What is "UN-biblical" about Landmark Baptist Church teaching? A Brief Reply to Dr. Thomas M. Strouse

An Excerpt from Dr. Thomas M. Strouse's Article: Retrieved from,
http://bbc-cromwell.org/Sunday_School...

I. What is “Baptist Bride”?

A. It is a corollary of the Landmark Baptist Church Movement (LBCM) doctrine which teaches the following:

1. Only Baptist churches that can trace their history back to John’s baptism are legitimate (they maintain
the ancient “landmark” set by the Apostles [Prov. 22:28]). This is known as “church successionism.”

2. There is no universal invisible church or mystical body of Christ, but only visible Baptist churches.

3. True Baptist churches make up the Kingdom of God and therefore constitute the Bride of Christ; all
other Christians are friends in the Marriage of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7-9; Mt. 22:12). Some LBCM maintain that only Baptists will be raptured.

4. Baptism from non-Landmark Baptist churches is alien and rejected.

B. The movement began in 1851 as SBC preachers such as J. R. Graves disapproved of Protestants preaching (“pulpit affiliation”) in SBC pulpits, and SBC churches receiving into membership those baptized in Protestant
churches (“alien baptism”).

II. What is biblical about Landmark Baptist Church teaching?

A. Their ecclesiology is true in that the Bible does not countenance the universal invisible church/mystical body
of Christ teaching (all references to the body of Christ are in local church epistles [Rom., I Cor., Eph. and Col.]!).

B. Protestant influence through pulpit affiliation or through baptism must be rejected (I Cor. 12:13).

III. What is unbiblical about Landmark Baptist Church teaching?

A. Their authority for church purity is first of all historical, requiring documented pedigree back to the Jerusalem
church (the Lord had no historical concern about the legitimacy of the seven churches of Asia, only theological
concerns [Rev. 2-3]).

B. Their identification of Baptist churches with the Kingdom of God is unwarranted, since it would make
Landmark Baptist Church membership identical with regeneration (cf. Jn. 3:3-5; Lk. 17:20).

C. Their view that the Bride of Christ is exclusively ecclesiological runs counter with many Scriptures (i.e., Rev.
21:2, 12-14). The “bride” metaphor in Scripture is exclusively soteriological, referring to all saints from Adam on
(Isa. 61:10; Ezk. 16:32; Jn. 3:29; Eph. 5:32; II Cor. 11: 2; Rev. 21:9). The “bride” metaphor shows the intimate
relationship between Jehovah and the believer...