A
Figure Fulfilled: A Study of the Anabaptists'
Conception of Mosaic Law in the New Covenant
by David M. Moffitt
Among Baptists today a debate ranges over the place of the Mosaic law,
particularly the Ten Commandments, in the life of the Christian. Some, usually
called Reformed Baptists, uphold Covenant theology; and, seeing a continuity
between Old Covenant Israel and the New Covenant Church, stress the validity
of Mosaic law. On the other end of the theological spectrum lie those, usually
called Dispensational, who argue that no continuity exists between Old
Covenant Israel and the Church; and so, when consistent, hold that Mosaic law
serves no function in the New Covenant, as it applies to the Church. This
article will explore the position held on this issue by those to whom Baptists
owe their theological heritage, the Anabaptists. We will see that the
Anabaptists recognized in New Covenant believers, a spiritual fulfillment of
the physical figure of theOld Covenant nation of Israel. Thus, the Christian's
ethical guide lay not in the old, physical Mosaic law, but in the new, inner
law of the indwelling Spirit, who manifests Himself in a morally upright
life-style. Therefore, the Anabaptists, far from being "antinomian",
held a view of the Mosaic law and its Decalogue which draws a mean between the
continuity Covenant Theology posits, and the discontinuity Dispensationalism
argues for.
Before
continuing, some clarification of the term "Anabaptist" and our use
of it here seems appropriate. Two important points deserve notice. First, we
must not misconstrue the label of "Anabaptist" as representing a
specific group which held to uniformity of belief on doctrinal and theological
issues. In fact, the Reformers affixed the name to various groups, from
various theological perspectives. Kurt Aland sums up the theological dynamics
of those called "Anabaptist" when he writes, "nowhere in the
age of the Reformation is the picture more complex; it is virtually impossible
to encompass the myriad disparate movements, often contradictory to one
another, in one whole."1
The Zwickau Prophets stand as one group labeled "Anabaptist" which,
as Aland says, contradicted much of what other Anabaptists believed.
This
particular enclave, under the leadership of Nicholas Storch and Thomas Muntzer,
worked to incite the Pleasants' War of 1525.2
Interestingly, it appears that Sorch never underwent adult baptism,3
nor did Muntzer, who never made baptism an issue.4
Thus, this sect labeled "Anabaptist" failed to observe the very mark
that inspired the Reformers to tag certain groups as "Rebaptizers"
or "Anabaptists."5
Second, the
Anabaptist tradition does not flow out of a homogenous heritage. While
Lutherans today may disagree among themselves on many theological issues, they
still look to a common theological ancestor in Martin Luther. While this may
be true for some individual Anabaptist denominations, no such heritage exists
for Anabaptists in general. As Kenneth Scott Latourette points out, Anabaptist
congregations "seemed to spring spontaneously out of contact with the New
Testament and broke out in many different places."6
This lack of definition and common heritage leads scholars like Cyril Charles
Richardson to comment, "The Anabaptists can in no sense be regarded as a
unified and cohesive movement."7
So then,
our use of the term "Anabaptist" will not, indeed cannot, refer to
all the various groups to whom the Reformers applied the title. This does not,
however, eliminate all possibility of categorization, for as the movement grew
it began to congeal along geographical lines. Thus, by 1550 three general
groups of Anabaptists existed: the Swiss Brethren and Hutterites in south
Germany, and the Mennonites in north Germany and the Netherlands.8
This article will interact exclusively with the views of the Swiss Brethren
and their theological relatives, the Mennonites, the two Anabaptist groups
considered "evangelical."9
To further clarify our use of the term "Anabaptist", it seems
prudent to identify the Anabaptist leaders and thinkers who will be cited.
They are as follows: Dirk Philips, Menno Simons, Leonhard Scheimer, Conrad
Grebel and Jacob Hutter (although the Hutterites draw their name from Jacob
Hutter, he was a Swiss Brethren minister).10
Having set forth the parameters within which our discussion falls, we may now
proceed with a brief narrative exploring the historical backgrounds, first of
Swiss and south German Anabaptists, and then of the Mennonites.
