Wednesday, December 30, 2020

The Validity of John Thomas' Baptism When He Then-Professed Belief in Immortal Emergence

In her interesting book, Founding Fathers and Facing Facts, Christadelphian author Ruth McHaffie wrote the following about John Thomas and, from a Christadelphian perspective, John Thomas’ baptism is questionable and perhaps ineffectual(!):

 

By Christadelphian criteria, "brotherhood" depends on beliefs held at the time of baptism. As Dr. Thomas explained with italicised emphasis,

 

The principle which first turned up as the result of proving all things, was that the immersion of an individual whose "faith" was not the faith of the gospel was a valueless immersion - it was not christian baptism... Out of this principle grew another, namely, that a knowledge of truth acquired subsequently to such an immersion did not convert it into obedience of the gospel of christian baptism. (Thomas, Herald of the Kingdom, Vol. I, 1851, p. 2)

 

And again, as he wrote (to Robert Roberts),

 

No one should be recognised as one of Christ's brethren who is not sound in the first principles of the gospel before immersion. (Roberts, Autobiography, [1939 edit.], p. 115) (Ruth McHaffie, Finding Founders and Facing Facts [Edinburgh, 2001], 100)

 

In a footnote to the above, we read:

 

Despite this attestation, we must remember that John Thomas himself was baptised while believing in immortal emergence (see his Anastasis, p. 25). That doctrine would today forbid immersion into our community and would be counted as legitimate reason for disfellowship should any existing member express it. The logical, but appalling, conclusion regarding our pioneer would, however, be too distressing for our community to contemplate. (Ibid., 100 n. 25)

 

For those who do not know, "immortal emergence" is the belief that the righteous, when they "emerge" from the grave, are in a state of intrinsic immortality; this is a heresy according to Christadelphian theology (John Thomas, only late in his life, would be dogmatic about this). Instead, they hold to "mortal" emergence--the righteous, when they are raised from the dead, are still in a state of mortality and will only be granted immortality at the judgment.