Anabaptist theology
Anabaptist theology, also known as Anabaptist doctrine, is a theological tradition reflecting the doctrine of the Anabaptist Churches. The major branches of Anabaptist Christianity agree on core doctrines but have nuances in practice. While the adherence to doctrine is important in Anabaptist Christianity, living righteously is stressed to a greater degree.
Important sources for Anabaptist doctrine are the Schleitheim Confession and the Dordrecht Confession of Faith, both of which have been held by many Anabaptist Churches throughout history.
Daniel Kauffman, a bishop of the Mennonite Church, codified Anabaptist beliefs in the influential text Doctrines of the Bible, which continues to be widely used in catechesis.
John S. Oyer states that the Old Order Amish have an implicit theology that can be found in their biblical hermeneutics, but take little interest in explicit, formal, and systematic theology. It is easier to find out about their implicit theology in talking with them than reading written documents. According to Oyer, their implicit theology is practical, not theoretical. The most important written source of Amish theology, according to Oyer, is "1001 Questions and Answers on the Christian Life".
The Hutterites possess an account of their belief written by Peter Riedemann and theological tracts and letters by Hans Schlaffer, Leonhard Schiemer and Ambrosius Spittelmaier are extant.
Overview
From its inception, Anabaptist practice has sought to emulate early Christianity. A strong theme among Anabaptists has been practical discipleship that turns the believer into a model of righteousness in the here and now. In the 1545 Kempen Confession, the Anabaptist authors stated that, "... we wish nothing but to seek alone the salvation of our souls, and like Christ, seek the well-being of the souls and lives of all people. Today we wish to follow Christ in all righteousness until death." C. Arnold Snyder writes that:In the Anabaptist understanding, Jesus Christ perfectly revealed, lived out, and marked the path back to God. Christians are disciples who have committed themselves to following Christ on that path, yielding to God’s will in all things as Jesus did, not claiming possessions for themselves, speaking the truth in all circumstances, humbly giving way in the face of evil power, living non-coercively, willing to suffer rather than inflict suffering on others. The visible ‘shape’ of Anabaptist spirituality is discipleship, the ‘following after Christ’ in life.
Following after Christ in life will occur in three areas in which humanity is, by its nature, most particularly tempted not to be Christ-like: in the desire to claim ownership of possessions, in the temptation to lie and dissimulate, and in the temptation to coerce by using violence.
Bible
Early Anabaptists held a high view of the Bible and insisted on the necessity of it being interpreted with the aid of the living Christ within. Author C. Arnold Snyder describes their view in these words:In terms of the authority of Scripture, for example, Anabaptists insisted that the Holy Spirit had to be active in the interpretation of the letter. So, for example, a spiritually enlightened peasant would be a more reliable interpreter of Scripture than was a professor of biblical languages who lacked the Spirit. All the same, with the exception of a few prophetic spiritualists, the Anabaptists read and interpreted the text of the Bible itself in a decidedly practical, non-theological way.... The Anabaptists could not agree that political authorities had any right to decide matters of biblical interpretation or decree matters of faith or practice for the church, thus challenging the close church-state relationship that had been taken for granted by the Reformers.
Anabaptists hold that the entire Bible is the word of God, while insisting that the New Testament is the rule of faith and practice for the Church. Anabaptists Hans Denck and Ludwig Hätzer were responsible for the first translation of the Old Testament Prophets from Hebrew into the German language.
The Amish tradition of Anabaptist Christianity uses the Luther Bible, which contains the Old Testament, Apocrypha, and New Testament; Amish wedding ceremonies include "the retelling of the marriage of Tobias and Sarah in the Apocrypha". The texts regarding the martyrdoms under Antiochus IV in the intertestamental section of the Bible containing 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees are held in high esteem by the Anabaptists, who faced persecution in their history.
Christology
Christology addresses the person and work of Jesus Christ, relative to his divinity, humanity, and work of salvation. Anabaptist Christology "emphasize the significance of Jesus as our moral example."The 16th-century Anabaptists were orthodox Trinitarians accepting both the humanity and divinity of Jesus Christ and salvation through his death on the cross.
