MIDWESTERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

THEY GOT IT RIGHT: THE ANABAPTISTS

A HISTORICAL-THEOLOGICAL PAPER

SUBMITTED TO DR. MICHAEL McMULLEN

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT

OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE COURSE

30060 INTEGRATING CHRISTIAN FAITH AND PRACTICE

BY

CHRIS CARR

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI

October 29, 2006

Introduction

In this candidate’s opinion, during the past 2000 years of

church history, there have been very few groups, individuals, or

schools of thought which have consistently and holistically

practiced a solid and biblical hermeneutic. In the contemporary

situation, groups such as some North American Baptists, Mennonites,

Evangelical Free, and those with ties to the Pietistic movement

(e.g., the Brethren, Amish, Hutterites, some Quakers, and the

Methodists) have come closer than all other Christian denominations

or confessions in mirroring multiple positive reflections of the

first century church. All of the above-named groups are able to

trace at least part of their lineage back to various groups of

believers known in church history as the Anabaptists. This

candidate’s thesis is that the sixteenth-century Anabaptists, and

by historical extension the Free Church movement as expressed in

the groups mentioned above, generally speaking, have come closer

than anyone else to reflecting a well-rounded and balanced approach

to biblical hermeneutics especially by way of consistent

application in kingdom life.

There is great difficulty in defining sixteenth-century

Anabaptists as a whole. Anabaptists did not count well-known

theologians such as Calvin, Augustine, Cyprian, Luther, Aquinas,

John of Damascus, the Cappadocian Fathers, etc., among their ranks

(perhaps because no early Anabaptist theologian lived long enough),

except for perhaps Balthaser Hubmaier, a doctor of theology from a

strong Catholic background. Anabaptists, though possessing

definite theological convictions, did not leave behind a large

corpus of intentionally systematic theological reflections because

of their unique approach to Christian discipleship and

hermeneutics, to be explored later. It would seem that

2

Anabaptists were a people far ahead of their time in many ways. In

fact, William R. Estep, a well-known Anabaptist historian, has

stated that just as a seed’s significance is not due to

its size but to its fruitage, Anabaptism might well be, outside the

Reformation itself, the most influential movement the sixteenth

century spawned. 1

In spite of the lack of Western-style organization in the way

the Anabaptists typically expressed their viewpoints and

convictions, there are enough distinguishing characteristics that

reveal their hermeneutical principles. Many of their values are

seemingly quaint and out-of-touch even within much of global

twenty-first century evangelicalism, yet are refreshingly simple as

they point us back to a childlike approach to faith and life in

Jesus and the emerging re-emphasis on missionality in the

evangelical church’s contemporary life. In the following pages,

there will be an examination of early Anabaptists’ key

hermeneutical principles, values, and practices. Even though there

1 William R. Estep, Jr., The Anabaptist Beginnings 1523-1533: A Source Book (Nieuwkoop: B. De Graaf, 1976), 2.

will be occasional references to different strands and streams of

influence within Anabaptism, for the purpose of this study, Estep’s

proposal has been accepted that the Anabaptists first arose in and

around Zurich within the context of the Swiss Reformation, and not

in Saxony (southern Germany).2 A further final disclaimer would be

that we need to recognize that no one believer, group, movement, or

school of thought regarding hermeneutics has ever perfectly thought

and lived out in practice what has been devised and described in

theory in relation to hermeneutics and theology. The Anabaptists,

especially in the sixteenth century, did not ‘get it all right’

themselves at times. There were some isolated and unfortunate

excesses even within Anabaptism. The key is that when something

regrettable occurred within a single unique situation, it was not

recognized as normative within the remainder of Anabaptism and was

not repeated, endorsed, or embraced. Current-day

3

evangelicals would do well to adopt such an encompassing and

cautious approach in order to restore balance, especially within

the evangelical church in the United States.

2 Ibid., 1.

General Overview of Anabaptist Distinctives and Their Hermeneutical Approach

Estep has listed common characteristics exhibited by most, if

not all, of the major groups included within the umbrella of

Anabaptism and the Free Church movement over the past 500 years:

1. An appeal to the New Testament as the ultimate authority

for the church

2. Primitivism, or the principle of restoration of the apostolic pattern in faith and practice of the church

3. The concept of the Believers’ Church which means that the empirical church is primarily a fellowship of the regenerate

4. A belief in the universal invisible Church as the body of Christ to which all believers belong

5. Believer’s baptism, with some rare exceptions

6. The kerygmatic nature of the ordinances in contrast to the sacramental (ex opera operato) concept

7. A rejection of unqualified Calvinism, which varies from a modified form of most Baptists to total rejection by the Quakers

