Resignation From the Dean Burgon Society

Theodore P. Letis

Feb. 27, 1979

Dear Executive Committee Members,

I regret that I was unable to attend your last executive committee meeting, primarily because I missed your fellowship, but also I was not able to address myself to the issue of being in association with apostate organizations. I am not only concerned because decisions reached affected me personally; nor am I concerned only because these decisions affect good men who stand only for the Traditional Greek text of whom there are few and far between, Brothers De Jonge and Miller; but I am especially concerned because we have appeared to be defeating our own purpose, in our defining what constitutes an apostate group, or what constitutes being in agreement, or association with them. Do you realize by our own separatist definitions, the very man whom the organization is named after could not, if he were alive, qualify for an executive seat? This is lunacy!

I will go further by saying the greatest living defenders of the Traditional Greek text could not be on the executive committee of an organization whose purpose is to defend the Traditional Greek text if they cared to be, namely Terrence H. Brown and Edward F. Hills. How could we look to these men (and we all do for leadership) in our understanding of the text, if they are not fit to hold executive seats in the Dean Burgon Society, Dean Burgon included?

I believe we have lost sight of the fact that we must be the salt in the church to restore the correct teaching concerning the text starting with our own denominational constituencies. We have not joined together to prove to the Baptist world that we understand what it means to be separate. I will say it very clearly, THIS IS NOT A BAPTIST CAUSE, it is the cause of every Christian in the world whatever his church tradition (Burgon and Hoskier were Anglicans, Wilkinson was a Seventh Day Adventist) whoever would adhere to an inerrant Bible. If I have to drop my church membership to retain my status on the executive committee of the Dean Burgon Society, I will do so only because my conviction on the text supersedes all other convictions including my church membership.

Let me put a thought to you. Suppose the majority of the men on the executive committee including the office holders were Anglican or Presbyterian and they decided that only those who recognize apostolic succession or paedobaptism could defend the traditional text in the capacity of an executive committee member; or let us suppose that they said anyone could be, except for those who are members of a Baptist Church. How many of you would discontinue your membership in order to play a key role in defending the Traditional text in that capacity? If I have to tell my pastor that I must discontinue my membership because of my association with the Dean Burgon Society, which news would also reach the headquarters of my denomination, how will I ever get them to see what that society stands for without them confusing it with other secondary issues such as Baptist separation?

Please reconsider re-evaluating this decision. The Dean Burgon Society is not a local church. It is a society formed to re-educate the Christian world about the true text. But as it stands now John William Burgon could never be an executive member of that society which nevertheless saw fit to use his name.

In the Love of Christ,
Theodore P. Letis