Nashville, Tennessee...“Paige Patterson is the most significant, revolutionary figure in Southern...

“Few groups have been more misunderstood and misrepresented than the Anabaptists.

Yes, there were the bizarre fringe groups that make for an easy target. However, there also

was an evangelical wing that honored Christ, loved the gospel, and recaptured the biblical

teachings of a free, regenerate Church and a disciplined body. And many sealed this wit-

ness with their blood in martyrdom. You will find their story and theology in this book.

Prepare to be blessed, inspired, and convicted. It will be good for your soul.”

Daniel L. Akin

President, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

“This volume is the record of a new generation’s scholarship on Anabaptism as the crucial

interpretive key to the New Testament for Baptists. Its authors demonstrate a sure schol-

arly familiarity with the breadth of Anabaptist studies as well as offering original research,

especially on Hubmaier and Anabaptism in Italy. This distillation of current Baptist think-

ing provides a fruitful point of encounter between Baptists and Mennonites in both acad-

emy and church.”

John D. Rempel

Director, Toronto Mennonite Theological Centre

Author, The Lord’s Supper in Anabaptism

“Paige Patterson is the most significant, revolutionary figure in Southern Baptist life, prob-

ably in our history. He prophetically called a convention of churches back to orthodoxy,

contra a bureaucracy intent on stopping him. And, because in his voice the people heard

the old, old story, he won. This delightful volume examines those things that fuel this

prophet’s fire. It is well worth reading.”

Russell D. Moore

President, The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission

of the Southern Baptist Convention

“Regardless of where you stand on the vexed debate over the historical relationship

between sixteenth-century Anabaptists and the emergence of the Baptists a century later,

it is clear that the contemporary North American heirs of these two traditions have largely

gone their separate ways. Throughout his remarkable career, Paige Patterson has worked

tirelessly to change that reality. These essays offer a worthy tribute to Patterson and his

lifelong passion to mine the theological riches of the Anabaptist movement and to forge

new bridges with contemporary Anabaptist groups. This volume provides ample evi-

dence of a significant historical renaissance among Baptist scholars, whose passion for

church renewal is as evident as their commitment to a careful reading of the sixteenth-

century sources. I highly recommend The Anabaptists and Contemporary Baptists.”

John D. Roth

Professor of History, Goshen College

Director, Mennonite Historical Library

Editor, The Mennonite Quarterly Review

“In this scholarly collection of essays dealing with the Anabaptists, who are clearly

spiritual kin to modern-day Baptists in certain key areas, the life and witness of Dr. Paige

Patterson is rightly honored. It is appropriate that the essays deal with the Anabaptists,

for Dr. Patterson has been ardent in his promotion of the reading of and about these fol-

lowers of the Lord Jesus, confident that they have much to teach contemporary Baptists

and indeed all Christians. And like those radical disciples of the sixteenth century,

Dr. Patterson has sought to be passionately loyal to his Lord in our day—and for that

passion and loyalty, there are many, like myself, who are deeply and eternally grateful.”

Michael A. G. Haykin

Professor of Church History and Biblical Spirituality

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Nashvi l le, Tennessee

Nashvi l le, Tennessee

The Anabaptists and Contemporary BaptistsCopyright © 2013 by Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary/

Baptist and Free Church Study Center

Broadman & Holman Publishing GroupNashville, Tennessee

All rights reserved

ISBN: 978-1-4336-8174-5

Dewey Decimal Classification: 286Subject Heading: ANABAPTISTS \ BAPTISTS \ CHRISTIAN LIFE

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible

Publishers. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.

Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture citations marked NIV are from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984

by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All Rights Reserved.

Scripture citations marked NKJV are from The New King James Version, copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers.

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For Paige Patterson

Contemporary Radical Reformer and Beloved Mentor

vii

Table of Contents

Editor’s Foreword ix

Malcolm B. Yarnell III

Preface xi

R. Albert Mohler Jr.

Introduction 1

Richard D. Land

Part 1: Theology

1. What Contemporary Baptists Can Learn from the Anabaptists 11

Paige Patterson

2. The Anabaptists and Theological Method: “For What They Were

Concerned with Was Not Luther’s, but Rather God’s Word” 27


3. Suffering the Cross: The Life, Theology, and Significance

of Leonhard Schiemer 49

Michael D. Wilkinson

4. The Anabaptists and Religious Liberty 65

Thomas White

5. The Anabaptists and the Great Commission: The Effect of the

Radical Reformers on Church Planting 83

Rick Warren

THE ANABAPTISTS AND CONTEMPORARY BAPTISTSviii

Part 2: Balthasar Hubmaier

6. Sufficientia Scripturae: Balthasar Hubmaier’s Greatest Contribution

to Believers 101

Emir F. Caner

7. The Lighthouse of the Reformation: Nikolsburg and Hubmaier’s Catechism 115

Jason J. Graffagnino

8. Balthasar Hubmaier and Free Will 137

Michael W. McDill

9. Balthasar Hubmaier’s Integration of Discipline and Theology 155

Simon V. Goncharenko

Part 3: History

10. Erasmus, the Reformers, and the Birth of Swiss Anabaptism 183

Abraham Friesen

11. Saving Denck: A New Interpretation of the Evidence 215

Ralf Schowalter

12. Italian Anabaptism: Was There Ever Such a Thing? 235

Maël Leo David Soliman Disseau

13. Dr. Purgatory under Fire: A Summary of Gerhard Westerburg’s

Doctrine of Purgatory 261

Russell S. Woodbridge

Afterword 287

Jason G. Duesing

The Contributors 291

Name Index 295

Subject Index 301

Scripture Index 303

ix

Editor’s Foreword

The majority of the following essays originated in a 2012 conference at Southwestern

Baptist Theological Seminary dedicated to reexamining the Anabaptists as a vital

resource for contemporary Baptist theology.1 They have been published here in order to

honor Paige Patterson for his lifelong scholarly advocacy of the evangelical Anabaptists

of the sixteenth century. Indeed, many of the contributors either wrote their research

doctoral dissertations on Anabaptism under his supervision or were otherwise encour-

aged by him to pursue Anabaptist studies.

The essays are arranged in three sections: Theology, Balthasar Hubmaier, and

History. Under Theology, the essays consider everything from theological method to

religious liberty, with special concern for what the Anabaptists necessarily teach

Baptists today. The section on Balthasar Hubmaier reflects the Baptists’ preference

for that particular theologian due to his academic quality and closer political theology.

Under History, the essays are concerned with a variety of important individuals and

movements within early Anabaptism.

Special thanks are due to some other important contributors. Jason K. Lee wielded

his pedagogical expertise in the construction and collection of the charts and illustra-

tions that help bring this book to life. Michael Whitlock kindly crafted several short his-

torical pieces for the History section in order to provide a general sense of the historical

flow of the early Anabaptists. These six short histories may be used to gain an overview

of Anabaptist history in the sixteenth century (see pp. 206–7, 222–23, 230–32, 242–44,

1 Further information on the conference may be found here: Melissa Deming, “Conference to consider influence of 16th-century Anabaptist movement,” Southern Baptist Texan, accessed January 22, 2012, http://texanonline.net/news/conference-to-consider-influence-of-16th-century-anabaptist-movement); Tammi Reed Ledbetter, “16th-century Radical Reformation celebrated at Southwestern Seminary,” Southern Baptist Texan, accessed January 22, 2012, http://texanonline.net/news/16th-century-radical-reformation-celebrated-at-southwestern-seminary; Malcolm B. Yarnell III, “Why we celebrate Radical Reformation Day,” Baptist Press, accessed January 22, 2012, http://www.bpnews.net/BPFirstPerson.asp?ID=37011; id., “The Anabap-tists and Contemporary Baptists,” SBC Today, accessed January 22, 2012, http://sbctoday.com/2012/01/19/the-anabaptists-and-contemporary-baptists.