8. An acceptance of the theology of the ancient symbols with a corresponding rejection of all creeds

9. An emphasis upon the apostolate of the laity with the practical rejection of a hierarchy

10. An affirmation of religious liberty with the rejection of an established church

11. Salvation through faith in Christ

12. Christianity as primarily discipleship

13. A concept of discipleship that includes evangelism, ethics, and social action

14. Agape love as the only adequate motivation of the Christian life

15. Biblical pacifism (the widest divergence is probably evident at this point)

4 16. A sense of unity in Christ in spite of separate denominational structures

17. An openness to truth under the Spirit’s direction3

Friedmann adds two more broad characteristics of Anabaptist

hermeneutics and theology, namely first, the acceptance of a

fundamental New Testament dualism, that is, an uncompromising

ontological dualism in which Christian values are held in sharp

contrast to the values of the ‘world’ in its corrupt state.4

Second, the vast majority of Anabaptists held to a tension between

3 Ibid., 12.

4 Robert Friedman, The Theology of Anabaptism (Scottsdale, PA: Herald Press, 1973), 38.

the kingdom of God (or kingdom of heaven) on the one hand and the

kingdom of the prince of this world (or the kingdom of darkness) on

the other. If the believer decided for the former kingdom, his

‘theology’ was clearly marked. It is generally known as ‘kingdom

theology’. It is the hidden theology of Jesus Himself and His

deepest message…it is a glorious idea and far superior to any

worldly philosophy, a promise not of a ‘yonder’ after death, but of

a present possibility.5

Williams posits that those who have examined the hermeneutics

of the Anabaptists have identified six key components:

1. The Bible as self-interpreting

2. Christocentrism

3. The two Testaments

4. Spirit and Word

5. Congregational hermeneutics

6. Hermeneutics of obedience6

5 Although scholars differ when discussing the affinities

between Reformation groups and Anabaptists, there were some points

5 Ibid., 41.

6 Stuart Murray Williams, “Anabaptist Hermeneutics: A Summary” [Online Article] available <http://www.anabaptistnetwork.com/node/247> (2 September 2006).

of agreement between Anabaptists and their Reformation

contemporaries, as noted by Ollenburger:

1. The Bible holds a place of authority in the church.

2. The Bible is meant to be understood.

3. There are some parts of the Bible which are difficult to

understand.

4. These require special techniques for understanding: allegorization (Philips and Luther), comparison with Scriptures clearly understood (Luther),comparison with the whole Biblical message (Menno and Luther), relegation to an out-of-date or inferior revelation (Marpeck).

5. With Luther, the Anabaptists emphasized freedom of interpretation.

6. The Bible is to be obeyed.7

Though there were broad bases of agreement between Anabaptistsand the Reformers on multiple

points, Ollenburger reminds us that there were some clear disagreements, which in and of

themselves help to further delineate additional Anabaptist distinctives:

1. The most obvious point of disagreement between the Anabaptists and their contemporaries was the degree of sola in the Reformation principles of sola scripture. For them there could

7 Ben Ollenburger, “The Hermeneutics of Obedience: A Study of Anabaptist Hermeneutics” [Online Article] available<http://www.directionjournal.org/article/?232 > (2 September 2006).

be no other norm for a Christian behavior and Church order than the Word of God (leaving aside the question of the meaning of “Word of God”).

2. One of the pre-understandings of the Anabaptists which separated them from their environment was their sharp distinction between the Oldand New Testaments.

3. Another pre-understanding of the Anabaptists was that Jesus was to be followed…what is surprising is that the (prior) commitment of obedience to Christ is the sine qua non for understanding the Scripture…the Anabaptist genius lay not in any exegetical technique or hermeneutical novelty or even in any theological discoveries, but rather in the simple (and expensive) commitment to do what Jesus says.

4. A fourth area of disagreement was the Anabaptist insistence that anyone who has made the commitment to obedience and has the Spirit of God can read the Bible with understanding….but the Anabaptists also yielded their interpretations to community consensus. In this there was radical departure from the magisterial Reformation.8

6

Now that a broad summary of Anabaptist idiosyncrasies have been

mentioned, it will be appropriate to examine several individual

Anabaptist hermeneutical distinctives.

1. Distinctive of Authority: Sola Scriptura

8 Ibid.

For Pilgram Marpeck, one of the leaders of early Anabaptism, a

key regulating hermeneutical principle was sola scriptura. Marpeck had

little use for a scholarly approach to the scriptures and would

doubtless be quite uncomfortable with Western systematic

theological formulations, especially those that do not exhibit an

intrinsic demand for obedience to God and His Word as an a priori

assumption of any theological pursuit. In fact, Marpeck said he

had no need for complex arguments of rhetoric or sophistry, and

although he and those closest to him did not have any type of

systematic catechism, they took seriously such verses as Romans

15:4 and 1 Corinthians 10:11 and also heavily relied upon the

epistles of Peter.9

Most Anabaptist leadership regularly referenced the New

Testament, especially the Gospels (John being the favorite). The

Bible alone was their guide, and most knew little or nothing of the

Church Fathers, or of earlier interpretive traditions (e.g.,

Alexandrian and Antiochene schools, etc).10

Repeatedly in the Schleitheim Articles (the most outstanding

expression of early sixteenth-century Anabaptists) the Scriptures 9 William Klassen, Covenant and Community: The Life, Writings, and Hermeneutics of Pilgram Marpeck(Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1968), 58.

