Great Voices of the Reformation: Ulrich Zwingli Hosea 6:4-6; Hebrews 10:5-14 October 22, 2017 By Dr. David B. Freeman, Pastor Weatherly Heights Baptist Church I have tried for three decades to get a couple in one of my churches to name a child after our reformer for today: Ulrich Zwingli. Not surprisingly I ve had no takers! We do need to know about Zwingli, though. He is one of the great voices of the Reformation. Though he never identified as Baptist, his beliefs inspired those who eventually would be known as Baptists. Zwingli belongs to the radical wing of the Protestant Reformation, the group that believed Martin Luther didn t go far enough. Luther was more of a mainstream reformer and wanted to have a nice, orderly Reformation. Reformations don t tend to be nice and orderly, though. These radicals pushed harder and further than Luther. In fact, some of these radicals claimed that Martin Luther was the enemy of the real Reformation. It was October 31, 1517, 500 years ago this month, that a young friar named Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. The Ninety-Five Theses were Luther s demands for reform of his Church, which he loved dearly. He loved his Christ, and he loved his Church. But in his heart, Luther knew that the two were far apart. He didn t want to destroy the Church. He wanted to reform it, make it better, make it what it was supposed to be. And he wanted it to be done nicely and orderly. Not Zwingli and the radicals. They pushed hard and went further than Luther was comfortable. And they saw dramatic change, especially in Zurich, Switzerland, where Zwingli was a pastor and did most of his work. Zurich, under the influence of the radical reformers, was becoming a model of the Reformation.
So just how radical did one have to be to be considered a radical? Here are some of Zwingli s radical beliefs: He read the Bible directly, rather than the Church s commentaries about the Bible. I know that doesn t sound radical to us, but it certainly was back then. Reading the Bible directly was considered subversive because it implied that you didn t need the pope, who was God s appointed interpreter of scripture. Zwingli memorized most of the Greek New Testament and learned Hebrew so he could read the Old Testament in its original language. That was pretty radical! He refused to use the Church s lectionary scripture readings for his sermons. Instead, Zwingli started with Matthew 1:1 and preached his way through the entire New Testament. He wanted the people to have the Bible undiluted and unadulterated. Radical. He argued that Christ is the head of the Church, not the pope. Very radical. He deplored the practice of praying to saints. Remember when Martin Luther was caught in the thunderstorm and nearly struck by lightening? He fell to the ground and cried out, St. Ann, help me. I will become a monk. St. Ann was Mary s mother, Jesus grandmother. The belief was that the saints would take one s petition to Jesus. Zwingli denounced this practice, saying that we don t need anyone to take our petitions to Christ. We take them directly to Christ, he said, who is the only mediator between God and people. Radical. He denied the existence of purgatory, a state of existence after death where people pay for their sins. He said the Church was wrong to insist on celibacy of its priests. Zwingli married and had several children. He claimed that the Lord s Supper was purely symbolic and helped Christians remember Christ s suffering and death. One more. And this was big. The Catholic Church of Zwingli s day taught that Christ suffered and died at every Mass. When the priest blessed the bread and wine, the miracle of transubstantiation occurred, and the bread and wine became the body and blood of Christ. So Christ was killed at every Mass, day 2
in and day out, week in and week out. Zwingli said no, that is not true. He was a radical. Remember, Zwingli read his Bible. He read the book of Hebrews chapter ten, the passage I read a few minutes ago. There the writer possibly Barnabas, we don t know says that the sacrifice of Jesus was once for all. Just three words, but they were very powerful for Zwingli. Christ died once. For all. He didn t die every time Mass was said. In other words, Zwingli was charging that the Church was wrong. The pope was wrong. Martin Luther is known for his Ninety-Five Theses. Zwingli had the Sixty-Seven Articles, which were a statement of his beliefs drawn from scripture. This is article eighteen. I had it printed in your worship guide. Christ, having sacrificed himself once, is to eternity a certain and valid sacrifice for the sins of all faithful, from which it follows that the mass is not a sacrifice, but is a remembrance of the sacrifice and assurance of the salvation which Christ has given us. Those three words really are big. Once. For. All. We see them again in I Peter 3: Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. Once for you. Once for me. Once. For. All. The writer of Hebrews, of course, knew nothing of the Catholic Church or Mass; they did not yet exist. He was contrasting the sacrificial system of the Old Testament with the sacrifice of Jesus. In the Old Testament, he said, the priest would stand before an altar day after day making sacrifices. These were animal sacrifices. The blood would pour onto the altar and spill onto the floor. You can imagine it was a pretty gruesome site, especially on a feast day when thousands would come to the temple to offer sacrifices. The writer of Hebrews argued that those sacrifices did not take away sins. The Law of Moses may have required it, but they did not take away sins. Instead, God found a new way, a new 3
person, who would model the ultimate expression of love. His name was Jesus, and he would give his life. Once. For. All. So Zwingli challenged the Church. He challenged the pope. And of course, you didn t challenge the Church and the pope without consequences. Zwingli was called before the Zurich City Council for three disputations, they called them. The purpose was to examine Zwingli s beliefs and teachings, especially his beliefs about the Mass. Zwingli stood before a table. On the table lay a Bible in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. The mayor of the city invited anyone to bring a charge. The bishop s representative rose and charged Zwingli with teaching new doctrines. Zwingli responded, But what are these new doctrines? The gospel? Why that is 1522 years old. The teaching of the apostles? Why, they are almost as old as the gospel We will try everything by the touchstone of the gospel and the fire of Paul. In other words, his new doctrines were not new at all. They were a return to the teachings of the New Testament. The council supported Zwingli. It didn t end well, though. In 1531, a Swiss Catholic army marched on Zurich. It was time to put a stop to this radical preacher and his radical city. On October 11, Zwingli himself strapped on armor and led a ragtag army into battle. He went down three times getting up to fight again each time. The fourth time he went down he was mortally wounded. The captain of the Catholic army stood over Zwingli and demanded that he pray to the Virgin Mary or one of the other saints. Zwingli refused. The captain cursed him and then stabbed him to death. His body was quartered and burned. His ashes were mixed with dung. One legend reports that his final words were these: You may kill the body but you cannot kill the soul! Ulrich Zwingli knew that Reformations are not neat and orderly. Blood must spill. Like it did 1500 years earlier, when one died for all. So even if you don t name your child after him, let us remember Ulrich Zwingli, one of the great voices of the Protestant Reformation. 4
Closing Prayer Lord, we are deeply in debt, to these great persons of the Reformation and to you and your sacrifice. Once for all. Amen. 5