THE ANABAPTISTS AND CONTEMPORARY BAPTISTSx

268–70, and 282–83). Matthew Miller expertly photographed and helped me prepare

the colorful collage honoring Patterson and the Anabaptists in the midst of the book.

Special commendations go to Dorothy Patterson for her humble and invaluable assis-

tance in the compilation of this text.

May the reader find this a compelling and useful resource on a neglected but inspir-

ing group of Christ followers. May Paige Patterson hear eternally that his love for those

same disciples caused the Great Commission to be more fully understood and imple-

mented today and tomorrow.


Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

xi

Preface

Paige Patterson thinks only radical thoughts. In the truest sense of the word, he is a

radical. He is a fountainhead of radicalism, even as he celebrates radicalism in oth-

ers. A festschrift honoring Paige Patterson is a radically appropriate project, and I am

honored to introduce this worthy project in this way.

The radicalism of Paige Patterson is rooted in his bedrock Baptist identity, his

uncompromising commitment to the Bible, and his fervor for evangelism and missions.

He is a radical in the original sense of the word—one who stands without compromise

at the source.

What is that source? You cannot explain Paige Patterson without pointing to the

fact that he was born into a Baptist home and was raised by Baptist parents. His father,

Thomas A. Patterson, was one of the leading Baptists of his generation. Paige was

raised as the son of a Southern Baptist preacher and statesman. He was raised as a

preacher among preachers and a Baptist among Baptists.

You cannot explain Paige Patterson without pointing to Texas and the fact that he

was raised with the spirit of Texas as his original point of reference. Texas blood flows

in his veins, and Texas dirt is found on his boots. Texans have few mild thoughts or

casual interests. This is certainly true of Paige Patterson. He is not a man of interests but

of enthusiasms—many enthusiasms.

One of those enthusiasms explains the nature of this worthy volume. Paige

Patterson is an enthusiast for the Radical Reformation and for the influence of the

Radical Reformers in contemporary Baptist life.

How did this occur? By his own recounting, he heard nothing of the Radical

Reformers during his college education as a ministerial student in a Baptist school.

He learned nothing of the Anabaptists during his years in seminary. But he had heard

of them from his father, who argued for the legitimacy of Anabaptist influence among

the Baptists. Paige then taught himself about the Radical Reformers, reading the work

THE ANABAPTISTS AND CONTEMPORARY BAPTISTSxii

of historians such as A. H. Newman, W. R. Estep, and George Hunston Williams. He

found himself among friends.

These friends included men such as Conrad Grebel, whose argument for the suf-

ficiency and authority of Scripture was uncompromising, and Balthasar Hubmaier,

whose argument for religious liberty resounds even now. Paige Patterson found friends

in men named Blaurock and Marpeck and found his imagination drawn to places like

Zurich and Klausen. And he found martyrs—men and women willing to die for their

deepest beliefs. He identified with them.

As he recounts, he found in the Radical Reformers the affirmation of his most cher-

ished theological and spiritual principles, including the authority of Scripture, the cen-

trality and necessity of the conversion experience, the exclusive nature of baptism for

believers, the understanding of the church as a gathered community distinct from the

world, and the courage to live or to die for those beliefs.

Paige Patterson has argued forcefully for the influence of the Anabaptists and their

heirs within the Southern Baptist Convention and Baptist life today. In them he finds

inspiration and conviction to support such indispensable Baptist beliefs as the full

authority of Scripture, the regenerate and disciplined church, the lordship of Christ, and

the rejection of both state and sword in the adjudication of truth. Of course, perhaps

above all he admires their courage—in his words, their “undaunted courage.”

No man knows his own heart and mind so well as to know from whence any con-

viction comes, and in what measure. Nevertheless, the influence of the Anabaptists in

the life and thought of Paige Patterson is abundantly clear. When his Baptist upbringing

and formation and his Texas roots are added to the mix, a portrait of Paige Patterson

emerges from the canvas.

This is the Paige Patterson who led the Conservative Resurgence in the Southern

Baptist Convention—who risked everything for the sake of defending the inerrancy and

full authority of the Bible. This is the man who articulated the theological principles and

convictions of that movement, who shaped a movement of protest into a movement of

purpose and changed the direction of a massive denomination. This is a man who has

stood for doctrinal integrity and theological conviction to the point of putting his life on

the line. He is a figure of heroic stature matched to a generous heart.

His radical life is rooted in his radical theology—a theology grounded in the

Radical Reformation and its legacy.

PREFACE xiii

I am honored to have the privilege of writing this preface, but my authorship might

seem incongruous to some readers. They know of my love, respect, and friendship with

Paige Patterson, but they will scratch their heads at the thought of a committed Calvinist

praising the man who would far prefer the influence of the Anabaptists in our midst.

I am a Baptist and a thankful Southern Baptist. I stand indebted to the Radical

Reformation in ways that cannot fully be calculated. Though Reformed in soteriology,

I recognize that my decidedly Baptist ecclesiology has far more in common with the

Anabaptists. I stand with the Anabaptists in their insistence on the baptism of believers

only and the necessity of the personal confession of faith in Christ. I reject Calvin’s

understanding of church and state and side without apology with those who died at the

hands of those who used the state as an instrument of the church, or the church as an

instrument of the state. I stand with them on the sole final authority of Scripture, even

when it means standing against the received tradition.

If this seems incongruous, just remember that this wonderful collection honors a

gun-toting Anabaptist. Enough said.

It is my high and thankful privilege to celebrate the life and thought of my dear

friend, Paige Patterson. This volume delivers honor where honor is due and will serve

as a scholarly resource for the whole church. May the gospel witness of the Radical

Reformers encourage all of Christ’s people to greater courage and faithfulness.

R. Albert Mohler Jr.

President

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

1

Introduction

Richard D. Land

How fitting and appropriate that a volume dealing with the issue of “Anabaptists

and Contemporary Baptists” should be composed of essays compiled in honor of

Dr. Paige Patterson. I can think of no one in his generation (born in 1942) of Baptists

who has done more to renew serious interest in the Anabaptists, their theological and

spiritual heritage, and how it can, and should, instruct contemporary Baptists and others

seeking to be truly scriptural disciples of the Lord Jesus.

Indeed, when I met Paige Patterson during my first week as a student at New Orleans

Baptist Theological Seminary, he almost immediately regaled me with stories of the

Anabaptists. Disappointed by my comparative lack of knowledge of these sixteenth-

century heroes of the faith, he followed up within a matter of days by giving me a copy

of William R. Estep’s The Anabaptist Story. This was my initial introduction to both

Paige Patterson and the Anabaptists, and for me the two are forever linked.

Paige Patterson has carried on successfully the tradition of two other Southwestern

Seminary fixtures—William R. Estep and Robert A. Baker—in assisting, encourag-

ing, and exhorting both Southern Baptists and other people of faith to appreciate and

to embrace that branch of the spiritual family tree known as the Anabaptists. These

essays grew out of a conference that Patterson convened on January 30–31, 2012, at

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. Flyers announcing

the event stated that the conference would “explore the connection between the Radical

Reformation and current Baptist movements and theology.”

