Introduction
The current CGAF (Church of God of the Abrahamic Faith) was formed in 1921 as a group of five churches or congregations in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. It has since grown to nine by adding affiliated meetings in Florida and Missouri. In 1921 it split from a much larger community, known generally as the Church of God (General Conference). Some of the General Conference churches are also known as “Church of God of the Abrahamic Faith”, or variants. This has been a constant source of confusion to many Christadelphians. The General Conference has approximately 100 associated churches in the USA, with perhaps 5,000 members. The CGAF group, which is the focus of this article, and the Church of God (General Conference) have no current connections or fellowship. We will briefly cover the interactions between the current CGAF and the Christadelphians from their common roots in the 1840s down through the present time.
Common origins: John Thomas
The Christadelphians trace their origin primarily to the work of one man, John Thomas (1805-1871), who emigrated from England to the USA in 1832. Arriving in Cincinnati, he was initially associated with the group formed primarily by Alexander Campbell (first called Campbellites but later the Church of Christ). But he soon became estranged from them over doctrinal issues and was re-baptized by one John Walsh in 1847. He had become convinced of the necessity of the “Hope of Israel”, otherwise known as the “Abrahamic Faith” or the “Age to Come”: the belief that the return of the Jews to the land of Israel would precede the return of Jesus, which in turn would usher in the future Kingdom of God on the earth.
During the period from 1840 to 1860 or thereabouts, John Thomas was part of a larger group of fellow believers, who shared his views on the falsity of the Trinity and the immortal soul, among several other areas in which they differed from the much larger nominally Christian community. This larger group had no organized structure, but traced their origins to three primary influences: those of Alexander Campbell, Elias Smith, and William Miller. Not all had the same set of initial beliefs or origins, but the group essentially coalesced around a set of magazines from John Thomas, Joseph Marsh, and Benjamin Wilson, among several others. During that period, the three groups — Christadelphians (followers of John Thomas), Adventists (remnants of William Miller’s followers), and Church of God (Marsh/Wilson followers) — were largely one body.
Common origins: Benjamin Wilson
Benjamin Wilson is best known for producing The Emphatic Diaglott, a Greek-English interlinear translation of the New Testament. After a century of being published by the Jehovah’s Witnesses, this translation is now published jointly by The Abrahamic Faith Beacon (a CGAF publication) and a Christadelphian trust. Born in England in 1817, Wilson and his family joined the emerging Campbellite movement in 1840, eight years after John Thomas. Soon after, he became acquainted with the magazine of John Thomas, and emigrated with his family to the USA, arriving in Geneva, Illinois, about a year after John Thomas left the area. Leaving the Campbellites shortly thereafter, he corresponded with John Thomas for many years before the two finally met in 1856. Commencing in 1855, Wilson published The Gospel Banner; it continued until 1869. Moving to California in 1871 as a result of his wife’s ill health and the death of his son, Benjamin Wilson devoted himself to tending his wife and a small flock in Sacramento.
Common origins: Joseph Marsh
Joseph Marsh was born in Vermont in 1802. After moving to Rochester, New York, he joined the “Christian Connection”, the group founded by Elias Smith. He took over their publication, The Christian Palladium, in 1839. Soon after, he came under the influence of William Miller, and joined with him in proclaiming the return of Christ in 1843. When there was no advent and this expectation turned into “The Great Disappointment” of 1844, Marsh continued his studies and came to believe in the Abrahamic promises around 1847, with John Thomas contributing to this change of views. (The Millerites also believed that the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21 would occur at the start of the Millennium.) Thomas and Marsh became acquainted in 1847, and the two corresponded and visited for many years. Marsh always believed in the doctrine of “once baptized, always baptized”, the implications of which we will discuss below. He focused much more on the consequences of conversion than on the requirements of true doctrine. It is arguable that the emphasis on these two aspects was one of the main factors in the separation of the current CGAF from the rest of the Church of God, General Conference, as discussed below.
The initial estrangement
In 1864 John Thomas was forced by the impact of the Civil War to name his followers Christadelphians. By this time, the larger community had divided into three distinct groups of approximately equal numbers, with no clear distinction between many Adventists and the Church of God. This estrangement was initially much more among the leaders than the members: for many years afterwards the same names appeared in the various magazines. There are stories from as late as the last part of the nineteenth century about isolated groups who happily turned out to hear and fellowship visiting preachers, whether they were Church of God, Christadelphian, or Adventist.
The estrangement was over several issues:
- Initially, there were some differences between Wilson and Thomas over what might be called behavioral questions, such as teetotalism and the eating of pork. But finally a more serious estrangement developed over what Christadelphians came to call “immortal emergence”. This will be discussed below. When Benjamin Wilson left for California in 1871, it seems the geographical distance between them may have precluded continuing communication.