10 Friedmann, The Theology of Anabaptism, 36-37.

are appealed to as the only source of authority, through wording

such as “foundation and testimony of the apostles”, “the command of

the Lord”, the Word of

7

Christ”, “as it is written of Him”, etc. In fact, the Schleitheim

Articles directly reject practices of the Catholic and Protestant

churches of that day for not being in direct accordance with

Scripture.11

Michael Sattler, one of the best known Anabaptist martyrs,

having lived and served as a monk in a Benedictine monastery, left

his order because of two specific reasons: one, his acceptance of a

literal reading of 1 Timothy 4:3 which he saw as condemning the

practices of his monastery (Luther

also appealed to this verse as justification for a priest to

marry), and the failure of the monks to live up the clear demands

of the gospel. Sattler’s own approach to Scripture is precisely

the simple, lay approach: “Christ is simply yea and nay, and all

11 “The Schleitheim Confession” [Online Article] available <http://www.anabaptists.org/history/schleith.html> (3 September 2006).

those who seek Him simply will understand His Word.”12 At his trial

before martyrdom, Sattler’s appeal to sola scriptura was evident in the

fact that his defense stood on purely scriptural grounds without

any appeal to tradition, creeds, councils, etc.

Anabaptists generally held to the hermeneutical principle that

says that the Bible illuminates itself. Since the same Holy

Spirit inspired both very clear and more obscure passages of

Scripture, it only made sense to Anabaptists that the Spirit would

lead the believer to use one text to illumine another. This

principle and practice arose out of dissatisfaction with scholastic

methods of interpretation13, which invariably led to scholars

resorting to methods that supplied a meaning from tradition, or

tortured the text through needless allegory. Supplying meaning

from an outside source led to distortion of the text’s meaning.

This self-illuminatory aspect was complemented by the principle

that the Bible is self-interpreting.

The issue of the two Testaments, how they related to each

other, and the authority of each for a Christian’s life and

12 C. Arnold Snyder, The Life and Thought of Michael Sattler (Scottsdale, PA: Herald Press,1984), 139.

13 “Anabaptist Hermeneutics” [Online Journal Lion and Lamb #19] available <http://www.econi.org/LionLamb/019/anabaptist.html> (2 September 2006).

practice were very important for Anabaptists in the overall issue

of the

8

distinctive of authority. Menno Simons held that the Bible is a

union of Old and New Testaments with an organic unity in that all

the Scriptures (both Testaments) on every hand point us to Christ

Jesus that we are to follow Him.14 For Simons, Jesus is the crucial

element bringing about the unity of the Testaments. The New

Testament brings a new aura of authority and precedence over the

Old especially concerning issues of morality and ethics. Whereas

Moses sanctioned the taking of oaths, Jesus prohibited it. Jesus

is the completion and illumination of Moses.15

Other Anabaptists, although accepting the basic unity of the

Bible, saw a discontinuity between the two Testaments. However, at

this point other Anabaptist hermeneutical principles kicked in to

prevent the rejection of the Old Testament. First, belief in the

principles of self-interpretation and of self-illumination of the

Scriptures stopped the Anabaptists from discarding the Old

Testament, since there must a basic unity and consistency logically14 Ollenburger, “The Hermeneutics of Obedience: A Study of Anabaptist Hermeneutics.” 15 Ibid.

flowing out of such principles. Therefore, many Anabaptists found

great devotional use for the Old Testament. Second, as Williams

states, reliance on the Spirit for interpretation encouraged some

Anabaptists to reclaim the Old Testament through use of allegorical

methods.16 Fortunately, it seems that most ‘mainstream’ Anabaptists

have traditionally avoided the abusing the allegorical method,

preferring to stick to clear allegorical representation in the vein

of Paul’s treatment of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar in Galatians 3.

Most Anabaptists took a historical-development view of the

relationship between the two Testaments. Anabaptists saw Jesus’

incarnation and subsequent death on the cross as cosmic turning

points in human history. Time is now measured by what happened

before and after His physical revelation among humanity. The

Anabaptists believed that God did indeed give special revelation to

Israel, but that revelation was only a shadow of what was to come

through Jesus. As

9

Klassen has stated, where the Old Testament is superseded by the

New it is no longer authoritative for Christians.17 For example, 16 Williams, “Anabaptist Hermeneutics: A Summary.” 17 Walter Klassen quoted in “Anabaptist Hermeneutics” [Online Journal Lion and Lamb#19] available <http://www.econi.org/LionLamb/019/anabaptist.html> (2 September 2006).

the ritual washings no longer needed to be fulfilled after the

coming

of Jesus. Therefore, Jesus became the authoritative, interpretive

principle even for the Old Testament.

