. . . and Rejection of Baptismal Regeneration as its Antidote
I cite The Latin Works of Huldreich Zwingli, Volume Two, edited by William John Hinke and translated by Henry Preble (revised by Hinke), Philadelphia: The Heidelberg Press, 1922. I am specifically addressing a treatise written by Huldreich Zwingli (1484-1531), entitled, Declaration Regarding Original Sin, Addressed to Urbanus Rhegius (15 August, 1526), on pages 1-32. Urbanus Rhegius (1489-1541) was a Lutheran theologian.
Zwingli’s words will be in blue. I use RSV for biblical citations.
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I already addressed this question 19 years ago, citing scholars and Philip Melanchthon, who acknowledge that Zwingli was outside the Protestant mainstream on this issue. Now I am examining his own arguments. The editor writes on page 1:
This pamphlet was in answer to a letter of Rhegius to Zwingli, which has not been discovered thus far. (See Zwingli’s Werke, Vol. VIII. (1914), 633, note 4). Rhegius had some doubts as to the soundness of Zwingli’s views regarding original sin. This appears from a letter which he wrote on January 14, 1526, to Ambrose Blaurer of Constance, in which he expressed himself rather vigorously: “I am sorry Zwingli was not at Baden [i. e., the Baden Disputation, May 21-June 18, 1526]. He would have defeated all the Papists once for all, except in the matter of original sin, which he seems to treat in a very unsound fashion. . . .”
You are not the only one who thinks that I hold and write an unusual doctrine with regard to the pollution of human descent. There are other great men who entertain the same idea. (p. 2)
I will, therefore, with the help of Christ, try to make all men see clearly that what I have said upon this matter briefly but plainly, was not said at random or without authority from the sacred Scriptures; and that, on the other hand, much has been said by many people in regard to this matter which has little foundation in the truly sacred [canonical] writings (p. 3)
Note hat he is disagreeing not just with Catholics, but also his fellow Protestants.
What could be said more feebly or more at variance with the canonical Scriptures than that this disaster was relieved by the water of baptism, . . .(p. 3)
Hence he denies baptismal regeneration as well.
We often say we do not understand a thing when we do not want to understand it. (p. 3)
Truer words were never written!
I have said that the original contamination of man is a disease, not a sin, because sin implies guilt, and guilt comes from a transgression or trespass on the part of one who designedly perpetrates a deed. . . . The sin involved in the wrong-doing of our first parent is called “original sin,” not in the real sense of the words but metaphorically, and is nothing else than a condition, wretched to be sure, but much milder than the crime deserved. (p. 5)
1 Corinthians 15:21-22 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. [22] For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
Romans 5:12, 14-21 . . . sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned — . . . [14] Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. [15] But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. [16] And the free gift is not like the effect of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brings justification. [17] If, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. [18] Then as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men. [19] For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous. [20] Law came in, to increase the trespass; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, [21] so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Psalm 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
“Death” above refers to spiritual death, which will lead to damnation if not rectified by God’s grace and Jesus’ death on the cross on our behalf. This is hardly a “milder” offense. In fact, it’s the same rebellion against God that the devil and his demons committed. But there is more here. Adam represented the entire human race in some mysterious sense; hence “in Adam all die.” We were there committing the rebellion with him. It was a corporate fall of all mankind.
The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, in its article on “Original Sin,” explaining St. Thomas Aquinas’s conception (p. 1011), states:
Acc. to St. Thomas, Original Sin is transmitted not as the personal fault of Adam but as a state of human nature, yet constituting a fault inasmuch as all men are regarded as members of one great organism of which Adam was the first mover. Thus through his sin his descendants incur a culpability similar to that of the hand which executes a murder, moved by the human will. The instrument of transmission is generation.
The dominion of the devil is a result of original sin; it caused a catastrophic cosmic disorder (Gen 3:15; Jn 12:31; 14:30; 2 Cor 4:4; Heb 2:14; 2 Pet 2:19). That’s why the theological liberals who deny original sin (if not sin itself) invariably deny the existence of the devil and evil.