- Between Marsh and Thomas, estrangement was over the former’s refusal to be baptized (ie., re-baptized) after coming, with the help of Thomas among others, to the correct belief in an Abrahamic faith. Marsh wrote the book entitled The Age to Come, which was for many years the touchstone of this doctrinal position. Marsh lost the argument when his congregation in Rochester deserted him for Thomas; this was the origin of the current Christadelphian ecclesia in that town.
- The relationship between Marsh and the Adventists on the one hand, and Thomas and Wilson with the Adventists on the other, was always difficult. Marsh was a follower of Miller prior to the “Great Disappointment” of 1844, when Miller’s predictions of the return of Christ proved inaccurate. Afterwards, he did not join in the attempts to unite, but beat his own different drum through the pages of his magazine. Thomas always disagreed with Miller, but used his access to members of the Adventists for his own preaching. Benjamin Wilson had in fact never really associated with the Adventists, although his nephew, Thomas Wilson, may have been. (Thomas Wilson later founded The Restitution, using the same press Marsh has used. It was also in large part a continuation of The Gospel Banner, because Thomas Wilson had, in 1869, merged his Herald of the Kingdom with it. The Restitution was for many years the magazine of the Church of God.)
In 1866, when a member of the Cleveland Church of God tried to fellowship with the newly-formed Christadelphians in New York, she was refused by John Thomas. This gave rise to some considerable correspondence, with Newell Bond of Cleveland complaining, but this incident brought to light the developing rift between the two groups.
In 1868 Benjamin Wilson, while on a visit to Scotland, gave an account of the scene in America. By that time the gulf had widened between himself and John Thomas — and he expressed great sadness over the divided state of the brotherhood in North America. He consistently advocated the unity of the body, and exhorted all parties to close the breach among brethren. In that account, he also gave a detailed overview of most of the Christadelphian ecclesias as well of those of what we would call the Church of God. A common thread that distinguished both groups was the concept of the “Abrahamic Faith”: the idea that believers, as the spiritual seed of Abraham, look forward to the inheritance with Abraham in the Promised Land, which is the Kingdom of God on earth, when the Lord Jesus Christ returns.
Immortal emergence
Immortal emergence is a Christadelphian term for the belief that the righteous dead emerge from the grave in an immortal state. John Thomas and Benjamin Wilson seem to have shared a common view on the resurrection in the 1850s. However, Thomas either modified his view over time, or clarified the misconceptions that might have arisen from his quotation and exposition of the relevant (and admittedly difficult) passage, 1 Corinthians 15:52 (“The dead shall be raised incorruptible”). By 1864 for certain, and perhaps much earlier, John Thomas believed that resurrection and judgment will occur before immortality is bestowed. Wilson continued to believe that the responsible faithful would be raised immortal (or, to put it another way, ‘raised to immortality’). Wilson argued this should not be a test of fellowship, but Thomas came to view it otherwise.
Origin of the Cleveland Church
By far the largest Church of the CGAF is that based in Cleveland. The Cleveland Church was founded on October 4, 1863, with 14 members, according to Maurice Joplin writing a year later in The Gospel Banner as evangelist. Both Benjamin Wilson and Mark Allen had visited and preached in Cleveland, and the latter was asked to preside at the event, which was held at the house of Newell Bond. This congregation continued in its original faith for many years, growing and expanding. Around 1888 it appears to have settled on the name by which it is now commonly known, “The Church of the Blessed Hope”. Joplin continued as leader down through his death in 1907. Two “Christadelphians” were pastors from his death into the 1940s, as discussed below. With its undoubted roots mainly in the teachings of Benjamin Wilson, the Cleveland Church maintained its faith through the turmoil of 1921, when the remnant split from the much larger General Conference. This church was in large part the glue that held the CGAF group together, sending speakers to the other churches on a regular basis.
Origin of the CGAF
The origins of the Christadelphians is clear: this united group of Bible-believing Christians all acknowledge the initial leadership of John Thomas, followed by Robert Roberts as the acknowledged leader after the death of Thomas in 1871. Although there were many divisions — some later healed, some of which still persist — the common heritage is undoubtedly traced back to the re-baptism of John Thomas in 1847.
On the other hand, it may be said that the CGAF only came into existence in its present form in 1921. The true origins of the Church of God are more difficult to discern, since they lacked a central organization. It appears that in 1858 they separated from the larger Adventist Movement, largely over the question of “open fellowship”: the Adventists held that being a good Christian was sufficient, but the Church of God insisted that much more was required, including a belief in the Second Coming of Christ. There was no single central organization prior to 1921, although statewide conferences were often held, regional conferences were occasionally held, and ministers traveled widely among the various congregations.
