This lesson was delivered by J.C. Van't Land on 10/1/2017 as part of our celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. The audio for this lesson can be found here.
In March of 1522, 5 years after Luther's famed nailing of the 95 Theses to the Wittenberg Chapel, a group of men gathered in a printer's home in Zurich, Switzerland. All but one of them (the one that happened to be a priest) ate sausage. This sounds incredibly unremarkable, however, it was this priest's inability to eat sausage that sparked the Reformation movement in Switzerland. So, if you are not a fan of sausage, I beg you to reconsider, because if it were not for sausages, we could very well be sitting in Mass today rather than a biblical worship service.
So, who was this priest that refrained from eating sausage? And why did this act spark the Reformation in Switzerland? The first question I'll answer now, and we'll get to the second question a little later.
His name was Ulrich Zwingli, who is sometimes referred to as the third man of the Reformation behind Martin Luther and John Calvin. First, before we get into his great life's work and impact, let's learn about who this guy was and where he came from.
Ulrich (Huldyrich) Zwingli was born in a small village (Wildhaus, St. Gall) just north of the Swiss Alps on January 1, 1484 – only 7 weeks after his German counterpart, Martin Luther. His father was a shepherd and a magistrate in the canton of St. Gaul. A canton was a region or group of cities that were loosely banded together within the Swiss Confederation, starting in the 1300s. Similar to a state, but less official.
He was the 3rd of 9 children in the family.
As a child he helped his father tend sheep on the steep slopes of the Alps. Some biographers claim that this is where he learned to love his country, as he walked up and down the countryside. He was known for his great patriotism and love for his country, and this really shaped what he accomplished throughout his life.
One trait that he started displaying early on in life was his inquisitive mind and his passion for truth, never resting until he discovered it. He would eventually discover the ultimate fountain of truth – the Bible.
There is debate over whether Zwingli grew up in the peasant class or more of the middle class, since his father had professions in each of these groups, being a shepherd and a magistrate, but he was from more lowly means. Even though he was lower/peasant class, his parents were well off enough to send him to school was he was in his mid-teens.
He studied in Berne, then Vienna, and then finally he earned his B.A. and M.A. in Basel in 1504 and 1506, respectively. During his schooling, he began studying literature, but after spending time studying under Thomas Wyttanbach, he gained a great appreciation for carefully and appropriately reading scripture, and it was then that he considered the priesthood and preaching as a career.
After receiving his degrees and an ordination (at the age of 22), he moved back near home to Glarus and became the priest at the church he grew up in. He served in that post from 1506-1516, although on two occasions (in 1512 and 1515) he took temporary leaves of absence from the pulpit to serve as a chaplain for various Swiss military regiments. During his early years as the priest in Glarus, he perfected the Greek language. Zwingli found it to be of utmost importance to be able to read the Bible, particularly the New Testament, in the language of the original manuscripts. This ability would allow him to become the great preacher that we'll eventually see him become.
At this time, one of the main sources of income for many Swiss cantons was mercenary work. Free lance soldiering for a fee. Italian and French forces would often hire these Swiss mercenaries, and the Pope even had a full time standing guard of mercenaries, including fighters from Switzerland. What this meant, was that it was not at all uncommon during battles for Swiss to fight against Swiss. Neighbor fighting neighbor. Almost like in the American Revolution where you might have one brother fighting as a loyalist and the other as a patriot. A lot of Swiss blood was shed by other Swiss people, and this really bothered Zwingli, because like I said before, he loved his country and his countrymen.
A critical point for Zwingli was at the Battle of Marignano, which took place in Northern Italy in 1515. France was fighting against the Swiss Confederacy. But, like I said earlier, France had hired Swiss mercenaries to fight for them. The Swiss liked this because it brought good income into their regions. This was a particularly bloody battle; nearly 10,000 Swiss lives were lost that day. This was one of the periods that Zwingli was serving as a Chaplain and part of his duties as Chaplain was to administer last rights to all of the fallen. So he moved from dead body to dead body conducting last rites. After this bloody battle, he returned to the pulpit at Glarus. Being around that much death would affect any normal human being, and I think it would be particularly painful and life-changing to be around the dead bodies of people you were familiar with.
