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Landmarkism Under Fire 

A Study of Landmark Baptist Polity on Church Constitution

by Elder J.C. Settlemoir 

 

Appendix II. - John Gilpin and EMDA

Bro Cockrell made quite an issue because someone “alleged that Elder John R. Gilpin did not believe in” EMDA.[571] We have no idea who made this statement, but I suspect it was made by someone who knew Bro Gilpin long before Bro Cockrell did. Bro John Gilpin was pastor of Calvary Baptist Church and editor of The Baptist Examiner [572] for many years. There is no question that Bro Gilpin believed in EMDA in his latter years. He was a strong EMDA advocate as his articles in TBE demonstrate. However when he came to believe this doctrine is not so clear. Did Bro Gilpin change from self constitution to EMDA? I believe he did and submit the following for consideration.

In TBE in 1947 the following article by Bro Gilpin appeared:[573]

What are the Real Prerequisites of a Missionary Baptist Church?

1. The organization must hold up the standard of a regular membership.

2. The organization must have a proper conception of Scriptural baptism.

I am perfectly ready to grant that I would like for every church to be sound in ‘all things’ of God’s word. However, though that organization might be heretical on some of these, if it is sound on regeneration and baptism, it is still a missionary Baptist church.[574]

Such a statement on the organization of a church would have been decidedly different in the sixties. EMDA (not the term but the idea) would have been definitely brought in and no such church as here described would have been admitted as a true church. Whence this change?

Bro Gilpin answered the following question in TBE’s I would like to know column: “What is the least number that can be organized into a church?” He answered:

The Master started with four. Read Mt. 4:18‑22. I think right there was the beginning of the first Baptist church, the world ever saw. Possibly it would be all right to organize with even two. Read Mt. 18:20.[575]

In the same column this question was asked: “Is a church scriptural that was organized by one man without a presbytery?” “We suppose a church could be organized by one man; but it isn’t very orderly.”[576]

Another question on church organization:

Who probably organized the first churches in Galilee and Samaria? Philip probably organized the first one in Samaria. I do not know who organized the first one in Galilee. They were both probably organized after the persecution arising after the death of Stephen.[577]

In an article on the Church and Kingdom Bro Gilpin wrote:

I understand the term ‘church’ here as referring to the church as an institution finding its only concrete expression in local bodies on earth and in the final gathering of God’s people in Heaven, He. 12:23.[578]

In 1949 J.G. Bow wrote an article for TBE on the subject of “What a Church is in the Light of the Word of God.” He said:

Baptists believe that a church of Jesus Christ is a body of baptized believers, associated together in one place to preach the gospel, to keep the ordinances and represent the interests of Christ’s kingdom in the world.[579]

In 1944 Bro Gilpin wrote an article entitled: “How can one distinguish a Scriptural Church?”[580] His answer does not mention a mother church!

Here let me suggest that anyone who believes Bro Gilpin held to EMDA and published this position in TBE before 1950, give us references. We do not believe this can be done. I could not find a single reference of the essential of a mother church in TBE before the mid 1950s. Certainly there was a shift from no express statement relative to EMDA in these several quotes given in these early editions of TBE and that of the mid fifties and sixties where EMDA becomes very prominent. I believe this is an indicator of Bro Gilpin’s changed position and may well point to the time of the origin of EMDA among Sovereign Grace Landmark Baptists!

Footnotes

[571]Milburn Cockrell. SCO, p. 71.

[572] The Baptist Examiner was started by T.P. Simmons, the editor. C.D. Cole was associate editor. The first edition was April 1, 1931. John Gilpin bought the paper in 1938 but I failed to take down the exact date.

[573] I took these notes October 14,15, 2003 from the bound volumes of The Baptist Examiner ( hereafter TBE ) in Calvary Baptist Church Library. Bro Chris Burke the present pastor of Calvary Baptist church was kind enough to let me do research in the Calvary Baptist Church Library where they have Bro Gilpin’s library and most of the bound volumes of TBE. The bound volumes in this library are the only complete set, according to Sister Judy Rule, known. They should be archived and preserved for posterity. The following volumes were missing: 1933-34; 1935-36; 1937-38 ; 1954-55; 1956.

[574] TBE. March 1, 1947. p. 1. “What Are the Real Prerequisites of a Missionary Baptist Church”, by John R. Gilpin.

[575] TBE. March 30, 1940, p. 2.

[576] TBE. June 15, 1940, p. 2.

[577] TBE. July 6, 1940, p. 2.

[578] TBE. March 4, 1944, p. 1. Note. One can hardly imagine Bro Gilpin making a statement like this in the sixties or seventies.

[579] TBE. February 12, 1949, p. 1.

[580] TBE. February 12, 1944, p. 1.