What We Believe

Statement of Religious Faith and Convictions

Statement of Faith

Colorado Christian University unites with the broad, historic evangelical faith rather than affiliating with any specific denomination. In this commitment, the University embraces the following declarations of the National Association of Evangelicals:

• We Believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God.
• We Believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
• We Believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory.
• We Believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful people, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.
• We Believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.
• We Believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.
• We Believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.

These declarations do not comprise all that individual Christians may consider important elements of faith; rather, they establish the essential framework within which members of the University both unite in shared beliefs and explore differences.

Statement of Convictions

CCU is a Christian institution of higher education. Our University rests on a belief system where truth matters and where there is a unifying center (Christ) which holds all things and disciplines together. This has been our conviction since our founding in 1914, and it continues to be our conviction today. But truth is to be held and lived out in love. Hence our motto, "grace and truth." (John 1:14-16; Ephesians 4:15)

1. Holy Scripture: We have always believed in the truthfulness of the Bible. We understand the use of the word "infallibility" in our Statement of Faith to mean inerrancy (as articulated in The Chicago Statement of Biblical Inerrancy), that the 66 books of the Bible, in their original manuscripts, are without error in all that they affirm. Scripture is our supreme authority under Christ. (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21; Psalm 12:6; John 17:17)
2. The Gospel: As evangelicals, we believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The term "evangelical" comes from the Greek word euangelion, meaning "the good news" or the "gospel." Thus, the evangelical faith focuses on the "good news" of salvation brought to sinners through Jesus Christ. We have a biblical mandate to share this good news everywhere. We also understand the language of being "saved" in our Statement of Faith to mean that we are saved (i.e., justified) by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, and that true faith will show itself in good works. (Romans 3:21-28; Romans 5:1; Galatians 2:16; Ephesians 2:8-10)
3. Race and Ethnicity: Believing in a biblical view of human nature, we affirm that all people are made in the image of God and are consequently worthy of respect. Scripture also states that Christ has "ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and … made them a kingdom and priests to our God." Therefore, we look at the value of all persons through the lens of biblical truth as image bearers who can have a new identity in Christ. (Genesis 1:26,27; Ephesians 1-2; Revelation 5:9,10)
4. Sex and Gender: In affirming "traditional family values" in our Strategic Priorities, we mean what Bible-believing Christians have always meant, and what we have believed as an institution since our founding in 1914, that God created human beings in His image as male and female, that He ordained that marriage is to be between a man (male) and a woman (female) for life, and that sexual intimacy is exclusively for marriage. (Genesis 1:26-27; Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:4-6; Ephesians 5:22-33; Revelation 19:7-9)
5. The Church and its Ministries: When we claim to be "servants of the church," we mean what we have always believed since our founding that all our employees — administration, faculty, staff, and also Trustees — should be committed Bible-believing Christians and true disciples of Jesus (see No. 2). While we recognize the vital role of pastors and teachers, we also believe in the priesthood of all believers, where God calls every believer to active ministry as a member of His body, the church, so we hold that every Christian at CCU (i.e., all employees, from office staff to facilities, to faculty, to the president) should see their jobs as ministries to our students, and that all should live lives of obedience to Christ and His Word. (Matthew 16:18; 28:18-20; Ephesians 4:11-13; 1 Peter 2:9)
6. Christ-centered Higher Education and Truth: In its central convictions, CCU stands in the great tradition of Christian higher education in which education must begin with the "fear of the Lord," must be rooted in the Scriptures and Jesus Christ ("in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge"), and must affirm the truthfulness of truth and the reality of God's created order. (Proverbs 1:7; 9:10; Colossians 2:3)