Statement of Faith Comparison: ECFA (Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability)

🔗What we are comparing

We compare the ECFA statement of faith¹ line by line to determine whether the UPDV Updated Bible Version supports each claim or differs.

ECFA is an evangelical accreditation body for Christian nonprofits, ministries, and churches; its Statement of Faith is the doctrinal core member organizations subscribe to. It is structured as seven essential elements rather than a full denominational confession; it does not address baptism, the Lord's Supper, or detailed eschatology. The statement has seven numbered sections; we walk each in turn.

Findings: ✅ supported, ⚠️ partly supported, ❌ not supported.

🔗The Bible

1. We believe the Bible to be the inspired and the only infallible, authoritative Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16).

🔗✅ The doctrine of scripture -- Supported

The UPDV supports this. ECFA's cited proof-text is intact: 2 Timothy 3:16 -- "All Scripture [is] inspired of God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness." The mechanism of inspiration is preserved at 2 Peter 1:20-21 ("no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but men spoke from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit"). Scripture's living authority is affirmed at Hebrews 4:12 ("the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword"); its purity and permanence at Psalm 12:6 ("The words of Yahweh are pure words; As silver tried in a furnace on the earth, Purified seven times") and Isaiah 40:8 ("the word of our God will stand forever"). Inspiration, infallibility, and authority of the Word of God -- all supported by passages present in the UPDV.

🔗⚠️ What is "the Bible"? -- Partly Supported

ECFA's statement says "the Bible" without naming which books are scripture, and modifies it with "only infallible." In ECFA's evangelical context, "the Bible" is normally understood to mean the standard 66-book Protestant canon, and "only infallible, authoritative Word of God" is ordinarily read in a sola scriptura sense: Scripture alone has final, infallible authority. The Bible itself does not contain a table of contents; identifying the canon has historically involved the church's reception and recognition of particular writings as Scripture.

The UPDV makes different decisions about the canon. The reasons for each decision are documented in writing -- see the Books of the Bible section at https://www.updated.org/ (Epistle to the Greeks -- early Christian letter; Wisdom of Sirach -- 2nd-century BC wisdom literature; First Maccabees -- history between Malachi and the New Testament; Matthew -- reconstructed; Luke -- chapters 1, 2, and ending reconstructed; John -- ends at 19:35; Acts -- not included). The UPDV's canon differs from the standard 66-book Protestant canon: it includes some writings outside that canon (Greeks, Sirach, 1 Maccabees) and also omits or reconstructs some material traditionally included within it. The UPDV's text does not adjudicate the sola scriptura exclusivity inference one way or the other, but its different answer to the question "which books?" is itself a real difference from ECFA's tradition.

This is not a disagreement on the doctrine of inspiration itself. We address the impact of the canon differences section by section in what follows. Most of ECFA's stated doctrines still stand in the UPDV's text. Where a textual or canonical difference affects that support, we note it directly.

🔗The Trinity

2. We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19).

🔗✅ The Trinity -- Supported

The UPDV supports the doctrine. One God (Deuteronomy 6:4, "Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one"), three persons named together in the apostolic blessing (2 Corinthians 13:13, "the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit"), three persons coordinated as the basis of Christian unity (Ephesians 4:4-6, "one Spirit... one Lord... one God and Father of all"), and the triadic naming in Isaiah 48:16 ("the Sovereign Yahweh has sent me, and his Spirit") -- all supported by passages present in the UPDV. The fuller deity-of-Christ and personal-Holy-Spirit walks come in the God the Son and God the Holy Spirit sections below.

ECFA cites only one verse, Matthew 28:19 (the Great Commission with the Trinitarian baptismal formula), and it is the one verse not in the UPDV at its cited form -- the UPDV's reconstructed Matthew omits 28:18-20. The doctrine of the Trinity itself stands on the texts above: the triadic pattern of Christ, God/Father, and Spirit is preserved in 2 Corinthians 13:13 and the triadic coordination in Ephesians 4:4-6. What is not preserved anywhere in the UPDV is the specific baptismal formula -- "baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" -- which is the literal text spoken over the candidate at baptism across most Christian traditions since the second century. The doctrine carries through the verses above; the dominical command instituting the rite of baptism in the Triune name does not appear anywhere else in the UPDV. Churches reading the UPDV that wish to retain the historic baptismal formula will be doing so on the basis of long-standing catholic and Protestant practice rather than on a directly preserved dominical command, which is a real shift in how the rite is grounded.

