Anabaptist: Hubmaier's "A Form For Christ's Supper" (1527) Part II

The liturgy below is of an Anabaptist group in Waldshut. Unlike other Anabaptists, this community was not on the run, but settled in a place where the people enjoyed greater freedom of worship. These Anabaptists were also led by a minister who was a liturgical scholar. Text: Since now these ceremonies and signs have to do completely and exclusively with fraternal love, and since one who loves his neighbor like himself is a rare bird, yea even an Indian phoenix on earth, who can sit at the supper table with a good conscience? Answer: One who has thus taken to heart and has thus shaped himself in mind and heart and senses inwardly that he truly and sincerely can say, "The love of God which he has shown to me through the sacrifice of his only-begotten and most-beloved Son for the payment my sins (John 3:16; 1 John 4:9; Rom. 8:32), of which I have heard and been certainly assured through his holy Word, has so moved, softened, and penetrated my spirit and soul that I am so minded and ready to offer my flesh and blood, furthermore so to rule over and so to master it, that it must obey me against its own will, and henceforth not take advantage of, deceive, injure, or harm my neighbor in any way in body, soul, honor, goods, wife, or child, but rather to go into the fire for him and die, as Paul also desired to be accursed for his brethren and Moses to be stricken out of the book of life for the sake of his people" (Rom. 9:3; Exod. 32:32). Such a person may with good conscience and worthiness sit at the Supper of Christ. You say: "This is humanly impossible." Answer: Certainly for the Adamic human nature. But all things are possible to the Christian (Mark 9:23), not as persons, but as believers, who are one with God and all creatures, and are (except for the flesh) free and independent of themselves. For God works such willing and doing in his believers (Phil. 2:14), through the inward anointing of his Holy Spirit, so that he stands in complete freedom to will and to do good or evil. The good one can do is through the anointing of God. The evil comes from one's own innate nature and impulse, which evil will one can, however, master and tame through the grace given by God (Deut. 30:1ff.; Gen. 4:17; Rom. 10; Matt. 19; John 1:12). It is not sufficient that sin be recognized through the law, nor that we know what is good or evil. We must bind the commandments on our hand, grasp them, and fulfill them in deeds (Deut. 6:8; Matt. 11:30; John 3). To do this is easy and a small thing to the believer, but to those who walk according to the flesh, all things are impossible. Yet the believing and newly born person under the gospel is still also [a person] under the law. He has just as many trials as before, or even more. He finds (however holy he may be) nothing good in his own flesh, just as Saint Paul laments the same with great seriousness regarding the conflict and the resistance of the flesh (Rom. 7:18). Nevertheless the believer rejoices and praises God that the trial is not and cannot be so great in him, but that the power of God in him, which he has received through the living Word which God has sent, is stronger and mightier (1 Cor. 10:13; Rom. 8:11). He also knows certainly that such resistances, evil desires, and sinful lusts of his flesh are not damning for him if he confesses the same to God, regrets them, and does not follow after them, but reigns and rules mightily over the restless devil of his flesh (1 Cor. 9:27), strangles, crucifies, and torments him without letup; holds in his rein, does not do his will, cares little that breaks his neck (Exod. 34:20). So every one who is a Christian acts and behaves so that he may worthily eat and drink at the table of the Lord. Know thou further, righteous Christians, that to fulfill the law it is not enough to avoid sins and die to them. Yea, one must also do good to the neighbor, (Ps. 37). For Christ not only broke the bread, he also distributed it and gave it to his disciples. Yea, not only the bread, but also even his own flesh and blood. So we must not only speak the word of brotherly love, hear it, confess ourselves to be sinners, and abstain from sin, we must also fulfill it in deeds, as Scripture everywhere teaches us. Forsake evil and do good (Ps. 37). Brethren, work out your salvation (Phil. 2:12). While we have time, let us do good, for the night comes when no man can work (Gal. 6:9). Wilt thou enter into life, keep the commandments (Matt. 19:17). For not those who hear the word are righteous before God, but those who do the law will be justified (Rom. 2:7). Not all those who say to me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven, will enter into the kingdom of heaven, says Christ, and adds: Everyone who hears my words and does them, he shall be likened unto a wise man who built his house upon a rock. But everyone who hears my word and does it not shall be likened to a fool who built his house on sand (Matt. 7:21–27). In sum: God requires of us the will, the word, and the works of brotherly love, and he will not let himself be paid off or dismissed with words (Matt. 15; Luke 8:21; Rom. 8:1; Luke 17; Isa. 64:5ff.; Col 2:10; Ps. 32:1f.; Rom. 