Anabaptists Beliefs and Doctrines and their influence.

[Hobie]

I was doing a study on the 'State of the Dead' when I kept seeing references to the Anabaptist and their take. This really made me want to dig deeper and see what Anabaptist beliefs and doctrines were. What I found was the Anabaptists were distinct at that time because of their assertion of the necessity of adult baptism, rejecting the infant baptism practiced by the Roman Catholic Church.

They believed that true baptism required a public confession of both sin and faith, which could only be accomplished as an adult exercise of free will. Anabaptists also held to the belief in the separation of church and state, and the concept that the church represents the community of saved. Some of their doctrines can be seen in light of the times with the other Reformers changing the long held beliefs coming from the Catholic Church, as they struggled to understand the light being given.

The original beliefs that they had at the start were the following:
�..They had three unique beliefs, unique from the established churches but very biblical:

(1) Believer's Baptism The Anabaptists held that a person must first believe the gospel before he could be accepted into the Church with the sign of water baptism. This is in accordance with the teachings of their Lord Jesus who placed believing ahead of baptism (Mt 28:19 and Mk 16:16).

(2) Pacifism The Anabaptists held that one could not obtain or protect his rights by the use of force. This is in accordance with the teachings of their Lord Jesus who commanded his followers not to resist an evil man (Mt 5:39 and John 18:36).

(3) Community of Goods The Anabaptists held that one could not have private property but must share all his goods in common with Christ's brothers and sisters. This is in accordance with the teachings of their Lord Jesus who said that no one could be his followers unless they gave up all of their possessions (Luke 14:33, also Mt 6:19-34, Mt 19:21, Luke 12:33, John 13:34-35, Acts 2:44-47 and Acts 4:32-5:11).

Today most Anabaptists do not hold to item 3 above, community of goods, but it was part of the original Anabaptists belief.

Now look at this:
What sets the Anabaptists apart from other Christian religions is their view of Jesus Christ. Those Christian religions who do focus on Jesus, such as the evangelicals and other Protestants, tend see Jesus primarily as a child in the manger and as a sacrifice on the cross, he is their savior. This is what one sees in their songs and in their confessions of faith. The Anabaptists see Jesus not only as their savior but also as their teacher, the one who teaches them how to live their lives while on this earth. They believe that obedience to his commands is required; therefore they try to live as he taught. Thus they are a separate people, following the hard narrow path to the Kingdom of God that Jesus taught and lived.

It might be accurate to say that evangelicals and other Protestants today stress the salvation aspect of the Gospel (evangelism, witnessing, building large congregations) and interpret this as faithfulness to their religion, while Anabaptist groups today are concerned with discipleship, seeing this as faithfulness to the teachings of Jesus..

A distinct teaching that came out of the Anabaptist movement is the premise that the church should be an assembly of believers having came through a regenerative experience. They understood the New Testament to clearly teach a process of regeneration; which is, becoming aware of one's sinfulness through the redemptive work of the Holy Spirit, acknowledging the need of rescue from this situation, receiving salvation by grace (unmerited love of God demonstrated through Christ's sacrifice), and continuing spiritual renewal of the mind to become a witness of God's offer of grace.

Now they spread and split into many groups, but their doctrines on the whole seem to have developed into the following basic beliefs:

Anabaptists maintain that a loving God created the universe and everything in it. Marred by sin, the cosmos now stands in need of redemption, which God has offered through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Anabaptists believe in a sovereign triune God: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Most Anabaptists believe in a personal archenemy of God called "Satan" or "the Devil."

Anabaptists believe that human beings were created to glorify and live in relationship with God. Since all humans break that relationship through sinful actions, they are faced with a choice: to continue their rebellion against God or repent of their sins and place their faith in God's saving grace.

Anabaptists believe that, although God created the world good, human sinfulness has resulted in great suffering. Many Anabaptists have interpreted some forms of suffering as a mark of faithfulness, befalling those who choose to "carry the cross" of Jesus Christ, the Suffering Servant.

Anabaptists contend that salvation is not earned by one's works, but rather comes through faith in Jesus Christ. Those who place their trust in Christ enter into eternal life with God, a life that extends beyond the grave.


Here is one list of current Anabaptist beliefs:
The List of Anabaptist Beliefs
1. Infant baptism is a false baptism. Moreover, baptism does not save. One has to be saved in order to be baptised, i.e. the condition for baptism is to be a follower of Christ by having a living belief in Christ (cf. Acts 8:36-38).
2. Church and the State should be separated. Church is a Body of followers of Christ who respect the Laws of the State as long as it doesn't contradict with the Law of Christ. Church is not a political institution having any political power in the State. Church should not have any support from the State.
3. The Roman Catholic Church is not the true Church of Christ.
4. Calvinist theology of God's election is wrong. God does not unconditionally reprobate people to Hell. Rather, God's Manifested Wrath is conditional, and the condition is of not being in Christ. God will show His wrath only to people who are not in Christ. Likewise, God's election is conditional, and the condition is being in Christ. God elects only people who are in Christ.
5. Lutheran theology of salvation is wrong. Faith in Christ should be a living faith, faith which is confirmed in the fruits of Spirit. People who are living sinful life, without true repentance, will end in Hell. Living in sin and occasionally falling in sin are not the same thing. All children of God can fall in sin because of our weaknesses, but they do not live in sin.
6. Worshiping God is a very serious thing, and we ought not to introduce new things in our Worship, of which the Bible doesn't say anything about.
7. The Bible is a closed canon of holy books, i.e no more additions to the Bible are allowed because there are no more Apostles and Prophets in the Church. Only Apostles and Prophets have the authority to add new books to the Canon of the Bible. There are no new revelations or prophecies, and all supernatural Charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit are no more present in the children of God. The Charismatic gifts were only present during the Apostolic period of Church (the 1st. century). The Bible is our necessary and sufficient supreme authority in our lives.
http://www.house-church.net/beliefs.htm

