Meet Your Instructor
Dr. Joseph Zichterman
Deep Theology. Clear Teaching. Free to Everyone.
With over 30 years of professional teaching experience, almost 25 years of which
he served as a professor of Bible, theology and church history at the
college/university level, Dr. Joseph Zichterman brings both scholarly depth and a passion for making the Bible understandable. For 12 of those years he also
served as a part-time lead pastor, fostering his passion for local church ministry.
He earned his Ph.D. in theological studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and is the visionary behind The Free Bible College. This online teaching ministry is an ambitious effort built on a simple conviction: serious, college-level, biblical instruction should be accessible to anyone who wants to learn, regardless of where they live or whether they can afford a traditional Bible college education.
Joseph's goal is not simply to tell you what to believe. He wants to help you understand Scripture, wrestle thoughtfully with difficult questions from multiple evangelical perspectives, see how the Bible fits together, and develop the confidence to study it more deeply for yourself.
Through in-depth, verse-by-verse teaching, theology, church history, visual resources, downloadable class notes, and live Q&A, Joseph is building a growing library of Bible college-level teaching resources that is available to everyone, completely free.
Bring your Bible. Bring your questions. Let’s learn together.
Statement of Faith
The Free Bible College stands within the historic, orthodox, evangelical Christian faith. We believe Christians can faithfully disagree on a number of secondary theological issues while remaining united around the essential truths of the gospel and the authority of God's Word.
The Bible
* We believe the Bible, consisting of the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, is the inspired and inerrant Word of God, given through human authors under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Scripture is true and trustworthy in all that it affirms, and is the final authority for Christian faith, doctrine, and life.
God
* We believe in one God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each is fully God, yet there is one God—three distinct personalities in one undivided essence.
* God is the Creator and Sustainer of all things. He is holy, sovereign, loving, just, merciful, and worthy of all worship and obedience.
Jesus Christ
* We believe Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, fully God and fully human.
* He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, lived a sinless life, performed mighty works, and willingly died on the cross as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
* He was bodily raised from the dead, ascended into heaven, and now reigns at the right hand of the Father. He will personally and visibly return in glory.
The Holy Spirit
* We believe the Holy Spirit is fully divine and active in the world and in the lives of believers.
* The Holy Spirit convicts of sin, brings new life, baptizes and indwells every believer, gives spiritual gifts, produces spiritual fruit, and empowers God's people to live faithfully and bear witness to Jesus Christ.
Humanity and Sin
* We believe every human being is created in the image of God (both male and female), and therefore possesses inherent dignity and value.
* Humanity was created for relationship with God, but sin has alienated us from Him. All people are sinners and are unable to reconcile themselves to God through their own goodness, religious works, or moral effort.
Salvation
* We believe salvation is a gift of God's grace made possible through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
* We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, not by our own works. Through Christ, sinners are forgiven, reconciled to God, given new life, and welcomed into God's family.
* True faith leads to a transformed life of growing obedience, love, and Christlike character.
The Church
* We believe the Church consists of all who belong to Jesus Christ through faith.
* Christ is the head of the Church and individual congregations are led by pastors/elders who are called and ordained to serve as overseers. Believers are called to gather together for worship, biblical teaching, prayer, fellowship, communion, service, and mutual encouragement.
* The Church has been commissioned by Jesus to make disciples of all nations and to proclaim the gospel throughout the world.
Baptism and Communion
* We believe Jesus established believers’ baptism and the Lord's Supper as practices of the Church.
* Baptism publicly identifies believers with Christ and His people, and the Lord's Supper is a memorial, whereby believers remember and proclaim Christ's sacrificial death until He returns.
Christian Life
* We believe followers of Jesus are called to love God with their whole being and to love their neighbors as themselves.
* Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Christians are called to pursue holiness, practice humility and forgiveness, care for those in need, seek truth and justice, make disciples, and increasingly reflect the character of Jesus Christ in every area of life. Christians must live with integrity and moral purity, maintaining sexual purity within the bonds of heterosexual marriage.
The Return of Christ and the Life to Come
* We believe Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly.
* There will be a bodily resurrection of the dead and a final judgment. Those who belong to Christ will enjoy eternal life in the presence of God, while those who are without Christ will experience eternal judgment, separated from His presence.
* We look forward to the fulfillment of God's redemptive purposes and the renewal of all things under the reign of Jesus Christ.
Unity in the Essentials
* The Free Bible College recognizes that sincere, Bible-believing Christians have reached different conclusions regarding a number of important but secondary theological questions.
* Our commitment to serious biblical education means we do not need to avoid those disagreements. We want to examine them carefully, represent differing Christian perspectives fairly, and continually return to Scripture as our final authority.
* Our unity is ultimately found not in agreement on every theological question, but in the person and work of Jesus Christ and the gospel He has entrusted to His Church.