What is the final authority of the church? A lesson from the Anabaptists The period of time is the start of the 16th century. In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue. 1509 Henry VIII began his reign in England. At this time, the Roman Catholic Church was one of the chief influences of Western Civilization. For the most part, if you lived in Europe, then you were Roman Catholic. Out of this background arose the Protestant Reformation, the most important event in the history of Western Civilization. The Reformation began with Martin Luther, and it began with this question: How is a person saved? The Roman Catholic Church taught that believing in Jesus was not sufficient; one must also do good works. In Luther’s time the Roman Catholic Church was pushing a particular good work, the practice of indulgences. Indulgences were a special kind of offering; if you gave money to this offering, then you got the forgiveness of sins, either for a dead relative or for yourself. No repentance or confession required. The truth behind this offering was that it was fundraising campaign; they were raising money to build a church in Rome, so they tried to spiritualize it. Martin Luther was a Roman Catholic priest and professor; as he studied the Bible, particularly the books of Romans and Galatians, he encountered this truth, “The just shall live by faith” (Rom 1:17; Gal 2:16). He came to believe that salvation from sins was by faith in Jesus Christ alone. So he challenged the Roman Catholic Church by posting a document on the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, in 1517. We call it the “95 Theses,” 95 statements arguing against indulgences. Thus the Protestant Reformation began. While Martin Luther led the Reformation in Germany, another reformer, Ulrich Zwingli, was doing the same in Switzerland. Zwingli went to universities in Vienna and Basel and had a classical education that included knowledge of Greek and Hebrew; like many Renaissance scholars, he studied the New Testament. After earning his Masters, Zwingli became a priest. He began writing against various practices in the Roman Catholic Church that he thought were wrong, particularly the lifestyles of the priests, who were often very wicked. His writings were popular and gained him some notoriety, and consequently he was appointed to be the priest and pastor for one of the churches in the city of Zurich in 1519; he was 35 at this time. It appears that shortly thereafter Zwingli was saved, and he began the slow process of reforming the church in Zurich. To understand Zwingli’s reformation, you need to understand the relation between the church and the state in Switzerland. Churches were not autonomous; that is, they were funded and ruled by the Zurich city council, a council of 200 men. The council could hire and fire the priests and make rules that the churches in town had to obey. They hired Zwingli. When Zwingli arrived in Zurich, he started a new tradition in his church of teaching and interpreting and applying the Bible. This had a great influence upon his people and upon the city council; it began to change what they believed and how they lived. For example, when the Roman Catholic Church sent a representative to Zurich to sell indulgences, the city council refused to allow him into the city. In 1520 they issued an edict James Garriss Page 1 of 6 that all pastors had to teach God’s Word. In 1522 the council removed itself completely from the authority of the Roman Catholic Church. Zwingli’s studying and teaching of the Bible led him to this position: The Scriptures were his sole rule of faith and practice. He rejected any doctrine or practice that was not found in the Bible, and the city council followed him in this belief. For example, they removed statues and icons from the churches, stopped celebrating the mass, and no longer required priests to be celibate. This was a radical, revolutionary position to take, but ultimately and unfortunately Zwingli would not follow through with this belief. Why did Zwingli not follow through on the radical belief that the Scriptures were the sole rule of faith and practice? The answer starts with infant baptism. The Roman Catholic Church practiced infant baptism, so Zwingli’s church in Zurich practiced it, too. The practice of infant baptism began somewhere around the 2nd century. Faith in Jesus and baptism had always been closely associated. Luke’s summary of Peter’s speech at Pentecost, for example, exhorted people to believe and then to be baptized. So perhaps it’s not too surprising that people began to confuse the importance of baptism. The early church taught and practiced believer’s baptism, which is baptism by immersion that is a public confession of one’s faith in Jesus, a proclamation to the world of one’s new allegiance. But some began to believe it wasn’t something that followed salvation but rather a part of salvation itself. If one believes that baptism is a part of salvation, then it’s only a short step to infant baptism. If baptism saves, then logically they wanted to start baptizing people as young as possible. They didn’t want to risk any baby dying without baptism and thus going to hell. Thus there was infant baptism. But it’s even more complicated than that. If baptism saves a person, and if baptism is one of the key requirements for church membership, and if all babies are baptized, then who is in the church? Everyone. Today our practice is that church membership is only for those who profess Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, proclaim that through believer’s baptism, and give evidence of this by their life, but in Zwingli’s day, everyone in the community was a member of the church. That means there were many unregenerate people in