“You belong to the accursed Anabaptists, who originate strange sects, opinions, errors and contention among the people!” It was 1544 and John Claesz and Lucas Lambertsz van Beveren stood before four judges in Amsterdam, listening to the charges against them.
Although everyone in Christendom was baptized as infants, these two men renounced that event and repeated the ritual as adults. As a result, they found themselves arraigned on charges of being Anabaptist.
What does it mean to be Anabaptist? Looking at heroes like Claesz and Lambertsz from five centuries ago, we might be tempted to think the spirit of Ana-baptism is a willingness to sacrifice ourselves for our faith. However, their courage was a symptom of the Anabaptist spirit, and by tracing their courage back to its source, we can retrieve that same spirit for our context today.
An alternative
In the eyes of their judges, Claesz and Lambertsz represented a social, political and spiritual cancer. During the 16th century, Anabaptists were feared and suppressed for several reasons. They were considered social deviants who arranged secret meetings for malicious purposes. By attracting new converts, they were thought to be persuasive heretics leading people to hell. They were allegedly covert militant extremists, intent on infiltrating and overthrowing the God-ordained Christian government.
In a sense, the court was correct. Claesz and Lambertsz had abandoned their loyalty to the church and government and were actively persuading others to join them in an alternative way of life. In the eyes of the majority, Anabaptists threatened those structures. But in the face of death, Claesz and Lambertsz believed they were on the narrow road that leads to life. Their conviction ran so deep that they would rather fall to the executioner’s axe than turn back.
The two men attempted to persuade the court that they did not pose a threat but were merely following the Word of God. Nevertheless, both were found guilty of the capital crime of being Anabaptists and were promptly beheaded. Their bodies were left for the birds, and their heads were put on stakes as a warning to all who might challenge the political and religious institutions of the day.
Definition difficulties
Even though we have a rich history of blood-stained, stake-charred martyrdom stories, defining Anabaptism today is no simple matter. Anabaptist scholars have long debated what constituted the core of 16th century Anabaptism, and this causes confusion for how the movement should see itself today. Before summarizing the Anabaptist spirit, let’s consider why defining Anabaptism is difficult.
Anabaptism is not based on a single Reformation figure. There was no preeminent theological architect like their contemporaries. While Martin Luther and John Calvin wrote theological tomes that guided future generations, Anabaptism arose through short-lived theological and political protests by various figures across Central Europe over the better part of a century. The Anabaptist spirit cannot be reduced to the enduring spirit of Conrad Grebel, Jakob Hutter or even Menno Simons.
Anabaptism is not uniform. Defining Anabaptism is difficult because of the theological diversity among those who consider themselves Anabaptists. Even among the first-generation Anabaptists there were heated disagreements and schisms. Some were pacifists and some were not. Some baptized by immersion, some through affusion (pouring). Some simply dipped their fingers in water and made the sign of the cross on the recipient’s forehead. Likewise, we can’t expect Anabaptism to look the same everywhere today.
Anabaptism is not relative. Though it might look different today, if being an Anabaptist still means something, it must retain its defining features or spirit. For example, though baptismal practices are not uniform, Anabaptists are baptized as believers. In contrast, Anabaptism cannot be defined by martyrdom because not all Anabaptists die as martyrs. If there is continuity between the early Anabaptists and today, it must be enduring and identifiable.
Undying devotion to Jesus
What, then, is the underlying source that animated the early Anabaptists for us to identify and adopt today? Being an Anabaptist means having a fearless, undying devotion to Jesus Christ. Just as first-generation Anabaptist Balthasar Hubmaier included in his tagline, “Truth is unkillable,” so too was the spirit that propelled Anabaptism as it was being systematically suppressed.
This fundamental but renewed Christian fervor led to common Anabaptist distinctives such as baptism, pacifism and separatism. However, these practices were never ends in themselves, nor can they be transposed to every context in the same manner. They were the result of Anabaptists reforming their convictions, practices and communities according to the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Three German words, gelassenheit, nachfolge and gemeindechristentum, summarize the Anabaptist approach. They capture three dimensions that characterized the early Anabaptists and provide a template for reviving that spirit today.
Yielded. Above and beyond surrendering to the authorities who might lock them away, Anabaptists had already surrendered themselves to another Lord.
Gelassenheit, meaning “yieldedness,” was used by the first-generation Anabaptists to refer to their submission to the Word of God. Some believed God spoke only through the Bible since it reveals God in Christ. Yet others considered the Holy Spirit’s transformative work through conversion to be evidence that the Word of God is spoken directly to the human heart.
In both cases, the Anabaptist spirit insisted that Christians yield to Christ’s example. Menno Simons often quoted 1 Corinthians 3:11, “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Instead of explaining away Jesus’ commands, being Anabaptist meant surrendering oneself to Jesus Christ, the Word of God.
Radical followers. Through their counter-cultural ceremony of believer’s baptism, people became radicalized Jesus followers (nachfolge). By submitting to baptism, the newly initiated denounced their allegiance to the powerful state church that baptized them as infants. Baptism, then, marked the first step of forsaking their former life in exchange for a new life of following Christ.
This kind of following certainly required an inner conviction, but through baptism, those with an Anabaptist spirit outwardly took the first of many steps that associated them with Christ, even if it meant a death sentence from the world. In radical conformity to Jesus, being Ana-baptist meant following him into the baptismal waters, along the narrow path he pioneered and even to the cross.
Community. Though many Anabaptists were uneducated, lower-class citizens, they belonged to a Christ-minded community (gemeindechristentum). While the powers that be abused and mocked them, Anabaptists believed that their congregations were a royal priesthood built on the cornerstone of Jesus Christ.
Anabaptist communities held no distinction between clergy and laity because all were equally given the priestly duty to minister inside and outside the church. All were equally called to the high bar of priestly discipline. All were to exercise church discipline and restoration, and all were called to discern sound doctrine and proper interpretation of Scripture. The community of lowly Ana-baptists no longer considered themselves last but first. In Christ, these peasants became priests and the commoners, kings.
Many Anabaptist communities refused to use violence against those who threatened them. They believed Jesus was serious when he said, “do not resist an evil person,” and “love your enemies” (Matt. 5:39, 44). Anabaptist communities then and today have suffered dearly at the hands of others. Still, if we suffer because our community is attempting to embody Christ, we must remember that our King, upon whom we fix our eyes, also suffered at the hands of sinners (Heb. 12:2-3). Although it is painful, it is royal and Christlike to suffer like and for Jesus.
The spirit of Anabaptism can still shape us today. Though we may not face death like Claesz and Lambertsz, we carry forward the spirit of the movement when we yield to the authority of Christ, the revelation of God, who is above every other authority; follow the narrow way of Jesus no matter the personal cost; and carry out our royal and priestly responsibilities in our local congregation. This is the unkillable Anabaptist spirit worth embodying.
Ryan Loewen is assistant professor of theology at Tabor College. He is a graduate of Denver Seminary, with a masters of theology and a masters of divinity and is pursuing a doctorate in divinity from the University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland. His area of expertise is 16th century Anabaptist theology. Loewen, a 2014 graduate of Tabor College, has served on the pastoral staff of MB churches in Kansas and Colorado. Loewen and his family attend Hillsboro (Kansas) MB Church.