Menno Simons, the father of the Mennonite tradition of Anabaptism, concluded: "In the same manner the heavenly Seed, namely, the Word of God, was sown in Mary, and by her faith, being conceived in her by the Holy Ghost, became flesh, and was nurtured in her body; and thus it is called the fruit of her womb, that same as a natural fruit or offspring is called the fruit of its natural mother."
Soteriology
Generalities
While Anabaptism has a unique conceptualization of soteriology, its soteriological doctrines share similarities with those of Arminianism in certain respects. In particular, Mennonite soteriology has been historically consistent with Arminianism, whereas the doctrines of Calvinist soteriology have been rejected. Moreover, Anabaptism seems to have influenced Jacobus Arminius. At least, he was “sympathetic to the Anabaptist point of view, and Anabaptists were commonly in attendance on his preaching.”Human's condition and calling
Anabaptist doctrine teaches:The Dunkard Brethren Church, an Anabaptist denomination of the Schwarzenau Brethren tradition, teaches that "Election is of the sovereign mercy of God, enabling us to believe the Word of God, through the Holy Spirit, so that we can choose a life of righteousness and service. "
Historically, certain Anabaptists, like Hut and Marpeck, rejected total depravity. Others, shared views akin to Arminians: Hubmaier, Schiemer, and Philips affirmed total depravity and believed in the restoration of human libertarian free will through prevenient grace communicated through the Gospel. Denck and Sattler maintained that God restores human free will through prevenient grace prior to exposure to the Gospel. Schiemer's perspective affirmed total depravity and the restoration of free will through prevenient grace given at birth and later experienced at the age of accountability.
Conversion
Anabaptist doctrine teaches that "True faith entails a new birth, a spiritual regeneration by God's grace and power; 'believers' are those who have become the spiritual children of God." The Dunkard Brethren Church, a Conservative Anabaptist denomination in the Schwarzenau Brethren tradition, defines this as follows:"The beginning of the Anabaptist path to salvation was thus marked not by a forensic understanding of salvation by 'faith alone', but by the entire process of repentance, self-denial, faith, rebirth and obedience. It was this process that was marked by the biblical sign of baptism." After becoming a believer, Anabaptist theology emphasizes "a faith that works."
Anabaptist denominations teach:
Hans Denck wrote:
Obedience to Jesus and other New Testament teachings, loving one another and being at peace with others, and walking in holiness are seen as "earmarks of the saved." Good works thus have an important role in the life of an Anabaptist believer, with the teaching "that faith without works is a dead faith" occupying a cornerstone in Anabaptist Christianity. Anabaptists do not teach faith and works—in the sense of two separate entities—are necessary for salvation, but rather that true faith will always produce good works. Balthasar Hubmaier wrote that "faith by itself alone is not worthy to be called faith, for there can be no true faith without the works of love."
Justification
Anabaptists "dismissed the Lutheran doctrine of justification, a dead faith as they called it, which was unable to produce Christian love and good works." Peter Riedemann wrote:Rather than a forensic justification that only gave a legal change of one's status before God, early Anabaptists taught that "justification begun a dynamic process by which the believer partook of the nature of Christ and was so enabled to live increasingly like Jesus." Riedemann explained this ontological justification in these words:
Preservation
Anabaptist theology traditionally teaches conditional security. However, in the 20th century, particularly in North America, some Mennonites, have adopted the doctrine of eternal security.Loss of the Holy Spirit
The majority of Anabaptists have historically believed that a person can lose the Holy Spirit through willful sin and disobedience, as maintaining faith required an ongoing commitment to righteousness.However, the Lutheran Book of Concord claims that there were certain Anabaptists who taught that it was impossible for someone who had been justified to lose the Holy Spirit. The Concord condemned this view, asserting that those who have received the Holy Ghost may still fall from grace and depart from the divine favor of God.