Foundations of Faith

The Christian Church Grace by Faith is a local church based in Lviv.

Our vision is to bring the Good News of what God has done for us in Christ to every heart.

We believe and affirm the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed.

We believe in the authority of the Bible as the Word of God. We believe that all Scripture is inspired by God and is the unshakable foundation of sound doctrine (2 Timothy 3:16–17).

We believe that there is one God, eternally existing in three Persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:16-17, 2 Corinthians 13:14, Ephesians 4:4-6).

We believe in the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, in His immaculate conception, sinless life, His healing power, His miracles, His atoning death through sacrifice on the cross, His bodily resurrection, and His ascension to the right hand of the Father as our High Priest and Mediator. We believe that the Lord Jesus will return again, as He promised (John 14:2-3, Matthew 24:30).

We believe that water baptism is an outward expression of our faith, demonstrating the believer’s identification with the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus (Acts 8:12, Romans 6:4).

We believe that the Holy Spirit is our Comforter. He leads us in all areas of our lives (John 14:26). We believe in baptism with the Holy Spirit, evidenced by speaking in tongues (Acts 2:1-4). We believe in the nine gifts of the Spirit and the nine fruits of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:7-11, Galatians 5:22-23).

We believe in the Good News — that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him (John 3:16-17). We believe that we are called to carry this Good News — the Gospel of grace — to all nations (Acts 20:24).

We believe that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). The Bible tells us: “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved” (Romans 10:9-10).

Victory over sin

We believe that sin has separated us from the Holy God, and the punishment for sin is death. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death.” The good news is that Romans 6:23 does not end there. It continues, “But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7). The Bible also tells us, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Therefore, it is extremely important, when becoming a believer in Jesus Christ, to confess our sins, recognize our need for a Savior, and make a personal decision to receive His full forgiveness for all our sins.

We believe that, as born-again believers in Jesus Christ, we are called to live victoriously over the power of sin and to live “worthy of the Lord, to please Him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:10). We believe that sin always has destructive consequences. This is not the result of God’s punishment against believers, but the destructive consequences of sin itself. For example, a believer may choose, with their free will, to put their hand into an open fire. The destructive consequences are the result of that person’s active choice, not punishment from God.

We believe that grace is a teacher who teaches “training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age” (Titus 2:11-12). Grace is not a license to sin. Anyone who makes this false claim to justify their own lifestyle choices does not understand the Gospel of grace and does not represent what we believe.

We believe that sin will not have dominion over believers who have a clear revelation of the Gospel of grace and who stand firm in their righteous identity in Christ. Romans 6:8, 12-14 explains this: “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him… Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”

“For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” 
(Romans 6:14)

We believe that the good fruit of the Gospel of grace will lead to victorious living over sin, beautiful marriages, strong families, true generosity, and born-again believers who will reign in every area of their lives to the glory of God. Romans 5:17 says, “For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.”

We believe that truly born-again believers do not seek an excuse to sin because they are impacted by the love and sacrifice of Jesus. We believe that they seek a way out of sin and from the prison of fear, guilt, and condemnation. We have noticed that the more we proclaim the amazing grace and unconditional love of God, the more testimonies we receive from people set free from alcoholism, drug addiction, and sexual immorality. This is the power of the Gospel of grace. When Jesus is preached, sin loses its power to rule over people’s lives, and true repentance takes place.

The transforming power of grace

We believe that today we are under a new covenant of grace. “For the Law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). The Old Covenant of the law was given through a servant. Grace and truth came through the Son. The law tells us what a person should be. Grace reveals to us who God is. In the first miracle, Moses turned water into blood, which led to death. In the first miracle of grace, Jesus turned water into wine, which brought life and celebration. “For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6). According to the law, God demands righteousness from spiritually fallen people. But under grace, God gives righteousness as a gift (2 Corinthians 5:21, Romans 5:17).