4:5; 5; 7; 8). But what innate weaknesses and imperfections constantly are intermingled with our acts of commission and omission because of our flesh, God—thanks to the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ—will not reckon to our eternal condemnation; for in Christ we have all attained perfection, and in him we are already blessed. What more do we lack? Since now believers have inwardly surrendered themselves utterly to serve their fellow members in Christ at the cost of honor, goods, body, and life, yea even to offer their souls for them to the point of hell with the help of God; therefore, it is all the more needful sincerely to groan and pray to God that he may cause the faith of these new persons to grow; also that he may more deeply kindle in them the fire of brotherly love, so that in these two matters, signified by water baptism and the Lord's Supper, they might continually grow, mature, and persevere unto the end. Here shall now be held a time of common silence, so that each one who desires to approach the table of God can meditate upon the suffering of Christ and thus with Saint John rest on the breast of the Lord. After such silence, the "Our Father" shall be spoken publicly by the church, reverently, and with hearts desirous of grace as follows (Matt. 6:9ff.; Luke 11:2ff.): Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed by thy name Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily brad. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Commentary: That part of the service must have evoked openness and tenderness in its hearers. Then comes the great "but." Christ does not need our love expressed to him in a mystical way; he bids us love him in our neighbor. Only the one who desires to love Christ in the person of the neighbor is ready to meet him in the Supper. This is the gist of Hubmaier's theology of worship and his belief about the Lord's Supper. The fulfillment of the sacrament is to pour out one's flesh and blood for the other. Without this pledge, it is all hypocrisy.

How might people have felt in the face of this challenge? Relieved that someone finally said that you can't call yourself a Christian if you don't put your money where your mouth is? Or crushed by the extremity of the challenge?

Appropriately for Hubmaier's purposes, silence follows to allow intimate meditation on Christ. He describes the contemplation as a resting on the breast of the Lord. Silence was so important to Hubmaier because it afforded worshipers an opportunity to internalize the words of the liturgy. This concern for the coincidence of outer words and inner commitment gained in significance the further left one went on the Reformation spectrum. The radical reformers feared that in the mass, liturgy was more an expression of religious conformity than personal conviction. Hubmaier wanted to be existentially radical and liturgically conservative: He sought worshippers who know Christ and his way personally, yet he valued their collective expression in continuity with the tradition. The silence is broken by the most traditional of all Christian formulations, the Lord's Prayer. Text: Now the priest shall point out clearly and expressly that the bread is bread and the wine, wine and not flesh and blood, as has long been believed. Commentary: Lest the people's minds still harbor false teaching on the Eucharist, the priest is to instruct them "that the bread is bread." Text: Brothers and sisters, if you will to love God before, in, and above all things, in the power of his holy and living Word, serve him alone (Deut. 5; 6; Exod. 20), honor and adore him and henceforth sanctify his name, subject your carnal and sinful will to his divine will which he has worked in you by his living Word, in life and death, then let each say individually: I will. If you love your neighbor and serve him with deeds of brotherly love (Matt. 25; Eph. 6; Col. 3; Rom. 13:1; 1 Pet. 2:13ff.), lay down and shed for him your life and blood, be obedient to father, mother, and all authorities according to the will of God, and this in the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, who laid down and shed his flesh and blood for us, then let each say individually: I will. If you will practice fraternal admonition toward your brethren and sisters (Matt. 18:15ff.; Luke 5; Matt. 5:44; Rom. 12:10), make peace and unity among them, and reconcile yourselves with all those whom you have offended, abandon all envy, hate, and evil will toward everyone, willingly cease all action and behavior which causes harm, disadvantage, or offense to your neighbor, [if you will] also love your enemies and do good to them, and exclude according to the Rule of Christ (Matt. 18) all those who refuse to do so, then let each say individually: I will. If you desire publicly to confirm before the church this pledge of love which you have now made, through the Lord's Supper of Christ, by eating bread and drinking wine, and to testify to it in the power of the living memorial of the suffering and death of Jesus Christ our Lord, then let each say individually: I desire it in the power of God. So eat and drink with one another in the name of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. May