The Swiss
Reformation traces its inception to Einsiedeln when, in 1516, a Catholic
Priest named Ulrich Zwingli preached a message attacking Church abuses.11
However, Zwingli's impact on Swiss reform did not begin in earnest until after
his election in 1518 to the chief pastorale of the Great Minister Church of
Zurich.12
In 1521, Zwingli met a young man named Conrad Grebel13
who, by 1522, became a follower and proponent of Zwingli's reform effort.14
Their mutual friendship and conviction did not last though, and, by the end of
1523, Grebel and Zwingli separated over the State's role in church reform15
and the speed with which reform took place.16
At this point, Grebel and a small following set off down a theological path
different from Zwingli's. Thus, in 1523, what became the Anabaptist movement
began to take form in Zurich.17
Grebel and
an assocate named Felix Manz soon found others who shared their convictions,
and a fellowship formed known as the Swiss Brethren.18
By the autumn of 1524 the Brethren concluded that they could not agree with
the practice of baptizing infants19
and on January 21, 1525, one of the Brethren, George Blaurock, persuaded
Grebel to administer to him adult baptism.20
This Grebel did and Blaurock, in turn, baptized all the Brethren present
thereby initiating the Brethren's commitment to adult baptism and tangibly
dating Anabaptism's birth in Switzerland and southern Germany.21
The Swiss Brethren continued to grow and in February 24, 1527, they met at the
village of Schlatten (or Schleitheim) on the Randen river and adopted a
confession.22
Brethren pastor Michael Sattler composed most of the confession and those
present approved it unanimously.23
This Schleitheim Confession, consisting of seven articles, outlined
the defining characteristics of the Swiss Brethren and stated what Dr. Wilhelm
Moeller calls their "clear ideal of a community."24
Thus, with a clear statement of convictions and ideals to define them, the
Swiss Brethren movement began to spread through southern Germany and
Switzerland.
The
Anabaptists known as Mennonites find their roots in a far more volatile group
led by Melchoir Hofmann. Hofmann established the Emden Baptist community and,
with his radical millennial teaching, inspired the community of Munster which,
in 1535, ended in catastrophe.25
Obbe and Dirk Philips, two brothers initially members of Hofmann's following,
realized their deception by "false prophets" and broke with the
Melchorite sect in 1534.26
They then formed their own gathering dubbed "Obbenites" and, in
1536, a recently converted Catholic priest named Menno Simons joined them.27
In 1537 Menno allowed the group to ordain him an elder, and when Obbe later
recanted his convictions, Menno assumed leadership of the denomination which
came to bear his name.28
The rise and growth of this company of Anabaptists occurred independently of
the Swiss Brethren.29
However, the Mennonites entitled their first confession The Seven Articles
of Schleitheim, an indication of their theological concurrence with the
older Swiss Brethren.30
With this historical foundation laid and the theological link between the
Swiss Brethren and the Mennonites established, we may begin to focus on the
main argument.
The
Anabaptists' interpretation of the relationship between the Old and New
Covenants proves critical to understanding their concept of how the law and
its Decalogue function in the believer's life. Their hermeneutical framework
rests upon two key concepts, figure and fulfillment. James M. Stayer captures
the ideas which we term figure and filfillment when he states, "[For
Anabaptists] the difference between the Testaments was as between 'shadows'
and 'lights'."31
Stayer means that the Anabaptists saw the Old Covenant as a
"shadow", or "figure", of the "light", or
"fulfillment", which came with the New Covenant. Furthermore, as
will become evident, a "figure" consisted of a physical sign or
manifestation, whereas its "fulfillment" consisted of a spiritual
sign or manifestation.