2. Distinctive of Focus:Christocentrism (Sola Christa) As The Fundamental Testimony Of

Scripture

For Pilgram Marpeck and his fellow believers, the humanity of

Jesus Christ as recorded in Scripture was the eternal key to

Scripture. Marpeck said that by failing to recognize Christ’s

humanity, people also failed to understand his divinity. Marpeck

held a high view of Christology and the centrality of Christ

(especially as He is presented in the Gospels). Marpeck said that

if the incarnation is given less emphasis than on the deity and

glory of Christ or even rejected by one claiming to follow Christ,

then there is no need for the ceremonies of the church. For

Marpeck, his high view of Christ’s humanity in Scripture was tied

directly to one’s attitude toward the rites of the church.18

Christology is intimately related to their understanding of the

18 Klassen, Covenant and Community, 62.

Lord’s Supper. Speaking of those who demean or neglect the

humanity of Christ in Scripture, Marpeck said

They are not sick, therefore they despise the physician, the humanity of Christ (Luke 5), through which God Himself is despised (Luke 10), without which humanity it is impossible for them to come to God (John 14,15) neither can they recognizethe divinity (Matt. 11, John 14, 2 Cor. 4, 1 John 5. Further, without this door they cannot enter into the sheep barn (John 10). It is through this cornerstone that they either stand or fall

(Luke 2, 20).19

This strong emphasis on the material incarnation of Jesus as

Messiah had deep hermeneutical implications for Anabaptism and

especially Anabaptists such as Marpeck. Whereas one of Luther’s

10

hermeneutical mottos had been “whatever promotes Christ”, causing

Luther to look for Christ everywhere (especially in the Old

Testament), the Anabaptists’ emphasis on the human physical

Jesus places historical limitations on the interpretation of

scripture20, thus vastly reducing the possible misuse or abuse of

allegory, misuse of the Old Testament in the noble task of pointing

19 Ibid., 65.

20 “Anabaptist Hermeneutics,” Lion and Lamb #19.

to Jesus, and even extreme typology. For Anabaptists, a chief

hermeneutical principle is Jesus,

including His life, words, and death. Whatever is in conflict with

this is not God’s Word for the church and is to be avoided.

Michael Sattler also held to a strong Christocentrism as a

guiding hermeneutical principle, albeit from a different foundation

—that of his former life as a Benedictine monk. Sattler is widely

held to be the driving authorial force behind the Schleitheim

Articles. The Articles give a very lucid sense of Christocentrism

that manifests itself in clear separation of the believer and his

church from the world, with a parallel emphasis on a hermeneutic of

suffering and willing renunciation. Speaking of Sattler’s previous

monastic lifestyle and its impact on his Christocentric

hermeneutic, Snyder says

It is here alone that we find a full doctrine of following the suffering Christ in daily life, separating from the sinful world and enduring the opprobrium of the world in imitation of Christ. The nature and content of this doctrine of Nachfolge Christi is further clarified in Sattler’s teaching on the temporal sword: true Christians are yielded and separated and thus refuse to participate in government in imitation of Christ.Although the teaching of non- participation in government is present among the Zurich Anabaptists, as well as in the monastic

tradition, we have found the Christocentric justification for this teaching only in the monastic tradition.

Our study thus indicates that the Schleitheim doctrine of aChrist-centered separation from the world, resulting in withdrawal from the sinful political order, is in fact Michael Sattler’s own contribution to Anabaptism. Further, we conclude that Sattler’s doctrine has its roots in the Benedictine tradition.21

It seems quite ironic that Sattler, who strongly influenced all of Anabaptism through the Schleitheim

Articles, brought a strong, suffering Christocentric hermeneutic tothe table not because of

11

influences from the Protestant Reformation or other radical reformers, but because of his

Benedictine background.

Menno Simons, called “the paradigmatic Anabaptist”22, constantly used a Christocentric

hermenutical method. If an interpretation corresponds to the teachings of Christ, then for Simons it

is acceptable. Simons says

All Scripture of both the Old and New Testament rightly explained according to the intent of Christ Jesus and His holy apostles is profitable for doctrine, reproof, for correction, for

21 Snyder, The Life and Thought of Michael Sattler, 161.

22 Ollenburger, “The Hermeneutics of Obedience: A Study of Anabaptist Hermeneutics.”

instruction in righteousness. 2 Tim. 3:16. But whatever is taught contrary to the Spirit and doctrine of Jesus is accursed of God. Gal. 1.23

At this point it is necessary to understand that Menno is betraying(in a positive sense) a

preunderstanding, or hermeneutical assumption. How could a believer have a prior knowledge of

the intention of Jesus? As Ollenburger states, one would have to do a great deal of biblical

interpretation before one could determine the ‘intention of Jesus Christ’.24 Simons’ principle at this

point is similar to the intuitive approach taken by many Anabaptists regarding obedience being an

assumed condition to understanding the Scriptures.

