#111 The Anabaptist Vision - Part 4
The Anabaptist Vision part 4, by Harold S. Bender
The third element — love and nonresistance — and the heart of the vision
The third great element in the Anabaptist vision was the ethic of love and
nonresistance as applied to all human relationships. The Brethren understood
this to mean complete abandonment of all warfare, strife, and violence, and of
the taking of human life.1 Conrad Grebel, the Swiss, said in 1524:
> True Christians use neither worldly sword nor engage in war, since among them
> taking human life has ceased entirely, for we are no longer under the Old
> Covenant. . . . The Gospel and those who accept it are not to be protected
> with the sword, neither should they thus protect themselves.2
Pilgram Marpeck, the South German leader, in 1544, speaking of Matthew 5, said:
> All bodily, worldly, carnal, earthly fightings, conflicts, and wars are
> annulled and abolished among them through such law . . . which law of love
> Christ . . . Himself observed and thereby gave His followers a pattern to
> follow after.3
Peter Riedemann, the Hutterian leader, wrote in 1545:
> Christ, the Prince of Peace, has established His Kingdom, that is, His Church,
> and has purchased it by His blood. In this kingdom all worldly warfare has
> ended. Therefore a Christian has no part in war nor does he wield the sword to
> execute vengeance.4
Menno Simons, of Holland, wrote in 1550:
> [The regenerated do not go to war, nor engage in strife.] . . . They are the
> children of peace who have beaten their swords into plowshares and their
> spears into pruning hooks, and know of no war. . . . Spears and swords of iron
> we leave to those who, alas, consider human blood and swine's blood of
> well-nigh equal value.5
In this principle of nonresistance, or biblical pacifism, which was thoroughly
believed and resolutely practiced by all the original Anabaptist Brethren and
their descendants throughout Europe from the beginning until the last
century,6 the Anabaptists were again creative leaders, far ahead of their
times, in this antedating the Quakers by over a century and a quarter. It should
also be remembered that they held this principle in a day when both Catholic and
Protestant churches not only endorsed war as an instrument of state policy, but
employed it in religious conflicts. It is true, of course, that occasional
earlier prophets, like Peter Chelcicky, had advocated similar views, but they
left no continuing practice of the principle behind them.
As we review the vision of the Anabaptists, it becomes clear that there are two
foci in this vision. The first focus relates to the essential nature of
Christianity. Is Christianity primarily a matter of the reception of divine
grace through a sacramental-sacerdotal institution (Roman Catholicism), is it
chiefly enjoyment of the inner experience of the grace of God through faith in
Christ (Lutheranism), or is it most of all the transformation of life through
discipleship (Anabaptism)? The Anabaptists were neither institutionalists,
mystics, nor pietists, for they laid the weight of their emphasis upon following
Christ in life. To them it was unthinkable for one truly to be a Christian
without creating a new life on divine principles both for himself and for all
men who commit themselves to the Christian way.
The second focus relates to the church. For the Anabaptist, the church was
neither an institution (Catholicism), nor the instrument of God for the
proclamation of the divine Word (Lutheranism), nor a resource group for
individual piety (Pietism). It was a brotherhood of love in which the fullness
of the Christian life ideal is to be expressed.
The Anabaptist vision may be further clarified by comparison of the social
ethics of the four main Christian groups of the Reformation period, Catholic,
Calvinist, Lutheran, and Anabaptist. Catholic and Calvinist alike were
optimistic about the world, agreeing that the world can be redeemed; they held
that the entire social order can be brought under the sovereignty of God and
Christianized, although they used different means to attain this goal. Lutheran
and Anabaptist were pessimistic about the world, denying the possibility of
Christianizing the entire social order; but the consequent attitudes of these
two groups toward the social order were diametrically opposed. Lutheranism said
that since the Christian must live in a world order that remains sinful, he must
make a compromise with it. As a citizen he cannot avoid participation in the
evil of the world, for instance in making war, and for this his only recourse is
to seek forgiveness by the grace of God; only within his personal private
experience can the Christian truly Christianize his life. The Anabaptist
rejected this view completely. Since for him no compromise dare be made with
evil, the Christian may in no circumstance participate in any conduct in the
existing social order which is contrary to the spirit and teaching of Christ and
the apostolic practice. He must consequently withdraw from the worldly system
and create a Christian social order within the fellowship of the church
brotherhood. Extension of this Christian order by the conversion of individuals
and their transfer out of the world into the church is the only way by which
progress can be made in Christianizing the social order.
However, the Anabaptist was realistic. Down the long perspective of the future
he saw little chance that the mass of humankind would enter such a brotherhood
with its high ideals. Hence he anticipated a long and grievous conflict between
the church and the world. Neither did he anticipate the time when the church
would rule the world; the church would always be a suffering church. He agreed
with the words of Jesus when He said that those who would be His disciples must
deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow Him, and that there
would be few who would enter the strait gate and travel the narrow way of life.
If this prospect should seem too discouraging, the Anabaptist would reply that
the life within the Christian brotherhood is satisfyingly full of love and joy.
The Anabaptist vision was not a detailed blueprint for the reconstruction of
human society, but the Brethren did believe that Jesus intended that the kingdom
of God should be set up in the midst of earth, here and now, and this they
proposed to do forthwith. We shall not believe, they said, that the Sermon on
the Mount or any other vision that He had is only a heavenly vision meant but to
keep His followers in tension until the last great day, but we shall practice
what He taught, believing that where He walked we can by His grace follow in His
steps.
FOOTNOTES
1
Not all the Anabaptists were completely nonresistant: Balthasar Hubmaier for
instance for a brief period (1526-28) led a group of Anabaptists at
Nikolsburg in Moravia who agreed to carry the sword against the Turk and pay
special war taxes for this purpose. This group, which became extinct in a
short time, was known as the "Schwertler" in distinction from other Moravian
Anabaptists called the "Stäbler," who later became the Hutterites and have
continued to the present. It is obvious that Hubmaier and the "Schwertler"
represent a transient aberration from original and authentic Anabaptism.
Bullinger (Von dem unverschampten fräfel [1531] fol. 139v.) testifies that
the Swiss Brethren considered war to be "das ergist uebel das man erdencken
mag," and (Der Widertäufferen Ursprung [1561] fol. 16 r.) says "they do not
defend themselves, therefore they do not go to war and are not obedient to
the government on this point." See also, extensive compilation of evidence
by John Horsch in his booklet, The Principle of Nonresistance as Held by
the Mennonite Church, A Historical Survey (Scottdale, Pa., 1927), 60 pages.
2
Letter of Grebel to Müntzer, Böhmer-Kirn, op. cit., 97.
3
(Pilgram Marpeck), Testamenterleütterung (n.d., n.p., ca. 1544), fol.
313r.
4
(Peter Riedemann), Rechenschaft unserer Religion, Lehre und Glaubens, von
den Bruedern die Man die Hutterischen nennt (Berne, Indiana, 1902), 105.
5
The Complete Works of Menno Simons (Elkhart, Indiana, 1871), I, 170b and
81b. The quotations were revised by comparison with the Dutch editions of
1646 and 1681.
6
Mennonites of Holland, Germany, France, and Switzerland gradually abandoned
nonresistance in the course of the nineteenth century. The emigrant
Mennonites in Russia and North America have maintained it. The Mennonites of
the United States furnish 40 percent of all conscientious objectors in
Civilian Public Service in the present war, and the Mennonites of Canada a
still higher percent of the conscientious objectors in that country.
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