One can safely say that the Anabaptists drew a line in the sand regarding some important truths of Scripture, and Baptists—whether they realized it or not — sided with them regarding these truths.
“I may err – I am a man – but a heretic I cannot be, because I ask constantly for instruction in the word of God," Balthasar Hubmaier, of the Anabaptist movement said.
Referring to himself as “Thomas Müntzer with the Sword of Gideon,” this warrior-prophet joined a horde of peasants in May 1525 for what he expected to be the beginning of the end—the overthrow of godless tyrants.
Ultimately, Frith died because of Reformation debates surrounding the Lord’s Supper, because he rejected the belief that Christ’s body and blood exist literally within the elements of the Lord’s Supper
In early 1522, as Martin Luther lay hidden in Germany’s Wartburg Castle, a Reformation was stirring nearly 330 miles to the southwest in Zurich. Luther’s call for Reformation had sparked a wildfire that would soon engulf the whole of Western Europe.
“Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason, I do not accept the authority of the popes and councils,” Martin Luther said, “for they have contradicted each other. My conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything.”
"The revival of both Greek and Hebrew was a new thing at the time of the Reformation," Timothy George, told Baptist Press. "It had been brought about through what we call the Renaissance or the rise of humanism."
"We can worship God by resting; indeed, in resting we can worship Him better than in any other way because it is when we really relax our body and soul that we cast our care on God. "
Because we are united with Christ in faith, each of us is “a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none.” We are completely free from slavery under sin or the law, and all things “work together” to bring about life, peace and salvation for us.
Not without reason, Francis Schaeffer in his book, How Should We Then Live?, claimed that the Renaissance stood in opposition to the Reformation, the former centered on man and the latter centered upon God as revealed through His Word.
“Luther was convinced that the prophecy Hus had made before his execution applied to the Reformation: ‘...they might now be roasting a goose …, but in a hundred years they will hear a swan sing, which they will not be able to silence.’”
Even if the Middle Ages weren’t as dark as we often imagine, the medieval church had serious problems. Looking at the problems through the lens of his own study of Scripture, Luther would say that monastic and other medieval reform efforts had missed the mark.