This is a different, and a far more productive, exploration than the common-

place discussion of the historical connections between what became known as the

Anabaptist Movement in the 1520s and later seventeenth-century reformers, most

THE ANABAPTISTS AND CONTEMPORARY BAPTISTS2

particularly Baptists in England. That debate, an ongoing and interesting one, concerns

various theories of the origins of English-speaking Baptists in Britain and America,

seeking to discern historical evidence for direct sixteenth-century Anabaptist influence

on seventeenth-century English General (Arminian) or Particular (Calvinist) Baptists

as opposed to the belief that English-speaking Baptists rose out of the theological and

spiritual dynamics within early seventeenth-century English Puritanism.

I had the privilege of listening on several occasions to “live” versions of these

debates being articulated in person over lunches and teas by two of the most ardent pro-

ponents of the two opposing views—Estep (Anabaptist origins) and B. R. White (Eng-

lish Puritan origins). While I was a doctor of philosophy student at Oxford University

in the mid-1970s with White, then principal of Regent’s Park College as my disserta-

tion supervisor, Estep spent part of a sabbatical in Oxford. On at least three occasions

during those months, the two historians locked horns over the Anabaptist debate, to

the great entertainment and education of the few privileged witnesses. Perhaps the best

summary of the “origins” debate is still found in an older but excellent book: Donald F.

Durnbaugh’s The Believers’ Church: The History and Character of Radical Protestant-

ism.1 Durnbaugh cites George H. Williams’s The Radical Reformation, a monumental

study of the sixteenth-century Reformation’s left wing, pointing out that alongside the

Lutheran, Calvinist, and Anglican reformations, an equally important movement arose

“composed of these who wished to cut to the root of the church if need be in order to be

faithful and obedient disciples.”2

Two factors complicate the debate about how influential the Anabaptists were on

the development of later Baptists and other visible “gathered church” movements first

in Britain and then in America. First, by the time people called “Baptists” began to

surface in early seventeenth-century England (the General Baptists, c. 1612), the word

“Anabaptist” had been reduced, as a result of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century politi-

cal diatribes, to a theological expletive. The very use of the term conjured up visions

of anarchy, immorality, Thomas Müntzer, Zwickau, and the debacle at Münster.3 The

1 Donald F. Durnbaugh, The Believers’ Church: The History and Character of Radical Protestantism (New York: Macmillan, 1968), 8–33.

2 Ibid., citing George H. Williams, The Radical Reformation (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1962), 31.

3 Cf. William R. Estep, The Anabaptist Story: An Introduction to Sixteenth-Century Anabaptism, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996; originally published 1975).

INTRODUCTION 3

term “Anabaptist” had morphed into a contemptuous synonym for subversive, heretical

anarchists who were bent on the overthrow of all existing authority and social order.

Consequently, any connection with continental “Anabaptists” would have been, and

was, vehemently denied and rejected by seventeenth-century Baptist movements.

Second, as I pointed out in my doctoral dissertation many years ago, “When men

are seeking their inspiration and ideas from the same source (in this case, the New

Testament), it can never be assumed that when similar development occurs that interac-

tion has taken place.”4 In other words, the impetus of both the sixteenth-century Swiss

Brethren (the first Anabaptists) and the English Separatists was to get back to the New

Testament pattern for the church. How much of the resulting similarity was direct influ-

ence and how much was the result of seeking a common goal from a common source

on a parallel track? This brings us back to the goal of the conference that generated the

essays in this volume—what spiritual kinship exists between the original Anabaptists

and contemporary expressions of Baptist belief?

As Patterson himself declares in the volume’s first chapter, which sets the tone for

the entire project, “I am less concerned with the historical roots of Baptists (which,

in any event, I hope are found in the New Testament rather than Scrooby Manor or

Zürich) than I am that contemporary Baptists discover their theological roots in the

Radical Reformation and set sail for that noble destination on which many of the Radi-

cal Reformers landed.” A decade earlier another contributor to this volume declared at a

conference on Pilgram Marpeck in New York City, “We come from the Anabaptists. . . .

They were those who believed in a regenerate church, religious liberty, separation from

the perversions of the world, and the believer’s baptism.”5 This prompted Paige Patter-

son to respond, “While we drink from the fountain of the Magisterial Reformers, also it

is the sacrificial lives and teaching of the Anabaptists we indulge to slake our thirst for

genuine New Testament Christianity in the Reformation era.”6

Patterson and the other contributors to this volume are exploring the question of

how many markers of the spiritual genetic code of the Anabaptists are replicated in

4 Richard Land, “Doctrinal Controversies of English Particular Baptists (1644–1691) as illustrated by the Career and Writings of Thomas Collier” (DPhil diss., Oxford University, 1980); citing B. R. White, The English Separatist Tradition: From the Marian Martyrs to the Pilgrim Fathers (London: Oxford University Press, 1971), 164.

5 Kelly Davis, “SEBTS Scholar to Present Paper at Anabaptist Conference in NYC,” Baptist Press, May 31, 2002, accessed October 12, 2012, http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=13489.

6 Ibid.


the contemporary expressions of Baptist spiritual life. As the reader will see, they find

more than enough genetic evidence to declare spiritual paternity. Patterson begins by

identifying five distinctives. First, the Anabaptists declared themselves to be people

of the “Book,” devoting themselves to submitting to the authority of Holy Scripture.

Second, they believed in the New Testament concept of regenerate, disciplined church

membership. Third, they displayed the courage of their convictions, willing to experi-

ence martyrdom for their faith. Fourth, the Anabaptists proclaimed and practiced the

lordship of Jesus Christ as Savior, model, and example. Fifth, Anabaptists championed

religious freedom for all and rejected the state’s power as an arbiter of spiritual truth.

The volume’s other contributors ably supplement Patterson’s exposition of these

truths. For example, the Anabaptists’ pioneering enunciation of the principle of reli-

gious liberty and soul freedom was their particular and unique gift to the Reformation

heritage. As Thomas White points out, “Luther and Erasmus viewed the Anabaptists as

nefarious primarily because of their view on the distinction between church and state,

which formed a foundation for religious liberty.”7 As both Patterson and White explain,

the Anabaptists believed in the restoration of a gathered, local, congregational church of

immersed believers, free from state interference, and free to practice church discipline

concerning church members’ behavior and lifestyle. This necessitated civil government

not sponsoring or favoring one faith over another.

Abraham Friesen’s article on “Erasmus, the Reformers, and the Birth of Swiss

Anabaptists” explains the dilemma Erasmus and the Magisterial Reformers faced when,

in his 1522 paraphrase of the Great Commission in Matthew’s Gospel, Erasmus began

translating that people should receive the gospel message in repentance and faith before

being baptized. His translation directly contradicted the ubiquitous current practice of

infant baptism. Balthasar Hubmaier and the other Anabaptists pounced on this back-

door attack on infant baptism and proclaimed baptism (immersion) after repentance

and belief. Friesen explains that Zwingli was faced with the “fact of infant baptism”

and “one had to serve the times!”8 Friesen sums up the dilemma that Erasmus, Zwingli,

Hubmaier, and the other reformers faced: “Erasmus was an unattached intellectual. He

could live with such contradictions.”9

7 See the chapter by Thomas White in this volume: “The Anabaptists and Religious Liberty” (p. 65).8 See the chapter by Abraham Friesen in this volume: “Erasmus, the Reformers, and the Birth of Swiss

Anabaptism” (p. 183).9 Ibid.

