Daniel L. Akin John D. Rempel Russell D. Moore

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1 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 witness 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 scholarly 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 thinking provides a fruitful point of encounter between Baptists and Mennonites in both academy 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, probably 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

2 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 evidence 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 sixteenthcentury 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 followers 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

3 Nashville, Tennessee

4 The Anabaptists and Contemporary Baptists Copyright 2013 by Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary/ Baptist and Free Church Study Center Broadman & Holman Publishing Group Nashville, Tennessee All rights reserved ISBN: Dewey Decimal Classification: 286 Subject 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. Printed in the United States of America SB

5 For Paige Patterson Contemporary Radical Reformer and Beloved Mentor

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7 Table of Contents Editor s Foreword Malcolm B. Yarnell III Preface R. Albert Mohler Jr. ix xi 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 Malcolm B. Yarnell III 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 vii

8 viii THE ANABAPTISTS AND CONTEMPORARY BAPTISTS 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

9 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 encouraged 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 illustrations that help bring this book to life. Michael Whitlock kindly crafted several short historical 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 , , , , 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, 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, Malcolm B. Yarnell III, Why we celebrate Radical Reformation Day, Baptist Press, accessed January 22, 2012, id., The Anabaptists and Contemporary Baptists, SBC Today, accessed January 22, 2012, the-anabaptists-and-contemporary-baptists. ix

10 x THE ANABAPTISTS AND CONTEMPORARY BAPTISTS , and ). 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 assistance in the compilation of this text. May the reader find this a compelling and useful resource on a neglected but inspiring 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 implemented today and tomorrow. Malcolm B. Yarnell III Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

11 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 others. 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 xi

12 xii THE ANABAPTISTS AND CONTEMPORARY BAPTISTS 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 sufficiency 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 cherished theological and spiritual principles, including the authority of Scripture, the centrality 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 conviction 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.

13 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

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15 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 sixteenthcentury 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, encouraging, 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 commonplace discussion of the historical connections between what became known as the Anabaptist Movement in the 1520s and later seventeenth-century reformers, most 1

16 2 THE ANABAPTISTS AND CONTEMPORARY BAPTISTS 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 proponents of the two opposing views Estep (Anabaptist origins) and B. R. White (English 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 dissertation 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 Protestantism. 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 political 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), Ibid., citing George H. Williams, The Radical Reformation (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1962), Cf. William R. Estep, The Anabaptist Story: An Introduction to Sixteenth-Century Anabaptism, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996; originally published 1975).

17 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 interaction 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 influence 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 Radical 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 Patterson 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 ( ) 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), Kelly Davis, SEBTS Scholar to Present Paper at Anabaptist Conference in NYC, Baptist Press, May 31, 2002, accessed October 12, 2012, 6 Ibid.

18 4 THE ANABAPTISTS AND CONTEMPORARY BAPTISTS 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 experience 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 religious 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 backdoor 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.

19 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 conclusion 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 commitment 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 community of believers. Finally, Yarnell recognizes and describes an Anabaptist theological 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 heritage 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.

20 6 THE ANABAPTISTS AND CONTEMPORARY BAPTISTS 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 consciously 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 Italian 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 provocative 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 supports 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 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): Ibid., 13.

21 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.

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23 PART 1 Theology

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25 1 What Contemporary Baptists Can Learn from the Anabaptists Paige Patterson The perennial discussion concerning the origins of the contemporary Baptist movement has been adjudicated to the satisfaction of most scholars in favor of an English nativity and the fecund womb of seventeenth-century separatism. 1 Southwestern historians Robert A. Baker and William R. Estep join a minority chorus with a discordant 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 Separatist 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, : Puritan Chaplain, Independent and Baptist Pastor, Millenarian Politician and Prophet (PhD diss., Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2008), and Jason K. Lee, The Theology 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 11

26 12 THE ANABAPTISTS AND CONTEMPORARY BAPTISTS 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 contemporary 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 successionism. 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 looking ever more like Christendom in general and are in danger of forfeiting the distinctive 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).

27 What Contemporary Baptists Can Learn from the Anabaptists 13 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 primarily 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 administration 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 teachings (even to death), became a central tenet of Anabaptist discipleship. Chart developed by Jason K. Lee. 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

28 14 THE ANABAPTISTS AND CONTEMPORARY BAPTISTS 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), Estep, The Anabaptist Story, 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),

29 What Contemporary Baptists Can Learn from the Anabaptists 15 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 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) 6 Harold S. Bender, Conrad Grebel c : The Founder of the Swiss Brethren Sometimes Called Anabaptists (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 1998; previously Scottdale, PA: Herald, 1998), 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.

30 16 THE ANABAPTISTS AND CONTEMPORARY BAPTISTS 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 Scripture, 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), , cited in Anabaptism in Outline: Selected Primary Sources, Classics of the Radical Reformation, ed. Walter Klaassen (Scottdale, PA: Herald, 1981), Menno Simons, Foundation (1439), in J. C. Wenger, The Complete Writings of Menno Simons (Scottdale, PA: Herald, 1956), , cited in ibid., The Second Zürich Disputation (October 1523) Minutes by Ludwig Haetzer, in Anabaptist Beginnings ( ): A Source Book, ed. William R. Estep Jr., Bibliotheca Humanistica and Reformatorica, vol. 16 (Nieuwkoop, Netherlands: B. De Graaf, 1976), 17.

31 What Contemporary Baptists Can Learn from the Anabaptists 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 Melchisidec 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 concluding 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 strengthened 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 Concerning Heretics and Those Who Burn Them Balthasar Hubmaier (September 1524), in ibid., 12 On the Christian Baptism of Believers Balthasar Hubmaier (August 1525), in ibid., Baptist Faith and Message (2000), Article I: The Scriptures, accessed January 2, 2012, sbc.net/bfm/bfm2000.asp.

32 18 THE ANABAPTISTS AND CONTEMPORARY BAPTISTS 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 billion 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 regenerate 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 restoration. 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, Religious_Affiliation/Christian/Christianity-fullreport-web.pdf.