Sources for: What is an Anabaptist?
This page gathers the early Christian writings first, followed by Bible passages and scripture references, and related resource links.
Sources Included
8 sources included Early Christian writings first · Bible passages second
Related Resources 8 included
These are related pages, lessons, and media linked from the source review.
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Chapter 18: The Anabaptist Fire
Chapter 18: The Anabaptist Fire. During the 1500s, fiery groups of Christians in continental Europe set Europe aflame with their quest to restore apostolic Christianity. These Christians, known as Anabaptists, truly were one of the most remarkable movements in all of church history. Historians often refer to the Anabaptists as the third wing of the Reformation, the first two wings being the Lutheran and the Reformed. Others have called the Anabaptist movement the Radical Reformation. That's because the Anabaptists recognized that any restoration of primitive Christianity must entail a radical transformation of lives. Out of all the restoration movements of the past 500 years, the Anabaptists probably came the closest to recapturing the primitive Christian ethos of the two kingdoms.
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Lecture 1: Introduction to Anabaptist History
And so we're kind of like those people. That's why we're doing these strange things." Because those people did. And all this arguing on who can be an Anabaptist and who can't be an Anabaptist is a bit academic. But for your purposes, understand that modern Mennonite would like to say that Harold S. Binder went too far with his explanation of saying, "If you're not a Swiss brethren, you're not an Anabaptist." But I think Harold S. I think he did go a bit far with that. But so be careful that I think the liberal Mennonites today just say, "Hey, we want to still be called Anabaptists." But also the term is strange in the sense that when historians use the word Anabaptist, they're mainly talking about the group of people in history.
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Lecture 1: Introduction to Anabaptist History
They're not necessarily meaning it as an identity for you today. And that's also something that can get you tricked out in your readings when you do your readings. They see it as like, let's say you're talking about the Huguenots or the Puritans or something. They see it as a historic people. We use it a lot today as an identity. And I have mixed feelings about that. I like it. I call myself an Anabaptist, particularly when I'm amongst conservatives. And I do that, to be truthful, out of humility. I could just say, "I'm a Christian," and that's my bottom line. But I don't know what to do with people who say you can follow Christ and not follow Christ. So with these teachings of non-resistance, these teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, I don't see them as extras.
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Chapter 18: The Anabaptist Fire
For example, the Anabaptists taught that the church should be separate from the state. Ever since the time of Constantine, the church and state had been married to each other, and practically nobody in the 16th century, not even Luther or Calvin, questioned the propriety of this. The entire structure of medieval society rested on the union of church and state. Therefore, most people thought that the Anabaptist teachings would lead to utter anarchy. As a result, Anabaptists were outlawed in virtually every country of Europe. As one of them lamented, "A true teacher who preaches the word of the Lord without blame is not permitted at the present time, as far as our knowledge goes, to dwell in any kingdom, country, or city under heaven, if he be known." Within a few years, most of the original Anabaptist
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Exploring Anabaptist Beliefs: Tradition vs. Calvinism
When I was first coming into the Anabaptist world, I remember talking to a Beachyomish bishop, and you know I had read Martyr's Mirror, Menno Simons, a lot of the early Anabaptist writings, so I saw that, wow, they're very similar to the early Christians whom I had studied. And so I don't remember what the point was, but I was sharing with him what the early Christians believed on, again, I don't remember what it was, free will, whatever. This bishop seemed to be leaning towards Calvinism. I mean, his bookshelf, he had all these Calvinistic books. And I said, you know, the early Christians believe so and so. And his response was, well, we're not following the early Christians. I said, well, yeah, I know that, but that's also what our Anabaptist forefathers taught.
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Confirming Anabaptist Beliefs: Early Christian Testimonies
The testimony of the early Christians is the strongest evidence that as Anabaptists, we are interpreting the Scriptures correctly. They are our best evidence. I mean, we can go there on just about every single thing that we believe is Anabaptist, and you can see that that is what they taught in the beginning. The people right after the Apostles, that's what they taught, whether it's non-resistance, non-conformity to the world, free will. I mean, like I say, you name it, that's what they taught.
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Lecture 12: Early Anabaptist Concept of Missions and the Kingdom of God
All right, as I began to do my study last night for to start to discuss the Hutterites and the whole Moravian Anabaptists, I started to think, first of all, of what are some of their distinctives? What are some of the things that makes it something to say about them, what makes them stand out from t
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Lecture 21: The 20th Century Anabaptist Mission Movement
Okay, Anabaptist missions and Anabaptist missiology. All right, starting from the beginning, and again with the other lecture, I'm not going to spend a lot of time with the very early times, but we saw missions was part of it from the very beginning. Even missions and revival, and we're going to see
Related Resources
Course Lesson
Lecture 1: Introduction to Anabaptist History
And so we're kind of like those people. That's why we're doing these strange things." Because those people did. And all this arguing on who can...
Video
Exploring Anabaptist Beliefs: Tradition vs. Calvinism
When I was first coming into the Anabaptist world, I remember talking to a Beachyomish bishop, and you know I had read Martyr's Mirror, Menno Si...
Video
Confirming Anabaptist Beliefs: Early Christian Testimonies
The testimony of the early Christians is the strongest evidence that as Anabaptists, we are interpreting the Scriptures correctly. They are our...