Because of the Swiss bloodshed that he had experienced, he started preaching and teaching against the mercenary practice. He did this out of a love for his countrymen, because he hated seeing them killing each other. However, his congregation did not see it that way. They enjoyed the income from the Swiss mercenaries, and they deemed Zwingli unpatriotic and booted him from the pulpit in 1516.
After being thrown from the pulpit, Ulrich quickly found work just a few miles down the road in Einsielden, a town which housed a famous shrine that attracted pilgrims from all over. This was not the easiest job for him to land, as it had recently been discovered that Zwingli had been having an affair.
During this time, Priests would often commit adultery and bear illicit children. Their Bishops would overlook the offense, if the Priests agreed to pay a certain fine for every illicit child they had. Even though this practice occurred, the leadership in the town had reservations about calling a minister who had been a fornicator. Zwingli showed great remorse and repentance and said that he had already, a year earlier, in 1515, made a vow to never touch a woman again. The town ends up offering him the job, despite their misgivings, but it was only because the other candidate for the position was discovered to have 6 illicit children. In light of that discovery, Zwingli's sins didn't seem quite so heinous and they gave him the position.
As a side note – I think it is important to realize the sin of these great Reformers. We tend to hold Calvin, Luther, Erasmus, Zwingli, and the like up on a pedestal and think they're made of gold. I think that would break their hearts if they heard us say that, because that goes against everything that they preached. We are all sinners. Even John the Baptist - the man who Jesus called the greatest man to ever be born - was a sinner. What's also important to see is Zwingli's response to his sin – true and utter repentance. When we sin, we should be crippled and bend to our knees in prayer and repentance.
Back to Zwingli's story. While he was a preacher in Einsielden, he would occasionally take leave to return to his alma mater in Basel in order to keep up with the latest in scholarship. Zwingli loved reading. He read and read and read. All the time. In 1514, Desiderius Erasmus became a visiting scholar in Basel, so when Zwingli traveled back there, he had many conversations with this great renaissance man whom Zwingli referred to as "the most learned of all scholars." Erasmus was the first person to collate Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, of which there were thousands, and he published the Novum Testamentum Omne, which was a complete Greek version of the New Testament. This was completed and published in 1516 and was critical for scholars to be able to study God's Word in its original language and not have to rely on a translation – something that could never before be done!
Zwingli received a copy of Erasmus' Greek New Testament in 1516. He had been long awaiting this, after building a relationship with Erasmus for the previous 2 years. The next two years (1516-1518) were pivotal and instrumental for Zwingli. He devoured this new Greek New Testament and began to question all that was around him in the Catholic Church. Stephen Nichols describes this time of Zwingli's life in this way, "Sometime in 1516-1518, Zwingli discovered the real thing, the gospel. Like a snowball rolling downhill, this discovery led to more and more and more. Stripped of all the layers of tradition, Zwingli at last could look into the pages of the Bible and see the glorious gospel of grace. He took that gospel into the pulpit, displaying it for a congregation of sinners in need. The word got around."
The Gospel changed his life. Reading the New Testament for himself, not relying on human tradition, changed his life and opened his soul to the Truth.
In 1518, a position opened to become the People's Priest, or preaching pastor, at the Grossmnster (Great Cathedral) in Zurich. Zwingli sought the position, was accepted, and on his birthday, January 1 of 1519 he was inducted. During the next 6 years, Zwingli preached through the entire New Testament, from Matthew 1:1 to Revelation 22:21.
The plague also hit Zurich during this time, Zwingli ministered to victims. He even contracted the illness himself and doctors thought that he would die, but he ended up recovering and continuing with his ministry.
In 1524 Ulrich married a widow by the name of Anna Reinhart, who had three children and they soon bore a child of their own.