Beginning in about 1911, a group of five ministers (the self-proclaimed Ministerial Association) tried to exercise control over the emergent group. They attacked the then-editor of The Restitution, A.R. Underwood, falsely accusing him of financial fraud. Consequently he transferred the magazine to his assistant editor, Robert Huggins, whom we will discuss later. This transfer was wholly intended to ensure that The Restitution would continue on the established CGAF basis of the faith.
The Ministerial Association, meanwhile, would not be thwarted in their attempt to wrest control of the CGAF congregations away from The Restitution. They established a new magazine, The Restitution Herald; this magazine has remained the house organ of the larger group to this day.
In 1921, the new group — known as Church of God, General Conference — held a conference in Waterloo, Iowa. As part of its rules, this conference included the statement: “As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” This declaration, which may be characterized as “once baptized, always baptized”, meant there would henceforth be no further conditions upon any baptism, such as a prerequisite belief in any particular set of doctrines. This assertion, with its associated doctrine of “universal resurrection”, proved divisive.
Arguably, the dispute goes back to the dual roots: in the groups associated with Joseph Marsh, and those associated with Benjamin Wilson. To simplify, the larger group followed Marsh. The much smaller group, led by Robert Huggins of the Cleveland Church of the Blessed Hope, emphasized the importance of true doctrine. And so, with the five churches which followed his lead, the group we now call the CGAF came into being.
This handful of congregations stood apart from the rush to “universal resurrection” and hunkered down. For more than 50 years they continued steadfastly and quietly. In most cases, there were only occasional ties among the five congregations; the ties that did continue were mostly family ones. But the Bible roots of these groups were strong, and they defended the statement of faith that was first developed in Geneva, Illinois, by Benjamin Wilson around 1868. Beginning in 1954 Howard F. Ross from Miami guided a dialogue to unify the CGAF statement of faith. In 1966 those efforts resulted in a unified statement that was adopted by the six main churches. In about 2002, after prayerful consideration, several congregations modified it to align more closely with the Christadelphian position on “immortal emergence”.
Beginning in 1976, the six groups assembled together for the first time at Earlham College (Richmond, Indiana) for a fraternal gathering. Today, that annual Gathering is a seven-day Bible school held at Dennison College in Granville, Ohio. As many as 350 people have attended to hear Bible classes and share fellowship.
Note that there are differing opinions as to the origin of the name “Church of God of the Abrahamic Faith”. Some hold that Benjamin Wilson coined the term, during or just after the Civil War, although there is no contemporary use of that term in his magazine. What is certain is that some churches were using that term by the 1880s, when it appears in The Christadelphian Advocate magazine.
Christadelphian influences
We have already mentioned Robert Huggins. He was baptized a Christadelphian in 1895, and one may find numerous references to his writings and preaching work in both The Christadelphian and The Christadelphian Advocate. In 1907, after the death of Joplin, Huggins took over the leadership of the Cleveland Church. Starting in 1913, he wrote a series of 12 lessons, published in The Restitution, which later became the basis of the Cleveland Church Statement of Faith. He also wrote The Bible, Its Principles and Texts, which includes a statement of faith quite similar to the Christadelphian Statement of Faith, as well as a section on “Doctrines we Reject”. It is not, I believe, a coincidence that he took over as leader of the Cleveland Church from A.H. Zilmer.
A.H. Zilmer had been a prominent evangelist and minister in the Lutheran Church. But coming to question many of their doctrines and learning a better way, he abandoned the Lutherans and joined the Church of God in 1897. In 1906, he left them to join the Christadelphians, with whom he traveled and preached extensively and where he became the editor of The Christadelphian Advocate in 1914. In fact, Zilmer and Huggins remained strong friends and associates down through the 1940s, for there was regular correspondence between them in Zilmer’s later magazine The Faith as late as the 1940s. (A.H. Zilmer died in 1951.)
During World War II, there were associations between CGAF members and Christadelphians who served together in work camps. At that time, some CGAF congregations permitted non-combatant military service for those with conscientious objection to fighting, but this changed in the 1980s as a result of the experience of some of those who served, particularly in Vietnam. Thereafter CGAF groups taught and counseled the same more absolute conscientious objection to military service that characterizes Christadelphians.
Beginning in the 1970s, the CGAF began to associate more strongly with the Christadelphians, attending their Bible schools, and inviting Christadelphian speakers to their annual Bible school. Around 1988, tentative discussions began with the goal of achieving a formal union between the two groups. The story of these interactions is part of another account.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One