Everything about Menno Simons totally explained
Menno Simons (1496 –
January 311561) was an
Anabaptist religious leader from
Friesland (today a province of
The Netherlands). Simons was a contemporary of the
Protestant Reformers and his followers became known as
Mennonites.
Birth to priesthood
Menno Simonszoon (Simon's son) was born in
Witmarsum,
Friesland. Friesland was ravaged by war in the late 15th and early 16th century.
Landsknecht soldiers haunted the Frisian lands in the 1490s to force the 'Free' Frisians to accept the duke of
Saxony-Meissen as their head-of-state. The duke was the governor of the Netherlands for the
Habsburg family. One of the archenemies of the Habsburgs, the Duke of
Guelders, invaded Friesland in 1515 and conquered half of it. The other half was ceded by Saxony to the Habsburgers. The Frisians tried to regain their freedom but they were too weak and eventually accepted the imperial authority of the Habsburg emperor
Charles V. Simons grew up in this disillusioned and war torn country. Very little is known concerning his parents or his childhood. He was of poor peasant parentage, and his education was limited to his training to become a
priest. Ordained as a
Roman Catholic priest in 1515 or 1516 at
Utrecht, he was then made a
chaplain in his father's village
Pingjum.
Theological efforts
Around 1526 or 1527, questions surrounding the doctrine of
transubstantiation caused Menno Simons to begin a serious and in-depth search of the
scriptures, which he confessed he hadn't previously studied, even being a priest. At this time he arrived at what some have termed an "evangelical
humanist" position.
Menno's first knowledge of the concept of "
rebaptism", which he said "sounded very strange to me", came in 1531. This came through the means of hearing of the beheading of Sicke Freerks Snijder at
Leeuwarden for being "rebaptized". A renewed search of the scriptures left Menno Simons believing that
infant baptism isn't in the
Bible. He discussed the issue with his pastor, searched the
Church Fathers, and read the works of
Martin Luther and
Heinrich Bullinger. While still pondering the issue, he was transferred to Witmarsum. Here he came into direct contact with Anabaptists, preaching and practicing
believer's baptism. Later, some of the
Münsterite disciples came there as well. While he regarded them as misled and fanatical, he was drawn to their zeal and their view on the Bible, the Church, and discipleship. When his brother Pieter was among a group of Anabaptists killed near
Bolsward in 1535, Menno experienced a spiritual and mental crisis. He said he "prayed to God with sighs and tears that He would give to me, a sorrowing sinner, the gift of His grace, create within me a clean heart, and graciously through the merits of the crimson blood of Christ, he'd graciously forgive my unclean walk and unprofitable life…"
Menno Simons rejected the Catholic church and the priesthood on
12 January 1536, His theology was focused on separation from this world, and baptism by repentance symbolized this.
Menno evidently rose quickly to become a man of influence. Before 1540,
David Joris, an Anabaptist of the "inspirationist" variety, had been the most influential leader in the Netherlands. By 1544, the term
Mennonite or
Mennist was used in a letter to refer to the Dutch Anabaptists.
Twenty-five years after his renunciation of Catholicism, Menno died at
Wüstenfelde,
Holstein, and was buried in his garden. He was married to a woman named Gertrude, and they'd at least three children, two daughters and a son.
Menno Simons influence on Anabaptism in the
Low Countries was so great that Baptist historian
William Estep suggested that their history be divided into three periods: "before Menno, under Menno, and after Menno". He is especially significant in coming to the Anabaptist movement in the north in its most troublesome days, and helping not only to sustain it, but also to establish it as a viable
Radical Reformation movement.
Quotes
- "True evangelical faith can't lie dormant. It clothes the naked, it feeds the hungry, it comforts the sorrowful, it shelters the destitute, it serves those that harm it, it binds up that which is wounded, it has become all things to all people."
"The regenerated don't go to war, nor engage in strife. They are children of peace who have 'beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning forks, and know no war' (Isaiah 2:4, Micah 4:3). ... Our weapons are not weapons with which cities and countries may be destroyed, walls and gates broken down, and human blood shed in torrents like water. But they're weapons with which the spiritual kingdom of the devil is destroyed. ... Christ is our fortress; patience our weapon of defense; the Word of God our sword. ... Iron and metal spears and swords we leave to those who, alas, regard human blood and swine’s blood of well-nigh equal value."
"We who were formerly no people at all, and who knew of no peace, are now called to be ... a church ... of peace. True Christians don't know vengeance. They are the children of peace. Their hearts overflow with peace. Their mouths speak peace, and they walk in the way of peace."Further Information
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