Ulrich Zwingli died on October 11, 1531, only 9 years after the beginning of his reformation, at the age of 47. He was killed in the Second Battle of Kappel, which we'll discuss in more detail later. He died serving as a chaplain in the ranks fighting against the papacy. He died fighting to liberate God's people from the increasing burdens placed on them by humans. This is the end of his life, but it is not the end of this lesson. Any questions so far on the overview of his life?
III. Sola Scriptura/Beginning the Reformation.
If there is one battle cry that we had to summarize Zwingli's life with, I believe it would be "Sola Scriptura" or Scripture Alone. This is also the first of the five Solas that Tito will be preaching on this morning. Sola Scriptura is the belief that the Bible is the supreme authority in all doctrine and practice. It does not mean that we do not or cannot derive doctrine and practices from other authorities (such as Elders, writings of the Church fathers, Confessions of Faith, etc.), however, these other authorities must all be bound to Scripture, since the Bible is the only spoken and authoritative Word of God.
Ad Fontes – Latin for "to the fount or source." This was the battle cry of the entire Renaissance and then also of the Reformation. The idea that we needed to get beyond what tradition has to say about the Bible and go straight to the Bible itself was vitally important in the Reformation. If Erasmus had not published his Greek text of the New Testament, it would have been very difficult for the Sola Scriptura movement to have been possible.
Zwingli wanted to see reform in the Church. He knew there were problems and extra-biblical regulations and standards and he knew we needed to get back to Scripture. He took a slightly different approach to this reform than Luther did. Luther explicitly pointed out faults and deficiencies that he found in the Catholic Church. Zwingli, on the other hand, still knowing these faults full well, wanted his listeners to be led to those conclusions by Scripture. He believed that "if the people understand what is true, they will soon discern what is false." By filling our minds with the truth, it will drive out falsehood. He understood that the way to discover this truth is by reading and preaching Scripture, and using Scripture alone as our basis of beliefs, and this is what he did. He preached from Scripture. And the people of Zurich ate it up.
So, what does Ad Fontes and Sola Scriptura have to do with the sausage dinner that I opened the lesson with? This dinner was had during Lent, the period before Easter in which no meat was to be eaten. This was a hard and fast rule of the Roman Catholic Church. Christoph Froschauer was a printer and a model and influential citizen in Zurich. He was not just an ordinary printer – he printed works from Erasmus, Luther, and Zwingli. In March of 1522 (during Lent), he and his workers had just finished publishing their new edition of the Epistles of St. Paul. This was much harder work back then than just typing on a computer and hitting print, so presumably, they were exhausted. In order to reward them for their efforts, he hosted a dinner party for his workers, and he also invited other elites from the town: the priest Zwingli, as well as other dignitaries.
At this dinner party Froschauer served sausage. Tradition says that Zwingli was the only person in attendance that did not eat it, however, there are other sources that say he did. After the dinner, there was a huge public outcry, since sausage was served. There was such a huge outcry, in fact, that Froschauer ended up getting arrested. Just for serving sausage. Can you imagine getting arrested today for serving meat to dinner guests during Lent? I assume that Froschauer was eventually released from prison, but I couldn't actually find any sources that confirmed this. Does anybody know?
Even before this event, Zwingli had been debating and thinking about the freedom we have in Christ and whether or not there was a biblical basis for mandatory fasting during Lent. But this ordeal pushed him over the edge. Two weeks after the sausage supper, he preached a sermon titled "Von Erkiesen und Freiheit der Speisen" or in a language that we all speak: "On the Choice and Freedom of Food." In this sermon, he argued for the freedom that we have in Christ. "These announcements," he said referencing passages such as Peter's vision of food in Acts 10, "seem to be enough to me to prove that it is proper for a Christian to eat all foods." He claimed that human traditions, such as fasting during Lent, were spots on the face of Christ, "unseemly things, and of the foulness of human commands." Instead, he argued, Christ will "become again dear to us, if we properly feel the sweetness of his yoke, and the lightness of his burden." Christians are free to fast, or not to fast, because the Bible does not prohibit the eating of meat during Lent. A month later, this sermon was printed and distributed throughout Europe. This sermon lit Zurich on fire.