The centrality of Jesus in Scripture was foundational for Anabaptist hermeneutics and theology.

Although the principles of self-illumination and self-interpretation were hallmarks of sixteenth-

century Anabaptist hermeneutics, so fundamental was the principle of Christocentrism that it tended

to qualify other elements rather than itself being qualified.25

23 Ibid.

24 Ibid.

25 Williams, “Anabaptist Hermeneutics: A Summary.”

12

3. Distinctive Of Covenant Witness: Believers Baptism As The Symbol

Of Regeneration

The practice of believer's baptism was probably the most

significant visible difference between Anabaptists and the

magisterial Reformers, and most certainly the dominant Catholic

church. Balthaser Hubmaier, a well-respected doctor of theology in

the Catholic church in the immediate

pre-Anabaptist days who began to contemplate evangelical Anabaptist

beliefs as possibly correct, eventually wrote in spring 1524 the

pivotal document The Eighteen Articles, an articulation of his growing

Anabaptist sympathies. As Estep says “at one point in The Eighteen

Articles one can

perhaps recognize the nascent theologian of the Anabaptists, for

the eighth one begins ‘as each Christian believes and is baptized

for himself…’”26 The magnitude of such a statement from a former

doctor of the Catholic church cannot be overestimated in its import

and gravity. The concept of a regenerate church membership within

Anabaptism had direct connection to the Anabaptist hermeneutic.

26 Torgen Bergsten, ed. by Willliam R. Estep, Jr., Balthaser Hubmaier: Anabaptist Theologian and Martyr (Valley Forge: Judson Press, 1978), 99.

An interesting document exists titled How the Scripture Is To Be

Discerningly Divided and Explained, apparently written by Michael Sattler,

which provides the exegetical process he and others used to defend

their hermeneutics that led to a defense of believers baptism.

Wenger describes the process:

In substance, the exegetical procedure is to show that with Christ and his apostles, the divine directive is as follows:

(1) Proclaim the Word of repentance and faith. (2) Where the Holy Spirit kindles faith—and only to such persons—is water baptism to be administered.

(3) Those who have been recipients of Holy Spirit baptism and water baptism are then to be taught to keep the teachings of Christ. Such people shall exhibit the walk proper for the regenerated.

13

(4) Divine regeneration is the New Covenant equivalent of Old Testament circumcision. Paul refers to this spiritual change as the circumcision made without hands.

(5) In the “Concluding Word” the author pleads earnestly for giving heed only to what Christ has established. And once more the author warns us that “all human teaching is forbidden”.27

27 “An Anabaptist Tract on Hermeneutics”, translated and edited by J.C. Wenger, in The Mennonite Quarterly Review 42 (January 1968), 27.

The hermeneutical principle is clear: literally imitate and follow

Christ’s and the early church’s own practice, and a typical pattern

will emerge of teaching/preaching the gospel, hearing, faith,

baptism, Spirit, and works. Therefore, following Christ’s pattern

in simple obedience means that

baptism follows faith and is the result of faith, not the basis for

it. It is interesting to note that whereas many of the

magisterial Reformers appealed to the Old Testament practice of

circumcision as forming the foundation for infant baptism, the

Anabaptists appealed to divine regeneration as the corresponding

New Testament counterpart for circumcision, constantly quoting in

their writings, sermons, teachings, and trials such verses as 1

Peter 3:21, Titus 3:5, Revelation 7:3,

Because of such a shift away from magisterial thinking,

Anabaptists found it very natural to see baptism as the sign of

this new regeneration reflecting a covenant agreement at three

levels: between God and man, between man and God, and between man

and man, thus establishing the church.28 Through baptism, each new

believer enters not only a new covenant agreement on these three

28 Friedmann, The Theology of Anabaptism, 135.

planes, but also enters a new eschatological age of spiritual

brotherhood in which each person is equal to others without levels

of distinction or standing. Marpeck stated that his viewpoint of

baptism (“…this bath is a sealing of faith”) was traceable to

Tertullian in 200 AD29, his view

14

definitely also having eschatological overtones to it. Baptism was

the public expression of a decision that was to last for life. The

considerable emphasis placed on believer’s baptism by

Anabaptists was heavily influenced by the aforementioned

eschatological hermeneutical principle, since the new believer had

entered the new spiritual sphere of life in the kingdom while still

living in

the old physical kingdom of darkness, sin, and fallenness. It was

also this eschatological influence that led most Anabaptists to

promote a strong, visible separation of the believer from

participation in

things that were not directly allowable or mentioned in literal

form in Scripture, which was an unfortunate and rare error on their

29 Ibid.

part that prevented them in some ways from being the salt and light

which Jesus calls His church to be within any given society through

engagement rather than substantial withdrawal or separation from

the culture.