the church. This takes us to Zwingli’s big problem. If he follows through on his belief that the Scriptures are the sole rule of faith and practice, then he has to stop infant baptism and return to believer’s baptism. And if he returns to believer’s baptism, then he has to return to regenerate church membership; that is, only believers can be in the church. He would have to tell the church council that he will no longer baptize their babies, and then he would have to remove many of them from the church, because not all members of the council were actually believers. Zwingli knew this was what he should do, but he believed that if he did, his chance to reform the church would end. The city council controlled the church; they had the money, and they made the rules. It was the city council that was backing up Zwingli, giving him to the authority he needed to reform the church. He needed their help; he didn’t trust God alone. Thus Zwingli did not follow his beliefs; he backed off. He said the church had reformed enough for now; the people needed more teaching of God’s Word. But not everyone agreed with him. Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Ulrich Zwingli are known as magisterial reformers; that is, they reformed the church through their local governments. But others were known as the radical reformers; they believed James Garriss Page 2 of 6 that the Bible was in authority over local government. And there were some radical reformers in Zurich, so let’s see how they got started. In 1521 Zwingli started a Bible study in the original Hebrew and Greek with a group of young men. This Bible study started as a cultural event; the Renaissance had a great appreciation for the classics. But over time it became an evangelical group, where its members actually believed and lived what they studied. Among them were three very interesting characters, Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, and later George Blaurock; they would become the core of the Anabaptist movement. Conrad Grebel was the son of a prominent Swiss merchant. His father secured scholarships for him to study at the universities in Basel, Vienna, and Paris, but he lived a rather loose lifestyle—he was known more for his street fighting and immorality—and never finished a degree from any of his schools. After failure at a third school, his father made him return to Zurich. Felix Manz was the illegitimate son of a priest in Zurich. We don’t much about his background, though he obviously received a higher education, as he knew Greek, Hebrew, and Latin. Manz had become a supporter of Zwingli shortly after Zwingli arrived in Zurich. At the Bible study, Grebel and Manz quickly became friends. Manz was probably already saved, and shortly after Grebel became saved. Together they supported Zwingli’s efforts to reform the church; they rose to positions of leadership among Zwingli’s followers. George Blaurock joined them in 1524. Born in Bonaduz, Switzerland, he had been educated at the University of Leipzig and was a priest in the Roman Catholic Church. Somewhere along the way he broke with the Catholic Church and came to see Zwingli. But he found what he was looking for among Zwingli’s followers, especially Grebel and Manz. He was saved and became part of their group. But tensions arose between Zwingli and some of his followers, including Grebel, Manz, and Blaurock. Whereas Zwingli was becoming more conservative, they were becoming more radical. Whereas Zwingli wanted to move slowly, they wanted to move quickly. The Bible didn’t say anything about statues, mass, or celibacy, and they had gotten rid of all that. They thought it was time to get rid of infant baptism as well; it was time for regenerate church membership. But Zwingli wasn’t ready. In 1525 things finally came to a head. The council appointed a public debate on January 17th to discuss infant baptism and the role of civil government in the church. Zwingli represented the city council, and Grebel, Manz, and Blaurock represented the radical party. Not surprisingly, the council sided with Zwingli. They ordered the radical party to cease their activities, they forbid Grebel and Manz from speaking in public, and they required everyone in the city to have their infants baptized. This brings us to another question: How do you carry out church discipline? If a person chooses not to repent of their sin, what is the resulting punishment? If the church is made of regenerate believers, then those are disciplined are removed from the church and James Garriss Page 3 of 6 treated like non-­‐believers (Mt 18). But what if everyone in the community is in the church? How do you punish them then? You only have 2 choices: You can either banish them, removing them from the community, or you can execute them. The council threatened banishment for anyone who did not baptize their infants. On January 21, 1525, some of the radical party met together in the home of Manz; this meeting was both illegal and historic. So far they had opposed baptism for infants. Grebel had a daughter, Issabella, who had not been baptized, and he had no intention of baptizing her. But as they met that night, they realized something: If infant baptism was not according to the Scriptures and thus invalid, then their own baptisms, which had been as infants, were invalid. George Blaurock professed his faith in Jesus Christ and then asked Grebel to baptize him. And he did. Then upon similar professions, Blaurock baptized the others. Thus we have the first Anabaptists. Who is an Anabaptist? The term literally means “second baptism” or “re-­‐baptism” and refers to those who were baptized once as an infant and then chose to be baptized again as an adult upon their profession of faith in Jesus. Their baptism at this