Transcript Ulrich Zwingli & the Anabaptists - NOBTS

The Anabaptists
The Church under the Cross
Emergence out of
Zwingli’s Reformation
• 1519, Zwingli began attracting students:
– Conrad Grebel
– Felix Manz
– George Blaurock
• Known as Swiss Brethren; studies called
Prophecy Meetings; studied NT in Greek
• Study led to rejection of infant baptism &
support of believer’s baptism
First Signs of Disagreement
• Second Disputation (October 1523)
– Grebel opposed Zwingli’s hesitation to reform mass
– Swiss Brethren refused to accept magistrates’ decision not
to change mass
– Began meeting at Manz’ home for worship & Bible study
• Contacted other Reformers: Luther, Karlstadt,
Muntzer for outside encouragement
• Breaking point
– Brethren openly opposed infant baptism
– Zwingli called for Third Disputation
Third Disputation – 17 Jan. 1525
• Zwingli recognized that Council would not
support rejection of infant baptism; he needed
Council’s support for his Reformation
• So he called for suppression of Swiss
Brethren at public disputation on baptism
• Zwingli coined term “Anabaptists”:
Re-baptizers
• Decision: Brethren to stop meeting & have
children baptized or leave in 8 days
1st Baptism – 21 Jan. 1525
• At home of Felix Manz, George Blaurock
asked Conrad Grebel to baptize him
• Then Blaurock baptized others
• Baptism by pouring
• No ordained minister
Anabaptists
• Covenant
– To live separate from the world
– To teach the Gospel faithfully
– To hold steadfastly to the truth
• Significance
– Formed church after NT model
– Affirmed absolute lordship of Jesus
– Affirmed church based on voluntary commitment
– Refuted popular doctrine of infant baptism
– Rejected role of magistrate in religion
Anabaptists
• Pattern of
preaching/evangelism
–
–
–
–
Proclamation
Response
Baptism
Observance of Lord’s
Supper
– Witnessing by new
converts
Persecution & Martyrdom
• Ejection from Zurich
• Zwingli accused his
former students &
friends of sedition
• Grebel, Blaurock & Manz
imprisoned many times;
sentenced to life
imprisonment but
escaped
• Grebel died of plague
Felix Manz
1st Anabaptist Martyr
• Manz sentenced to die on 5 Jan. 1527
• Zurich prosecutors decided punishment for 2nd
baptism was 3rd baptism: drowning
• Manz’s hands bound to his knees, with stick thrust
between arms & legs; thrown into icy waters of
Limmat River
• Last words: “Into
thy hands, O Lord,
I commend my spirit”
George Blaurock
• On the day of Manz’ martyrdom, Blaurock was
beaten & banished from Zurich
• Preached throughout
Switzerland until
banished in April 1527
• Went to Tyrol in Austrian
Alps, where many
believers were baptized
& churches started
• 6 September 1529, burned at stake
Church under the Cross
• Martyrdom was hallmark of “Church under the
Cross”; Jesus was their example
• Persecuted by both Catholics & Protestants
• More Anabaptist martyrs in 16th century at hands of
Christians than during first 3 centuries under
Roman pagans
• Results:
– Dispersion of Anabaptists & spread of movement
– Remnants in Germany, Moravia, Netherlands, England
– Loss of leadership weakened movement
Martyrs’ Mirror
• The Bloody Theater or Martyrs’
Mirror of the Defenseless
Christians Who Baptized Only
Upon Confession of Faith, and
Who Suffered and Died for the
Testimony of Jesus, Their
Saviour, from the Time of Christ
to the Year A.D. 1660
• Illustrated stories of martyrs
from Christ to 17th-century
Anabaptists
Dirk Willems
• Dirk was imprisoned in
Netherlands; escaped through
window by rope
• Prison guard chased Dirk across
frozen river
• Dirk crosses safely; guard fell
through ice
• Dirk rescued guard, who
captured him
• Dirk was burned at stake
• Remembered as compassionate
Christian who risked recapture to
save pursuer
Hans Bret
• Anabaptist baker in Netherlands; imprisoned & tortured for
teaching Anabaptist faith
• His letters to his
mother detail torture
• Before being burned
at stake, tongue
screw was used
to silence him
• Pastor retrieved
screw; married
Hans’ mother:
screw became
family heirloom
Michael Sattler (1490-1527)
• Former prior of Benedictine monastery
• Married Margaretha, former nun
• Baptized in 1526; became Anabaptist leader
• 24 Feb. 1527, Schleitheim Confession
– Baptism: voluntary; for adult believers
– Ban: church discipline
– Lord’s Supper: memorial; only for baptized
– Separation of church & state
– Local church calls, supports, and
disciplines pastor
– Christians should not be magistrates
– Christians should not swear an oath
Michael Sattler
• Arrested; charged with violations of Catholic doctrine &
practice
• Asked for debate; prosecutor replied: “You rascal of a
monk, should we dispute with you? The hangman shall
dispute with you”
• 20 May 1527, martyred
– Tongue cut out
– Chained to wagon
– Flesh torn with hot tongs
– Bound to ladder; bag of gunpowder
around his neck; pushed into fire
– Prayed for persecutors
• Margaretha drowned 8 days later
Balthasar Hubmaier (1480-1528)
• Education & early ministry
as Catholic (to 1522)
– Earned doctorate;
Scholastic theologian at
University of Ingolstadt
– Catholic priest at
Regensburg
– Pastor at Waldshut;
studied NT, especially
Pauline epistles
Balthasar Hubmaier
• Evangelical Reformer
(1522-25)
– Associated with Zwingli’s
Reform in Zurich but sided
with Swiss Brethren at
Second Disputation (Oct.