INTRODUCTION 5

Alas, the “reformers were faced with how to apply Christ’s teachings in the real

world.” Their stark choices proved of monumental historical significance. As Friesen

so aptly phrases it: “Some few sought to follow what they believed to be the ‘norms of

Scripture.’” That would be the Anabaptists. “Others sought to accommodate the Word

to the tyranny of history.” That would be the Magisterial Reformers. Friesen’s conclu-

sion is both priceless and tragic. For the Magisterial Reformers, “History became the

criterion of truth,” and for the Anabaptists, “the Word of God retained its veracity.”10

The Anabaptists’ devotion to the authority of Scripture led them directly to a com-

mitment to what Patterson identifies as a “Regenerate and Disciplined Church.” As

Patterson emphasizes, and Yarnell reinforces in his chapter “The Anabaptists and

Theological Method,” the Anabaptists revered the Word of God and determined to live

by it and even die for it. Yarnell also points out the Anabaptist understanding that the

New Testament “is the completion of the Old Testament. The Old Testament was a

‘preparation,’ and this fulfillment of the Old in the New, with its prioritization of New

over Old, fostered profound differences with the Magisterial Reformers.”11

Yarnell also correctly emphasizes the Anabaptist commitment to the community of

the church and the development of doctrinal belief through dialogue within the com-

munity of believers. Finally, Yarnell recognizes and describes an Anabaptist theologi-

cal foundation fundamentally different from that of the Magisterial Reformers: “The

Reformed based everything on election; the Anabaptists on the transformed life in

Christ. Both affirmed salvation by grace and both affirmed Scripture’s authority, but

they could not reconcile their competing foundations.”12

Yarnell then summarizes the essential question posed by claiming a spiritual heri-

tage from the Anabaptists:

Our free church forefathers believed strongly that each person’s conscience is

held personally accountable before God. This requires personal conversion for

salvation and works itself out in such necessary practices as personal evangelism,

personal decisions for or against God in Christ, believers-only baptism, freedom

of conscience, and the separation of church and state. Will we retain our focus

10 Ibid.11 See the chapter by Malcolm B. Yarnell III in this volume: “The Anabaptists and Theological Method”

(p. 27).12 Ibid.


on the voluntary nature of the Christian faith, or will it be lost in the rush toward

theological determinism and the New Calvinist cry against “decisionism”?13

Perhaps the most surprising chapter in this scholarly volume is provided by

California super-church pastor Rick Warren, “The Anabaptists and the Great

Commission.” For those perhaps experiencing their first sustained exposure to the

Anabaptists and their tradition, it may be surprising to find that Rick Warren con-

sciously modeled Saddleback Church on lessons he learned from the Anabaptists.

Focusing on the Great Commission, Warren argues that the Anabaptists “will

increase your zeal for evangelism and world missions.” Many young pastors will find

Warren’s admiration for, and following the example of, the Anabaptists both fascinating

and instructive. Warren’s observations about, and endorsement of, the “incarnational”

teaching on discipleship is particularly intriguing.14

The essays on Leonhard Schiemer, Hans Denck, Gerhard Westerburg, and Ital-

ian Anabaptists are all well-researched arguments for the depth and vitality of

the early Anabaptist Movement. However, the four essays concerning aspects of

Balthasar Hubmaier’s career and theology highlight the brilliance and potential of the

Anabaptists’ most prominent and promising theologian. One cannot read these essays

by Caner, Graffagnino, McDill, and Goncharenko and not grieve for Christendom’s loss

through the early martyrdom of this gifted theologian. These essays provide provoca-

tive and convincing evidence that Hubmaier would have become the Calvin or Luther of

the Reformation’s left wing had his life not been snuffed out at the comparatively young

age of forty-eight. What a tragic loss!

Reading the essays in this volume from beginning to end brings to mind the old

argument made by Harold S. Bender in The Anabaptist Vision.15 There Bender sup-

ports the argument that sixteenth-century Anabaptism “is the culmination of the

Reformation, the fulfillment of the original vision of Luther and Zwingli . . . seeking to

recreate without compromise the original New Testament church, the vision of Christ

and the apostles.”16

13 Ibid.14 See the chapter in this book by Rick Warren, “The Anabaptists and the Great Commission,” (p. 83).15 Harold S. Bender, The Anabaptist Vision (Scottsdale, PA: Herald, 1944); reprinted, with slight

revisions, from Church History 13 (March 1944): 3–24.16 Ibid., 13.

INTRODUCTION 7

If the original impetus of the Reformation was to recover the primitive New

Testament pattern for the church, then Bender indeed has a case. Every church in

the New Testament was a local congregation of regenerate believers who had been

immersed (baptized) after having individually declared their faith in Jesus as their

Lord and Savior. They also were committed to “walking the walk” of demonstrated

Christian discipleship punctuated with congregational church discipline. Perhaps

the Anabaptists and their modern-day Baptist spiritual descendants should be called

“completed Protestants.” After all, they are the ones who made it all the way back

to the primitive pattern of the New Testament.

PART 1

Theology

11

1

What Contemporary Baptists Can Learn from the Anabaptists

Paige Patterson

The perennial discussion concerning the origins of the contemporary Baptist move-

ment has been adjudicated to the satisfaction of most scholars in favor of an

English nativity and the fecund womb of seventeenth-century separatism.1 Southwest-

ern historians Robert A. Baker and William R. Estep join a minority chorus with a dis-

cordant note, insisting that paucity of written historical records should not obscure the

remarkable similarities between modern Baptists and many of the Anabaptists of the

sixteenth century.2 They argue that this likeness must be assessed as something more

1 For this perspective see B. R. White, The English Separatist Tradition: From the Marian Martyrs to the Pilgrim Fathers (London: Oxford University Press, 1971) and more recently Tom Nettles, The Baptists: Key People Involved in Forming a Baptist Identity, Volume 1: Beginnings in Britain (Fearn, Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus Publications, 2005); H. Leon McBeth, The Baptist Heritage (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1987); William H. Brackney, The Baptists (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1994), among many others. This view of Baptist origins enjoys not only the preponderance of historians but also the indubitable fact that the Separat-ist tradition in England is the matrix from which modern Baptists emerged. The unanswered question relates to whether this Separatist tradition is the only source for Baptists. For recent contributions to this era and the Separatist traditions from Southwestern scholars, see Jason G. Duesing, “Counted Worthy: The Life and Thought of Henry Jessey, 1601–1663: Puritan Chaplain, Independent and Baptist Pastor, Millenarian Politi-cian and Prophet” (PhD diss., Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2008), and Jason K. Lee, The The-ology of John Smyth: Puritan, Separatist, Baptist, Mennonite (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2003).

2 This perspective, frequently but often erroneously associated with Baptist successionism, is articulated by Robert A. Baker, The Baptist March in History (Nashville: Convention Press, 1958); Henry C. Vedder, A Short History of the Baptists (Philadelphia: The American Baptists Publication Society, 1907); William R. Estep, The Anabaptist Story (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1963). These, like the author of this paper, are neither Landmarkers nor Successionists but are representative of those who find it unlikely that modern


than coincidence. While the search for substantiation of Anabaptist influence on the

development of early English Baptists is a worthy historical project, I will attempt to

argue in this essay that the historical roots are less important than the fruits of a healthy

tree. Discovering the origin of smallpox would doubtless be beneficial but not nearly

as important as uncovering the means for inoculation and cure. By the same token, I

am less concerned with the historical roots of Baptists (which, in any event, I hope are

found in the New Testament rather than Scrooby Manor or Zurich) than I am that con-

temporary Baptists discover their theological roots in the Radical Reformation and set

sail for that noble destination on which many of the Radical Reformers landed.