Romans 7:5, 13-25 While we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. . . . [13] Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, working death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. [14] We know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin. [15] I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. [16] Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. [17] So then it is no longer I that do it, but sin which dwells within me. [18] For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. [19] For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. [20] Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin which dwells within me. [21] So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. [22] For I delight in the law of God, in my inmost self, [23] but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members. [24] Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? [25] Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I of myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
St. Paul provides the solution in chapter 8: life in the Holy Spirit. He had also described the way we receive the Spirit and overcome original sin: through baptism, in the chapter before:
Romans 6:3-11 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? [4] We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. [5] For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. [6] We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. [7] For he who has died is freed from sin. [8] But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. [9] For we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. [10] The death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. [11] So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
St. Paul didn’t specifically mention receiving the Holy Spirit as a result of baptism in the above passage, but he did in three other passages, as did St. Luke, St. Peter, and our Lord Jesus Himself (Jn 3:5 further below):
Acts 2:38 And Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’
Acts 9:17-18 So Anani’as departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” [18] And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized,
1 Corinthians 12:13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — Jews or Greeks, slaves or free — and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
1 Corinthians 6:11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
Titus 3:5 He saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit . . .
Zwingli asserts over and over that original sin is not truly sin. He proclaims, referring to what orthodox Christianity calls original sin, “When, therefore, it is called “sin” in the Scriptures, it is clear enough, I think, that this is done by metonymy” (p. 6). Merriam-Webster defines “metonymy” as “a figure of speech consisting of the use of the name of one thing for that of another.”
How is it, then, that Paul constantly refers to “sin” and spiritual “death” in relation to Adam’s disobedience (Romans 5:12-21 above). If it doesn’t place us in a state whereby we need salvation, why does Paul write that “as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men” and “by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous” (Rom 5:18-19).
Clearly, it is very serious sin (not a mere metonymy); we all partook of it, and the consequences are spiritual death and ultimate damnation if we don’t accept God’s solution for it. If Paul isn’t referring to both actual and original sin in Romans 5-7, then sin is never discussed in Scripture. That’s how strong the references are.
It is nowhere written, “He that is not baptized, is damned;” . . . (p. 11)
Everlasting life has nowhere been promised on the terms that unless one has been circumcised or baptized he shall in no wise attain it, there is no reason why we should at random consign to the lower regions them that have not been marked by these signs. . . . Nor did Christ say, “He that is not baptized, shall not be saved. (p. 12)
That’s not true. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless a man is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (Jn 3:5). To not be in the kingdom, if this extends to one’s afterlife, is to be damned in hell.
Many assertions of the parallel contrary also teach essentially the same thing. In other words, if the Bible repeatedly says that baptism is necessary for salvation, it follows by inexorable logic that the contrary (minus a few clearly laid-out exceptions) is also true: one who lacks baptism is in danger of possible damnation. The Bible has at least fourteen passages that assert baptismal regeneration. The Bible says that we are “saved” by baptism (Mk 16:16; Titus 3:5; 1 Pet 3:21), and that through it “souls” are “added” to the Church and the kingdom (Acts 2:41), that we “may live a new life” as a result of it (Rom 6:4), and that we are “sanctified” and “justified” (1 Cor 6:11) and regenerated (Titus 3:5) by baptism. We also “put on Christ” when we are baptized (Gal 3:27).
In the Old Testament, since the time of Abraham (even before the Law was given) circumcision was required of all male Jews, or else they would be “cut off” from the community (basically the OT equivalent of being lost or damned, failing repentance):
Genesis 17:14 Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.
Ezekiel 31:18 . . . You shall be brought down with the trees of Eden to the nether world; you shall lie among the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword.
Paul argues that circumcision was the prototype of baptism:
Colossians 2:11-13 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ; [12] and you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. [13] And you, who were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
Zwingli does at least qualify his objection to original sin:
In the book upon Baptism I bore witness that I was speaking only of the children of Christians, saying that the original guilt could not damn them. The book itself plainly bears witness to this in two passages. . . . This I have added simply because I am sure about the children of Christians, that they are not damned by original sin; as to those of others I am less sure, . . . (p. 18)
This is contrary to the many biblical statements that I recited above, especially 1 Corinthians 15:22: “in Adam all die.” Zwingli seems to not understand the corporate nature of the fall of man. Thus, it matters not whose children particular children are. And there is a reason that baptism is urged upon all. It is to wipe out the penalties of original sin and to offer many other graces.