4. Distinctives Of Word-Spirit: Agents Of Interpretation In Both

The Individual And Church

The Anabaptists believed that Jesus as the Incarnate Word,

speaking through the Holy Spirit whom He sent, would grant the

endowment of a common sense simplicity to help each and every

believer to read and interpret scripture as individuals, but more

importantly, within the context of the community of faith. As

Friedmann has stated, Anabaptists saw the simplicity of a believing

man’s heart as the best measure of his theology.30 Many Anabaptists

viewed the ‘Word of God’ as being broader than the Bible alone,

although the Scriptures were accepted as the main way that God

spoke to people. As Snyder has noted, Anabaptists such as Sattler

promoted a hermeneutic of obedient practicality as being more

important than theological practicality,31 reflected in a strong and

30 Ibid., 33.

31 Snyder, The Life and Thought of Michael Sattler, 140.

direct reliance on the Holy Spirit to understand the Bible, yet

with limits. Sattler “expected to be informed by the grace and

revelation of God, and most probably relied on such direct

revelation, but

15

the limits of that revelation are set by Scripture, read

Christocentrically….in Sattler’s mind there is no conflict between

living in the light of the Spirit and living by the word of the

Scriptures.”32

For Anabaptists, a true believer, even under the supposed

illumination of the Holy Spirit, cannot pursue an individualistic

approach to biblical interpretation. Within Anabaptism, there has

existed a strong sense of the need for community interpretation when

dealing with Scripture. The sense of

community does not overrule or consume the individual believer, but

the focus of salvation is within the community of faith and

therefore, the community (i.e., local church, association, etc) is

the more important balancing sphere of hermeneutical and

interpretive influence. In contrast to the state churches of the

32 Ibid., 164.

sixteenth (and even the twenty-first) century, within Anabaptism

existed a

community of salvation, community of goods, and community of care

for physically sick and spiritually straying brothers.

As Friedmann has noted, Anabaptism accepts the thesis that a

man cannot come to God except together with his brother. For the

follower of Jesus there is no such thing as an isolated Christian

in his lonely cell. To him brotherhood is not merely an ethical

adjunct to Christian theological thinking but an integral condition

for any genuine restoration of God’s image in man.33

It is this very sense of community that has served the

Anabaptists well as a hermeneutical system of checks and balances

when dealing with biblical interpretation. It was for this very

reason that especially early Anabaptists had little use for the

biblical language scholar and theologian, unless their work

actually and directly contributed to practical obedience to the

clear and understandable mandate of Scripture. Whereas in the

medieval Catholic church the theologians and college of cardinals

decided biblical interpretation, the Anabaptists (and in fairness,

33 Friedmann, The Theology of Anabaptism, 81.

the Reformers) not only reigned in individualistic tendencies

toward biblical interpretation, they also leveled the playing field

16

by stating that each believer, under the influence of the Holy

Spirit sent by Jesus the Word, was capable of reading and

understanding the simple message of Scripture within the local

faith

community. If the scholar and theologian were willing to submit

their research, conclusions, and interpretations to the larger

community of the local church, then their work would be welcomed

and

verified within the consensus of the visible body of Christ. There

needs to be a return to this practice in our own day.

Marpeck also had strong guidelines when regarding the

individual believer and interpretation. Marpeck taught that the

role of the Holy Spirit in hermeneutics was second in importance

only to the human Christ. For Marpeck, the Holy Spirit would never

“lead” a believer to speak a message not related to the Scriptures,

i.e., the Holy Spirit would never lead someone to contradict the

revealed

Word of God. Oral preaching and teaching was to be accompanied by

the balancing effect of what was written in the Bible.

Hermeneutics was not possible without the Holy Spirit’s leadership

and illumination. Speaking of Marpeck’s viewpoint on this subject,

Klassen writes that the most important single factor that helps the

interpreter remove the subjective element from his interpretation

is the community that the Holy Spirit has called into being, and he

who is not willing to submit to the discipline of that community

has not yet learned to know Christ.34

Finally, Klassen summarizes this Anabaptist distinctive by

saying that

The Anabaptist insistence on community interpretation was adeclaration that the academic tools of literary analysis were not enough. The text can be properly understood only when disciples are gathered together to discover what the Word has to say to their needs and concerns. It is therefore not the hierarchy as in Roman Catholicism, nor the scholar-teacher as in Protestantism who decides what the Word means in any given instance, but the gathered community under the guidance of the Spirit. In this setting the scholar has a place in that s/he is not exempt from the congregational process of searching and finding. This process is designed to save Christians from the tyranny of the specialized knowledge and equipment

34 Klassen, Covenant and Community, 77.

of the scholar, as well as from the tyranny of individualist interpretation and of the visionary.35 17

Again, the twenty-first century evangelical church (especially in

the USA) would do well to reflect upon, accept, and heartily

practice this hermeneutical principle to curb the epidemic of

individualistic and reader-response hermeneutical practices within

our evangelical churches.