This sausage supper and Zwingli's sermon were to the Swiss Reformation what Luther's 95 Theses were to the German Reformation.
This was the beginning of massive changes in Zurich. Within a few years Zwingli and his compatriots closed monasteries, destroyed images (used in Masses), banned pilgrimages, and outlawed relics and rituals. If you attended Mass, you were fined and they created a law that required citizens to eat meat rather than fish on Friday.
In 1522, the same year as the famed affair of sausages, Zwingli and 11 other priests deliberated amongst themselves and persistently petitioned the church to allow priests to marry. They do this by writing and signing a petition titled "Petition to Allow Priests to Marry, OR at Least to Wink at Their Marriage." These priests had scoured the scriptures and could find no biblical basis for a celibate priesthood. Their petition is granted.
Then, in 1523, the Zurich city council hosted 2 public debates, known as the First and Second Disputation, where the leaders of the Protestant movement were able to debate against the Roman Catholic officials. Zwingli took the lead and debated in front of the Zurich town council and citizens of the town. He drafted his 67 Articles, similar to Luther's 95 grievances against the Church, for the First Disputation. He was a great debater, especially with the Bible on his side, and destroyed his competition. This is when the city of Zurich officially broke with the Roman Catholic Church and became Reformed. Then, a few months later, the Second Disputation was held in order to discuss the use of icons and images in the church.
The city of Zurich was really a theocracy at this point, and Zwingli was the leader. Citizens were fined for various sins such as fornication and adultery. Anyone desiring an official office in the city must be Protestant (sounds wonderful, doesn't it?) You could even be fined for being Catholic, or, get this- for staying home from Church on Sundays. Deacons - Maybe that's an idea for funding our building project here!
Zwingli was a great preacher – and apparently quite entertaining to hear preach. He was quite animated and used humor and lots of anecdotes to develop his sermons. Zurich explodes with reform, and soon other Swiss cantons learn from Zwingli's Zurich and become reformed as well. Cities such as Basel and Berne followed Zurich in their reformations. However, there were many cantons and cities that opposed this reform and swore allegiance to the Catholic Church by forming a Catholic League in opposition to this movement. Zwingli sends missionaries into these unreformed provinces but one of the missionaries is burned at the stake by the Catholic Cantons. The Zurich city council at this point declares war, but soon they negotiate a temporary peace with the Catholic League. Then, in 1531, the Protestants form an economic blockade so the Catholic armies march against them. The Catholic forces outnumber the Protestant forces 8,000 to 1,500. Obviously, they quickly overpower the Reformers and Zwingli is among the 500 Protestants killed in battle.
Heinrich Bullinger succeeds Zwingli in his post as the pastor of Zurich. Any questions about the Swiss Reformation up to this point?
IV. Theological Impact/Importance.
We've seen Zwingli's life, and now we've talked a little about the reformation movement in Switzerland, but what are some of the things that Zwingli taught? Well, he drafted up his 67 Theses in preparation for his debates, the First and Second Disputations. The eighteenth of his theses repudiated the Mass and stated: "Christ, Who offered Himself once on the cross, is the sufficient and perpetual sacrifice for the sins of all believers. Therefore the Mass is no sacrifice, but a commemoration of the one sacrifice of the cross." This is to refute the Roman Catholic belief that the Mass is the same sacrifice that Christ offered on Calvary. This is physically portrayed by the crucifix in the Catholic Church – the cross that still has Jesus on it. We see them all over the place – in Catholic hospitals, in every Catholic chapel, all over. I never used to give it a second thought until a few years ago. However, Christ is no longer on the cross! He was there at one time, and now He is not. Zwingli recognized this. Zwingli was convinced from Scripture that Christ's sacrifice was only necessary once. We find this in Hebrews 10, "And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified." Christ is no longer on the cross – He is at God's right hand!
He also reduced the number of sacraments from 7 to 2, and he rejected the doctrine of purgatory. This is the Catholic belief that when we die, we are held in an intermediate state so that "those who are ultimately destined for heaven must first undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven." This is where you sit and wait for your family to pay indulgences to get you out.