You can see the hand of God leading the Reformation, and some of it was hard to discern fully as sometimes even the Reformers came up with the wrong view or could not grasp or accept some parts of the truth, but the truth was being poured out.

 

[Papa Smurf]

I was doing a study on the 'State of the Dead' when I kept seeing references to the Anabaptist and their take.

Hello Hobie, what did you discover about Anabaptist beliefs concerning the Intermediate State? I looked and found this from the Mennonites. It seems that they hold the same belief about the Intermediate State that the rest of the church does (Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant, IOW). Does this Mennonite belief differ in some way from the other Anabaptist's beliefs, such as the Amish?

ARTICLE XVII
Of the Intermediate State
We believe that in the interval between death and
resurrection, the righteous will be with Christ in a state of
conscious bliss and comfort, but that the wicked will be in
a place of torment, in a state of conscious suffering and
despair. Luke 16:19-31; 23:43; Phil. 1:23; 2 Cor. 5:1-8;
1 Thess. 5:10; 2 Pet. 2:9.
​

What sets the Anabaptists apart from other Christian religions is their view of Jesus Christ. Those Christian religions who do focus on Jesus, such as the evangelicals and other Protestants, tend see Jesus primarily as a child in the manger and as a sacrifice on the cross, he is their savior.

I wonder why the person who wrote this article believes that?

While the above description may be true of the Roman Catholic Church, whose art consistently reflects their beliefs of the Lord Jesus 1. as a baby 2. as dying on the Cross 3. as dead in His mother's arms and 4. as returning in Judgment, I've never seen the same in Protestant churches/Protestant art (save perhaps a manger scene at Christmas and the "thought" of the Lord on the Cross on Good Friday, and during Communion).

While nearly every RC church has a giant cross with the Lord Jesus nailed to it, bleeding and dying, Protestant churches always display the Cross alone, because we know that He is no longer there, that He died, was buried and rose again. IOW, the Cross, just like His tomb, is empty now.

You know, I've often wondered if the standard Roman Catholic notion of the Lord Jesus as a helpless baby in His mother's arms, as a helpless man, dying or dead, and/or as God returning to judge the world at the end of the age, is what is behind their extreme "veneration" of the Virgin Mary and the "Saints", and their belief in/pursuit of these creatures as their mediators, instead of seeking out the one and only Mediator Himself, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ

This is what one sees in their songs and in their confessions of faith.

While it's true that some of our hymns, especially Christmas hymns, focus on the Lord as a baby (of course), and on His Resurrection at Easter, there really is quite a balance to be found in the rest of our hymns. I was raised in a liberal Presbyterian church, and had it not been for the hymns and what they taught us about all aspects of the Christian faith and doctrine, I don't believe that I would have known any of it.

Check out lyrics such as these: https://hymnary.org/text/a_mighty_fortress_is_our_god_a_bulwark (Martin Luther)

And Confessions/Catechisms/Creeds like these: https://westminsterstandards.org/

Or sermon excerpts like this: "My hope lives not because I am not a sinner, but because I am a sinner for whom Christ died; my trust is not that I am holy, but that being unholy, HE is my righteousness. My faith rests not upon what I am or shall be or feel or know, but in what Christ is, in what He has done, and in what He is now doing for me. Hallelujah!" ~Spurgeon, Charles H.

The Anabaptists see Jesus not only as their savior but also as their teacher, the one who teaches them how to live their lives while on this earth.

As do all of the Protestant churches that I am aware of

They believe that obedience to his commands is required; therefore they try to live as he taught.

"Required" in what way? To be saved?

Thus they are a separate people, following the hard narrow path to the Kingdom of God that Jesus taught and lived.

"Separate" seems a good word to describe them, especially the Amish. Like the Jews separated themselves from Gentiles, so the Amish separate themselves from what they refer to as, "The English" (which is anyone who isn't Amish). They have, for instance, no missionary outreach whatsoever, so I wonder how their faith can truly be described as one that follows the hard, narrow path that Jesus taught and lived .. e.g. Matthew 4:19, 28:19; Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8

God bless you!!

--Papa Smurf
p.s. - I have been able to spend quite a bit of time in Amish country, both in Pennsylvania and Indiana, but especially in Ohio, and I've also been fortunate to get to know several of them personally (many of the Amish are quite friendly and ingratiating, even with us outsiders known as, "The English" ).

