The Testimony of Menno Simons

Menno Simons was an Anabaptist leader in the 16th century. He lived in a time of severe persecution. So severe that some believers thought they should take up the sword and fight back. Menno became known as a leader who stood for turning the other cheek. He and his followers suffered much for their beliefs and for their meek, non-resistant ways. Here are some quotes from Menno on the teaching of the Son of God. He is contrasting his views with the prevailing teachings of his day.

The Testimony of Menno Simons

Reader, consider the Word of your Lord. Christ says that His flesh came from heaven, and the learned ones say that it came from Adam’s flesh. Here are flatly opposite positions. What must the God-fearing conscience do now? If it clings to Christ’s Word and testimony, then it will pass the learned ones for a deceiver and a heretic. But if it adheres to the testimony of the learned ones, then it makes Christ a liar. And seeing that we discover the learned ones and Christ so completely at variance with each other, and since we know Christ to be the guileless truth and all men to be liars, we cannot forsake the truth for falsehood, can we? No, we must turn from falsehood to truth. Let men think of us as they please. God’s Word abides forever. Isa. 40:8; I Peter 1:24.

Quite probably our opponents will attempt an evasion at this point and say, Christ speaks of the most worthy element in Him, for His deity is from heaven and it assumed Adam’s flesh, etc. I reply: Let them believe Christ’s own Word and testimony, then they will realize how they interpret it according to their own desires and not according to the intention and truth of the Christ. For this is what He says, I am that living bread come down from heaven [notice how He says, come down from heaven] and that bread that I will give is my flesh. Notice He does not say, is my deity, but my flesh which I give for the life of the world. It seems to me that Christ has explained His own words quite sufficiently, and the explanations and glosses of the learned ones are unnecessary. But both Christ and John could not speak more plainly of the origin of His holy flesh than they have done in the above passages.

Therefore let everybody be careful how he glosses, for he who falsifies this clear and solid testimony falsifies not a man’s word, but his Lord’s. Neither does he reject us, but the Son of God and His Holy Spirit, and the exalted apostle John, who testified with such plain and clear words, preserved for us in such clarity.

P. 796, Simons, M. The Complete Writings of Menno Simons, 5th edition. (Translated by Verduin, L., Edited by Wenger, J.C., 1986) Scottdale, Pennsylvania: Mennonite Publishing House. (Original works published early to mid 1500s)

With What Body Was Christ Raised?

Claes De Praet was an Anabaptist who was burned at the stake for his beliefs in the year 1556.  Here is an excerpt from his testimony before the religious authorities.

 

On the sixth day, in the forenoon, the jailer came and called me out of the place where I was confined, saying, “Claes, come down, and follow me; and he led the way.

 

My heart kindled within me with joy to the Lord my God; so that all my trouble and anxiety was driven from me, as dust is swept from the street. Then thought I, “O gracious God! now I find that Thou art faithful to Thy promise. Heb. 10:23. Lord, direct now my speech, as Thou hast promised.” Heb. 10:23; Luke 21:14.

 

He then led me into a room, where sat the chief judge with two other judges, the bailiff, and a man with a long beard, who had a large book before him, in which to write.

 

They regarded me very intently, when I entered the room, and I did them great reverence, and bade all of them peace. Rom. 13:7. The jailer placed a chair for me, and said, “Claes, sit down here; it is so ordered.” I sat down with good cheer, the heart lifted up to the Lord my God, forgetful of myself and the things that are in this world.

 

Priest. “You people don’t believe that Christ is God and man.”

 

Claes.”I believe that Christ is true God and man.” Priest. “Do you not believe that Christ is man from Mary’s flesh?”

 

Claes.”No; for if He had become man from. Mary’s natural flesh and blood, He must have had His beginning with Mary; but it is written that He has neither beginning of days, nor end of life. Heb. 7:3. And the Word would not have become flesh, if He had assumed flesh from Mary; nor would He have come in the flesh, as John declares; but He would have come from the flesh, had He assumed it from Mary. John 1:14; II John 7. And it is written: ‘He that confesseth not that Christ is come in the flesh, is that spirit of antichrist.’ I John 4:3. And if He were such a carnal man, He could not have ascended to heaven; for it is written (I Cor. 15:50) that flesh and blood will not inherit the kingdom of God.”[1]

 

Claes – dead yet speaking – makes many important points in his confession.  The one I want to bring your attention to is the last.  If Christ had assumed His flesh from Mary He could not inherit the kingdom of God.  The reason for this is that earthly flesh and blood is corrupt and cannot inherit a kingdom where only righteousness dwells[2].  Hence at the resurrection those in Christ will put on an incorruptible body that they might be made ready to enter the Kingdom of God[3].  But this was not true of Christ Himself.  His flesh was different; the body in which He came and died is the same body in which He inherits the Kingdom of God.  His own plain words and the physical evidence bear witness to this truth.

 

Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up…John 2:19-22.

 

Some believe that Christ walked this earth in an Adamic body of clay and then was resurrected in a different body.  This is contrary to the testimony of Christ himself, who said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it [the same one] up.”

John 2:19  Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

John 2:20  Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?

John 2:21  But he spake of the temple of his body.

John 2:22  When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.

 

Reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side…John 20:26-29

 

The physical evidence at the resurrection makes clear that Christ was resurrected in the same body in which He died.  Thomas was able to see and touch the physical scars that Christ bore from the nails and spear of Calvary.  A different body would not have had these scars.

 

John 20:26  And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.

John 20:27  Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.

John 20:28  And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.

