{"id":91781,"date":"2025-06-11T14:02:42","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T18:02:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?p=91781"},"modified":"2025-06-11T14:21:06","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T18:21:06","slug":"luther-melanchthon-lutherans-death-to-anabaptists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2025\/06\/luther-melanchthon-lutherans-death-to-anabaptists.html","title":{"rendered":"Luther, Melanchthon, & Lutherans: Death to Anabaptists!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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Martin Luther\u2019s words will be in green<\/span>; Philip Melanchthon\u2019s in blue<\/span>.<\/p>\n

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I\u2019ve written and spoken in videos about this many times before:<\/p>\n

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Luther Favored the Death Penalty for Anabaptists\u00a0<\/a>[2-24-04]<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Philip Melanchthon: Death for Denying the Real Presence (He Later Denied the Real Presence\u00a0Himself<\/em>)\u00a0<\/a>[5-23-06]<\/div>\n
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Lord Acton: Philip Melanchthon Persecuted Eucharistic Heretics<\/a>\u00a0[5-29-06]<\/div>\n
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Luther: Death Penalty for Anabaptists & 1525 Peasants\u2019 Revolt (Critique of James Swan\u2019s Misrepresentation on the Radio Show,\u00a0Iron Sharpens Iron<\/em>, with Chris Arnzen)<\/a>\u00a0[11-6-07]<\/div>\n
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Reply to Reformed Luther Apologist James Swan\u2019s Request for Documentation of Executions of Anabaptists Sanctioned by Luther, in the 1530s<\/a>\u00a0[8-17-14]<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Luther Favored Execution of Heretics (vs. Jordan Cooper) + Good & Bad Protestant & Catholic Apologetics & Historical Revisionism & \u201cTwisting\u201d<\/a>\u00a0[3-21-24]<\/div>\n
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James Swan Rationalizes Luther\u2019s Intolerance Again<\/a>\u00a0[11-22-24]<\/div>\n
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Luther: Execute Frigid Wives; Torture & Burn Witches: Including Two Examples of Luther\u2019s Espousal of Capital Punishment for Wrong or Aberrant Behavior Prior to 1530<\/a>\u00a0[4-7-25]
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VIDEO: Did Martin Luther Support the DEATH PENALTY for Heretics?<\/a>\u00a0[Lux Veritatis<\/em>, 5-1-25]<\/div>\n
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Philip Melanchthon<\/a> was Martin Luther\u2019s best friend, associate, and successor as the leader of early Lutheranism. I ran across further related information in volume one of the two-volume set, which I have in hardcover in my own library, Toleration and the Reformation<\/em><\/a> (Joseph Lecler, S.J., New York: Association Press, 1960, from the 1955 French edition; translated by T. L. Westow):<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In 1530, in a letter to Myconius<\/a>, Melanchthon did not hesitate to admit: \u2018My opinion is that those who proclaim tenets that are frankly blasphemous, even if they are not rebels, should be done to death by the civil authority.\u2019<\/span> [Epist. Melanchthon<\/em>, lib. 5, n. 664; Corpus Reformatorum<\/em> (C. R.<\/em>), t. II, c. 18] Melanchthon\u2019s case is a strange one, for this great humanist, whose conciliatory tendencies are common knowledge, was one of the most determined partisans of the death-penalty for the Anabaptists.<\/div>\n
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Although more than hesitant at first, Luther found himself carried along by his friend\u2019s opinion. In this same year, 1530, in his exposition of Psalm 82 [83], he recalled. when speaking of the serious forms of heresy, the terrible penalties extracted by Jewish law against those who blaspheme in public. Then he went on:<\/div>\n
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But there are other heretics who dare teach matters contrary to the faith as it is clearly founded on the Scriptures and professed by all Christendom, such as the articles which children are taught in the Creed. Theses heretics presume to teach among other things that Christ is not God, but only man; that he is therefore only a prophet like any other, as the Turks and the Anabaptists maintain. Such people should not be tolerated, but punished as public blasphemers. . . . Moses lays down in his law that such blasphemers, and all false teachers, should be stoned.<\/span> [Weimar Werke<\/em>, t. XXXI, 1, pp. 208-209]<\/div>\n
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. . . The following year, 1531, he formally approved the document which the theologians of Wittenberg had sent to Johann Frederick, elector of Saxony, on the question: Should Anabaptists be punished by the sword?<\/span> [C. R.<\/em> , t. IV, cc. 737-740] Melanchthon, who had prepared it, observed first that there were certain heretics whose teaching was conducive to rebellion against the princes. They could therefore be treated as rebels:<\/div>\n
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One must . . . consider as blasphemy and sedition the fact that public preaching is condemned , , , and that the Church is rejected in every way. It is intolerable blasphemy . . . to teach that one should seek other ways of sanctification, without preaching and without a minister of the Church. This implies destruction of the Church and sedition against the clerical status. Such an attempt must be prevented and repressed like any other sedition. . . . The prince is indeed bound by the second commandment to protect and to support the public ministry, that is, the ecclesiastical status. We may therefore conclude that my gracious Lord is entitled to apply to them in good conscience the penalties laid down by the [Justinian] Code, law II (L. I, tit. 5).<\/span> [C. R<\/em>., t. IV, c. 739]<\/div>\n
