Anabaptist views on the Bible’s disputed passages
Every disputed passage in this collection, and how Anabaptist readers understand it — in their own terms, beside the full article with every other tradition’s reading.
Peter and the rock
Is Peter the rock on which the church is built, and does the papacy rest on this?
The keys are given to the local congregation; the rock is the confession or Christ.
Early Anabaptists like Balthasar Hubmaier argued that the authority to bind and loose belongs to the visible, local congregation of baptized believers, not a clerical hierarchy. This authority is exercised through communal discernment and church discipline to maintain a pure community. The confession of Christ is foundational, and cross-bearing is understood literally as nonresistance and willingness to suffer rather than inflict harm.
Read the full article: Peter and the rock →Faith and works
Is a person justified by faith alone, or by works as well?
Discipleship requires living faith expressed in works and peace.
Anabaptist theology regards James 2 as a cornerstone for discipleship (Nachfolge), rejecting any separation of faith from obedience to the Sermon on the Mount. They distinguish a dead, historical faith—which demons possess—from a living, regenerating faith that necessarily produces the fruit of the Spirit; the socioeconomic critique in James 2:1-13 grounds egalitarian church life and mutual aid. Ephesians 2:10 is heavily emphasized: believers are God's workmanship created for good works, countering 'cheap grace.' Ephesians 2:14-16 is read as establishing a new, visible socio-political reality where ethnic and national enmities are abolished, grounding pacifism and primary allegiance to the transnational household of God.
Read the full article: Faith and works →This is my body
In what sense are the bread and wine Christ's body and blood?
The bread and cup are memorial signs of covenant community and discipleship.
Anabaptists understand the Lord's Supper as a memorial, not a sacramental transformation. The bread and wine are symbols that call believers to remember Christ's suffering and to commit themselves to one another in love and nonviolence. Balthasar Hubmaier described the Supper as a pledge of mutual faithfulness and willingness to lay down one's life. John 6 is read spiritually: eating Christ's flesh means internalizing his teaching and following his way of the cross. The rite is usually practiced in the context of church discipline and ethical accountability.
Read the full article: This is my body →Baptism
Is baptism necessary for salvation, and should infants be baptized?
Baptism follows conscious faith; not saving; infants not baptized.
Anabaptists argue John 3:3-8 requires inner rebirth before outward baptism; Hubmaier said Spirit baptism must precede water. Acts 2:38 sequence (hear, repent, be baptized) excludes infants. Baptism is a pledge of discipleship, not a means of regeneration. The community of goods and discipleship follow from new birth.
Read the full article: Baptism →Predestination
Does God choose who will be saved, and on what basis?
God hardens only those who first reject grace; election is corporate and vocational.
Early Anabaptists rejected double predestination, emphasizing human responsibility and capacity to respond. Hubmaier argued God hardens only those who persistently reject grace, preserving agency and denying God is author of sin. Election of Jacob over Esau is corporate, historical, vocational for God's salvation strategy, not individual destinies. The key to the chapter is its conclusion emphasizing faith, not works. Applied to voluntary lived faith.
Read the full article: Predestination →Can salvation be lost?
Can a true believer fall away and be lost?
Believers can fall away; the ban seeks to restore before final apostasy.
Anabaptist readings see Hebrews 6 as evidence that regenerate believers who have 'tasted the heavenly gift' can indeed fall away into worldly living. Menno Simons frequently cited this severe warning to reject the Calvinist doctrine of perseverance. This reading undergirds the practice of the ban (excommunication), which aims to maintain the church as a pure, visible community and to cut off unrepentant sinners before they reach the point of impossible renewal. Balthasar Hubmaier also used verses 1-2 to argue that repentance and faith must precede baptism, supporting believers' baptism over infant baptism. The passage is applied through communal discernment and church discipline, always with the goal of restoration.
Read the full article: Can salvation be lost? →The thousand years
What is the thousand-year reign, and will believers be caught up before the end?
The thousand years is the present suffering church age.