The purpose of the paper is not to espouse some form of neo-Landmarkism or suc-

cessionism. Such enterprises have proved fruitless and, in any case, are unnecessary to

biblical faithfulness in the contemporary era. The purpose of focusing on Anabaptism in

a Baptist context is to rejuvenate interest concerning the Radical Reformation in Baptist

life with confidence that while Baptists owe much to the Magisterial Reformation, their

own ecclesiastical and theological life mirrors that of some Anabaptists far more than

that of the Magisterial Reformers.

In so doing, there is no attempt to bypass our cousins the Mennonites. Theirs is a

clear connection to the Radical Reformers. Further, the whole Christian world is forever

indebted to the Mennonites for the lonely vigil that maintained focus and considerable

correction to the understanding of the Radical Reformation. Rather, my hope is to urge

diligence among Baptist theologians and historians to join our Mennonite brothers in

this scholarly vigil. Further, and perhaps more crucial, in a day when Baptists are look-

ing ever more like “Christendom” in general and are in danger of forfeiting the distinc-

tive legacy of the Anabaptists, perhaps these essays will set the stage for the rediscovery

of those Anabaptist distinctives that made these stalwarts adhere more tenaciously to

the teachings of Christ and the New Testament than did the Magisterial Reformers.

Although a number of distinctives could be posited, I have sought to assess these

under five headings. These begin with the epistemological question of the nature of

religious knowledge, proceed to the vital inquiry into soteriology, and culminate in

ecclesiology and the impact of Christ’s kingdom on all of life.

Baptists look doctrinally so much like some of the early Anabaptists without influence of the latter upon the former. See also Irvin Buckwalter Horst, The Radical Brethren: Anabaptism and the English Reformation to 1558 (Nieuwkoop, Netherlands: B. De Graaf, 1972).

WHAT CONTEMPORARY BAPTISTS CAN LEARN FROM THE ANABAPTISTS 13

Devotion to the Authority of Scripture

The early Anabaptists, for the most part, were deeply committed to Scripture, seeing it

as the utterance of the Spirit of God through chosen men of God. McGoldrick appeals

to several who either embraced mysticism or laid claim to extrabiblical revelation. For

example, he cites Hans Denck from The Law of God as saying,

He who truly possesses truth can determine it without Scripture. The scribes

[Lutheran theologians] could never attain to this because they did not receive their

Three Motivating Forces in Early Anabaptism

1. Biblicism: Early Anabaptists often took issue with other Reformers as well as Roman Catholics over the need for reforms in order to be faithful to biblical texts. Anabaptist interpretative methods ranged from apocalyptic to overt literalism.

2. Ecclesiology: Early Anabaptists distinguished themselves from other Reformers pri-marily on the basis of their ecclesiology. Believer’s baptism, a “memorial” view of the Lord’s Supper, and church discipline (“the ban”) were tools used by the Anabaptists to form and maintain local churches consisting of professed believers.

3. Piety/Spirituality: Early Anabaptists linked their understanding of and obedience to Scripture with their piety (spiritual growth). The preaching of the gospel and the admin-istration of baptism to believers as they confessed their faith were the fundamentals of the Christian life. Christian behavior, motivated by love and obedience to biblical teach-ings (even to death), became a central tenet of Anabaptist discipleship.

Chart developed by Jason K. Lee.


truth from the truth. From those, on the other hand, who have it in their hearts, . . .

the written law was abolished. Not that they may discard it; rather, even though they

do not always understand its full testimony, they have truth and righteousness in

their hearts by which they are not misled.3

But even if that were all that Denck had to say on the subject and even though

some Radical Reformers demonstrated less regard for the Scriptures, their issue with

the Magisterial Reformers centered on absolute faithfulness to the clear teachings of the

Bible rather than on the nature and authority of Scripture. While not speaking explicitly

to the contemporary issue of biblical inerrancy, most Anabaptists would never have

questioned the reliability of Scripture in any instance. Further, as they grappled with

its message, their theological positions and ethical expectations arose like a thousand

porpoises out of the sea of God’s Word. W. R. Estep notes:

The one sure touchstone of the Reformation and clear line of demarcation between

Roman Catholics and Reformers was the authority of the Scriptures. Within the

Reformation no group took more seriously the principle of sola Scriptura in matters

of doctrine and discipline than did the Anabaptists. In this regard the Reformation

stance of the Anabaptists is unequivocal. The authoritative position of the Scriptures

among the sixteenth-century Anabaptists was apparent from the beginning. The

Bible became and remained for them the supreme judicature by which all human

opinions were to be tried.4

Robert Friedmann, while noting the inclusion of the apocryphal books, adds:

The Bible alone was the guide to their newly found faith, and this Bible (in either

the Lutheran or the Zurich edition) they read assiduously from cover to cover,

including the Apocrypha. To them it was an open book, and they claimed to have

experienced a spirit akin to it. They read it as people seeking divine guidance. They

read it without sophistication, to be sure, rather unaware of tradition—medieval,

sectarian, or otherwise. However, Grebel, Hubmaier, and Hans Denck probably

knew a bit of Erasmus. The overwhelming rank and file of Anabaptists, however,

were simply students of the Scriptures and hardly of anything else.5

3 James Edward McGoldrick, Baptist Successionism: A Crucial Question in Baptist History, ATLA Monograph Series 32 (Lanham, MD: The American Theological Library Association and London: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1994), 93; Denck, The Law of God, in Selected Writings of Hans Denck, ed. and trans. E. J. Furcha with Ford Lewis Battles (Pittsburgh: Pickwick Press, 1975), 60.

4 Estep, The Anabaptist Story, 136.5 Robert Friedmann, The Theology of Anabaptism: An Interpretation, Studies in Anabaptist and Mennonite

History, no. 15 (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 1998; previously Scottdale, PA: Herald, 1973), 36–37.


Speaking of Conrad Grebel’s first theological endeavor, a poem written in Latin,

Harold Bender says,

In the light of history, it is symbolical that this poem, with its emphasis upon the

authority of Scripture, stands as the first witness to Grebel’s theology. Grebel

adopted as his own the so-called “formal principle” of the Reformation, the sola

scriptura, and to this principle he remained true throughout his life.6

Evaluating the life and leadership of Pilgram Marpeck, and especially Marpeck’s

response to Johannes Bünderlin, Walter Klaassen and William Klassen note this about

the Anabaptist engineer: “For Marpeck, Scripture was crucial and central. Without

Scripture it would be impossible to know about

Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, a faith

Bünderlin also shared.”7

Elsewhere, in Walter Klaassen’s source

book of Anabaptist perspective, a book in which

Klaassen apparently attempts to dilute to some

degree the strength of Anabaptist confidence in

Scripture, the compiler nevertheless includes

strong citations from Bernhard Rothmann’s

Restitution and Mennon Simons’s Foundation.

Citing Rothmann, Klaassen notes:

The divine, unquestionably Holy Scriptures

which are called the Bible alone have the

fame that they are needful and sufficient

for teaching, reproof, correction, and for

instruction in righteousness, for which

purpose also almighty God has given them,

in order that the man of God be without error

and equipped for every good work. Since the

apostasy first began through human writing

and teaching by means of which the divine

Scriptures were darkened, the Almighty has

6 Harold S. Bender, Conrad Grebel c. 1498–1526: The Founder of the Swiss Brethren Sometimes Called Anabaptists (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 1998; previously Scottdale, PA: Herald, 1998), 171.