1523)
– Wrote 18 Articles &
planned Reform at
Waldshut
Balthasar Hubmaier
• Anabaptist Reformer (1525-28)
– Baptized day before Easter; next day, baptized
300
– Reconstituted church at Waldshut based on
believer’s baptism
– Imprisoned at Zurich & released after recanting
– 1526, formed church at Augsburg
– 1527, organized Anabaptist church in Nikolsburg,
Moravia
Balthasar Hubmaier
• 10 March 1528, in
Vienna, burned at stake
with sulphur & gunpowder
rubbed into his beard
• “O dear brothers, pray
God that he will give me
patience in this my
suffering. I will die in the
Christian faith”
• Wife Elizabeth drowned
in Danube 3 days later
Balthasar Hubmaier’s Writings
• Eighteen Articles (1524):
First Reform writing
– Faith, not merely assent
– Hints at believer’s baptism
– Local church should choose
& support its own pastor
– Denounced scholasticism
– Priests should be allowed
to marry
Lord’s Supper = memorial
Balthasar Hubmaier’s Writings
• Concerning Heretics & Those
Who Burn Them (1524):
– 1st 16th-century writing to
advocate universal religious
freedom
– Advocated separation of church &
state
• On Christian Baptism of
Believers (1525):
– Defended believer’s baptism &
refuted Zwingli
Hubmaier’s Doctrines
• Universal religious liberty
• Separation of church & state
• Baptism
– Essential requirement for proper NT church
– Not sacramental
– Prerequisites
• Hear the word
• Repent
• Show faith
• Confess sins
• Lord’s Supper as memorial
Hubmaier’s Doctrines
• Faith
– Not mere mental assent
– “Breaks out” in thanksgiving
• Soteriology
– Human has free will, though limited in capacity to do good
– Human is drawn outwardly by Word & inwardly by Holy
Spirit
– Result is “new birth”
– Hubmaier believed in type of predestination that allows
Gospel to be preached so that all may have chance to
respond & be saved
Hubmaier’s Doctrines
• Marriage of priests
• Hubmaier on the Magistrate
– Christian could be magistrate
– Christian could bear the temporal sword, but only
in certain instances of civil defense
– Never justified in rebelling against unjust tyrant: in
such a case, one must practice non-violent
resistance, with willingness to suffer
Pilgram Marpeck (1495-1556)
• 1528-32, at Strasbourg, led Anabaptist church;
opposed Bucer’s Reformed covenantal emphases;
was expelled
• Settled in Augsburg in South Germany
• Distinguished between purposes of OT & NT
– OT is promise; NT is fulfillment
– OT is not equally normative with NT for ecclesiology: OT
is preliminary; NT is final
– OT should not be used to justify theocracy (church-state
union) or covenantal interpretation of infant baptism
Melchior Hoffman (1495-1543)
• Began Anabaptist
churches in North
Germany &
Netherlands
• Taught heavenly or
celestial flesh of Christ
– Mary did not furnish
Jesus’ flesh but only his
nourishment; she was
conduit
– Minimized his humanity;
emphasized his deity
Melchior Hoffman (1495-1543)
• 1533, preached on Daniel & Revelation; declared that
Strasbourg would be site of Jesus’ return & start of
millennial kingdom
• Attracted multitudes, who expected Strasbourg to be New
Jerusalem
• Rejected earlier Anabaptist pacifism; called for children of
God to fight against children of darkness
• Predicted his imprisonment for 6 months, after which end
would come
• He was imprisoned but was held beyond predicted
Second Coming
• His followers left him in prison & went to Münster to look
for Kingdom
Münster
• Anabaptists took over Münster,
led by John Matthys & John Leiden
• Expelled Catholics; bishop & his
army laid siege to city
• Results: iconoclasm, visions,
polygamy, death of Matthys
• End: John Leiden was tortured,
executed; his body was exhibited in cage
• Afterward, all Anabaptists tainted by reputation
of radicals at Münster
Menno Simons (1496-1561)
• Former priest in Netherlands; baptized in 1536
