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Will the Theologians Please Sit Down  /  Chapter 24: The Fruit of the Theologies  /  Discussion Questions
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Question 6
Bercot says a far worse heresy than “thinking you deserve salvation” is “murdering others in the name of Christ,” then lists reformers’ involvement in executions (Zwingli, Calvin, Farel, Melanchthon’s congratulatory letter)—how does this expose what Bercot sees as a catastrophic mismatch between Jesus’ kingdom and coercive power, and how might early Christians have responded to Christians using the sword for doctrinal enforcement?
Another way to ask: What is Bercot saying is wrong with using force or execution “in Jesus’ name”? How do you think early Christians would have reacted to Christians using the sword to punish “wrong doctrine”?

Direct Answer Bercot uses these executions to show a catastrophic mismatch between Jesus’ kingdom and using coercive state power—torture and killing—to enforce doctrine. While the chapter doesn’t explicitly describe early Christian responses, his argument implies early Christians would have seen such violence as blasphemy against Christ and contrary to His kingdom.

Support from Transcript:

  • He calls it “a much worse heresy” to be “murdering others in the name of Christ and imagining that God is pleased with it.”
  • He says the Catholic Church had long been “torturing and murdering Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the name of Christ.”
  • He argues a true Reformation should have ended this “monstrous sin,” yet “the Reformation accomplished no such thing.”
  • He lists reformers with “bloodstains”: Zwingli ordered deaths of radical Christians; Calvin ordered “torture and death”; Farel led Servetus to the stake; Melanchthon praised the execution.
  • Melanchthon’s letter explicitly endorses state killing: “your magistrates did right… they put the blasphemer to death.”
Discussion Follow-ups If violence for doctrinal purity is “worse heresy,” how should churches think about political power when it promises to protect “truth”?

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