He also dismissed and denounced the papal office. Although, his argument was not that the Bible didn't say anything about the Pope. He did believe the Bible talked about the Pope, but not in positive terms – he thought it called the pope the Antichrist!
He denounces prayers to the saints, as we are to pray to God alone.
b. Simplicity in Worship.
Another belief he taught and fought for throughout his life was simplicity in worship services. He thought that if it's not in Scripture, it has no place in the Church worship service. This turns into the Regulative Principle under Calvin's direction. Unless a given practice is explicitly mentioned in Scripture, we can't do it in the Church. This is why we don't dance during our worship services. He found no scriptural basis for any murals, statues, paintings, stained glass, or icons of any kind in churches. Zwingli loved music and was a very talented musician. However, he didn't find organs in the pages of the Bible so he locked up the pipe organ at the Great Cathedral in Zurich, probably against every ounce of fleshly desire in him. We think towards the end of the 1520s, he changed his tune (no pun intended) towards organs and began to allow organ music during worship services.
Zwingli was not without his share of obstacles in his reforming of Zurich and the church. As if taking on the Catholic Church wasn't a big enough task, Zwingli also had other adversaries in his quest to bring Truth to Zurich, Switzerland, and the world. At the beginning of his reforms, another Catholic priest named Conrad Grebel joined Zwingli in his efforts. After only a couple short years (starting in 1524) Grebel and some other followers of Zwingli broke ranks with him over 2 issues: baptism and the separation of church and state.
The group that followed Grebel and split from Zwingli became known as the Anabaptists. They did not hold to a belief in infant baptism, as Zwingli did, and we do. Instead, they only thought that believer's baptism was proper and right. They even went so far as to get re-baptized, which is where the term Anabaptist comes from. "Ana" is the Greek word for "again." The Anabaptists also called for a separation between church and state, whereas Zwingli thought the two should be connected – he even believed that the city council should take part in the spiritual discipline of its citizens.
As the Anabaptists grew in ranks, the city of Zurich realized that an internal divide could destroy them as they faced off against the Roman Catholic Church. So, they exiled Grebel and some of his followers, including a guy by the name of Felix Manz. He initially left the city, but he soon returned, only to have the City Council order him, along with 5 others, to be executed by drowning. The city ruled that "He who dips, shall be dipped," referring to their second baptism. Zwingli did not carry out the executions, but he didn't prevent them either.
Martin Luther was another huge obstacle to Zwingli. The two fought bitterly over the issue of the Lord's Supper. Zwingli viewed it as a symbolic meal, which is what we hold to here. However, Luther held to the "real presence" position, or "consubstantiation" that believes that Christ is above, beneath, and all around the elements of the Lord's Supper – something the Lutheran Church holds to to this day.
Phillip of Hesse, the influential German Protestant ruler, called a meeting in Marburg in order to try to bring the Lutherans of Germany and the Reformed Church of the Swiss Confederation together in a unified political front against the Roman Catholic Church. The two groups needed each other politically and militarily in order to withstand the armies of the pope. However, without agreeing on theology, they would not be able to form a political alliance. Zwingli and Luther met here, and agreed over pretty much everything discussed, except for the Lord's Supper. This hindered partnership of any kind between the two parties.
These two brilliant and godly men could not get over their differences about the Lord's Supper, and apparently after Zwingli's death, Luther exclaimed, "good riddance."
VI. Application/Life Lessons. So, what can we learn from Zwingli's life and teachings? How does what he did 500 years ago change the way we live? Several things. First of all, and I think, most importantly, we must live by Sola Scriptura. Scripture Alone. As we are shown in Proverbs 30:5-6, "Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar."
We must cut through the human tradition and read the Word of God for ourselves. Learn Greek and Hebrew if you're able so that we can read the Bible in its original language. Yes, continue to read confessions of faith and other works, but if we fail to personally read the Bible, all of these other sources could be feeding us lies and we would never know it.