7 Walter Klaassen and William Klassen, Marpeck: A Life of Dissent and Conformity, Studies in Anabaptist and Mennonite History, no. 44 (Waterloo, Ontario, and Scottdale, PA: Herald, 2008), 138.

The Anabaptists’ Appeal to the Scriptures

“[W]e should cling only to the Holy Scriptures. We are minded, by the grace of God to hold to this, since God’s actual will is sufficiently expressed in them. It is God’s earnest command that we should not stray from them to the right nor the left in word and action. Christ himself points to the Scriptures that we should search them. Consequently we have nothing to do with what the ancient or modern scholars have written. We are not concerned about them but only with what we find in the same Holy Scriptures which is God’s Word and will.”

—Bernhard Rothmann, Restitutio (1534)


among us provided that all writings both new and old which are not biblical should

be destroyed [This is a reference to the destruction of all books in Münster on March

15, 1534], so that we should cling only to the Holy Scriptures. We are minded, by the

grace of God to hold to this, since God’s actual will is sufficiently expressed in them.

It is God’s earnest command that we should not stray from them to the right nor the

left in word and action. Christ himself points to the Scriptures that we should search

them. Consequently we have nothing to do with what the ancient or modern scholars

have written. We are not concerned about them but only with what we find in the

same Holy Scriptures which is God’s Word and will.8

Noting Simons, whose writings are extensively punctuated by references to Scrip-

ture, Klaassen provides this from him: “Everything contrary to Scripture, therefore,

whether it be in doctrines, beliefs, sacraments, worship, or life, should be measured by

this infallible rule and demolished by this just and divine scepter, and destroyed without

any respect of persons.”9

During the Second Zurich Disputation, October 26–28, 1523, Simon Stumpf put

the matter bluntly, calling into question Zwingli’s willingness to cede final judgment to

the Zurich counsel:

Master Ulrich this power is not in your hand to turn over to my Lords the judgment

[of the Mass] in to their hand: for that decision has already been made: the Spirit of

God judges. So, if my Lords arrive at some decision and judgment that is against

the judgment of God, I will ask Christ for His Spirit and will teach and act against.10

Estep’s source book captures the attitude and outlook of Anabaptism on the Bible

in a more cogent fashion than Klaassen’s compilation. He cites Hubmaier’s A Sincere

Christian Supplication and Petitions of 1524 in the process, calling attention to one of

the Waldshut pastor’s more famous confessional challenges:

If I have taught incorrectly then I implore all Christians that they likewise give me a

witness with the divine word and change my error into a ladder of truth that I might

8 Bernhard Rothmann, Restitutio (1534), in Die Schriften Berhnard Rothmanns, ed. Robert Stupperich (Münster, Westfalen: Aschendorffsche Verglagsbuchhandlung, 1970), 221–22, cited in Anabaptism in Outline: Selected Primary Sources, Classics of the Radical Reformation, ed. Walter Klaassen (Scottdale, PA: Herald, 1981), 149.

9 Menno Simons, Foundation (1439), in J. C. Wenger, The Complete Writings of Menno Simons (Scottdale, PA: Herald, 1956), 159–60, cited in ibid., 151.

10 “The Second Zürich Disputation (October 1523) Minutes by Ludwig Haetzer,” in Anabaptist Beginnings (1523–1533): A Source Book, ed. William R. Estep Jr., Bibliotheca Humanistica and Reformatorica, vol. 16 (Nieuwkoop, Netherlands: B. De Graaf, 1976), 17.


climb upon it with Jacob to heaven. Therefore, I may err, I am a man but a heretic

I cannot be as long as I call for instruction. If man corrects an erring donkey or ox,

how much more is he responsible for correcting the erring brother by Scripture?11

Or again, referencing Hubmaier’s monumental work on baptism, “Where is such a

baptism found in the Scriptures? If you show it to me, I will tell you who was Melchi-

sidec’s father.”12

While almost endless references can be given, Hubmaier’s example is sufficient to

establish the case. The earliest Anabaptists say nothing about contemporary issues like

the inerrancy of Scripture, but one cannot read them without three important conclud-

ing observations. First, the Bible does not merely contain the Word of God—it is the

written, inspired Word of God. Second, as such, once its message is determined, all

debate ends because God’s written Word is always true and reliable. Third, accordingly

the Magisterial Reformers found themselves not infrequently excoriated, not for their

doctrine of biblical revelation but rather for their failure to follow the teaching that they

claimed was the very Word of God.

Consequently, attempts to recapture the spirit of sixteenth-century Anabaptism must

adopt their confidence in Scripture. Accordingly, in 2000, Southern Baptists strength-

ened their own statement of faith on the doctrine of Scripture:

The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s revelation of

Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its

author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter.

Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by

which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world,

the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human

conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony

to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.13

Furthermore, Article I is drafted in this way because Baptists recognize that all the

rest of the doctrinal framework is constructed on the foundation of the divine origin

and reliability of Scripture. Any recovery of the Anabaptist vision must begin with this

11 “Concerning Heretics and Those Who Burn Them—Balthasar Hubmaier (September 1524),” in ibid., 45.

12 “On the Christian Baptism of Believers—Balthasar Hubmaier (August 1525),” in ibid., 82.13 Baptist Faith and Message (2000), Article I: “The Scriptures,” accessed January 2, 2012, http://www.

sbc.net/bfm/bfm2000.asp.


same confidence characteristic of Grebel, Manz, Hubmaier, Marpeck, Menno Simons,

and others. Efforts based on less certainty about the Bible will inevitably be stillborn.

A Regenerate and Disciplined Church

As the 500-year anniversary of the first baptisms in the Manz family home in Zurich

approaches, strangely, the debate about the necessity of a regenerate church remains an

issue. That the concept remains elusive to many was in evidence when a December 19,

2011, report was issued on global Christianity.14 The report concluded that there are

now 2.18 billion Christians, which is nearly a third of the world’s estimated 6.9 bil-

lion people. This 2.18 billion number includes all Protestants, Orthodox, Catholics,

Mormons, and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Anabaptists would likely view such a press

release with wry but concerned skepticism. For Anabaptists, insistence on a regener-

ate church does not entail skepticism about the eternal destiny of every individual who

is not an Anabaptist. In fact, Anabaptism makes no claim actually to exhibit churches

in which all are regenerate. In all cases, individual justification is just that—individual.

And God alone judges the heart. Rather, the concern of the Brethren was that God’s plan

and purpose for his church calls for it to consist of people who have had a personal faith

experience with Jesus the Christ, persons who have experienced the new birth.

This concept consists of a far richer picture than merely a confession of faith and

a subsequent dunking. Godly sorrow for sin leads to brokenness, repentance toward

God, and faith in Christ. This commitment is openly confessed before the brethren in

baptism. That baptism is not only a public confession of faith but also a covenant with

the church to walk in newness of life in Christ through the enablement of the Spirit. The

believer thus commits himself to live under the Word of God and submits, should he

stumble in that covenant, to the discipline of the church, which may even on occasion

result in his removal from the fellowship of the church as a last effort to achieve restora-

tion. All of this is involved in the concept of a believer’s church.