Anabaptist tradition rejected the militant chiliasm of Münster and settled into amillennialism, reading the millennium as the current age of the cross. The beheaded saints in Revelation 20:4 are central to Anabaptist identity as a martyr church. The call to lead a quiet life in 1 Thessalonians 4:11 grounds their separation from political power. They reject any escapist rapture, emphasizing faithful endurance.
Read the full article: The thousand years →Wives and husbands
What does submission between wives and husbands mean?
Mutual submission from verse 21 governs all, making marriage non-hierarchical.
Twentieth-century Mennonite theologian John Howard Yoder offered an influential pacifist reading: verse 21 establishes a universal baseline of mutual submission, and the commands to wives and husbands are particular applications of that yieldedness. Traditional Anabaptist communities also emphasize Gelassenheit, or yieldedness, and the rejection of coercive authority, so husbandly headship is stripped of all power over the wife. The passage is read as calling both spouses to the same self-giving path of the cross. This reading is widely received in Mennonite and related peace-church teaching, though some conservative Anabaptist groups retain a more traditional patriarchal-in-love pattern.
Read the full article: Wives and husbands →Same-sex relationships
What do these texts say about same-sex relations, and do they address orientation as understood today?
Most Anabaptist communities uphold traditional sexual ethics; some Mennonite Church USA / Canada differ.
Anabaptist hermeneutics read the Old Testament through the New Testament; therefore some Mennonite scholars place Leviticus 18 within Israel's purity code, while still affirming chastity as background to New Testament ethics. Many Anabaptist conferences and the broader conservative Mennonite movement continue to teach that same-sex sexual activity is sin, based on Romans 1 and 1 Corinthians 6. However, some area conferences of Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Church Canada have adopted affirming positions or permit congregations to do so. The tradition emphasizes nonconformity, church discipline, and the body as the temple of the Holy Spirit.
Read the full article: Same-sex relationships →Male and female
What does "male and female he created them" say about sex and gender?
Equal dignity and mutual submission; no coercive hierarchy
Anabaptist reading of Genesis 1 stresses that both male and female are created in God's image and that the dominion mandate is not a license for domination but for servant stewardship. This undergirds a strong tradition of mutual submission and rejection of coercive hierarchy between the sexes. Many Anabaptist communities have historically practiced shared leadership and decision-making, though formal roles have varied. In recent decades, Mennonite Church USA, Mennonite Church Canada, and other Anabaptist bodies have moved toward affirming same-sex marriage and transgender identities, while more conservative Anabaptist groups retain a binary, complementarian understanding. The peaceable kingdom vision includes gender justice and nonviolence in all relationships.
Read the full article: Male and female →The command to destroy
How should readers understand the commands to destroy whole peoples?
Old Covenant violence is superseded by Jesus' nonviolent teaching.
Anabaptist tradition insists on strong covenantal discontinuity: the literal sword commanded under the Old Covenant has been replaced by the nonresistant cross of the New Covenant. Early Anabaptists like Pilgram Marpeck argued that these texts were valid for fleshly Israel but no longer authorize carnal warfare for the church. Contemporary Mennonite scholarship, such as Millard Lind, highlights the subversive elements in Deuteronomy 20 that undercut militarism. The commands are read as spiritual warfare against sin, while Christians are called to nonviolence and conscientious objection.
Read the full article: The command to destroy →Psalm 137 and its curse
What is a curse on infants doing in the Psalms?
Old Covenant vengeance superseded by Jesus; church as suffering exile.
Anabaptist two-kingdoms theology reads the first half of the psalm as a paradigm for the suffering church in a hostile world: Babylon is the coercive, violent world system, and Zion is the pure church of believers. Early leaders like Dirk Philips applied this to persecuted Anabaptists. For the imprecations, Pilgram Marpeck argued the Old Testament desire for physical vengeance is explicitly superseded by Jesus' commands in the Sermon on the Mount. Thus the desire to dash infants is viewed as a carnal reality of the old era, forbidden for Christians. The psalm guides communal discernment about nonconformity and faithful minority witness.