🔗God the Son

3. We believe in: - the full deity and full humanity of Christ (John 1:1–14; Hebrews 1:3–5, 2:5–18), - His virgin birth (Luke 1:26–38), - His sinless life (2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 4:15), - His miracles (John 10:31–38), - His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood (Matthew 26:28; 1 Peter 2:24), - His bodily resurrection (John 20:1–31; Acts 1:1–3; 1 Corinthians 15:1–8), - His ascension to the right Hand of the Father (Acts 1:4–11), - His present rule as Head of the Church (Ephesians 1:22, 5:23; Colossians 1:18), and - His personal return in power and glory (Revelation 19:11–16; 22:7–21).

🔗✅ Full deity and full humanity of Christ -- Supported

The UPDV supports this. ECFA's cited passages are intact, and taken together they carry both halves of the doctrine.

Deity: John 1:1 ("the Speech was God"), Hebrews 1:3 ("the radiance of his glory, and the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power"), and Hebrews 1:5 ("You are my Son, This day I have begotten you"). Humanity: John 1:14 ("the Speech became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory, glory as an only begotten from a father, full of grace and truth"), Hebrews 2:14 ("the children have shared in flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner partook of the same"), and Hebrews 2:17-18 ("in all things to be made like his brothers... For in that he himself has suffered being tried, he is able to help those who are being tried"). The full deity and full humanity of Christ -- both attributes -- are supported by passages present in the UPDV.

🔗❌ The virgin birth -- Not Supported

The UPDV removes the usual proof-text basis on which the virgin birth is commonly argued. Its own article on the subject states that "five distinct judgments -- translational, text-critical, editorial, and reconstructive -- converge to remove the textual basis on which the doctrine is commonly argued."

The five: Isaiah 7:14 reads "young woman" (Hebrew almah) not "virgin"; Matthew 1:18-25 is omitted as a later editorial addition; Luke 1-2 are not in the UPDV; Luke 3:23 reads "known as the son of Joseph" rather than "as was supposed"; Luke 1:34-35 (Mary's question to the angel) is not in the UPDV.

ECFA's sole cited proof-text is Luke 1:26-38 -- the angel Gabriel's announcement to Mary. That passage is in Luke 1, which the UPDV does not include. No remaining text in the UPDV explicitly teaches a virgin conception, and the usual inferential supports do not supply the missing Luke 1-2 / Matthew 1 proof-text basis: Mark begins with the public ministry; John 1:14 affirms incarnation but not virginal conception; Paul writes that Jesus was "born of a woman, born under the law" (Galatians 4:4) and "born of the seed of David according to the flesh" (Romans 1:3) without referencing virginity; Hebrews 2:14 affirms full human nature without addressing Mary.

A reader looking to the UPDV for the explicit biblical proof-text ECFA cites for the virgin birth -- Luke 1:26-38 -- will not find it, and no other UPDV text supplies an explicit replacement for that proof-text. This is a material gap in support for ECFA's claim.

It is worth noting, however, that within historic Christian theology the doctrine of Christ's divinity has not been uniformly grounded on the virgin conception. To take one example, Joseph Ratzinger wrote that "the doctrine of Jesus' divinity would not be affected if Jesus had been the product of a normal human marriage," locating divine Sonship in the eternal Word rather than in the biological mechanism of conception. The textual finding here removes the explicit proof-text ECFA cites; it does not address the underlying doctrine of Christ's full divinity, which Christians have also held on other grounds. Full discussion at The Virgin Birth — Text and Faith.