God himself accord to all of us the power and the strength that we may worthily carry it out and bring it to its saving conclusion according to his divine will. May the Lord impart to us his grace. Amen. Commentary: So that their praise of God might be spiritually and theologically authentic, the worshipers are not asked to make a true moral response to the Supper in the Pledge of Love. It is a fine balancing act: the prayers are full of gratitude and grace, the exhortations full of challenges and demands. But after communion the balance is lost. The liturgy becomes moralistic, filled with praise and warnings. The closing blessing is too concise to return the focus to Christ. Text: The bishop takes the bread and with the church lifts his eyes to heaven, praises God, and says: We praise and thank thee, Lord God, Creator of the Heavens and earth, for all thy goodness toward us. Especially hast thou so sincerely loved us that thou didst give thy most-beloved Son for us unto death so that each one who believes in him may not be lost but have eternal life (John 3:16; 1 John 4:9; Rom. 8:32). Be thou honored, praised, and magnified now, forever, always and eternally. Amen. Now the priest takes the bread, breaks it, and offers it into the hands of those present, saying: The Lord Jesus, in the night in which he was betrayed, took the bread, gave thanks, and broke it, and said: "Take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in my memory." Therefore, take and eat also, dear brothers and sisters, this bread in the memory of the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he gave unto death for us. Now when everyone has been fed, the priest likewise takes the cup with the wine and speaks with lifted eyes: "God! Praise be to thee!" and offers it into their hands saying: Likewise the Lord took the vessel after the Supper and spoke: "This cup is a new testament in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink, in memory of me." Take therefore also the vessel and all drink from it in the memory of the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for us for the forgiveness of our sins. When they have all drunk, the priest says: As often as you eat the bread and drink of the drink, you shall proclaim the death of the Lord, until he comes (1 Cor. 11:26). Now the church is seated to hear the conclusion. Commentary: How would the people have felt as they returned from church to everyday life? Some of them must have rejoiced in the fact that they were being made the subjects of their own destiny; they were assured that they—simple people who had had no say in their own lives—were the body of Christ, able to extend the incarnation into a hostile world. Others must have been overwhelmed by the expectations placed on them, fearing—as the liturgy warns in its words of dismissal—that a millstone might be tied around their neck. Text: Most dearly beloved brethren and sisters in the Lord. As we now, by thus eating the bread and drinking the drink in memory of the suffering and shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of our sins, have had fellowship one with another (1 Cor. 10:17; 12:12; Eph. 4:4; Col. 1:3; Eph. 1; 4; 5), and have all become one loaf and one body, and our Head is Christ, we should properly become conformed to our Head and as his members follow after him, love one another, do good, give counsel, and be helpful to one another, each offering up his flesh and blood for the other. Under our Head Christ we should all also live, speak, and act honorably and circumspectly, so that we give no offense or provocation to anyone (Matt. 18; Mark 9; Luke 17; 1 Cor. 8; Rom. 14). So that also those who are outside the church might not have reason to blaspheme our Head, our faith, and church, and to say: "Does your Head Christ teach you such an evil life? Is that your faith? Is that your baptism? Is that your Christian church, Supper, and gospel, that you should lead such an ungodly and shameful life in gluttony, drunkenness, gambling, dancing, usury, gossip, reviling, cursing, blasphemy, pride, avarice, envy, hate and wrath, unchastity, luxury, laziness, and frivolity? (Matt. 18:6). Woe, woe to him who gives offense! It would be better for him that a millstone should be hung around his neck and he should be cast into the depth of the sea. Let us rather take upon ourselves a righteous, honorable, and serious life, through which God our Father who is in heaven may be praised. Since our brotherly love requires that one member of the body be also concerned for the other, therefore we have the earnest behest of Christ (Matt. 18:14ff.), that whenever henceforth a brother sees another erring or sinning, that he once and again should fraternally admonish him in brotherly love. Should he not be willing to reform nor to desist from his sin, he shall be reported to the church. The church shall then exhort him a third time. When this also does no good, she shall exclude him from her fellowship. Unless it should be the case that the sin is quite public and scandalous; then he should be admonished also publicly and before all, so that the others may fear (1 Cor. 5:1; 1 Tim. 5:20; Gal. 2:11). Whereupon I pray and exhort you once more, most dearly