time was by effusion, pouring water over their head, which was the only kind of baptism they knew, but immersion was adopted not long after as they arrived at a fuller understanding of the New Testament. The group pledged to hold their beliefs and live holy lives; they knew what they were doing was dangerous. They began teaching others what they believed and baptizing those who professed faith in Christ. Anabaptism began to spread rapidly. Because this movement did not submit to the final authority of the city council, the council could not allow them to continue; they were anarchists. Thus began a period of persecution, arrests, and imprisonments for all three of these young men (and others) at the hands of Zwingli, the city council of Zurich, and other like-­‐minded civil authorities. What follows are some of the highlights. Grebel left Zurich and began preaching in the surrounding cities. He was a natural leader and preached the gospel with great power. He led many to Christ and baptized them by immersion. At the town of St Gall he baptized over 500 people in the river during the winter. Manz had left Zurich for a while but then returned; he spread the gospel and baptized people everywhere he went. Blaurock was the most zealous of the 3 men. One Sunday morning Blaurock and some of his followers showed up in a church in a village near Zurich. As the pastor, one of Zwingli’s pastors, was walking to the pulpit to preach, Blaurock stopped him and asked him what he was going to do. The man said he was going to preach, and Blaurock replied, “Whose place is this? If this is God’s place, where the Word of God is proclaimed, I am a messenger from the Father to proclaim the Word of God.” And so he went to pulpit and preached the sermon that morning. He was imprisoned for this and commanded not to preach, but after he got out he kept on preaching. On October of 1525 Grebel back in Zurich; he was arrested and sentenced to life in prison. In November there was a second debate on infant baptism. Again it was Zwingli versus Grebel, Manz, and Blaurock. Zwingli argued that baptism was to the church what James Garriss Page 4 of 6 circumcision was to the nation of Israel, thus everyone must be baptized. The Anabaptists argued that faith precedes baptism. No one changed their mind, and the city council again sided with Zwingli. In March of 1526 they decreed that anyone who re-­‐baptized someone else would be executed. Conrad Grebel was still in prison. He had written a tract defending baptism, and he was able to publish it because in the same month, March of 1526, some of his friends helped him escape from prison. Though he was free, it was too late for him. He had contracted the plague from rat fleas while in prison, and he died from that shortly thereafter. He was the first victim, albeit indirectly, of Zwingli’s persecution. He was 28 years old and had been saved only 4 years. Manz was the first direct victim of the council’s law, though not the last. He was arrested several times and for the final time in December of 1626; the council set January 5, 1527 as his day of execution. Zwingli’s priests called for him to recant, but he ignored them and preached to the crowd who had gathered. His fellow Anabaptists, including his family, encouraged him to remain true. They tied him to a pole, rowed him out to the middle of the Limmat River, and pushed him into the freezing water; he drowned. He was 28 years old. One of the Catholic kings mockingly called this “third baptism” and declared it to be the best antidote to Anabaptism; many Anabaptists died this way. The same day that Manz was drowned, George Blaurock was beaten and permanently expelled from Zurich. He spread the gospel in other cities; he would preach and start churches in a city until the authorities caught him and threw him out. In April of 1527 he was forced to leave Switzerland, so he went to nearby Austria. He eventually became the pastor of a church; they needed a pastor because their former pastor had been burned at the stake. He started new churches in the surrounding areas, always one step ahead of the authorities. Finally, they caught him and imprisoned him. He was arrested because he would not practice infant baptism, the mass, or praying to Mary; instead he taught a new baptism based upon faith in Jesus. In September of 1529, he was burned at the stake. He was 37 years old. Thus the three leaders of the Anabaptists were dead. They had been persecuted and killed because of one issue: What is the final authority of the church? Their final authority was not the Pope or the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church. Their final authority was not the city council of Zurich or the other authorities in Switzerland or Austria. Their final authority was not their own logic or intellect. Their final authority was the Bible. When they had to answer questions like, “How is a person saved?” and “What is baptism?” and “Who is in the church?” and “What do we do as a church?” they looked to the Bible alone. That is why they are called the radical reformers. When the Bible said one thing and the authorities said another, they had to make a choice, the same choice the apostles in the early church had to make. Read Acts 4:18-­‐20. Today, church, we are faced with this same issue. The consequences may be less severe—
no one is likely to threaten you with drowning—but we face the same issue. When we have a decision to make, how will we make it? What is our final authority? We make choices as a church, as families, and as individuals. James Garriss Page 5 of 6 What is your final authority? This morning I want to encourage you to follow the example of the Anabaptists, and make God’s word alone your final authority. James Garriss Page 6 of 6