Conrad Grebel, a prominent member of the church in Zurich, “had been led to the evangelical faith by Zwingli and heartily approved his work of reformation” (Kuiper, 204-205). But soon he and others of like mind felt that both Zwingli’s and Luther’s reform movements had not gone far enough. They were not satisfied with separation from Catholic corruptions; they wanted separation from all the ungodly.
These radical reformers felt that the root cause of all the corruption in the Church was the compromising State-Church bond that had existed since the days of Constantine, where every citizen was born and baptized as a member of both church and state. This “brought much of the world into the Church” (Kuiper, 205) and allowed too much State interference. “The churches looked to the state for salary and support. Official Protestantism seemed to differ little from official Catholicism” (Bruce Shelley, Church History in Plain Language, 249). “In Zwingli’s Zurich, the Council of Government had the final word in religious matters” (Gonzalez, 70).
Zwingli’s critics argued that Scripture requires true believers to be separate from the ungodly world; and therefore, a Christian “should not hold government office because this involved ‘the use of the sword,’ should not be a soldier, should not take an oath, and should not sue in the courts” (Kuiper, 206). The disciples in Jerusalem knew nothing of a state-church alliance, but rather they “left the synagogue and the world, gathered in an upper room, sold their goods, and held all things in common” (Schaff, 8:75). Apostolic churches were composed only of heartfelt believers, baptized only after a public commitment to live for Christ. Thus, “infant baptism must be rejected, for it takes for granted that one becomes a Christian by being born into a supposedly Christian society” (Gonzalez, 67-68).
In the fall of 1524, when Grebel’s wife gave birth to a son, the Grebels refused to baptize their baby. To deal with the crisis, the City Council of Zurich arranged a public debate on January 17, 1525. Zwingli defended infant baptism as a sign of the covenant, replacing the old sign of circumcision (Col. 2:11). He also appealed to 1 Cor. 7:14 and to the New Testament examples of family baptisms. “Bullinger, who was present at the disputation, reports that the Anabaptists were unable to refute Zwingli’s arguments” (Schaff, 8:81). The Council agreed and “warned all parents who had neglected to have their children baptized to do so within a week or face banishment from Zurich” (Shelley, 250).
“George Blaurock, a former priest, stepped over to Conrad Grebel and asked him for baptism in the apostolic fashion – upon confession of personal faith in Jesus Christ. Grebel baptized him on the spot and Blaurock proceeded to baptize the others” (Shelley, 247). Thus, Anabaptism was born. They rejected the name Anabaptists (“re-baptizers”) because they never considered their infant baptism a real baptism.
We will meet the Anabaptists again, but to sum up for now: “The Reformers attempted to reform the old Church by the Bible; the Radicals attempted to build a new Church from the Bible.” They “went directly to the apostolic age, and ignored the intervening centuries as apostasy…. Nothing is more characteristic of radicalism…than an utter lack of historical sense and respect for the past” (Schaff, 8:71).
“Therefore the godless err in their interpretation and understanding of dreams, just as they talk nonsense when they explain signs and prodigies; for they neither observe nor have the Word. This is what happened to the Anabaptists at Münster, who had seen a bow in the clouds and next to it a bloody hand. This they seized for themselves as a sign of victory, even though destruction was threatening them, as the outcome showed. But they erred in their interpretation because they paid no attention to the foundation or the calling. For they had neither the Word nor the power of the sword, since they were not administering the government in accordance with the divine ordinance and calling.”
Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 5:239.
Rev. David Fagrey
Grace Reformed Church
Rapid City, SD