The Southern Baptist Convention is a Great Commission fellowship of Baptists

consisting of Calvinists of various accumulations of stripes and points, non-Calvinists,

14 “Global Christianity: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World’s Christian Population” (December 2011), Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project (Washington, DC: Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, 2011), accessed December 20, 2011, http://pewforum.org/uploadedFiles/Topics/ Religious_Affiliation/Christian/Christianity-fullreport-web.pdf.


and even a few Arminians. Some, particularly

among the Calvinists, have expressed a level

of frustration in recent years about the failure

of most Baptist churches to implement church

discipline. Books, blogs, and resolutions not-

withstanding, it has not occurred. My own con-

viction is that one cannot redirect the train by

reversing the caboose. If Baptists, without loss

of evangelistic zeal, once again would begin

emphasizing repentance from dead works and

affirmation of faith in Christ witnessed by the

commitment of baptism with all that is intended

therein, adoption of church discipline would

prove far less traumatic.

My friend Franklin Littell was right when

in his 1952 monograph, The Anabaptist View of

the Church, he summarized, “By baptism the

believer came under the discipline of a Biblical

people—a discipline which he himself helped

make and enforce. If the door of entrance were

closely watched, a strong and true church could be maintained.”15 Or as Rothmann said

in his Restitution,

The true Christian congregation is a gathering large or small that is founded on

Christ in the true confession of Christ. That means that it holds only to his words

and seeks to fulfill his whole will and his commandments. A gathering thus

constituted is truly a congregation of Christ. But if this is missing, a gathering

cannot in truth be called a congregation of Christ even if it has the name a hundred

times.16

Anything less may be classified as a religious assembly or any other designation but

not a true church. Of course, such talk will not make one popular. Truth is often not well

received. Contemporary Baptists desiring to appropriate the mantle of sixteenth-century

15 Franklin Hamlin Littell, The Anabaptist View of the Church: A Study in the Origins of Sectarian Protestantism, 2nd ed. (Boston: Starr King, 1958), 85.

16 Rothmann, Restitutio, 241–42, in Klaassen, Anabaptism in Outline, 106.

Anabaptists’ View of the True Church Is a Confessing Church

“The true Christian congregation is a gathering large or small that is founded on Christ in the true confession of Christ. That means that it holds only to his words and seeks to fulfill his whole will and his commandments. A gathering thus constituted is truly a congregation of Christ. But if this is missing a gathering cannot in truth be called a congregation of Christ even if it has the name a hundred times.”

—Bernhard Rothmann, Restitutio (1534)


Anabaptists must master the art of stating the truth accompanied by such demonstration

of love as to lessen offense, but we cannot afford to forget that these convictions, how-

ever gently stated, led to sword or stake. We need not expect to escape the consequences

of this perspective.

Undaunted Courage

This leads to a third remarkable characteristic of sixteenth-century Anabaptism—cour-

age. Stephen Ambrose entitled his saga of the Lewis-Clark expedition to the West

Undaunted Courage.17 The hostility of weather, some native peoples, grizzly bears, and

the difficulty of river and terrain all worked together to eliminate less determined spirits.

But such was a cakewalk compared to the impending dangers faced by Anabaptism. For

centuries Roman Catholics had an established record of unfriendly coercion toward dis-

sent. Most of my contemporary students are astonished to discover this, having seldom

been exposed to such ideas as the Inquisition in either high school or college. But when

I have them read Leonard Verduin’s The Reformers and Their Stepchildren, reactions

range from denial to mortified shock to temporary fury.18 “Did my heroes, Luther and

Calvin, say that?” For example, Verduin cites Martin Luther:

How can baptism be more grievously reviled and disgraced than when we say that

baptism given to an unbelieving man is not good and genuine baptism! . . . What,

baptism rendered ineffective because I do not believe? . . . What more blasphemous

and offensive doctrine could the devil himself invent and preach? And yet the

Anabaptists and the Rottengeister are full up to their ears with this teaching. I put

forth the following: Here is a Jew that accepts baptism, as happens often enough,

but does not believe, would you then say that this was not real baptism, because he

does not believe? That would be to think as a fool thinks not only, but to blaspheme

and disgrace God moreover.19

Instead, the worst of the difficulty was not only verbal. Harried by both Catholics

and Protestants, the purveyors of love were pursued from one diocese to another until

17 Stephen E. Ambrose, Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996).

18 Leonard Verduin, The Reformers and Their Stepchildren, The Dissent and Nonconformity Series, no. 14 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964).

19 Werke, St. Louis edition, VII: 990, cited in ibid., 201n14.


imprisoned or executed. Neither were their spouses necessarily spared or their orphaned

children consoled.

Ah, but in a post-Vatican II world, the situation has changed, and now most faiths

live together in tolerance. There is truth in that idea, and whenever it is so, mark it down

as above all else the triumph of Anabaptist and Baptist insistence on and practice of

religious freedom. But if the believers’ church is no longer physically persecuted by

other Protestants and at least formally considered “separated brethren” by Rome, one

need not conclude that the world is a friend to grace. The task of world missions and

evangelization with its discomfiting demand for repentance and faith, however amica-

bly presented, will always be an irritant to sinners.

The Anabaptists knew that without a theology of suffering they could not persevere

and take the gospel to all nations. Following their example dictates that contemporary

Baptists forsake the favor of the world and the relative silence that such favor purchases

and that they accept the cost, even if life itself, of taking the gospel to the ends of the

earth. My wife and I, shortly after going to the presidency of Southwestern Baptist

Theological Seminary, stood in an icy windswept plain in clear view of the Sangre

de Cristo Mountains in Colorado. We were joined by fifty or so others, including the

mother and father of our student David McDonnall, who, in the prime of his life and

with incredible effectiveness as a missionary, had just been deliberately gunned down

while on a mission of mercy in Mosul, Iraq. His wife, riddled with bullets but slowly

mending, still lay in a hospital in Dallas. As I looked toward the mountains, I thought

the price was too great. But then I remembered, these are the “Blood of Christ” moun-

tains, and the Lord said, “Follow Me.” I realized then that I must prepare all my stu-

dents—and myself—to suffer. May the courage of the Anabaptists inspire us yet!

The Lordship of Christ

With the notable exception of those Anabaptists—living primarily in Holland

and England—who embraced the doctrine of Christ’s celestial flesh, the prevail-

ing Christology of the Anabaptists was fully orthodox, in harmony with both the

Magisterial Reformers and the conclusions of Nicaea and Chalcedon. But for

those Brethren, orthodox identification of the ontological essence of the Christ

was only half of the equation. If Christ were Lord, then his church should function

in full obedience to that lordship. As Walter Klaassen states the matter,


A major feature of Anabaptist Christology was the weight placed on the function

of Jesus as model and example. That involved an emphasis on his human life with

his actions and words as described in the Gospels. But it did not lead to a denial or

even an underemphasis on the divine nature of Jesus. With a few exceptions (Italian

Anabaptism, for example, which, after 1550, was unitarian), it was strongly asserted

that, in order to be the Saviour, Jesus had to be divine, a member of the Trinity (see

Hubmaier, Riedeman, Marpeck).20

Following Jesus and not just worshipping him encompasses a world of human

behavior in the ethical arena.21 But the task of evangelization or the carrying out of the

Great Commission in faithfulness to Christ is foremost. This manifested itself in any

number of ways such as a focus on the Gospels, including especially the teachings and

actions of Jesus. Aggressive evangelism and vigorous preaching arose out of the very

insistence on “believer’s baptism” since before baptism a candidate needed to confess

Christ and give evidence of the new birth. The commands of Christ to become “fish-

ers of men” and to take the news of Christ and his salvation to the ends of the earth

were also central to Anabaptist understanding. One of the “epithets of opprobrium”

was designed in part to link Anabaptist preachers to the Waldenses, demonstrating their

determination to evangelize was “Winckelpredigten.” Luther wrote, “Winckelpredigten

are in no case to be tolerated. . . . These are the thieves and murderers of whom Christ

spoke in John 7, persons who invade another man’s parish and who usurp another man’s

office, a matter not bidden them but rather forbidden.”22

A second major emphasis among the Brethren was the practice of the life and teach-

ings of Christ in the area of ethical practice. The Brethren were aware that many in

the Magisterial Reformation lived godly lives and were also cognizant of significant

moral failures that occurred in their own congregations as the practice of a disciplined

church highlighted. They also knew that the reigning concept of the Volkskirche or

Landeskirche inevitably produced unregenerate church members. By the same token

the covenant that the new believer made with the church at the time of his baptism,

declaring his intention of walking in new life with Christ as well as his submission to

the ban if necessary, bore eloquent testimony to the intention of the churches to imitate

the life of Christ.