5. Distinctive Of Simple, Faithful Obedience And Practice:

Existential Christianity

In answering the question as to why early Anabaptists did not

have a well-formulated theological system or construct of

hermeneutical principles, Friedmann states that “ever since the

days of the apostolic church, Anabaptism is the only example in

church history of an ‘existential Christianity’ where there existed

no basic split between faith and life, even though the struggle for

realization or

35 “Anabaptist Hermeneutics,” Lion and Lamb #19.

actualization of this faith into practice remained a perennial

task”.36 The early Anabaptists were more concerned about living the

faith rather than describing its contents or systematizing it.

Just like the first-century church, Anabaptist believers had a

strong assurance that they were real disciples of Jesus Christ and

were living in the last days before the visible ushering in of the

kingdom of God. Therefore, they were willing to go to the stake,

beheading, drowning, etc., as martyrs because nothing could

intimidate them and keep them from witnessing. Whereas many of

the Reformers began from an anthropological worldview founded on an

acute and overpowering sense of guiltiness as sinners, on the

contrary most Anabaptist preaching proceeded from a foundation that

God’s graciousness, love, joy, and justification were attainable

through simple child-like repentance and obedience to the wooing of

the Spirit.

As Friedmann states, the term ‘existential Christianity’ means

a realized and practiced ‘Christianity of the gospel’, in which the

person has to a large degree overcome the basic dilemma of

18

36 Friedmann, The Theology of Anabaptism, 27.

every Christian believer: an ongoing inner doubt or feeling of

despair or perdition about salvation and lack of assurance of

salvation.37 Ollenburger aptly captures Anabaptist regarding this

‘hermeneutic of obedience’ by stating that “knowledge of Christ

comes in walking with Him, and only then can one understand what is

written about Him. A large part of ‘interpreting’ the Bible is

imitating it.”38 For the Anabaptist believer, the beginning place

of faith is a certainty of resting in God’s gracious hands, of

being called, being able to respond to this call to salvation, and

being able to keep walking in obedience to Him in simplicity.

Anabaptist hermeneutics is the hermeneutics of obedience.

6. Distinctives Of An Unfolding Legacy

Anabaptist and Free Church congregations exist in most parts

of the world today, including the USA. Through the influence and

development of sixteenth-century Anabaptism and the seeds planted

by that movement, evangelical Christianity continues to embrace and

maintain several key cherished beliefs which impact biblical

hermeneutics:37 Ibid., 29.

38 Ollenburger, “The Hermeneutics of Obedience: A Study of Anabaptist Hermeneutics.”

A. The concept of equal access and personal accountability to God through soul competency and a free conscience

B. The priesthood of all believers within the interpretive context of the community of faith, with each believer able to interpret the Bible along with his/her fellow believers under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the illumination of the Holy Spirit

C. The concept of religious liberty within a given society

D. The concept of congregational hermeneutics (what evangelicals call ‘Bible study and prayer’)

E. The concept of evangelical ecumenism

F. A more holistic concept of separation of church and state, so that the state does not infringe

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upon the free expression and practice of all religiousviewpoints or mandate a state church

G. A passion to be on mission with God to bring all peoplesto the saving knowledge of God as a step toward bringing in the visible kingdom of God in power

Conclusion

A few concluding observations are in order. First, what is the

contemporary hermeneutical significance of Anabaptism for

evangelicals today? Williams offers some crucial insights that

need to be seriously reflected upon by all evangelicals and their

attendant denominations, confessions, and their agencies,

especially for twenty-first century missions. His most prescient

insight regards what he terms the ‘synthetic model’ of hermeneutics

offered by Anabaptists. Although Anabaptists did not have a

unified hermeneutic per se, nevertheless they held many common

approaches expressed through the synthetic model: “the synthetic

model that can be extracted from Anabaptist

hermeneutical principles and practices is that of a Spirit-filled

disciple, confidently interpreting Scripture within a community of

such disciples, aware that Jesus Christ is the centre from which

the rest of Scripture must be interpreted.”39 Williams goes on to

offer vigorous points of Anabaptist hermeneutical application for

contemporary society:

We live in a post-Christendom culture, a post-modern culture, and a post-colonial culture (among many other “post” words we could use). We need a hermeneutic that is appropriate to meet the challenges and opportunities of this culture. The radical tradition offers a Jesus- centred hermeneutic in a post-Christendom culture, where the institutional church is declining but where the teaching and example of Jesus might be strangely attractive. It offers a communal

39 Williams, “Anabaptist Hermeneutics: A Summary.”

hermeneutic in an individualistic post-modern culture wherefragmentation has become an art form but where community is desperately needed as the context within which meaning can be discovered. And it offers marginalized European version of a hermeneutic of justice in a post- colonial culture, a hermeneutic for which liberation theologians have argued but which we may be tempted to dismiss unless we hear the resonances of the radical dissenting.40

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This suggested hermeneutic has deep implications in this

candidate’s current ministry setting and in much of Asia, South

America, Central America, Africa, the Middle East, and parts of

Eastern Europe, where the ‘group’ or ‘community’ mindset outweighs

and trumps the ‘individual’ mindset

that is so prevalent in Western Europe and North America. It could

also serve as a corrective to the excesses of individualism in

especially the evangelical churches in the USA.