To
comprehend more fully the implications of this "figurative" approach
to interpreting Scripture, we need also to understand the relationship between
figure and fulfillment. The two share a relationship something like a
painter's idea of a painting and the finished product itself. The figure is
like the idea in the painter's mind, the fulfillment like the finished work
the painter produces. We must note also that the Anabaptists never understood
the conepts of figure and fulfillment as distinct and separate. Thus, they
never saw the Covenants as unrelated. Rather, the figure depends upon and, at
the same time, points toward its coming fulfillment. On the other hand, the
fulfillment is the reality of, and so the full explanation of, the figure. The
figure is not reality, only the fulfillment is. In other words, the
two entities, while related and even dependent upon one another, do not
hold equal status. J.C. Wenger rightly notes "[T]he Anabaptist
stress fell on the fulfillment of the Old Covenant by the
New..."32
[emphasis his] By this Wenger means the Anabaptists emphasized the New
Covenant's fulfillment as superior to the Old Covenant's figures.
An
excellent example of this interpretive principle exists in the writings of
Dirk Philips. At one point in his Enchiridion he applies it to the
Mosaic tabernacle writing,
[T]he tabernacle of Moses, built according to God's command, is a figure and image of the true reality which is signified though it. For it was not built in vain by Moses according to God's command, but the Lord therewith wished to give us to know something in particular. Yes, the truth of the New Testament is therewith established.33 [emphasis added]
The
tabernacle stands for Philips as a figure, a physical sign by which God
demonstrates a truth to "us", i.e., believers today. For Philips,
the figure of the Mosaic tabernacle serves as an image. It contains truth, but
is only a representation of truth and not the truth itself. An analogy might
help us to understand better. We know a photograph contains a true
representation of the object(s) it depicts. But, just as a photograph is not
really the object(s) pictured within it, similarly the figure is not really
the fulfillment it represents. Accordingly, Philips indicates that "true
reality" is not in the physical tabernacle, but only signified through
it. We also see in Philips' quote a paradox which breaks down the photograph
analogy, for while the figure signifies the truth it represents, and yet is
not that truth, it paradoxically serves to establish that truth as it appears
in the New Covenant. In other words, the truth signified in the figure depends
upon the fulfillment it represents; and yet, the actual truth itself,
i.e., the New Covenant fulfillment, is established by the figure.
Philips
provides another insightful example of the figure/fulfillment hermeneutic when
he states concerning circumcision, "[T]he literal command of the
Lord about the circumcision of the flesh has come to an end.
Nevertheless, that command of the spiritual circumcision of the heart
remains..."34
[emphasis added] Here, literal, physical circumcision stands as the figure and
spiritual circumcision its fulfillment. So we see the physical manifestation
has ceased, and in its place remains its spiritual fulfillment. Philips puts
it this way,
Therefore, all things are transformed in Christ, are clarified and made new through him; that is, out of the letter into the spirit, out of the flesh into true being, out of the old into the new, out of the figures into the abiding clear truth, and out of the perishable brought into the eternal and heavenly.35
Thus,
for the Anabaptists, reality consists not in the physical Old Covenant figure,
but in its spiritual New Covenant fulfillment. In effect, the Anabaptists'
view inverts the common conception of reality. For them, the physical world is
not mere chimera; however, it cannot properly be called reality either. The
focus of reality, in their mind, does not rest on the physical but on the
spiritual realm so, in the New Covenant reality has, at least in part,
replaced the figures of the Old covenant. Creation is in a state of change.
For the Anabaptists the transitory physical world was passing away and all
things were becoming new. The shadows were disappearing and being replaced by
the reality (a process attaining its ultimate completion upon Christ's return,
at which time the body is raised imperishable and the old heavens and earth
are replaced by the new).
Before we
proceed in applying this figure/fulfillment hermeneutic to the Anabaptists'
view of the law's role in the New Covenant, we need to summarize the salient
points just discussed. First, the Anabaptists' basic interpretive principle
concerning the relationship between the Old and New Covenants is one of figure
and fulfillment. Second, a figure was physical while its fulfillment is
spiritual. Third, a figure finds its meaning and truth in the fulfillment it
points toward; but, paradoxically, it also forms the foundation upon which its
fulfillment's truth rests. Fourth, a figure is not reality, only its
fulfillment is. Thus, while the figure is temporally prior and physically
manifested, its fulfillment holds a superior status. Fifthly, and finally,
since the fulfillment is reality, it explains and replaces the figure which
previously represented it. Thus, the shadow or figure comes first temporally;
but, the light or reality of the fulfillment is the substance which enables
the "shadow" to be cast. We have, then, a basic understanding of the
principle with which the Anabaptists interpreted the relationship between the
Old and New Covenants. Now we must seek to apprehend how they applied this
hermeneutic to the Mosaic law.