20 Klaassen, Anabaptism in Outline, 23.21 See recent treatment of this theme in Stuart Murray, The Naked Anabaptist: The Bare Essentials of a

Radical Faith (Scottdale, PA: Herald, 2010).22 Werke, St. Louis edition, V: 720f., cited in Verduin, The Reformers and Their Stepchildren, 184n24.


A third aspect of most Anabaptist communities was the commitment to peacemak-

ing. While a strict pacifism was not endemic to all Anabaptists, the call to peacemak-

ing was almost as universal as it is absent from contemporary Baptists. Most Baptists

individually understand that peacemaking is essential to the faith, and Southern Baptists

spoke to the issue in the Baptist Faith and Message (2000). Article XVI on “Peace and

War” states,

It is the duty of Christians to seek peace with all men on principles of righteousness.

In accordance with the spirit and teachings of Christ they should do all in their

power to put an end to war.

The true remedy for the war spirit is the gospel of our Lord. The supreme need

of the world is the acceptance of His teachings in all the affairs of men and nations,

and the practical application of His law of love. Christian people throughout the

world should pray for the reign of the Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 2:4; Matthew 5:9, 38–48; 6:33; 26:52; Luke 22:36, 38; Romans 12:18–

19; 13:1–7; 14:19; Hebrews 12:14; James 4:1–2.23

This affirmation stops short of pacifism but does pick up on the obligation of the

follower of Jesus to pursue peacemaking assiduously. The history of Anabaptist faith-

fulness to this prescription makes any coercion or violence associated with the faith less

than consistent with the spirit and teachings of Christ.

While most contemporary Baptists will follow the general positions of Hubmaier

rather than the more overt pacifism, for example, of Sattler, nonetheless Baptists need

to be much more aggressive and outspoken in peacemaking. Some will doubtless reply

to me, “Physician, heal thyself.” Confessing the impetuosity of youth, in my advanced

age I find myself much more concerned about justice, peace, and love but still not at

the sacrifice of truth. In the spirit of Christ and of our Anabaptist forefathers, I sincerely

wish that I could now somehow retrieve a good many unnecessarily harsh and sensa-

tionalistic knee-jerk reactions of earlier years. I especially hope that I can stay clear of

all judgments regarding the hearts and purposes of those with whom, by conviction, I

must disagree, knowing that only God sees and knows the heart.

In any event, contemporary Baptists must, in a war-torn and confrontational world,

be belligerent in turning the other cheek, returning good for evil, loving the enemy, and

praying for those who misuse and abuse us. Anything less is unworthy of Christ and of

the imperfect but consistent modeling of this way by the Anabaptists.

23 Baptist Faith and Message (2000), accessed January 17, 2012, http://www.sbc.net/bfm/bfm2000.asp.


Rejection of Both State and Sword in Adjudication of Truth

At few places can the Anabaptist/Mennonite/Baptist nexus point to more profound success

than is possible in a significant part of the globe in the achievement of religious liberty.

A recent news release entitled “Clergymen in a Broom Fight at the Birthplace of Jesus”

chronicled a confrontation among monks from Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and

Armenian Apostolic backgrounds.24 The scrap broke out over the question of which groups

had the option of cleaning parts of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Reporter

Amrutha Gayathri alleges that the brooms were hurled through the air and the melee had

to be broken up by Palestinian police. While some would find the incident appalling, I

could not help considering the improvement of broom battles over the Inquisition.

Efforts to exonerate Calvin in the death of the heretic Servetus, the Protestant Ger-

man princes, or the English monarchy on the feeble excuse that they were children of

their own era fall flat in the light of Hubmaier’s Concerning Heretics and Their Burners,

Articles 1, 3, 5, and 22:

The First Article

Heretics are those who deceitfully undermine the Holy Scriptures, the first of whom

was the Devil, when he spoke to Eve. You shall not surely die. Gen. 3, together with

his disciples.

The Third Article

One should overcome such people with holy artifice, not with wrangling but softly,

although the Holy Scriptures also contain wrath.

The Fifth Article

If they will not learn with strong proofs or evangelical reasons then leave them

alone, and permit them to rage and be furious, Tit. 3, that those who are now filthy

will become more filthy still. Rev. 7.

The Twenty-Second Article

Therefore, it is well and good that the secular authority puts to death the criminals

who do physical harm to the defenseless, Romans 13. But no one may injure the

atheist who wishes nothing for himself other than to forsake the gospel.25

24 Amrutha Gayathri, “Clergymen in a Broom Fight at the Birthplace of Jesus,” International Business Times, December 29, 2011, accessed December 30, 2011, http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/ 273856/20111228/clergymen-broom-fight-birthplace-jesus.htm.

25 Estep, Anabaptist Beginnings, 49–51.


With the passing of the years and reflection on the life of the Lord, Anabaptist ideas

of the inappropriateness of persecution of those who see things differently and the divi-

sion of the church from the government have gained a significant following, especially

in America where those ideas are articulated even in the Constitution. From Hubmaier’s

perspective, as he stood at the stake in Vienna in 1528, such a development probably

seemed unlikely at best.

However, as great as this triumph for Anabaptist ideas, the quest for religious lib-

erty and the exclusion of government from the discipline of the church can never be

taken for granted. Islamic regions may come to mind readily, but the truth is that even

in America, this blood-bought rubric is constantly tested. Moody Bible Church in

Chicago is currently in extended and expensive litigation in which both a lower court

and an appellate court unconscionably and unconstitutionally ruled in favor of a min-

ister whose immoral behavior led Moody Church to rescind ordination. Ignoring both

precedent and the Constitution, judges inserted themselves into ecclesiastical concerns

with apparently no concern for the convictions of a local assembly.

Keeping the state and even the sword out of the church will take eternal vigilance.

And Baptists, in gratitude to God and our Anabaptist example, must lead this movement.

Conclusion

The Anabaptists of the Reformation have much to teach contemporary Baptists. Whether

a certain connection between Baptists and Anabaptists is ever established, in the end, is

an interesting historical investigation but not one of great consequence. What remains

of profound consequence for contemporary Baptists is the question of with whom shall

we identify and imitate? Given that Baptists do not baptize infants or anyone else with-

out faith, that we treasure the concept of the free church and of religious freedom in

general, the future is bright only if Baptists identify with and imitate the Anabaptists.

The current trend in Southern Baptist life to identify with the Reformed faith is a major

step backward and must be resisted. Why should Baptists identify with those who for-

merly persecuted and misrepresented them? May God bless the rebirth of Anabaptism

among Southern Baptists today.

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