 11:3). This is not a case of value or worth, but rather of distinct role and function. The main goal of the marriage is to glorify God by reflecting Christ and his church (Eph. 5:32). Just as Christ died for the church, husbands are to sacrificially love their wives by denying himself and his selfish passions. Just as Christ is the head of the church, the husband is the head of the wife and she is to submit to her husband (Ephesians 5:22-33). This is also reflective of roles within local churches. The leadership roles of pastor and elder are strictly reserved for males (1 Tim. 2:12, 3:2, Titus 1:6). Out of marriage, the greatest blessing is children (Psalm 127:3-5). Life is sacred and starts immediately at conception (Psalm 139:13-16). All human life is created in the image of God. Ending human life at any stage: abortion to elderly, is an abomination to God (Gen. 9:6). There is no justified reason to murder an innocent life. This does not apply to the case of self-defense or just war killings (Ex. 22:2, Rom. 13:4).