In any
discussion of the Mosaic law the question as to what the term "law"
means necessarily arises. Does it refer to the Decalogue exclusively, or to
the entire order which the Old Covenant established to define the nation of
Israel? The Anabaptists considered these questions inseparable. Their concept
of Mosaic law included both the Decalogue, and the other commandments God gave
Israel. Dirk Philips states, "The law is that commanded Word of God given
through Moses on mount Sinai, with such a terrible voice, with such a storm,
thunder and lightning, Exod. 19:16-20...that the children of Israel could not
bear it..."36
Philips' use of "law" here obviously refers to the Ten Commandments.
We see this particularly in light of his proof test, Exodus 19:16-20, the very
passage descirbing the setting in which God gave the Ten Commandments. At
another point, though, Philips' use of "law" indicates a far broader
concept than simply the Decalogue. He writes,
[T]he tabernacle of Moses, built according to God's command, is a figure and image of the true reality which is signified through it. For it was not built in vain by Moses according to God's command, but the Lord therewith wished to give us to know something in particular. Yes, the truth of the New Testament is therewith established. And this is then a firm and immovable ground, whenever the shadows and sayings of the law come together and are in agreement with the truth of the gospel.37 [emphasis added]
Here
Philips includes in his idea of Mosaic law what he calls "shadows and
sayings", one of which he identifies as the Mosaic tabernacle. We see,
then, the Anabaptists conceived of the law as a unit. So, when they spoke of
"law" they meant the entire Mosaic order, i.e., the Old Covenant. We
also find in the preceding quote that they saw the law as "shadows and
sayings", or, to put it in terms of their hermeneutic, figurative. In
fact, Philips himself labels the law in precisely these terms. He writes,
"Christ Jesus is the spirit and truth of all figures which have gone
before, the end and the fulfillment of the figurative law, but the beginning
of the true being and eternal perfection...."38
We may find
it tempting to interpret Philips' phrase "figurative law" as making
a distinction in the law similar to the one made in Covenant Theology, i.e.,
that the law consisted of three parts: moral, civil and ceremonial. However,
the Anabaptists did not make this distinction. We must take Philips' phrase as
applying to the entire Mosaic law and not simply to one or two
aspects of it. Menno Simons illustrates this point, for he interpreted the
commands of the Decalogue as figures. He makes this evident when, in a
response to Gellius Faber, he comments on the fourth commandment,
[The Anabaptists] keep and sanctify the Lord's Sabbath (which is now no longer literal, but spiritual, and never terminating with the true Chrisitans) not by wearing fine clothes...as the unthinking world does on its external Sabbath...but by the fear of God, by a clear conscience and unblamable life, in love to God and their neightbors (which is true religion) keeping and sanctifying it to the Lord eternally.39 [emphasis added]
Like
Philips, Simons obviously uses figure/fulfillment language. Furthermore, he
uses it in relatin to a command of the Decalogue. Thus, the Anabaptists did
not mean by the phrase "figurative law" one part of the law
exclusive of the Decalogue. Thus, the Anabaptists did not mean by the phrase
"figurative law" one part of the law exclusive of the Decalogue.
Rather, as Simons' discussion of the fourth commandment indicates, they
applied their figurative understanding to the entire law.