🔗✅ His sinless life -- Supported

The UPDV supports this. Both of ECFA's cited passages are intact: 2 Corinthians 5:21 ("Him who knew no sin he made [to be] sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him") and Hebrews 4:15 ("we do not have a high priest who can't be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one who has been in all points tried like [we are, yet] without sin"). Christ's sinlessness -- both the negative ("knew no sin," "without sin") and the positive (the righteousness imputed to believers) -- is supported by passages present in the UPDV.

🔗✅ His miracles -- Supported

The UPDV supports this. ECFA's cited passage is intact: John 10:31-38, where Jesus appeals to his works as evidence of divine commission -- "If I don't do the works of my Father, don't believe me. But if I do them, though you⁺ don't believe me, believe the works: that you⁺ may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father." The miracle ministry is amply attested elsewhere in the UPDV's gospels (e.g., Mark 1:21-34 healings and exorcisms; Mark 4:35-41 stilling the storm; Mark 5 -- demoniac, hemorrhage, Jairus's daughter; John 2 water-into-wine; John 6 feeding the five thousand and walking on water; John 11 raising of Lazarus; the Markan miracle catena throughout). Christ's miracles are supported by passages present in the UPDV.

🔗✅ His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood -- Supported

The UPDV supports this. ECFA's two cited passages carry the doctrine. 1 Peter 2:24 is intact at cited form: "who his own self bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness; by whose stripes you⁺ were healed" -- one of the clearest vicarious-atonement statements in the NT outside the Pauline corpus. Matthew 26:28 is reconstructed in the UPDV at Matt 25:26 in its Markan form (Mark 14:24): "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many." The Last Supper institution is preserved; "blood of the covenant" and "poured out for many" -- the vicarious and atoning force of the saying -- are intact. The doctrine also carries through Luke 22:20 ("This cup is the new covenant in my blood, [even] that which is poured out for you⁺"), 1 John 2:2 ("he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the whole world"), and Romans 3:25 (Christ "set forth to be a propitiation, through faith, in his blood").

What is removed in the UPDV's reconstruction is canonical Matthew's distinctive tag "for the remission of sins" at the end of 26:28 -- a phrase unique to Matthew with no parallel in Mark or Luke. This Matthean form is a familiar communion wording in many evangelical churches -- "this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins" -- and the UPDV's Markan-form reconstruction does not carry the "for the remission of sins" tag. The remission-of-sins-through-Christ's-blood theology itself is preserved at Hebrews 9:22 ("apart from shedding of blood there is no remission") and 1 John 1:7 ("the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin"), and the substitutionary atonement doctrine is intact. What is not preserved is the specific liturgical wording -- a real liturgical absence parallel to the Matthew 28:19 baptismal formula in the Trinity section above. Churches that want their communion wording to follow a preserved UPDV text can use Mark 14:24, Luke 22:20, or 1 Corinthians 11:25 for the cup.

🔗✅ His bodily resurrection -- Supported

The UPDV supports this. Two of ECFA's three cited passages are intact at cited form. John 20 preserves a full resurrection narrative -- the empty tomb, the appearance to Mary Magdalene ("Rabbouni, which is to say, Teacher"), the appearance to the disciples ("he showed them his hands and his side"), and Thomas's confession ("My Lord and my God"). 1 Corinthians 15:1-8 preserves an early apostolic creed: "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that he was buried; and that he has been raised on the third day according to the Scriptures; and that he appeared to Cephas; then to the twelve; then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once... then he appeared to James; then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to the [child] untimely born, he appeared to me also." The bodily nature of the resurrection is reinforced at John 20:27 (Jesus's invitation to Thomas to touch the wounds) and 1 Cor 15:42-44 (the resurrection body).

ECFA's third cited passage, Acts 1:1-3, is in Acts, which the UPDV does not include. Acts 1:1-3 places the post-resurrection appearances in a defined forty-day window during which the risen Christ taught the apostles concerning "the kingdom of God" -- a period often treated as important for apostolic witness and post-resurrection instruction in the early church. That specific forty-day framework is not preserved in the UPDV. The bodily resurrection doctrine itself -- which is what ECFA's clause asserts -- is fully preserved by John 20 and 1 Corinthians 15:1-8.

