June 14, 2017
Devotions: Personalities of the Reformation: Felix Manz

Felix Manz was born around the year 1498, the son of one of the priests at the magnificent Grossmünster Church in Zurich and the priest’s concubine. A man of strong faith and conviction, Manz was martyred on January 5, 1527. On that day, Felix was bound, taken to the middle of the Limmat River in the heart of Zurich (Switzerland), and executed by drowning (what the authorities laughingly called his “third baptism”). Manz was a student of Zwingli, but over the years he became disillusioned with Zwingli’s theology – he along with Conrad Grebel (June 12, 2017 devotion). They both believed the reforms being advocated by Zwingli and others did not go far enough. Soon they would form a new faith fellowship called the “Swiss Brethren” based upon the idea of a baptism following an open confession of faith in Jesus Christ, what we call a “believer’s baptism” today. After Conrad Grebel baptized George Blaurock (the first such “believer’s baptism in Zurich), Manz was also baptized. They would be given the name “Anabaptists” (re-baptizers) by Zwingli and others. In March 1526 the city council passed an edict making re-baptism punishable by drowning. On January 5, 1527, Manz was sentenced to death, “because contrary to Christian order and custom he had become involved in Anabaptism.” About 3 p.m. that afternoon he was taken by boat onto the Limmat River, which runs not far from the front of Grossmünster Church. His hands were bound and pulled below his knees and a pole was placed between them—and then he was shoved into the river to die by drowning. He would be the first person martyred by the Protestant Movement.(theviewfromthisseat.blogspot.com, The Martyrdom of Felix Manz, January 5, 2013)

Try to recall the last baptism you attended? What stands out in your memories of that baptism? Do you recall any of the promises that the parents and sponsors make for the child being baptized? Do you wish we did full immersion for baptisms? Do you know the date of your baptism? If you know the date of your baptism, I encourage you to celebrate that date like you celebrate your birth day. – our baptism should matter that much to us.

Pastor Dave

Please collect bottles of shampoo and packs of diapers for Trinity’s Table.

June 13, 2017
Devotions: Personalities of the Reformation: Balthasar Hubmaier

Balthasar Hubmaier was born circa 1485 and died by burning at the stake on March 10, 1528 in Vienna. Three days later the authorities would tie a stone around his wife’s neck and throw her to her death in the Danube river. Hubmaier received his doctor of theology degree after studies at the universities at Freiburg and Ingolstadt 1516 in and around the age of 30. In 1521 he arrived in Switzerland where he soon became a leader of the fledgling Anabaptists. When Archduke Ferdinand heard of his actions, he threatened to send troops to Waldshut. Balthasar would leave so that the town would not be invaded. He would write an argument for religious tolerance, one of the first works on religious liberty in the Reformation movement. In his writing he would say “It is well and good that the secular authority puts to death the criminals who do physical harm to the defenseless (Romans 13). But no one may injure the atheist who wishes nothing for himself other than to forsake the gospel.”

He would eventually return to Waldshut to try to implement further reforms. On Easter Sunday, 1525, he and sixty others were rebaptized; three hundred soon followed their example. Balthasar wrote a work on believer’s baptism which was the most exhaustive treatment of the subject in the sixteenth century. Catholic troops would come to Waldshut, and the people would revert back to Catholicism. Balthasar would flee to Zurich where Zwingli’s men would capture him and torture him to recant his Anabaptist views. Once released he would flee to Nikolsburg, now Mikulov in the Czech Republic. Here he would return to his Anabaptist teachings and re-baptize six thousand people. Hubmaier represented the more moderate movement of the Anabaptists. He would support Christians participating in wars, and would not have the eschatalogical emphasis of Hans Hut. Hubmaier was heavily influenced by Erasmus and other Swiss leaders early on, but soon found plenty of platforms upon which to debate, particularly on the issue of believer’s baptism. Hubmaier had the gall to assert that people should be baptized as responsible adults who were making the decision to follow Christ on their own, and that such baptism should be by immersion, and further that such baptism accomplished no particular saving work but was rather an act of obedience to Christ. In Hubmaier’s own words…

Baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost is when a man first confesses his sins, and pleads guilty; then believes in the forgiveness of his sins through Jesus Christ, and turns to live according to the rule of Christ, by the grace and strength given him from God the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. He professes this publicly, in the eyes of men, by the outward baptism of water. He is then truly baptized, even if the baptizer did not speak these words over him. (via Hubmaier “The Christian Baptism of Believers.” In The Writings of Balthasar Hubmaier, by Davidson, 128; also britannica.com and You Need to Know Balthasar Hubmaier, brandonacox.com)

As you can see, there was a heated debate during the time of the Protestant Reformation over the decision of when someone should be baptized. Luther believed that the Sacrament was efficacious through the Word of G-d manifest through Jesus Christ, and the earthly element, in the presence of the believing members. It was not dependent on a person’s faith – Christ was the one to make it efficacious. Others believed that it could only be efficacious if the person made a public profession of such faith. We continue to baptize infants, and then in the process of Confirmation, the individual has the opportunity to “Reaffirm” their faith. Although I believe baptism can be more meaningful if the person can “remember” their baptism, there continues to be power in “Remembering” our baptism each morning when we wash.

Pastor Dave

Please collect bottles of shampoo and packs of diapers for Trinity’s Table.