Anabaptist views on salvation and scripture
Leonhard Schiemer, A Letter to the Church at Rattenberg
Bernhard Rothmann, Restitution
Balthasar Hubmaier, The Sum of a Christian Life
Bernhard Rothmann, Confession of Faith
(i) Leonhard Schiemer, A Letter to the Church at Rattenberg, 1527
The anointing which you have received from God remains with you and therefore you have no need to have anyone teach you. Rather, what the anointing teaches you is the truth and no lie. Remain in what she has taught you About this oil the Lord speaks thus the comforter, the Holy Spirit, which the Father will send you in my name will teach you all things, and will bring to your remembrance all that I have told you. This oil is the Holy Spirit. He, however, teaches no one who has not first despaired of all human comfort and wisdom and has lifted his heart to God alone. He comforts and strengthens no one who has not first been terrified and estranged from all human comfort and strength. Therefore the Lord says you should not allow yourselves to be called master. Now this master Christ receives no one as his student or disciple who has not rejected and hated everything that he has, and follows him and carried his cross. One must sit still and wait for the comfort of the Lord as the Scriptures show in many places especially in the Psalms and in the prophets. Isaiah and the laments of Jeremiah especially show that the Christian's strength consists alone in being still and not to fall away from or despair of the word of the Lord. Rather he is to be long-suffering and patient and to await the comfort of the Holy Spirit in great desolation and tribulation. That is the true illness about which the Scriptures speak, especially Paul where he says: when I am ill, then I am strong. He also says that if we suffer much for Christ we will also be comforted much through Christ. That is what Christ means when he says: for a little while you will see me, and then for a little while you will not see me. When the apostles asked him to explain this he answered truly, truly, I say to you. You will weep and lament hut the world will be glad. And if they kill you they will think that they do God a service... I will not leave you alone; I will come to you, etc. The life of the world has a happy beginning but an eternally sorrowing end. Our life has a sorrowful beginning, but soon the Holy Spirit comes and anoints us with the oil of unspeakable joy. Still we should not wait only for the comfort of God, but one Christian should speak to and comfort the other in tribulation... Concerning this oil James says If anyone is sick, let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will heal the sick man. The Lord will raise him Up, and if he has committed sins he will be forgiven. Here James does not refer to Italian olive oil. The elect saints who in these days praised God in their holy martyrdom at Salzburg and elsewhere could have been bathed in tubs full of oil had they not remained steadfast in their faith. But the comfort of the Holy Spirit eased their suffering. with this oil the apostles anointed and so do we to this day.
(ii) Hans Denck, Recantation, 1527
CONCERNING THE HOLY SCRIPTURE
I value the Holy Scripture above all human treasures but not as high as the Word of God, which is living, powerful and eternal, and which is free and unencumbered by all of the elements of this world. For insofar as it is God himself it is spirit and no letter, written without pen and paper that it may never be expunged. Therefore also salvation cannot be tied to the Scriptures, however important and good they may be with respect to it. The cause is that it is not possible for the Scriptures to improve an evil heart even if it is highly learned. A pious heart, however, that is a heart in which there is a true spark of godly zeal, will be improved through all things.
Thus, the Holy Scriptures serve the believer for good and for salvation, but the unbeliever to damnation as indeed all things do.
Thus, a person, who has been chosen by God, may be saved without preaching and Scriptures, but that if salvation were tied to preaching and Scripture all those who are unlearned would not be able to attain salvation because they cannot read and the consequence would be that many cities and lands would be lost because they had no preacher sent from God.