beloved in Christ, that henceforth as table companions of Christ Jesus (Luke 22:15), you henceforth lead a Christian walk before God and before men. Be mindful of your baptismal commitment and of your pledge of love which you made to God and the church publicly and certainly not unwittingly when receiving the water and in breaking bread. See to it that you bear fruit worthy of the baptism and the Supper of Christ, that you may in the power of God satisfy your pledge, promise, sacrament, and sworn commitment (Matt. 3:8; Luke 3:8). God sees it and knows your hearts. May our Lord Jesus Christ, ever and eternally praised, grant us the same. Amen. Dear brothers and sisters, watch and pray lest you wander away and fall into temptation (Matt. 24:42; 25:15; Luke 16). You know neither the day nor the hour when the Lord is coming and will demand of you an accounting of your life. Therefore watch and pray. I commend you to God. May each of you say to himself, "Praise, praise, praise to the Lord eternally!" Arise and go forth in the peace of Christ Jesus. The grace of God be with us all. Amen. Truth Is Unkillable: Hubmaier on the Lord's Supper To the noble Lord Buriano of Cornitz, my gracious sovereign. Grace and peace in Christ, noble and Christian Lord. The majority of people who stand by the gospel recognize that bread is bread and wine, wine in the Lord's Supper, and not Christ (Acts 1:9; Mark 16:19; Heb. 1:3; 12:2; Matt. 22:44; Ps. 110). For the same ascended into heaven and is sitting at the right hand of God his Father, whence he will come again to judge the living and the dead. Precisely that is our foundation, according to which we must deduce and exposit all of the Scriptures having to do with eating and drinking. Thus Christ cannot be eaten or drunk by us otherwise than spiritually and in faith. So then he cannot be bodily the bread either but rather in the memorial which is held, as he himself and Paul explained these Scriptures (Luke 22; 1 Cor. 11). Whoever understands them otherwise does violence to the articles of our Christian faith. Yet the restless Satan has invented another intrigue to hold us in his snare. Namely, that such a Lord's Supper should be established without a prior water baptism, something which again Scripture cannot suffer. When the three thousand men and Paul had been instructed in the Word and believed, only thereafter did they break bread with the brethren (Acts 2:41ff.; Acts 9). For as faith precedes love, so water baptism must precede the Lord's Supper. So that Your Grace may know in what form the Lord's Supper is celebrated in Nicolsburg, I have had it printed, for the praise of God, the honor of Your Grace, and the salvation of all believers in Christ, so that no one might think that we fear the light or that we are unable to give reasons for our teaching and actions. May Your Grace be commended to God and graciously accept from me this written token of respect, through my dear brother Jan Zeysinger, Your Grace's willing [servant] Balthasar Huebmor [Hubmaier], etc. Conclusion The Reformation was a time in which drastic correctives were applied to conventional patterns of church life. Hubmaier was among those who did their utmost for people to know that Christ "died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them" (2 Cor. 5:15). This double theme fills "A Form for Christ's Supper." Some of its moralism derives from Hubmaier's intense desire to retain but purify liturgical worship. For him to be satisfied with an order of service, it had to make the goal of the Christian life unequivocally clear. In doing this, Hubmaier was perhaps more extreme but of the same mind as other contemporary liturgical reformers such as Martin Bucer and Thomas Cranmer. One sees this similarity especially in the exhaustive exhortations to those preparing to come to the Lord's Table. This comparison should remind us that while his gathering for the breaking of bread bears the marks of Hubmaier's and Anabaptism's distinctives, it also reflects the age in which he lived. For all of them, this preparation replaced the no less serious act of individual confession before a priest in the old church. Hubmaier was using liturgy to teach and persuade. It sounds as if this service was written for a congregation which was not yet as fully converted as its pastor thought it should be. A large part of the lasting value of "A Form for Christ's Supper" is its corrective, and therefore, incomplete state. The service exemplifies the tensions faced by anyone trying to hold together form and spirit, grace and works. Even though the commentary woven throughout the service shows how mightily the author strove to give forgiveness and obedience their due, the service fell into a kind of perfectionism, perhaps because the sacrament itself had become primarily a human act. Because of Hubmaier's fear of sacramentalism, the validity of the ceremony depended on the intensity and purity of the human response. But Hubmaier's service stands as a warning against every attempt to use liturgy to smooth out the rough demands of the Gospel; it invites us to grapple as he did to give voice to the whole counsel of God.

• Anabaptist: Hubmaier's "A Form For Christ's Supper" (1527) Part I