We see,
then, the Anabaptists considered the entire law to the figurative. So, what
did they consider took its place or fulfilled it in the New Covenant? They
answer, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Philips states this clearly writing,
[T]he law has the shadow of the coming good things, but the gospel has the being of these things themselves... The law has many figures and ceremonies which are all fulfilled in Christ, but the gospel has the clear steadfast truth which abides in eternity. The law is the letter which kills, but the gospel is the Spirit which makes alive.... Therefore the gospel and the law are divided so far as the figures, shadows, and letter of the law are concerned or involve, which are all removed through the gospel.40
Thus, for the Anabaptists the gospel of Christ's New Covenant fulfilled and replaced the figurative law. They did not mean by this that the law and the gospel, or Old and New Covenants, stood completely distinct from each other. Rather, the Old Covenant's figures established the basis for the New Covenant's reality. Philips himself never taught that the two Covenants lacked continuity and stood opposed to one another. In fact, the completion of the previously cited quotation demonstrates that Philips believed just the opposite. He continues,
But it is because of this [division between the law's figures and the gospel's reality] that one observes the spirit of the law, (for the law is also spiritual, as Paul says)... So we discover that the meaning, content, and actual understanding of the law accords with the gospel in every way and corresponds with it, yes, is one truth. [...] But the letter (in which the truth is hidden), will indeed come to an end. [...] Yes, thus have all the figures of the law...come to an end so far as the letter is concerned. Nevertheless, the genuine and essential significance of these same figures remains and harmonizes with the gospel.41
Philips
argues here that with the advent of the gospel came the understanding of the
complete, indeed real, meaning of the law. Because of the figure's
fulfillment, we see its true meaning. Because of the gospel's revelation the
law's true intention comes to light. Specifically, that all the law's physical
shadows pointed toward, or symbolized, the fullness and reality which God
brought about spiritually through Jesus Christ. The Old does not oppose the
New, it stands as the physical shadow of the spiritual reality. A
discontinuity exists in that the physical figure falls away; but, a continuity
also holds for the fulfillment rests on, and makes known the true intention
of, the figure.
We have
already seen that the figure/fulfillment principle includes the concept of the
fulfillment's superiority over the figure. It follows from this that the
Anabaptists counted the Covenant of gospel as superior to the Covenant of law.
Scholar George Huntston Williams properly points out, "[T]he Anabaptists
continually distinguished between the covenant of servitude and that of
sonship."42
He means by this that the Anabaptists saw the Old Covenant as the inferior
covenant. Under the Old Covenant God bound His people to physical shadows
which, not being reality, could not make good the glories they foreshadowed.
Furthermore, the law, rather than justifying Israel, only highlighted their
failures. God's people under the law lived, as Paul says in Galatians 4:1, as
children and slaves. However, since Christ fulfilled the law and established
in its place the reality of the Spirit, God's people no longer hold the
position of slaves, but of sons and heirs, Galatians 5:7. The Anabaptists
thought, in the words of David C. Steinmeetz, "The new deed of God in
Christ...made the old deeds through...Moses obsolescent."43
Anabaptist Leonard Sheimer exemplifies this position when he says,
The first light has been our schoolmaster until the other, that is Christ came, who is the light of the world. When His spirit enters me I am no longer under the schoolmaster but under grace. There the law of works, sin, death, and members ceases, and the law of the Spirit, faith, life, and the heart commences.44
Implicit
in Scheimer's statement lies the idea that the Christian, far from being
without law, falls under the "law of the Spirit." In addition, his
shift in emphasis from outward "members" to inward "heart"
indicates that he sees this "law of the Spririt" as the fulfillment
of the figurative law.
However,
the believer's current position, being under the New Covenant and thus in the
fulfillment of the Mosaic law, does not mean he or she becomes lawless.