🔗✅ His ascension to the right Hand of the Father -- Supported

The UPDV supports the doctrine. ECFA cites only Acts 1:4-11 -- the visible bodily ascension narrative with the cloud and the angels' promise of return -- and Acts is not in the UPDV. The ascension-to-the-Father's-right-hand doctrine ECFA's text asserts is preserved across multiple texts: 1 Timothy 3:16 ("Received up in glory" -- an explicit ascension confession), 1 Peter 3:22 ("who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven; angels and authorities and powers being made subject to him" -- the precise "right hand" language ECFA uses), and Romans 8:34 ("Christ Jesus who died, and what's more, who was raised, who also is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us"). The seated-at-the-right-hand-of-the-Father motif is also preserved at Hebrews 1:3 ("sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high") and Hebrews 12:2 ("set down at the right hand of the throne of God"). The doctrine ECFA confesses is supported by passages present in the UPDV.

What is gone with Acts is the visible-ascension narrative -- the disciples watching Jesus taken up, the cloud receiving him, the two men in white announcing "this Jesus, who was received up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw him going into heaven" (Acts 1:11). The verses listed above carry the seated-at-the-right-hand attribute but not the angelic promise that Jesus will return "in like manner" as he was taken up. The visible-return-with-clouds promise that the Acts 1:11 angels prophesy is preserved at 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 ("the Lord himself will descend from heaven, with a shout... in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air") and Revelation 1:7 ("Look, he comes with the clouds; and every eye will see him") -- so the eschatological return doctrine is intact, but it is grounded in those texts rather than in Acts 1:11's specific in-like-manner pledge. The Acts-style visible-ascension scene itself is not preserved in the UPDV.

🔗✅ His present rule as Head of the Church -- Supported

The UPDV supports this. All three of ECFA's cited passages are intact: Ephesians 1:22 ("he put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church"), Ephesians 5:23 ("Christ also is the head of the church, [being] himself the savior of the body"), and Colossians 1:18 ("And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence"). Christ's present rule as Head of the Church is supported by passages present in the UPDV.

🔗✅ His personal return in power and glory -- Supported

The UPDV supports this. Both of ECFA's cited passages are intact at cited form. Revelation 19:11-16 preserves the rider-on-the-white-horse vision -- "called Faithful and True; and in righteousness he judges and makes war... his name is called The Speech of God... KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." Revelation 22:7-21 preserves Jesus's three "I come quickly" sayings (22:7, 22:12, 22:20) and the closing "Amen: come, Lord Jesus." The personal return in power and glory is also affirmed at 1 Thessalonians 4:16 ("the Lord himself will descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God"). Christ's personal return is supported by passages present in the UPDV.

🔗God the Holy Spirit

4. We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit, by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life (2 Corinthians 3:17–18).

🔗✅ The present ministry and indwelling of the Holy Spirit -- Supported

The UPDV supports this. ECFA's cited passage is intact: 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 -- "Now the Lord is the Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, [there] is liberty. But all of us, with unveiled face looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit." The Spirit's present ministry and transforming work are present in this passage, while the believer's indwelling by the Spirit is stated explicitly elsewhere.

The indwelling: Romans 8:9 ("the Spirit of God dwells in you⁺"), Romans 8:11 ("the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you⁺"), and 1 Corinthians 6:19 ("your⁺ body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you⁺"). The godly-life enablement: Galatians 5:16-17 ("Walk by the Spirit, and you⁺ will not fulfill the desire of the flesh") and Galatians 5:22-23 ("the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control"). The present ministry of the Holy Spirit and the godly life enabled by his indwelling are supported by passages present in the UPDV.

🔗Regeneration and Salvation

5. We believe that regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential for the salvation of all who are separated from God by sin and rebellion (John 14:15–21; Romans 8:1–11; 1 Corinthians 12:3).

🔗✅ Regeneration by the Holy Spirit -- Supported

The UPDV supports this. All three of ECFA's cited passages are intact and support the doctrine by teaching Spirit-given life, indwelling, and Spirit-enabled confession.

