(Felix Manz 1498-1527)
When protestants reflect on
the Reformation, we usually focus only on the hero moments—like Martin Luther boldly
nailing his “95 Theses” to the church door in Wittenburg or William Tyndale’s battles
against the bishops to get the Bible translated into a common tongue.
However, there is a dark
side to the Reformation that is seldom talked about. Some of the Reformers persecuted
other Christians. Such is the case with the Anabaptists, who emerged out of Zurich,
Switzerland. One of the leading reformers in Zurich was a man named Huldrych
Zwingli. Like Luther, Zwingli had serious beef with the erroneous teachings of
the Catholic Church. In fact, Zwingli published his own diatribe against the
Pope listing 67 points of contention. Zwingli’s fame quickly spread, and he
attracted other young men who believed as he did that the Gospel had to be
rescued from the clutches of the corrupt Catholic Church.
One of Zwingli’s disciples
was a youthful and zealous student named Felix Manz. However, after a few years
their relationship began to sour over a doctrinal disagreement about infant
baptism. Infant baptism had been practiced in Christendom for over a thousand-years
by this time and Zwingli still supported it as a viable sacrament. However,
Felix Manz along with a few other disciples of Zwingli could not find infant
baptism anywhere in the Scriptures.
So on January 21, 1525
Felix Manz and a dozen others decided to form their own sect by baptizing one another
as adults. They called themselves “Anabaptists” which means, “rebaptizers” since
they argued that believers baptism must come after repentance and a profession
of faith in Christ. They saw infants as
incapable of these spiritual conditions, thus the need to be baptized again.
The Anabaptists insisted that a child could not be made a Christian even if an
ocean of water were poured over his or her head.
Felix Manz and his friends
were ordered by Zwingli and the city council to recant and practice only infant
baptism. Manz refused and was soon arrested. On January 5, 1527 Felix was led
from prison to a boat in the Limmat River. On the way he gave praises to God
and preached to the people gathered to watch him die. One of Zwingli’s priests
went along, still trying to convert him. Manz's brother and mother were there
as well, urging him to stand fast for the faith.
(The Execution of Felix Manz)
With hands and feet bound,
Manz was taken to the middle of the river and thrown in. Eyewitnesses say he
was neither fearful nor despairing. His last words were, “Father, into your
hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.” As for Zwingli, it is said he was on the
shore, and with more than a touch of sarcasm said, “If he wishes to go under
the water, let him go under.” In other words, if Manz wants to be baptized, let
us baptize him by drowning!
Manz was not the only “radical
reformer” persecuted by his own during this time. Historians tell us that more
Anabaptists were martyred after the Reformation that Christians who died in the
early persecutions of Rome![1]
The sacrifice of men like Manz and other Anabaptists highlights the Church’s long
and bloody struggle for doctrinal purity.
The Bible is abundantly
clear of what baptism is, who it is for, and what it accomplishes. In the New
Testament, only believers who had placed their faith in Christ were baptized -
as a public testimony of their faith and identification with Him (Acts 2:38;
Rom. 6:3-4). An infant cannot place his or her faith in Christ, nor can they
understand the symbolism. Moreover, the Bible does not record any infants being
baptized. At the same time, baptism does not produce salvation. Only faith
alone in Christ alone saves a person (Eph. 2:8). Baptism before a profession of
faith and repentance is merely an exercise in getting wet. -DM
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