Covenant Fire Systematic Theology — Free Online Edition
Scripture Governed Doctrine for Worship, Discipleship, and Mission
First edition 1.0 · 8 October 2026 · 38 chapters · 52 catechism questions
We are not the treasure. We exist to point people to it and bring others.
Read this study edition freely. No purchase or enrollment required.
Read the book
- Part One Knowing God
- Part Two The Living God and His World
- Part Three Humanity Sin and the Unseen World
- Part Four Covenant and Christ
- Part Five Salvation by Sovereign Grace
- Part Six The Holy Spirit and His Gifts
- Part Seven The Church and Its Mission
- Part Eight Christian Conduct and Care
- Part Nine The Kingdom and the Last Things
- Part Ten Doctrine Under Accountable Practice
- Appendices, study answers, teaching plan, glossary, and sources
Purpose and governing confession
This volume explains the Christian faith as Covenant Fire Church teaches it: the triune God reveals Himself in Scripture, reconciles sinners through Jesus Christ, forms them by the Holy Spirit, gathers them into accountable churches, and brings His people into the new creation. Doctrine serves worship, repentance, faithful reasoning, neighbor love, and mission. A reader should leave with a connected understanding of the gospel and the ability to distinguish biblical teaching from an attractive assertion.
Covenant Fire confesses the historic Christian faith, the Five Solas, the Reformed doctrines of grace, the continuing work and gifts of the Spirit, and an amillennial, post-tribulational, single-return eschatology. It seeks spiritual vitality under Scripture, with human leadership answerable for truth, conduct, and the protection of those entrusted to its care. Its mission directs attention to Christ rather than to an institution or founder. [CF1 §§1.3, 2.1-2.12]
Our ministry commitment
Covenant Fire has chosen to launch as a tax-paying ministry outside income-tax exemption. We will pay taxes lawfully due and will not condition faithful proclamation of Scripture on preserving a financial privilege.
This statement communicates the ministry's founding choice. It does not certify completed legal arrangements, tax classification, filings, payments, or deductibility of gifts. [CF3]
How to read this volume
Read the biblical passages before reading the discussion. Each chapter supplies a doctrinal claim, an explanation, a substantial question or objection, and a practical consequence. The study question invites a response already supported in the chapter; Appendix B supplies concise answers for review.
The word Confessed identifies a commitment expressly recorded in the current Founding Charter. Developed identifies this volume's theological exposition or proposed synthesis of that commitment, without claiming that every detail has separately received formal adoption. Open identifies a question for which the controlling documents do not supply a determinate answer. A mixed chapter uses these labels at the relevant point. These labels describe church status; they do not prove an interpretation true or measure the faith of a reader.
The Founding Charter controls this teaching resource within CFC governance. This volume neither amends the Charter nor records a vote, ordination, committee appointment, or new doctrinal adoption. Proposed conclusions require the review and amendment processes already established where adoption would change governing doctrine. [CF1 §§1.5, 14.2; CF2 §9]
The ESV remains CFC's primary English translation. References below identify passages without reproducing extensive copyrighted text. Explanations paraphrase Scripture rather than present themselves as quotations. Teachers should compare Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek where an argument turns on wording, and consult other faithful translations when useful. [CF1 §2.2]
The shape of the whole
Knowing God requires revelation. Revelation identifies the Creator and exposes human sin. God's covenant promises lead to Christ, whose accomplished redemption the Spirit applies through the gospel. Redeemed people gather, grow, serve, suffer, and witness while awaiting Christ's return. Every part therefore belongs to the same account of God's glory and saving work.