The Spirit-life given to believers: John 14:15-21 -- "And I will pray the Father, and he will give you⁺ another Supporter, that he may be with you⁺ forever, [even] the Spirit of truth... he stays with you⁺, and will be in you⁺... because I live, you⁺ will live also." The life of the Spirit vs. the death of the flesh: Romans 8:1-11 -- "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made you free from the law of sin and of death... if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you⁺, he who raised up Christ from the dead will give life also to your⁺ mortal bodies." The Spirit as the necessary agent of saving confession: 1 Corinthians 12:3 -- "no man can say, Lord Jesus, but in the Holy Spirit."

The classic regeneration proof-texts ECFA does not cite are also in the UPDV: John 3:5 ("Except one be born of water and spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God") and Titus 3:5 ("according to his mercy he saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit"). Taken together with John 3:5 and Titus 3:5, the UPDV supports regeneration by the Holy Spirit as essential for salvation: the central claim, the necessity, and the divine agent are all present in the text.

🔗Resurrection of the Saved and the Lost

6. We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost: they that are lost unto damnation (Matthew 25:41–46), and they that are saved unto the resurrection of eternal life (Matthew 25:31–40; 1 Corinthians 15:42–57).

🔗✅ Resurrection of both the saved and the lost -- Supported

The UPDV supports the doctrine. The dual-resurrection -- that all the dead will be raised, the saved to eternal life, the lost to damnation -- is preserved across multiple texts.

1 Corinthians 15:42-57 (intact at cited form) gives the most extensive resurrection-of-the-body teaching in the NT: "It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption... the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed... Death is swallowed up in victory." John 5:28-29 is the most direct dual-resurrection saying from Jesus: "the hour comes, in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice, and will come forth; those who have done good, to the resurrection of life; and those who have participated in evil, to the resurrection of judgment." The OT antecedent stands at Daniel 12:2: "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." The judgment scene itself is preserved at Revelation 20:11-15 (the great white throne, the books opened, the lake of fire for those not in the Book of Life).

ECFA's two Matthean citations are both halves of the same parable. Matthew 25:31-40 (the saved on Christ's right hand) and Matthew 25:41-46 (the lost on his left) are unique to canonical Matthew with no parallel in Mark or Luke, and are omitted entirely in the UPDV's reconstruction. The dual-resurrection doctrine ECFA cites them for is substantially and clearly carried by the texts above. What is lost is the specific words of Christ identifying himself in the first person with "the least of these," especially the hungry, stranger, naked, sick, and imprisoned -- "I was hungry, and you gave me to eat... Inasmuch as you did it to one of these my brothers, [even] these least, you did it to me." That dominical first-person identification is a frequently cited biblical foundation for mercy ministries -- including rescue missions, food banks, prison ministries, refugee work, and hospitals -- and that specific Matthean formulation is not preserved elsewhere in the UPDV's text. Ministries that have traditionally appealed to the "least of these" identification can ground the same mercy mandate from other UPDV texts (James 2:13-17, Luke 16:19-31, 1 John 3:17, Isaiah 58, Ezekiel 16:49) rather than from this parable.

🔗Spiritual Unity of Believers

7. We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ, with equality across races, genders, and classes (Colossians 3:11).

🔗✅ Spiritual unity of believers with equality across races, genders, and classes -- Supported

The UPDV supports this. ECFA's cited passage is intact: Colossians 3:11 -- "where there can't be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all things, and in all." The parallel Pauline text completes ECFA's three categories explicitly: Galatians 3:28 -- "There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither slave nor free, there can be no male and female; for you⁺ are all one in Christ Jesus." Together these passages cover ECFA's three named axes -- ethnic and cultural divisions corresponding to race in modern application (Jew/Greek/barbarian/Scythian), class status (slave/free), and sex/gender distinction (male/female) -- with the unifying claim that "Christ is all things, and in all." The spiritual unity of believers in Christ, with equal standing across race, gender, and class distinctions, is supported by passages present in the UPDV.

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