Read the full article: Psalm 137 and its curse →Slavery
Does the Bible endorse slavery, and how were these texts used?
The Old Testament slave laws are superseded civil provisions; Ephesians 6's household code, read through Jesus, commands noncoercive relationships that dissolve slavery.
Anabaptist hermeneutics reads the Old Testament through the lens of Jesus's nonviolent kingdom. The civil laws of Exodus and Leviticus, including slavery, belong to the old covenant's worldly state and are not the church's ethic. In Ephesians 6, the command to masters to stop threatening (v. 9) is seen as 'revolutionary subordination' that effectively undermines the master-slave relationship by removing coercion. Anabaptist communities have historically opposed slavery and continue to see these texts as a call to mutual servanthood rather than hierarchical domination.
Read the full article: Slavery →The binding of Isaac
Why does God command Abraham to sacrifice his son?
Paradigm of Gelassenheit—yieldedness, non-attachment, and obedient faith.
Anabaptists read Genesis 22 as normative for living, active obedience. Menno Simons used Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son to show that true faith is coupled with costly action, holding no earthly attachment above God's command. During persecution, parents in the Martyrs Mirror cited Abraham's test when facing martyrdom and leaving children behind. Contemporary Anabaptist peace theology emphasizes the divine interruption of violence: God provides an alternative to sacrifice. The chapter grounds the practice of radical discipleship and communal trust in God's provision.
Read the full article: The binding of Isaac →Jephthah's daughter
Did Jephthah sacrifice his daughter, and does the text approve?
The chapter shows spiritual decay; Jephthah's vow was a violent, transactional failure.
Anabaptists read Judges 11 through a Christocentric, new-covenant lens, seeing Jephthah's actions as evidence of an old order of violence superseded by Christ's peace. The vow is interpreted as a theological failure, assimilation into Canaanite practices, and a transactional view of God rather than trust in the Spirit already given. Contemporary Mennonite scholarship names the daughter as a victim of patriarchal and military violence, not a model to emulate. Believers are taught to refuse oaths, letting yes be yes, and to mourn victims of war and patriarchy.
Read the full article: Jephthah's daughter →Not peace but a sword
What did Jesus mean by bringing a sword?
The sword is the cross of suffering freely accepted, never a weapon.
Anabaptists insist that the sword in v. 34 cannot be a literal weapon because Jesus elsewhere commands love of enemies and Peter is told to sheathe his sword. Instead, this sword is the division and persecution that faithful discipleship provokes, which believers are to endure as Christ did. Conrad Grebel used the images of sheep among wolves (v. 16) and the disciple not above his master (v. 24) to argue that Christians must never take up the worldly sword. Menno Simons expounded v. 38 to teach that the cross of Christ is the believer's path of yieldedness and suffering, not of inflicting suffering on others.
Read the full article: Not peace but a sword →Your father the devil
Whom are these sayings addressed to, and how have they been misused?
The devil's children are persecutors, not Jews; true church is nonviolent.
Anabaptist theology historically applied John 8:44 to persecuting authorities: those who use violence against the faithful show themselves to be children of the murderer from the beginning. This is a critique of state power, not of Jews. The true church is marked by suffering, not by condemning others. In 1 Thessalonians, the Thessalonians' suffering at the hands of their own countrymen becomes a paradigm for the persecuted church. Thus the passage is read as comfort for martyrs, not as anti-Jewish polemic.
Read the full article: Your father the devil →Virgin or young woman?
Does Isaiah's almah mean 'virgin' or 'young woman', and is the verse about Jesus?
A call to trust God against empire; Immanuel establishes a nonviolent kingdom
Anabaptist theology reads the chapter as a stark contrast between worldly fear and trust in God's peaceable governance. The command to Ahaz is a radical call to trust in Yahweh's protection rather than political maneuvering; Ahaz's failure is one of faith. The sign of Immanuel is identified with Jesus Christ, whose kingdom is spiritual and nonviolent. The devastation by Assyria is the inevitable result of rulers choosing worldly fear over faith. Believers are called to reject fear-driven politics and military might.
