Who are the "extreme Anabaptists" who believed that regeneration makes people incapable of sin?
score:2
The belief you're interested in is Christian perfectionism. Perfectionism was held by a number of people during the Reformation era, and was especially widespread in the low countries. Advocates included Anabaptist Melchior Hoffman, the Reformed Sebastian Castellio, and the nondenominational Dirck Coornhert (Van Veen, 2004).
However, it's also worth considering the context for Calvinist claims of Anabaptist perfectionism. That name has been used as a derogatory epithet from the Reformation until the present.
John Calvin's own frustrations with the Anabaptists had to do with the fact that the Anabaptists "out-Calvinisted" the Reformed community on at least two important points. The first was church discipline. The Calvinists were very critical of Catholics and Lutherans for their lack of attention to the role of discipline in the Christian community. The Anabaptists, however, took discipline even further than the Calvinists, insisting on very tight patterns of communal control. The Calvinists, obviously stung by this criticism, responded by labeling the Anabaptists as "perfectionist."
-Mouw, R. J. (2000). Reflections on my encounter with the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. Mennonite Quarterly Review, 74(4), 571-577. summarizing Balke, 1981
As Mouw describes, Anabaptists can be understood as the extreme perfectionist end of a spectrum in terms of expectations for regeneration and personal transformation, so Berkhof may well be thinking of that spectrum without having any particular writer in mind.
While in this post I'm accepting that the label of perfectionism can be objectively applied to some writers, Perfectionism is usually a label applied by others while rejected by those to which it is applied (Augsburger, 1981).
Often those Christians and groups of Christians who have honestly and earnestly sought to live a life of high dedication, obedience, and holiness have not only been misunderstood but also frivolously condemned as hypocrites or self-righteous. The attempt to strive toward perfection ("Be ye therefore perfect even as your heavenly Father is perfect") has often been erroneously labeled perfectionism. The Anabaptists and Mennonites have suffered under this charge from the beginning.
-Harold S. Bender, Perfectionism, in Mennonite Encyclopedia.
To be thorough, you'll also want to look into early Christian debates about post-baptismal forgiveness of sins in early Christianity. Tertullian, was highly regarded among early Anabaptists, and they were surely influenced by his position.
For mainstream early Anabaptist authors perspectives on regeneration and quotes that could easily be interpreted as perfectionist, see especially Augsburger, 1981.
Further reading on early Anabaptist perfectionism
- Augsburger, M. S. (1981). Concern for Holiness in the Mennonite Tradition. The Asbury Journal, 36(4), 28-44. doi:10.7252/Journal.01.1981W.03
- Balke, W. (1981). Calvin and the Anabaptist radicals. Grand Rapids, MI.: Eerdmans.
- Hughes, R. T. (1986). Christian Primitivism as Perfectionism: From Anabaptists to Pentecostals. In S. M. Burgess (Ed.). Reaching Beyond: Chapters in the History of Perfectionism. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, p. 213-255.
- Van Veen, M. G. (2004). "No One Born of God Commits Sin": Coornhert's Perfectionism. Dutch Review of Church History, 84, 338-357.
More post
- 📝 In Protestant faith is one's old self dying on the cross with Jesus symbolic, or the actual assumption of a new Eternal life?
- 📝 Question about mortal sin and the state of grace?
- 📝 When Christians say "the Lord" in everyday speech, do they mean Jesus or the Father?
- 📝 In what way(s) is God the Father a father to God the Son? And in what way(s) is God the Son a son?
- 📝 Is it valid to use grape juice at Communion?
- 📝 How does one reconcile the idea that physical disability is the result of sin with Exodus 4:11?
- 📝 Is the “dark night of the soul” mentioned in the Bible?
- 📝 What is the specific meaning of "believe" in John 3:16?
- 📝 Was Mary a Virgin?
- 📝 What is the Catholic concept of "freedom to sin"?
- 📝 A Question Regarding the Variation of Doctrines within Christendom
- 📝 What is the case in favour of adelphopoiesis as a relationship akin to marriage?
- 📝 Do Catholics consider saying "Jeez(e)!" to be a violation of the Second Commandment?