Course Lesson
Lecture 12: Early Anabaptist Concept of Missions and the Kingdom of God
All right, as I began to do my study last night for to start to discuss the Hutterites and the whole Moravian Anabaptists, I started to think, f...
Course Lesson
Lecture 21: The 20th Century Anabaptist Mission Movement
Okay, Anabaptist missions and Anabaptist missiology. All right, starting from the beginning, and again with the other lecture, I'm not going to...
Answer Preview
Strictly speaking, an Anabaptist was part of a 16th-century continental European Christian movement often called the third wing of the Reformation or the Radical Reformation. The movement sought to restore apostolic Christianity through transformed discipleship, the Sermon on the Mount, nonresistance, and a church distinct from the state; today the term is also used by some Christians as an identity for that same stream of faith and practice.
The Short Answer
An Anabaptist is best understood first as a member of a historic Christian movement that arose in continental Europe in the 1500s. In Chapter 18: The Anabaptist Fire, the Anabaptists are described as “fiery groups of Christians” whose quest was to restore apostolic Christianity. Historians often call them the “third wing of the Reformation,” alongside the Lutheran and Reformed wings, or the “Radical Reformation.”
That word “radical” matters. The Anabaptists were not simply asking for adjustments to church ceremonies or doctrine. They believed that recovering primitive Christianity required a radical transformation of life. Their vision of Christian discipleship included the Sermon on the Mount, nonresistance, nonconformity to the world, and a church that was separate from the state.
Why the Term Can Be Confusing
The word “Anabaptist” is used in two related but not identical ways.
In historical writing, “Anabaptist” usually refers to a group of people in the 16th century. Lecture 1: Introduction to Anabaptist History cautions that historians often use the term the way they might speak of the Huguenots or Puritans: as a historic people. That means a reader should not assume every historical use of the word is meant as a modern label for present-day Christians.
At the same time, some Christians today do use “Anabaptist” as an identity. The same introductory lecture notes that this modern use can be helpful, especially when someone wants to say more than “Christian” because the word “Christian” is often used very loosely. In that setting, “Anabaptist” can identify a commitment to obeying Christ’s teachings in concrete ways, especially teachings such as nonresistance and the Sermon on the Mount. The point is not that Anabaptist identity replaces the name Christian, but that it can describe a particular stream of Christian discipleship.
What Made the Anabaptists Distinctive?
One major Anabaptist distinctive was the separation of the church from the state. The Anabaptist Fire explains that since the time of Constantine, church and state had been joined together, and most 16th-century Christians—including Luther and Calvin—did not challenge that arrangement. Medieval society rested on that union.
The Anabaptists did challenge it. That challenge sounded dangerous to many people in Europe. If the church was not bound to the state, critics feared society would collapse into disorder. As a result, Anabaptists were outlawed in many places. One Anabaptist lamented that a true teacher who preached the word of the Lord without blame was not permitted to live openly in any kingdom, country, or city if he was known.
This separation of church and state was tied to a larger “two kingdoms” vision: the church belonged to the kingdom of Christ and could not simply be merged with earthly political power. The same chapter says that among restoration movements of the last 500 years, the Anabaptists may have come closest to recapturing the primitive Christian ethos of the two kingdoms.
How Anabaptists Related to Early Christianity
The Anabaptist ideal was not novelty for novelty’s sake. Their stated aim was restoration—recovering apostolic and primitive Christianity. A Sound Faith discussion, Exploring Anabaptist Beliefs: Tradition vs. Calvinism, describes a reader noticing strong similarity between early Anabaptist writings—such as Menno Simons and Martyrs Mirror—and the beliefs of the early Christians.
Another Sound Faith segment, Confirming Anabaptist Beliefs: Early Christian Testimonies, connects characteristic Anabaptist teachings with the testimony of Christians soon after the apostles. It specifically names nonresistance, nonconformity to the world, and free will as teachings that Anabaptists saw reflected in the early Christian witness.
That does not mean early Christian writers function as a replacement for Scripture. Rather, the early witness is used historically: it helps show how Christians close to the apostolic age understood the faith and the life of discipleship.
Important Clarifications
Not every use of “Anabaptist” means exactly the same thing. Some use it narrowly for certain 16th-century groups. Others use it more broadly for those who identify with the Anabaptist stream of discipleship. Lecture 1 warns that arguments over who can or cannot be called Anabaptist can become academic, especially when historians and modern believers are using the term differently.
It is also important not to reduce Anabaptism to a cultural label. In the teaching represented here, the heart of the term is not ethnicity, dress, or a sentimental attachment to the past. The central issue is a visible life of obedience to Christ: the Sermon on the Mount, nonresistance, separation from the world, and the church as a distinct people under Christ rather than an arm of the state.
Keep Studying
For a fuller historical overview, start with Chapter 18: The Anabaptist Fire. For the meaning and limits of the term, continue with Lecture 1: Introduction to Anabaptist History. To trace the movement’s kingdom and mission concerns, see Lecture 12: Early Anabaptist Concept of Missions and the Kingdom of God and Lecture 21: The 20th Century Anabaptist Mission Movement. For the relationship between Anabaptist convictions and early Christian testimony, compare Exploring Anabaptist Beliefs: Tradition vs. Calvinism with Confirming Anabaptist Beliefs: Early Christian Testimonies.