The condition of those who are born of Christian parents is on a par with that of those who were descended from Abraham. But the original disease did not destroy these; therefore, this disease will not destroy the others, I mean ours. The first proposition I prove thus: Those who are of the same Church are under the same condition, just as those who belong to the same commonwealth, share the same fortunes. (p. 19)
As I have already shown, they had to be circumcised, just as Christians now need to be baptized. If they can’t for some reason (the thief on the cross), or have never heard of it, then there are exceptions. Paul in Romans 2 discusses that. God knows everyone’s heart, and He is merciful and desires that none perish. In Zwingli’s time this thought was a lot less developed, but there was still the notion of limbo for unbaptized infants, not automatic damnation. But limbo was never a dogma.
Today it’s the Calvinists — not Catholics — who teach that even babies who have never heard the gospel will go to hell. That’s not to mention anti-Catholicism, whereby Catholics who actually believe all that the Church teaches will be damned. I was in a Calvinist forum once and some folks there were so sure I was damned, simply because I was a Catholic (even though Calvin stated that no one could know that), that one person said no one should even pray for me. See my articles:
Matthew 3:7-10 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sad’ducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? [8] Bear fruit that befits repentance, [9] and do not presume to say to yourselves, `We have Abraham as our father’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. [10] Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Jesus even said that some of these children of Abraham would be damned:
Matthew 8:11-12 I tell you, many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, [12] while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.”
This was after he said that a Roman centurion had more faith than could be found in Israel. Jesus and Paul made it clear that those who will be saved, have to do good works, lest they lose their salvation and justification:
Matthew 7:18-21 A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. [19] Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. [20] Thus you will know them by their fruits. [21] “Not every one who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.. . .
Matthew 19:16-17, 20-21 And behold, one came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life?” [17] And he said to him, “. . . If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” . . . [20] The young man said to him, “All these I have observed; what do I still lack?” [21] Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” (in the parallel passage Lk 10:27 the ruler says, “. . . You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And Jesus replied, “You have answered right; do this, and you will live.”)
Matthew 25:34-35, 41-43, 46 Then the King will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; [35] for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, . . . [41] Then he will say to those at his left hand, `Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; [42] for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, [43] I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ . . . [46] And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Luke 3:9 (+ Mt 3:10; 7:19) . . . every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Romans 2:6-10, 13 For he will render to every man according to his works: [7] to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; [8] but for those who are factious and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness, there will be wrath and fury. [9] There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, [10] but glory and honor and peace for every one who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. . . . [13] For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.
See 100 biblical passages against “faith alone.”
It is easily proved that absolutely no sin is taken away by the washing of baptism. For Christ the Lamb taketh away the sins of the world. And I John 2: 2, cries out thus: “He is the propitiation for our sins ; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” Also chapter 1 : 7, “The blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin.” He who says, “from all,” omits nothing. The blood, therefore, cleanseth from original sin also, not the washing of baptism. . . . Otherwise the death of Christ were superfluous, if by corporeal things the incorporeal substance of the soul could be purified. (p. 27)
The Bible states otherwise. There is no dichotomy or contradiction between “Jesus’ death brought about forgiveness of our sins” and “baptism is the means that God also uses by which original sin is removed”:
Acts 2:38: And Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins . . .”
Acts 22:16 “And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name.”
Zwingli, like the foolish anti-traditionalist he is, thumbs his nose at the Church fathers and their views on original sin and baptism and remarkably accuses them of carnal rather than spiritual thinking. He knows more than all of them:
This is what for some time, most learned Urbanus, I have been turning over in my mind about original sin. I have at times also looked into the ancient writers on this matter, but how dark and involved their utterances are, not to say, based upon human rather than celestial teaching, I think you also will remark when you go to them again. I have had no leisure to go back to them for several years. (p. 30)
For on what testimony of Scripture, pray, does it rest that by baptism original sin is taken away or grace conferred, . . .? (pp. 30-31)
I have provided ample “testimony.”
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