John 20:29  Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

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Jesus was resurrected in the same body in which He died.  His words and the scars on His body testify of this fact.  In the latter days the resurrected Son of God will receive His inheritance from the Father[4].  His flesh had to be different than our corruptible flesh; otherwise Jesus would not be able to inherit His kingdom.

 

Let the scriptures speak

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[1] P. 558, van Braght, T.J. The Bloody Theater or Martyrs Mirror of the Defenseless Christians, 5th edition, 1950. Scottdale, Pennsylvania, Waterloo, Ontario: Herald Press.  (Original work published 1660, translated by Sohm, J.F. 1886)

[2] 1 Corinthians 15:50

[3] 1 Cor. 15:49-54, Philippians 3:20-21

[4] Revelation 5

The Testimony of Jan de Swarte

In the 16th century a group known as Anabaptists were severely persecuted for their faith.  The account below is taken from “The Bloody Theater or Martyrs Mirror of the Defenseless Christians[1]” which chronicles many of their stories. 

 

Pardon the old English and the wordiness, this is taken from the book unabridged.  Please note, in the words of Jan’s son Klaes, why they had to die.

 

Jan de Swarte, a very good-hearted man, of Nipkerke, with his wife and adult children, came to the knowledge of the truth, and united with the church of God. Afterwards he was chosen and ordained a minister of the church, in which ministry he, according to his ability, and in simplicity, so conducted himself (not only in the deaconship, by caring for the poor, but also, according to his gift received from God, in dispensing the Word of the exhortation), that he endeared himself to all that knew him. I Cor. 12:4; II Tim. 2:15.

 

And as the apostle Paul foretold, that all that will live godly in Jesus Christ shall suffer persecution, so he also met with it, on which account he resided in various towns and villages of Flanders, as in Honschote, Rijssel, Wervick, Meenen, and finally at Halewijn, supporting himself mostly with tapeweaving. With his wages he was very benevolent and liberal to the poor, not only to those of the household of faith, but to all in general (II Cor. 8: 1; Gal. 6:10), by which especially he left behind him a good name, to the praise and glory of God, as also by hospitality, as taught in the Scriptures (Romans 12:13), in which he was not negligent, since it appeared that when he was apprehended, there lodged with him a brother from Doornick, named Perceval van den Berge, a native of Zwevegem, and another, who had come from Honschote, whose name was Jan Maes.

 

At that time there resided at Halewijn various other God-fearing brethren and sisters, which being greatly envied by N., the priest of the castle, he betrayed them into the hands of the Dean of Ronse, the inquisitor in Flanders, who, on a Saturday night, the 7th of March, 1563, quietly came thither with a great number of servants, from Rijssel, surrounded several houses, entered them, and apprehended the afore-mentioned Jan de Swarte, with Klaesken his wife and four sons, namely, Klaes, Christian, Hans, and Mahieu (who was only about sixteen years old), and also Perceval van den Berge, and Jan Maes, already mentioned. Besides these he also apprehended one Pieter the shoemaker, with Jacomijntgen his wife, which latter did not remain steadfast. Also, one Heyndrick Aerts the hatter, with Janneken Cabiljaus his wife, and another sister, Kalleken Steens, the wife of a brother whose name was Augustijn.

 

When Jan de Swarte was apprehended, his two younger sons were not present, but came in the meantime. When they came to the house the neighbors warned them, that those who apprehended their father and mother were in the house. The one said to the other, “Do not let us flee, but let us die with father and mother.” In the meantime Jan de Swarte was led out of the house a prisoner, and seeing his sons, he said to them, “Children, do you want to go along to the New Jerusalem?” They replied, “Yes, father;” and were thus led captive with them.

 

The inquisitor brought them all prisoners to Rijssel, and there had them very closely confined in the castle. Jan was put into a hole by himself, which was called the”Paradise,” and was so small that he could neither stand upright in it, nor lie down full length.

 

It happened one day that divers brethren and sisters, prompted by love and compassion, had come from without the city, and were standing over against the castle, calling to the prisoners over the fortification, for their consolation, that among them there was one brother named Herman, who being noticed by one of the beadles of the town, who came out secretly, was also apprehended.

 

After an imprisonment of ten days, the inquisitor delivered these prisoners into the hands of the secular authorities, who first took out Jan de Swarte with his son Klaes, Pieter, the shoemaker, Hendrick Aerts, the hatter, Percival van den Berg, and Jan Maes, all six of whom, because they valiantly and steadfastly adhered to the divine truth, they sentenced to death, and took them in a wagon to the marketplace, where stood the scaffold, provided with earth and stakes. There they were taken up one after another, and two and two fastened to a stake.

 

As they were going to death, the clock struck. John asked what time it was. He was told that it was four o’clock. He consoled himself with this, saying, “At five o’clock we hope to be in our lodging or resting place.” His son Klaes, said, “We have to die for the reason that we believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of the eternal God, is from heaven and not of the earth.”

 

Pieter was gagged, to prevent him from speaking. When they stood at the stakes, wood and straw were placed around them, to which fire was then set, and they were thus burnt alive to ashes.

 

A few days afterwards also Klaesken, the wife of Jan de Swarte, with her three sons, and Herman, because they adhered immovably to the love of God, were all five sentenced to death by the authorities, and also burned alive to ashes, persevering unto the end as valiant witnesses of Christ.

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[1] van Braght, T.J., pp. 664-665, The Bloody Theater or Martyrs Mirror of the Defenseless Christians, 5th edition, 1950. Scottdale, Pennsylvania, Waterloo, Ontario: Herald Press. (Original work published 1660, translated by Sohm, J.F. 1886)