In one of Zwingli's sermons titled "Of the Clarity and Certainty of the Word of God" he lays out that the three major attributes of Scripture are the fact that it is powerful, certain, and clear. The Bible alone has the power to change lives: it can crush and destroy you and at the same time it can give you joy rather than sorrow. The Bible is certain. Starting in Genesis 1:1, God says it, and it is. Whatever it is! God said "let there be light. And there was light." If God says it, it will happen. The Bible is also clear because it is taught by God. We have God's Word, and we have the giver of God's Word – the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit quickens our hearts to understand God's Word. Zwingli published a book in 1525 titled "The True and False Religion." This is an accurate title. There is a difference between truth and lies and there is a difference between true religion and false religion. That difference lies in our faithfulness to the Word of God. Zwingli and his colleagues saw Roman Catholicism as false, being built on superstition and human tradition. True religion, they rightly deduced, is derived from the Bible alone.
Hopefully by this point you can see the passion and the reverence that Zwingli held for Scripture. When papists called him a Lutheran he quipped "I do not want to be labeled a Lutheran by the Papists, as it is not Luther who taught me the doctrine of Christ, but the Word of God. If Luther preaches Christ, he does the same thing as I do. Therefore, I will not bear any name save that of my chief, Jesus Christ, whose soldier I am." This should be our battle cry as well. Christ is my rock. Jesus Christ is Lord.
Another lesson we can learn from Zwingli's life is the importance of unity in the Body of Christ. Think of the impact a Luther/Zwingli alliance would have made? If all of the factions of the Reformation had fought against the Catholic Church together rather than going it alone. Zwingli and Luther agreed on every issue discussed during their meeting with Philip of Hess…except the Lord's Supper. As we talked about earlier, Luther held to the "real presence" of Christ above, beneath, and all around the elements of the Lord's Supper (consubstantiation), whereas Zwingli held to the memorial view where the elements are just a memorial to Christ and His work on the cross. What both knew was that the Catholic view of "transubstantiation" was false. Is the proper execution of the Lord's Supper a big deal? Yes. If it wasn't, I don't think we would have spent the past 2-3 months of Sunday School lessons learning about it. The two could not get past this issue. So, what can we learn from this hostility? Should we hold to our convictions? Yes. Are there some differences in beliefs and convictions that we can look past in order to work closely with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ? Absolutely. Sometimes we should go to the grave before changing beliefs on a foundational religious belief (such as Christ being the only Son of God; the sacrificial work of Jesus done on the cross as the only means to salvation; the nature of a Triune Godhead; etc.) But there are other beliefs and convictions that we can work through with other believers – things such as the Lord's Supper, baptism, etc. We don't burn down Sleater-Kinney Baptist Church across the street just because they don't baptize their babies!
As we learned in last Sunday's sermon, we have all been given gifts by the Lord. The Church needs all of these gifts, and the Lord has given us different gifts in order to build up our brothers and sisters in Christ. In Ephesians 4 we are shown that there is one Body in Christ, and we must maintain that unity. "I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." Paul then launches into an explanation of how we all have different spiritual gifts, and how they must be used to build the body, so that, he says in verse 15 we "may grow up in all things into Him who is the head – Christ – from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love."
And really, if you remember nothing else from today's lesson, if you remember nothing else from Ulrich Zwingli's life and teachings, remember that Jesus' yoke is easy and His burden is light. Remember that Zwingli fought to cut through human tradition and root his beliefs in the Word of God. Do not burden yourself with extra-biblical regulations. Do not add human tradition like the Pharisees did, like the Roman Catholic Church did. Do not even make up additional personal laws to hold yourself to. Stick to the Bible. Scripture alone. Christ alone.
Ulrich Zwingli had many portraits painted of himself throughout his lifetime, but the most famous one, painted several years after his death in 1549 (shown on the screen) has him holding the Bible, turned to Matthew 11, which says, "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." This is the truth that Zwingli discovered when he read the Word of God. May we, too, understand that truth. Let us feel the sweetness of His yoke and the lightness of His burden.
http://olympiabp.blogspot.com/2017/10/celebrating-reformation-ulrich-zwingli.html
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