- 📝 Are Anabaptists' re-baptisms really conditional baptisms?
- 📝 What is biblical theology?
- 📝 Would Christianity (in general) agree with "That which is necessary is moral"?
- 📝 Do modern descendants of the Levites need to be ordained with the Aaronic Priesthhood?
- 📝 How do Catholics and Eastern Orthodox justify their clergy praying with those big hats on their heads?
- 📝 Did the Second Council of Orange deny the "certain efficacy" of grace?
- 📝 How did the church calculate Sunday as the day of the resurrection?
- 📝 Why is the number seven special?
- 📝 How do we recognize Elijah when he will come before the day of Lord?
- 📝 Did the Resurrection Really Happen?
- 📝 Does Catholic Church believe that Jews suffered because of the curse of their forefathers at Matthew 27:25?
- 📝 Hebrew translation for the Deuterocanonical books?
- 📝 Is Christianity unique in the way it uses the historical method?
- 📝 The Unforgivable Sin
- 📝 Can the gloria and sanctus be replaced at the Mass with some other hymn or song?
- 📝 Where did Martin Luther say that he placed "his Christ higher than any dogma or council"?
- 📝 How does Matthew 25:31-46 ("The Sheep and the Goats") reconcile with salvation by faith?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Who are the "extreme Anabaptists" who believed that regeneration makes people incapable of sin?
- 📝 What is the Meaning of Hebrews 2:11 - he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one
- 📝 What is the biblical basis that people who are attracted to the same sex were not created by God that way?
- 📝 Does the Catholic Church teach that some who died before Christ are still in Limbo? Why?
- 📝 In the tradition of Jehovah's Witnesses, does Romans 6:23 mean that all people who are resurrected have their sins blotted out?
- 📝 If only those who died after Jesus death are among the ones that go to heaven, how do JWs view the ascension of Elijah?
- 📝 Are there any groups of Christians who believe that all loans made with their money should be made without the expectation of repayment?
- 📝 How do Christians who believe in a witness of the Holy Spirit via thoughts & feelings respond to the claim that thoughts & feelings are unreliable?
- 📝 Who are the many nations that Abraham was called by God, 'the father' of?
- 📝 What are the arguments of those who believe that the prerequisite stated here by John is yet not sufficient for being born of God?
- 📝 What is the Biblical backing for the perspective that our actions affect who makes it to heaven?
- 📝 Are there any authors that who believe Eph. 4:11 is not describing titles but general characteristics of how God created the church to work together?
- 📝 Are there any individuals who are claiming to be the pope that are not Pope Francis?
- 📝 How do those who believe that the dead are conscious explain passages in Psalms that seem to suggest otherwise?
- 📝 What parts of Protestantism accept that there are some on earth who 'smite the earth with plagues' till the end of time (Revelation 11:6)?
- 📝 Are there any extra-biblical writings that document what the early Christians believed about the second coming of Christ?
- 📝 Can we say that all those who the Father draws are those who Jesus draws unto himself by his death?
- 📝 Are there any Early Church Fathers, Doctors of the Church or Catholic Saints who believed the world would possibly end by a comet hitting the earth?
- 📝 Who are the remaining Apostolic Succession lineages that are non-Rebiban Succession?
- 📝 What are the biblical arguments that the Bible canon is closed?
- 📝 For Catholics who object to Vatican II, what are the key issues?
- 📝 What is the Biblical evidence that there are ONLY three persons in the "Trinity"?
- 📝 What important Mormon doctrines are taught in the book of Mormon that we couldn't find in the Bible already?
- 📝 According to Evangelicals, before the Reformation, who were Christians if “Catholics are not Christians”?
- 📝 Are there Old Testament Scriptures that mention salvation for the Gentiles?
- 📝 Who are these people in this Catholic Reformation meme that are considered more influential than Martin Luther?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for withholding communion from believers who are unbaptized?
- 📝 Among modern critics who believe in the attributed authorship of the Gospels, what are their arguments?
- 📝 Are there any secular historical references to the natural phenomena that occurred at the crucifixion and resurrection?
- 📝 How do Jehovah's Witnesses respond to the charge that they are false prophets (because their end-of-the-world predictions didn't come true)?