Instead, the figurative law finds its fulfillment by transformation from
external and physical to internal and spiritual. Conrad Grebel illustrates
this in a letter to Thomas Muntzer. He wrote,
[W]e learned with sorrow that you have set up tablets, for which we can find neither text nor examples in the New Testament. In the Old, [the law] was of course to be written outwardly, but now in the New it is to be written inwardly on the fleshy tablets of the heart, as a comparison of the two Testaments show, as we are taught by Paul...45
This writing of the law upon the heart of spiritual, inward emphasis that Grebel mentions, other Anabaptists dubbed "the law of love" or the "law of the Spirit."46 Jacob Hutter described it like this,
All those who live and walk in the spirit do not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. [...] For they no longer serve God in the old manner of the letter but in the new manner of the spirit. Thus, the godly have sin but they do not consent to it nor do they carry out its bidding. [...] It is a source of pain to them and they resist it with all their might. They restrain it and force it down through the power of the spirit.47
Hutter
means that the Spirit's presence in the New Covenant believer's life allows
him or her to serve God in a new way. No longer does the figure of the law
bind the believer, its reality has come. In the believer an inward
tranformation occurs enabling him or her to do real battle with sin. No longer
does the believer's concern focus on not committing adultery, now the concern
lies in not lusting. Thus, this "law of the Spirt" brings true
transformation. It shifts the emphasis off the flesh onto the real problem,
the spirit, i.e., off the outward onto the inward. They did not, then, allow
or justify adultery. Rather, they saw the real fight against sin as spiritual;
and, if conquered inwardly, adultery would not be committed outwardly. As
Hutter says, "All those who live and walk in the spirit do not fulfill
the lusts of the flesh."48
This "law of the Spirit" ruled the outward actions, but not by
specifying what outward actions could or could not take place. Instead,
it ruled them by dealing with the heart. It changed the outward actions by
virtue of the fact that it changed the inward motivations. So, in place of the
many strictly regulated actions prescribed and required by the Mosaic law;
there now exists general character traits, against which no law stands. In the
New Covenant, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control permeate the lives of God's people.
Thus, we
see the Anabaptists were not a people adrift without ethical standards.
Rather, in keeping with their figure/fulfillment principle, they held to
standards, in some ways, more stringent than those specified in the figurative
law. As David Steinmetz puts it, they saw the "moral standards of the New
Testament [as] higher than those of the Old..."49
J.C. Wenger, while commenting on their interpretation of the Sermon on the
Mount, notes the effect the law's fulfillment had on their ethical standards.
He indicates, they thought Jesus "built upon the essential moral
principles of the Old Testament and made those principles more penetrating and
extensive than they had been in the Law."50
Thus, they looked not to the Old Covenant law for their moral standard; but,
as Sjouke Voolstra comments, to the gospel, both for forgiveness of sins and
"at the same time the only guideline for the new lfie, that is to say
gift and task in one."51
Finally,
the Anabaptists thought the law's fulfillment (the law of the Spirit) defined
God's people, the same function that the figurative law performed in the Old
Covenant. God states to Israel in Exdus 19:5-6a, "Now if you obey me
fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured
possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of
priests and a holy nation." (NIV) We see, then, that the Old Covenant
served as the definitive mark which established the figurative nation of
Israel as God's special people. In addition, since the Anabaptists saw the
Covenant as a unified whole, to accept any one part of it necessitated
accepting all of it. Menno indicates this when he writes,
If you want to appeal to the literal understanding and transactions of Moses and the prophets, then must you also become Jews, accept circumcision, possess the land of Canaan literally, erect the Jewish kingdom again, build the city and the temple, and offer sacrifices and perform the ritual as required in the law. And you must declare that Christ the pomised Savior has not yet come. He who has changed the literal and sensual ceremonies into the new spiritual and abiding realities.52
All the things Menno mentions distinguished the physical people of God from all other nations. They set Israel apart from all other peoples and made them a special nation. It follows therefore, from the Anabaptist figure/fulfillment hermeneutic, that they considered the "law of the Spirit" to serve the same function. Thus, the "law of the Spirit" written upon the heart defined God's true people, the spiritual, New Covenant nation of Israel. Menno clearly held this conviction for he writes of New Covenant believers,
They are the flesh of Christ's flesh and bone of His bone, the spiritual house of Israel, the spiritual city Jerusalem, the spiritual temple and mount Zion, the spiritual ark of the Lord in which is hidden the true bread of heaven, Christ Jesus and His blessed Word...and the spiritual tables of stone with the commandments of the Lord written on them. They are the spiritual seed of Abraham, children of the promise, in covenant with God and partakers of the heavenly blessing.53 [emphasis added]
We
now see the full significance of the figure/fulfillment principle in relation
to the role of the law in the New Covenant believer's life. The figurative law
defined figurative Israel. Its fulfillment, the spiritual law, defines
spriitual Israel. In the light of Jacob Hutter's quote, we comprehend the full
impact of this statement. Hutter clearly indicated that the spiritual law
directly impacted life and living when he said, "All those who live and
walk in the spirit do not fulfill the lusts of the flesh." Therefore, the
New Covenant fulfillment of the Mosaic law establishes the real nation,
writing within them the real law. Because of this, they will live in a morally
upright manner and not seek to satisfy the lusts of the flesh. For the
Anabaptists the inward "law of the Spirit" necessarily worked its
way out so that, as Christ Himself said of His people, "By their fruit
you will recognize them."