Second, although the Anabaptist insistence of every believer’s

ability to understand Scripture is admirable and commendable, the

Anabaptists at times marginalized sound and useful biblical

scholarship and useful tools, which could have helped the believing

40 Ibid.

community of faith. Indeed, in this candidate’s present ministry

context of Bashkortostan (Russia), such effects have continued up

until recent times, albeit partially because of the stifling

influence and lingering effects of Communism, which lead to a

survivalist mentality rather than an aggressive pursuit of

organized biblical training and scholarship. Evangelical

Christianity came to Bashkortostan in the 1750’s

through the influence of Mennonite missionaries from Germany. One

Bashkort Baptist leader recently (September 2006) lamented the lack

of serious indigenous Russian Baptist theological and hermeneutical

scholarship and verbalized his desire for Russian Baptists and

Russian evangelicals to grapple with the need to develop their own

systematic theologies that are reflective of their indigenous

society and needs.

Third, while much of the evangelical world (especially in USA)

does not recognize and practice Anabaptist hermeneutics, the way in

which Anabaptists approached the task can be of help. Klassen

offers three points of application as having special relevance for

contemporary evangelicals: one, the view that it is the congregation

that interprets Scripture; second, the view that the scholar is

subject

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to the congregational process of interpretation; and third, the

relationship between discipleship and epistemology.41

Last, during a recent weekly prayer and Bible study time in the

city of Ufa, Russia (this candidate’s current ministry context) a

Bashkort Baptist pastor made a very insightful comment descended

from the stream of Anabaptist influence by way of the Mennonite

missionaries who introduced that part of Russia to evangelical

Christianity: it is obedience, not prior knowledge, which serves as

the basis for properly understanding God’s Word.

Estep’s broad conclusions form the finale of this study on

Anabaptist hermeneutics by saying that

1. It appears that no Free Church stands outside the streamof Christian history. The dependence of Free Churches upon prior precedents, recognized or not, is an ever- recurring fact.

2. Indebtedness to the biblical witness is the one common denominator always present.

41 “Anabaptist Hermeneutics,” Lion and Lamb #19.

3. Apparently theological and spiritual renewal waits not for new structures so much as for the personal discovery and appropriation of a biblical faith.

4. Given the absence of coercion, Christianity is capable of forging new forms to meet the ever-changing conditions of a new age.

5. A certain degree of accommodation on the part of any Christian movement appears necessary if it is to speak effectively to its world. An inflexible unbending stance condemns Christianity to a fossilized existence and a rejected witness. On the other hand, with compromise at the point of its basic integrity Christianity easily becomes captive to its culture and thereby loses its soul to a new paganism that feigns itself Christian. And Christianity, in whatever form it appears, is forced todetermine what is adiaphora and what is absolutely essential to its witness…the Anabaptists in the dawn of the Free Church movement met and attempted to resolve that historical dilemma.42

42 Estep, The Anabaptist Beginnings 1523-1533, 12-13.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

“Anabaptist Hermeneutics.” Lion and Lamb #19 [Online Journal]. Available: http://www.econi.org/LionLamb/019/anabaptist.html (September 2, 2006)

Bergsten, Torgen, ed. by William R. Estep, Jr. Balthaser Hubmaier: Anabaptist Theologian and Martyr. Valley Forge: Judson Press, 1978.

Estep, William R., Jr. Anabaptist Beginnings 1523-1533: A Source Book. Nieuwkoop: B. DeGraaf, 1976.

Friedmann, Robert. The Theology of Anabaptism. Scottsdale, PA: Herald Press, 1973.

Klassen, William. Covenant and Community: The Life, Writings, and Hermeneutics of Pilgrim Marpeck. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1968.

Ollenburger, Ben. “The Hermeneutics of Obedience: A Study of Anabaptist Hermeneutics” [Online Article]. Available: http://www.directionjournal.org/article/?232 (September 2, 2006)

Snyder, C. Arnold. The Life and Thought of Michael Sattler. Scottsdale, PA:Herald Press, 1984.

“The Schleitheim Confession”. [Online Article]. Available: http://www.anabaptists.org/history/schleith.html (September 3, 2006)

Wenger, J.C., transl. and ed. “An Early Anabaptist Tract on Hermeneutics.” The Mennonite Quarterly Review 42, January 1968.

Williams, Stuart Murray. “Anabaptist Hermeneutics: A Summary”. [Online Article]. Available: http://www.anabaptistnetwork.com/node/247 (September 2, 2006)

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