We believe that through the cross at Golgotha, all who believe in Jesus and confess Him as their Lord and Savior are under the New Covenant of grace. According to the law, God said He would by no means clear the guilty, but would punish their iniquity to the third and fourth generations. In Exodus 34:7, it is written: “He visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and fourth generations.” Under grace, God says, “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more” (Hebrews 8:12). The law is focused on man, while grace is focused on Jesus. The law focuses on what we must do to be justified. Grace is entirely focused on what Jesus has done for our justification. According to the law, we are disqualified by our disobedience. Under grace, we are qualified by the obedience of Jesus. According to the law, we become righteous when we do what is right. Under grace, we become righteous when we believe in the completed work of Christ. The Bible says, “For what does the Scripture say? «Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.» Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: «Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.»” (Romans 4:3-8)

“For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” 
(John 1:17)

We believe that the Ten Commandments are holy, righteous, glorious, and good, and we hold the perfect law of God in the highest honor and respect. We believe that the Ten Commandments are so untouchable in their standard and so unshakable in their holy demands that, as it is written in Galatians 3:11, “no one is justified before God by the law.” Justification before God is only possible through faith in Christ: “…yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose” (Galatians 2:16, 19-21).

We believe that believers, transformed by the power of the Lord’s grace, desire to uphold and keep the moral advantages, values, and virtues proclaimed in the Ten Commandments. True grace brings about true holiness. As the apostle Paul proclaimed: “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10).

We believe that God’s people under grace not only fulfill the letter of the law but, in Christ, they surpass it and do even more. For example, the law may command one not to commit adultery, but while a person may outwardly obey this law, it is still possible that inside, they do not love their husband or wife. Grace is not just about a superficial or outward change in behavior — it goes deeper. It teaches a man to love his wife as Christ loved the church and to build a beautiful marriage rooted in the power of the cross. This is the transforming power of God’s grace. The strength to love and live a life that glorifies morality comes from having first experienced the deepest love of the Lord for us. “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

Having felt the extravagant grace of God, a person will not only not covet what belongs to their neighbor, but they will also have the power to be generous to their neighbor and community. We believe this happened to Zacchaeus after he experienced God’s grace firsthand. He said, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold” (Luke 19:8).

True repentance in Christ

We believe it is important to understand the original meaning of the Greek word “repentance,” not just the tradition of outward acts of atonement. The Greek word for repentance, metanoia, means “a change of mind.” Repentance, which involves a true change of mind, goes deeper than merely outward signs of sorrow. A person may appear to be repentant on the outside, even shedding bitter tears, but still not feel the victory over their sin. True repentance (metanoia) speaks of genuine sorrow, the recognition of wrong actions, and a real inner desire to turn away from sin and return to grace through the revelation of the cross.

As it is written in 2 Corinthians 7:9-10: “As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.”

We believe that true repentance and freedom from sin can only be experienced by having faith in the effective work of our Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that, if a believer has fallen into sin and is struggling with a sinful habit, it is crucial that they change their mind and believe that this sin was punished in the body of Jesus. They must begin to accept by faith God’s forgiveness, God’s undeserved favor, and God’s righteousness, in order to overcome that weakness. We encourage all in such a state not to run away from our Lord Jesus, but rather to run toward Him. Jesus is the solution, the answer, and the victory over the destructive cycle of sin (Romans 5:17).

“For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.” 
(Romans 5:17)

We believe in progressive sanctification. The moment we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we were forgiven, cleansed, perfected in righteousness, and saved. We were also sanctified in Christ. “By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10). However, it is important to understand that our sanctification in Christ is progressive. As believers, we cannot become more righteous, but we can become more sanctified or holy in terms of how we live our lives. In other words, the believer has been justified and made righteous by the blood of Jesus once and for all; sanctification continues to grow as a Christian. The more a person grows in grace and in relationship with the Lord — the more they are washed again and again by the water of the Word of God’s grace — the more they grow in sanctification and holiness. This is why the author of Hebrews says that we are “being sanctified,” even though we are “perfected forever” by the one act of Christ’s obedience on the cross. “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14).