• Theology:
– Discipline through church ban
– Pacifism: reaction to Münster;
refused participation in war
– Faulty Christology: Christ’s
nature did not derive from
Mary’s flesh; instead, Christ’s
body composed of “celestial flesh”
• Followers settled in America: Mennonites
Hutterites
• Led by Jacob Wiedemann (1528); financed by
Jacob Hutter; near Nikolsburg, Moravia
• Peter Riedemann (1506-56) described
Hutterite beliefs:
- Christians must forsake
private property
- Regenerate person has no
desire to own personal goods
- Community of goods is
necessary sign of true
Church as seen in Acts 2
Biblical Anabaptists’ Theology
• Reform church back to primitive, NT model
• Scripture: guidelines for church from NT, not
OT to justify state-church or persecution of
heretics or infant baptism
• Believer’s baptism
• Lord’s Supper: memorial; Thanksgiving;
sign of fellowship & unity
Biblical Anabaptists’ Theology
• Voluntarism: Believers formed “gathered church,”
based on commitment to Christ, pledging
themselves to discipleship
• Magistrate: to discharge justice & protect innocent;
no jurisdiction in religious matters; most Anabaptists
said that no Christian could be magistrate
• Sword: no Christian could go to war, even in
defense of state
• Religious liberty for all
• Autonomy of local church: local congregations
should elect, support & discipline pastor
Types of Radical Reformers
• Biblical: Use Bible as ultimate authority for
reconstructing primitive church; examples:
Anabaptists, later English Baptists
• Spiritualistic: Emphasize immediacy & primacy of
revelation from Holy Spirit; new revelations come to
God’s prophets that augment & even supersede
Scripture; examples: Zwickau prophets, Münster
• Rationalistic: Human reason is authority in
determining sense of Scripture & primitive model;
challenge to doctrines of Trinity, vicarious atonement;
examples: Servetus, Unitarians
Spiritualists
• Inspirationists or Evangelical Mystics
• Beliefs
– Appealed to direct inspiration of Holy Spirit as
prior, separate, beyond (or even against)
Scripture
– Dispensed with externals such as outward
ordinances & formal church structures such
as ordained ministry & confessions of faith
Spiritualists
• Beliefs
– Gathered informal societies for fellowships for
prayer, worship, exhortation & Bible study
– Often held to perfectionist ideas that saints
could live in full power of Christian life &
overcome sin in present life
– Opposed religious persecution, favored
toleration & separation of church from state
Spiritualists
• Andreas Karlstadt
• Zwickau Prophets
• Thomas Müntzer
• Casper Schwenckfeld
(1489-1561)
– Mystic, Quietist, Pietist
– Influenced by Luther but separated from him over spiritual
interpretation of Lord’s Supper
– Emphasized experiential knowledge of Christ
– Believer is enrolled in School of Christ
Rationalists (Anti-Trinitarians)
• Beliefs
– Restoration of biblical ideal for church
– Appealed to reason for interpreting Scripture
– Questioned orthodox teachings
• Anti-Trinitarian in range of heretical positions from
modalism & adoptionism to Arianism
– Optimistic about humanity’s moral uplift
– Opposed persecution, advocated religious
freedom
Rationalists (Anti-Trinitarians)
• Early example – Michael
Servetus (1511-53)
• Wrote On the Errors of the
Trinity (1531)
• Executed in Geneva with
John Calvin’s approval
Rationalists (Anti-Trinitarians)
• Later shaper – Faustus Socinus
(1539-1604)
• Exiled Italian humanist who joined
Polish Brethren
• Applied baptism only to Gentile
converts; hence, rejected infant
baptism
• Denied deity of Christ & Trinity
• God's omniscience limited to what
was necessary truth in future (what
would definitely happen), and did
not apply to what was contingent
truth (what might happen)
• Beliefs led to Socinianism &
Unitarianism