 

[Hobie]

They were beginning to understand the truth in Gods Word, but the church of Rome saw them as a threat and so they had to flee and find safety rather than grow as a church, thus the scattered remnants wit see today.

 

[Papa Smurf]

They were beginning to understand the truth in Gods Word, but the church of Rome saw them as a threat and so they had to flee and find safety rather than grow as a church, thus the scattered remnants wit see today.

Now you've got me looking into their history again (I had forgotten how interesting, and at times, how dark, it was .. e.g. The Munster Rebellion), a history which dates all the way back to the 1st Century, it seems (though they were neither organized nor did they have the name, Anabaptist, until the 16th Century).

Here's just one of the short articles that I found.

Q. Who were the Anabaptists, and what did they believe?​

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A. Anabaptists are not a denomination, and it is unlikely that you will find any church named “First Anabaptist.” The name is more of a descriptive title than an organizational name. From the days of the apostles, there was one Church of Jesus Christ, with a single body of doctrine taught by the apostles and their successors. The various local churches preached repentance and confession of sins, along with baptism by immersion as an outward sign of the new life in Christ (Romans 6:3-4). Though under the authority of the apostles themselves as to doctrine, each church was independently governed by the leaders God placed in them. There was neither denominational hierarchy nor distinction of “us/them” within the various churches. In fact, Paul soundly rebuked the Corinthians for such divisions (1 Corinthians 3:1-9). When disputes over sound doctrine arose, the apostles declared God’s teaching based on the words of the Lord and the Old Testament Scriptures. For at least 100 years, this model remained the standard for all churches.​

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Starting around A.D. 250, with the intense persecutions under Emperor Decius, a gradual change began to take place as the bishops (pastors) of certain notable churches assumed a hierarchical authority over the churches in their regions (e.g., the church of Rome). While many churches surrendered themselves to this new structure, there were a substantial number of dissenting churches that refused to come under the growing authority of the bishops. These dissenting churches were first called “Puritans” and are known to have had an influence as far as France in the 3rd century. As the organized (Catholic) church gradually adopted new practices and doctrines, the dissenting churches maintained their historical positions. The consistent testimony of the church for the first 400 years of its history was to administer baptism to only those who first made a profession of faith in Christ. Starting in A.D. 401, with the fifth Council of Carthage, the churches under the rule of Rome began teaching and practicing infant baptism. With the advent of infant baptism, the separatist churches began re-baptizing those who made professions of faith after having been baptized in the official church. At this time, the Roman Empire encouraged their bishops to actively oppose the dissenting churches, and even passed laws condemning them to death. The re-baptizers became known as Anabaptists, though the churches in various regions of the empire were also known by other names, such as Novatianists, Donatists, Albigenses, and Waldenses.​

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These Anabaptist congregations grew and prospered throughout the Roman Empire, even though they were almost universally persecuted by the Catholic Church. By the time of the Reformation, Martin Luther’s assistants complained that the Baptists in Bohemia and Moravia were so prevalent, they were like weeds. When John Calvin’s teachings became commonly known, many of the Waldenses united with the Reformed Church. From this point on, the various Anabaptist churches gradually lost their ancient names and many assumed the name Baptist, though they retained their historic independence and self-rule.​

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Who are the Anabaptists today? The most identifiable are the Hutterites, Mennonites, and Amish, though many modern-day Baptist churches would also identify themselves as the heirs of the Anabaptist traditions. The Hutterites, or more properly, the Hutterian Brethren, trace their history to 1528, when a group of Anabaptists fled persecution for their refusal to pay war taxes and formed a communal society in Austerlitz. Jakob Hutter, one of their first elders, was martyred in 1536. Along with pacifism, communal living is a keynote of Hutterite belief. The Mennonites were formed in Holland as a result of the severe persecution in Switzerland and Germany. The Anabaptists who fled to Holland were organized under the teaching of Menno Simons, a Catholic priest who aligned himself with the Anabaptists in 1539. Many Mennonites are identifiable by their plain dress and the head coverings worn by their women. The Amish trace their history back to a split of the Swiss and Alsatian Anabaptists in 1693, when Jakob Ammann felt that the Swiss Brethren were veering away from the strict teachings of Menno Simons and needed to enforce a stricter form of church discipline. The distinctiveness of the Amish is in their separation from the society around them. They shun modern technology, keep out of political and secular involvements, and dress plainly.​

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When asked how today’s Anabaptists differ from other evangelical Protestants, one of their own said, “The Anabaptists see Jesus not only as Savior, but as Teacher, teaching them how to live their lives while on this earth. They believe that obedience to His commands is required; therefore, they try to live as He taught. Thus they are a separate people, following the hard narrow path to the Kingdom of God that Jesus taught and lived.” An emphasis of Anabaptist teaching is the Gospel of the Kingdom, which aims at the establishment of a place of love, joy, and peace in the Holy Spirit. ~https://www.gotquestions.org/Anabaptists.html​