We believe that “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). Therefore, we caution against any counterfeit “teaching of grace” that says behavior, discipline, correction, and the right way of living are not important. The revelation of forgiveness does not diminish or harm righteous living. Instead, it fuels righteous living. However, it is important to know that the Lord never corrects us through accidents, sickness, or tongues. The Bible tells us: “For the Lord corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights” (Proverbs 3:12, NLT).

The heart of our Father provides for us

We believe that the heart of our Heavenly Father is to care for His children, just as earthly fathers desire to provide for their children. Our Lord Jesus expressed the Father’s heart in the Sermon on the Mount when He said, “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them” (Matthew 6:31-32). However, our Heavenly Father desires for His children to be generously provided for and to succeed (2 Corinthians 9:8, Joshua 1:8, Psalm 1:1-3). He does not want His children to be consumed by materialism or the pursuit of money (Ecclesiastes 5:10, Matthew 6:24).

The Apostle Paul clearly explains this in his letter to Timothy, when he writes: “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness” (1 Timothy 6:6-11).

We believe that our priority is to seek our Lord Jesus first in all things and to make Him, not the pursuit of money or worldly success, the center of our lives. When we trust in Him, His blessings come. We believe that the blessings, prosperity, and success from the Lord are holistic, not just material or financial, and they begin with the prosperity of the soul (3 John 2).

“Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.” 
(3 John 1:2)

We believe that those under grace have a spirit of generosity, freely giving their time, energy, and financial resources to support, love, and care for those who are less fortunate. For those who are more financially well-off, we encourage them to heed the advice of the Apostle Paul: “As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life” (1 Timothy 6:17-19).

We do not promote greed, materialism, stinginess, or a love of money. On the contrary, we teach that, with blessings, believers should be a blessing to others (Genesis 12:3, 2 Corinthians 9:8).

The meaning of Holy Communion

We believe that the Holy Communion remembers the death of the Lord, and we partake in it in His remembrance.

“And when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body, which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same manner, He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’” (1 Corinthians 11:24-25).

Holy Communion is also known as the Eucharist, from the Greek word eucharistia, meaning “thanksgiving.” On the cross, “He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). When we remember and honor the death of the Lord, partaking by faith in the Holy Communion, we give thanks and receive again all that He did for us on the cross, including health, wholeness, and peace. Together with the psalmist, we proclaim with gratitude in our hearts: “Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s” (Psalm 103:1-5).

We believe that every Sunday, we partake in the Holy Communion as the one Body of Christ, in accordance with the early church tradition in the book of Acts. The Bible tells us: “Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread…” (Acts 20:7).

We believe that we are called to be like the early church in the book of Acts: “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42).

The early church in the book of Acts clearly had a deep revelation of the meaning, importance, and power of the Holy Communion. That is why they did not partake of it only from time to time. In fact, the Bible tells us, “They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity” (Acts 2:46, NLT).

“They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity”
(Acts 2:46, NLT)

We believe that every time we partake in the Holy Communion, whether in a communal church service or “from house to house,” as in the early church (Acts 2:46), we must examine ourselves to ensure we partake worthily of the Lord’s Supper. “Partaking worthily” means participating with a revelation of His completed work, recognizing that we are consuming not ordinary food, but holy and set-apart sustenance. This means we must partake in faith, focused on our Lord Jesus, always remembering that as we eat the bread, we remember that His body was broken so ours could be whole (1 Corinthians 11:24, Isaiah 53:5). And when we drink from the cup, we remember that His blood was shed for the forgiveness and remission of all our sins (Matthew 26:28, Colossians 2:13).

Unity in the body of Christ

We believe that, despite the different practices and beliefs across various Christian denominations throughout the history of the Church, we can all fellowship harmoniously as part of the body of Christ, united around the foundational Christian doctrines articulated in the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed (1 Corinthians 12:12, Ephesians 4:3).