CHURCH HISTORY II Lesson 5 The Anabaptist Tradition

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CHURCH HISTORY IILesson 5The Anabaptist
Tradition

• Children of Light Scattered Everywhere The
  Radicals of the Reformation

There is no other foundation that can be laid
but the foundation which has been laid, which is
Jesus Christ I Cor 311
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CHRISTIANITY
Popish Catholic
Catholic Reforms
Humanists
Lutherans
Reformed Presbyterians
Radicals
Anglicans
Rationalists
Spiritualists
Anabaptists
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Three episodes that expose what was taking place
What motivated
What kind of people they were
What they wanted to do with the church
I. Inn of the Black Bear, Jena (Saxony) August
22, 1524
Martin Luther
rioting, murderous spirits
Andreas Bodenstien van Karlstadt
listen to the Spirit
Thomas Muntzer Allstedt prophets
power shall be given to the common people
Brother Fatten-Swine Brother Soft Life Doctor Liar
The Lutheran Pope of all scripture Perverters
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Why, Dr. Luther, have you said that there is
just one spirit, that is, the murderous spirit of
Allstedt?
If I had erred, you should have reproved me in a
brotherly way, and not have stabbed me and struck
me thus.
Luther You stabbed me before I stabbed you!
Karlstadt No, I did not!
Two views of the Reformation
Thoroughness
Pace
Luther broke the Popes pitcher but kept the
pieces in his hand
The cause is good, but there has been too much
haste. For there are still brothers and sisters
on the other side who belong to us and must still
be won. Martin Luther
Shape
What was to shape it?
He who has not the Spirit does not know how to
say anything deeply about God, even if he has
eaten through a hundred Bibles. Thomas Muntzer
What was to be the SHAPE of the Church?
Regeneration vs. Justification
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II. Events in Switzerland
January 1, 1519 Zwingli becomes priest The
Grossmuster
I began to try every doctrine by this touchstone
(of Scripture). If I saw that a teaching could
bear the test, I accepted it if not, I rejected
it
The men who gathered in Manzs house that winter
night were aware of the seriousness of what they
were doing. But as the evening wore on they
became more and more convinced that they had no
choice but to obey God who had led them to their
new and dangerous understanding. And thenif the
account in the ancient Hutterian Chronicle is
accuratethey felt suddenly compelled to take the
actual step necessary to give concrete form to
their obedience. Amid prayer and the certainty of
persecution they baptized one another and in the
same moment commissioned each other to build
Christs church on earth.
custom should yield to the Bible
Conrad Grebel Felix Mantz George Blaurock
These men were not ignorant or unlearned
January 21, 1525 gathered at Mantz house
These men expected persecution they were not
disappointed
May 1525 Eboli Bort
January 1527 Mantz drowned
ANABAPTIST Re-Baptizers
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What did they believe?
Magisterial Reformers (Luther, Zwingli, Calvin)
Three main Reformation principles
Church-state cooperation State support of the
church The parish structure in church life Infant
baptism Mixed membership
Justification by grace through faith The
authority of the Bible The priesthood of all
believers
ANABAPTISTS Separation of the church from the
state Baptism of adult believers only Voluntary
church membership Religious freedom (soul
liberty) A pure church
Schleitheim Confession (1527)
Dortrecht Confession (1632)
A person could not be called a dirtier name in
16th century Europe Dr. Walter Klassen
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III Disaster at Munster
Westphalia area, northeast Germany

• Expelled Catholics and Protestants

• Set up Old Testament theocracy waited for Gods
  Kingdom to be established on the earth

Anabaptist now perceived as revolutionaries!
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Menno Simons
Background
1496
1524 Ordained for priesthood
Events leading to his conversion
Without constraint I renounced all my worldly
reputation, name and fame, my unchristian
abominations, my masses, my infant baptism, and
my easy life, and I willingly submitted to
distress and poverty under the heavy cross of
Christ
Doubts about the Eucharist
Questions about infant baptism
I examined the scriptures diligently, and
pondered them earnestly, but could find no report
of infant baptism. Departure from the Papacy
The Munster debacle
Conversion and entrance into Anabaptism
January 1536 broke with Rome 1537 Re-baptized
and re-ordained
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Simons life and ministry
Lived and worked as a hunted heretic
Established churches and ordained ministers
Charles V put a reward on his head
Wife and children had no where to safely stay
they could not find in all the countries a cabin
or hut in which (we) could be put up in safety
for a year or even a half year.
Wrote 25 books and tracts, numerous letters,
meditations, sermons and hymns
The Spiritual Resurrection (1536) Meditation on
the Twenty-Fifth Psalm (1537) The New Birth
(1537) Christian Baptism (1539)
Foundation of the Christian Doctrine (1539-40)
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Distinctive Mennonite Emphases Outlined by Simons
1. The need for repentance and faith
It will not help a fig to boast of the Lords
blood, death, merits, grace or gospel if the
believer is not truly converted from his sinful
life
2. The need for the new birth
True evangelical faith cannot lie dormant. It
clothes the naked, it feeds the hungry, it
comforts the sorrowful, it shelters the
destitute, it serves those that harm it, it binds
up that which is wounded, it has become all
things to all people
3. Freedom to choose or reject Gods offer of
forgiveness
4. A call for religious toleration
5. The desire to restore the primitive (New
Testament) church
6. Discipleship is the essence of Christianity
The Prince of Peace is Jesus Christ. We who
were formerly no people at all, and who knew of
no peace, are now called to bea churchof peace.
True Christians do not know vengeance. They are
children of peacethey walk in the way of
peace Reply to
False Accusations
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What were the lasting contributions of the
Radicals or Anabaptists?
Separation of church and state
Religious liberty
Separation from the world