We see, in
conclusion, the Anabaptists examined here did not in any way hold an
"antinomian" position. They never stood against or opposed to the
law. A more accurate description might be "postnomian" since they
understood that the figurative law had a function and it served this function
well. However, now its fulfillment had come. Where before there stood only a
physical shadow, there now stands reality. Thus, they did not proclaim the
abolishment of the law, but simply its fulfillment. This means the spiritual
nation of Israel lives by moral standards which far exceed those prescribed in
the figurative law. New Covenant Israelites possess the "law of the
Spirit" written upon their hearts, therefore they battle and defeat sin
inwardly, before it has a chance to manifest itself outwardly. Furthermore,
they manifest the presence of the spiritual reality within them not through
clearly defined and required actions; but, through the general qualities, or
spiritual fruits, which characterize their life.
NOTES
1 Kurt Aland, A History of Christianity: From the Reformation to the Present, vol. 2, trans. James L. Schaa (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1986), 24. RETURN
2 Fredric Palmer, Heretics, Saints and Martyrs (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1925), 8. RETURN
3 John Christian Wenger, Glimpses of Mennonite History and Doctrine (Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1949), 7. RETURN
5 Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, vol. 7, Modern Christianity: The Swiss Reformation (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1910), 76. RETURN
6 Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of the Expansion of Chrisianity, vol. 3, Three Centuries of Advance: A.D. 1500-A.D. 1800 (New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1939), 437. RETURN
7 Cyril Charles Richardson, The Church Through the Centuries (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1938), 177. RETURN
9 Williston Walker, Richard A. Norris, David W. Lotz and Robert T. Handy, A History of the Christian Church, 4th ed. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1985), 459. RETURN
15 Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of Christianity Volume II: A.D. 1500-A.D. 1975 (New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1975), 780. RETURN
18 Latourette, A History of Christianity, 780. RETURN
22 Wilhelm Moeller, History of the Christian Church: A.D. 1517-1649, vol. 3, Reformation and Counter-Reformation, ed. G. Kawerau, trans. J.H. Freese (London: George Allen & Company), 89. RETURN
31 James M. Stayer, Anabaptists and the Sword (Lawrence, KS: Coronado Press, 1972), 128. RETURN
33 Dirk Philips, The Writings of Dirk Philips, trans. and ed. Cornelius J. Dyck, William E. Keeney, Alvin J. Beachey (Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1992), 266-67. RETURN
39 Menno Simons, The Complete Writings of Menno Simons, trans. Leonard Verduin, ed. John Christian Wenger (Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1956), 680. RETURN
42 George Huntston Williams, The Radical Reformation (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1961), 832. RETURN
43 David C. Steinmetz, Reformers in the Wings (Philadelpia: Fortress Press, 1971), 226. RETURN
44 Walter Klaassen, ea., Anabaptism in Outline: Selected Primary Sources (Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1981), 54. RETURN
45 Leland Harder, ea., The Sources of Swiss Anabaptism: The Grebel Letters and Related Documents (Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1985), 289. RETURN
46 Gerald R. Brunk, ea., Menno Simons: A Reappraisal (Harrisonburg, VA: Eastern Mennonite College, 1992), 51. RETURN