(iii) Bernhard Rothmann, Restitution, 1534
The divine unquestionably Holy Scriptures which are called the Bible alone have the fame that they are needful and sufficient for teaching reproof, correction and for instruction in righteousness for which purpose also almighty God has given them in order that the man of God be without error and equipped for every good work. Since the apostasy first began through human writing and teaching by means of which the divine Scriptures were darkened the Almighty has among us provided that all writings both new and old which are not biblical should he destroyed [This is a reference to that destruction of all books in Munster on March 15 1534] so that we should cling only to the Holy Scriptures. We are minded by the grace of God to hold to this since God's actual will is sufficiently expressed in them. It is God's earnest command that we should not stray from them to the right nor the left in word and action. Christ himself points to the Scriptures that we should search them. Consequently we have nothing to do with what the ancient or modern scholars have written. We are not concerned about them but only with what we find in the same Holy Scriptures which is God's Word and will. To this we surrender ourselves by his grace with all necessary diligence... For ht who holds only to the Scriptures needs no other writings. Rather he will have enough to do with the Scriptures and he will be abundantly taught by them about God as long as he approaches them with the right understanding. Yes, you say, how shall I understand the Scriptures correctly? I must have someone's interpretation, for of myself I cannot grasp it.... Peter says: No prophecy is a matter of one's own interpretation. Each one must be taught, but not through the written interpretation of men in glosses or postils. Rather God and his Spirit must be the master here. It may well be that sometimes I will consider the interpretation of man and grasp the understanding of the interpreter and then be able to speak about it in flowing words. However, since God's kingdom does not consist in words but in power, I will never achieve the power of the knowledge of God unless God's Spirit drives me with power, teaches me, and leads me into the Scriptures. As Christ says in John 16 [13] When the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you into all truth.... But if you wish to understand the Scriptures correctly, very well, for this we will give you good advice. The content of the whole Scripture is briefly summarised in this: Honour and fear God the almighty in Christ his Son. This is the beginning of all wisdom. And in the same breath, that as Christ was obedient to the Father and fulfilled his will, we too should fulfil his will with trembling and quaking. Whoever understands this and proves it by his deeds is not blind but has understood the whole Scriptures. Now how men should honour and fear God and what his will is is so clearly expressed in the Scriptures that no glosses or interpretations are necessary. The fear of God is truly called the beginning of wisdom, and it is so in truth. For whoever fears God should not resist his words and not be faithless. Whoever believes, comes to the right understanding. He will grasp God's will through faith and carry it out in deed.... Thus God has restored the Scriptures among us. In them his will is abundantly known to us and we will adhere to them alone. And if we, with constant diligence, earnestly do what we understand we will daily be taught further by God. To him be praise, honour, glory, and thanks for it to eternity. Amen.
(iv) Balthasar Hubmaier, The Sum of a Christian Life, 1525
Third: After man has inwardly and in faith surrendered himself to the new life he confesses it openly and externally before the Christian church into which he allows himself to be inscribed according to the order and establishment of Christ. In doing so, he indicates to the Christian church, that is to all the sisters and brothers who live in the faith in Christ, that he has been so taught inwardly in the Word of Christ and that he is so minded, that he has already surrendered himself according to the Word, will, and rule of Christ to live henceforth for him, to regulate all his actions according to him, to fight under his flag unto death, and to allow himself to be baptised with external water in which he publicly confesses his faith and intention: namely, that he believes that he has a gracious, good and merciful God and Father in heaven through Jesus Christ, and that in this he is well satisfied. He has also decided and already inwardly given his intention that from this time on he will change and improve his life, and that he confess this openly in the reception of the water. Also [he agrees] that he will henceforth not besmirch the name of Christ with open and scandalous sins and that he commits himself and surrenders himself in brotherly admonition according to the order of Christ. Mt. 18.
Fourth: Since however a man knows and confesses that by nature he is a bad and poisonous tree and that in himself he cannot produce any good fruit, this commitment, consent and open witness does not take place in human power or ability, for that would be human presumption, but in the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, or in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, that is in the grace and power of God. From all of this follows that the external baptism of Christ is nothing other than an open witness of the inward commitment with which man publicly testifies before everyone that he is a sinner and that he regards himself as guilty. But he also believes fully that Christ has forgiven him his sin through his death and that through his resurrection he has made him just before the face of God, our heavenly Father. Therefore he has also become willing from now on openly to confess faith in the name of Jesus Christ before everyone and has committed himself and decided to live from now on according to the word and commandment of Christ, not from human ability in order that he be not like Peter, for without me you can do nothing, says Christ, but in the power of God, the Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Now man breaks out in word and deed, announces and magnifies the name and praise of Christ in order that others through us may become holy and blessed as indeed we through others who preached Christ to us also have come to faith in order that the kingdom of Christ may be increased.
(v) Bernhard Rothmann, Confession of Faith, 1533
The church of Christ is a gathering of the believing children of God who praise the name of God. No one else belongs in it. Since all people by nature do not understand the things of God they are taught the true faith and the knowledge of God through the Word. Moreover the Scriptures offer us no other way. Therefore the first thing which all people and each one in particular who are to be brought into the knowledge of God and the holy church of God (so far as it is proper for us to judge this) must encounter is the preaching and the hearing of the divine Word. It is the source of faith. Immediately such a person is regarded as God s child and may then and there be reckoned a member of the holy church. Christ is the foundation on which the holy church is erected and built. This foundation must be laid before the church is built on it; it must be laid through the proclamation and witness of the gospel. The true witnessing to Christ and the preaching of the gospel is the first means by which the church is prepared. The church is gathered, erected and built of those who believe. They will be led into unity and sanctification as Christ prayed — John 17 — and be preserved by the Father. Why then do we waste many words on this? The Scriptures richly testify that faith comes from hearing the Word and that the holy church be built only of those who believe. It cannot be denied that the true proclamation of the holy gospel started the holy church.
The second thing through which the holy church is built is holy baptism. Baptism is the entry and gateway to the holy church; therefore according to God's order no one may be allowed into the church except through baptism. That is the common usage of baptism.