Read the full article: Virgin or young woman? →The longer ending of Mark
Did Mark's Gospel end at 16:8, and what of the verses after it?
Mark 16:15-16 prescribes believer's baptism after faith and mandates missionary church.
Anabaptist tradition reads Christ's command in v.15 as a literal mandate to go and make disciples, and v.16 as establishing the order: hearing, believing, then baptism. Hubmaier and Menno Simons argued that this sequence excludes infant baptism because an infant cannot consciously believe. The visible church is defined as those who have heard, believed, and submitted to baptism as a public pledge of discipleship. This passage also undergirds the Anabaptist commitment to a missionary, non-state church.
Read the full article: The longer ending of Mark →Divorce and the exception clause
When, if ever, may a marriage be ended and another begun?
Marriage is indissoluble except on the ground of sexual immorality.
The Dordrecht Confession of Faith leans heavily on Matthew 19:4-9 to insist upon the indissolubility of marriage between one man and one woman, recognizing divorce solely on grounds of sexual immorality. Anabaptists read Jesus' statement that 'Moses permitted... but from the beginning it was not so' as a hermeneutical key: the New Covenant ethic supersedes the Old Testament law. This leads to strict marital fidelity in the community. The tradition does not uniformly address whether the innocent party may remarry, but divorce is not taken lightly.
Read the full article: Divorce and the exception clause →Tithing
Must Christians tithe, and does giving bring material blessing?
Tithing is not a law; the church practices voluntary mutual aid.
The Radical Reformation strongly opposed the enforcement of tithes by the state, seeing it as oppression of the poor. Anabaptist reading of Malachi 3 emphasizes justice for laborers and the refusal of oaths, with the 'storehouse' reinterpreted as the community of goods and mutual aid described in Acts. Tithing as a percentage is rejected as a carryover of the old order; instead, believers share resources voluntarily to meet needs. The promise of blessing is collective and covenantal, not individual prosperity.
Read the full article: Tithing →Obeying the government
Must Christians obey every government, and are there limits?
The state's sword is outside Christ's perfection; Christians submit but do not wield it.
The Schleitheim Confession recognizes the state's sword as ordained by God outside the perfection of Christ to punish the wicked; therefore Christians cannot serve as magistrates, bear the sword, or employ lethal force. John Howard Yoder's The Politics of Jesus argues that Paul's call to be subject means a nonviolent subordinate posture, not blanket obedience that requires complicity in state violence. Anabaptists obey laws, pay taxes, and show respect to officials, but they maintain conscientious objection to military service and capital punishment, accepting legal penalties rather than disobeying Christ's law of love. Thus the state is legitimate in its own realm, but the church is a distinct community under a different ethic.
Read the full article: Obeying the government →Judge not
What did Jesus forbid when he said "Judge not"?
Forbids believers from participating in coercive judgment and condemning others.
For Anabaptists, the command not to judge is applied structurally to the church's relation to the state: believers are not to serve as magistrates, wield the sword, or swear oaths, because those acts involve condemning and coercing others. Within the church, the command does not abolish discipline but reframes it as loving admonition among sisters and brothers. Early Anabaptist leaders saw the prohibition as part of Jesus' call to nonresistance and visible discipleship. The beam removed means first embodying the way of the cross before correcting another.
Read the full article: Judge not →Creation and the age of the earth
Are the days of Genesis 1 literal, and what do these chapters teach about origins?
Days not central; creation grounds nonviolence and stewardship.
Anabaptist theology reads Genesis 1-2 Christologically, interpreting the dominion mandate in light of Jesus' servant lordship rather than coercive mastery. The vegetarian diet prescribed in Genesis 1:29-30 is seen as evidence of God's original peaceable kingdom, grounding the tradition's commitment to nonviolence. The garden's 'cultivate and keep' command undergirds creation care and simple living. The length of the creation days is not a primary concern; the focus is on restored relationships and the peace of Christ.
Read the full article: Creation and the age of the earth →