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Melanchthon, therefore, clearly demands capital punishment, even for peaceful Anabaptists, and now Luther formally gave his placet<\/em> to the document: Placet mini Martino Luthero<\/em>. . . .<\/div>\n
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There still exists another contemporary document on the Anabaptists, drawn up by the Wittenberg theologians in 1536. Signed by Luther, Johann Bugenhagen<\/a>, Melanchthon, and Kaspar Creutziger<\/a>, it was written in reply to a question put by the Landgrave Philip of Hesse to these theologians: What should be done with the Anabaptists who had just been arrested? A few months before, several of those heretics had been executed in Jena on the advice of Melanchthon. The 1536 document bore the title: \u2018Are Christian princes bound to repress the Anabaptists, an anti-Christian sect, by corporal punishment and even by the sword?\u2019<\/span> [Werke<\/em>, t. L, pp. 9 ff.] The reply is in the affirmative, even in the case of heretics whose teaching is not seditious, but only contrary to essential points of the faith:<\/div>\n
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Everyone is bound to prevent and repress blasphemy according to his status and function. By virtue of this commandment princes and civil authorities have the power and the duty to abolish unlawful cults, and to establish orthodox teaching and worship. The same commandment teaches them, moreover, to repress the public teaching of false doctrines and to punish the obdurate. Concerning this point the text of Leviticus applies (24:16): \u2018he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, dying let him die.\u2019<\/span> [Werke<\/em>, t. L, p. 12] . . .<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Princes must not only protect the goods and material existence of their subjects, but their most essential function is to promote the honour of God, to repress their blasphemy and idolatry. That is why in the Old Testament the kings and not only the Jewish kings, but also kings converted from paganism, had the false prophets , together with the idolaters, put to death. Such examples apply to the function of princes, as St. Paul also teaches: \u2018The law is good, for the chastisement of the blasphemers\u2019 [cf. 1 Tim. 1:8-9]. . . .\u00a0It is clear that the public authority is bound to repress blasphemy, false doctrine and heresy, and to inflict corporal punishment on those that support such things.<\/span> [Werke<\/em>, t. L, p. 13] [Lecler, Vol. 1, 161-163]<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Practical Matters<\/strong><\/em>:\u00a0 I run the most comprehensive \u201cone-stop\u201d Catholic apologetics site:\u00a0rated #1\u00a0for Christian sites<\/a>\u00a0by leading AI tool, ChatGPT \u2014 endorsed by popular Protestant blogger Adrian Warnock. Perhaps some of my 5,000+ free online articles or\u00a0fifty-six books<\/a>\u00a0have helped you (by God\u2019s grace) to decide to\u00a0become a Catholic <\/a>or to\u00a0return to the Catholic Church<\/a>, or better understand some doctrines and\u00a0why<\/em>\u00a0we believe them<\/a>. If you believe my\u00a0full-time apostolate<\/a>\u00a0is worth supporting, please seriously consider a much-needed monthly or one-time financial contribution. \u201cThe laborer is worthy of his wages\u201d (1 Tim 5:18, NKJV).<\/div>\n
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Photo Credit<\/strong>: copyright Lux Veritatis<\/em>, 2025.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Summary<\/em>: Martin Luther, the founder of Protestantism, and his successor, Philip Melanchthon, & other early Lutheran leaders, advocated the death penalty for even peaceful Anabaptists.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Martin Luther\u2019s words will be in green; Philip Melanchthon\u2019s in blue. \u00a0 I\u2019ve written and spoken in videos about this many times before: Luther Favored the Death Penalty for Anabaptists\u00a0[2-24-04] * Philip Melanchthon: Death for Denying the Real Presence (He Later Denied the Real Presence\u00a0Himself)\u00a0[5-23-06] * Lord Acton: Philip Melanchthon Persecuted Eucharistic Heretics\u00a0[5-29-06] * Luther: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2331,"featured_media":91069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[415,23,831],"tags":[19991,19985,19864,19994,19988,19861],"class_list":["post-91781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lutheranism","category-martin-luther","category-protestant-persecution-intolerance","tag-early-lutherans-religious-persecution","tag-luther-capital-punishment-for-heretics","tag-luther-the-death-penalty-for-heretics","tag-melanchthon-the-death-penalty-for-heretics","tag-melanchthons-religious-intolerance","tag-protestant-persecution-and-intolerance"],"yoast_head":"\nLuther, Melanchthon, & Lutherans: Death to Anabaptists!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Martin Luther, the founder of Protestantism, and his successor, Philip Melanchthon, & other early Lutheran leaders, advocated the death penalty for 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Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \\\"This Rock\\\" (now called \\\"Catholic Answers Magazine\\\"), \\\"Envoy Magazine\\\" (Patrick Madrid), \\\"The Catholic Answer,\\\" \\\"The Coming Home Journal,\\\" \\\"Gilbert Magazine\\\" (American Chesterton Society), and \\\"The Latin Mass.\\\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \\\"The Michigan Catholic\\\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \\\"Envoy Magazine.\\\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \\\"Catholic Answers Live\\\" (twice), \\\"Faith and Family Live\\\" (Steve Wood), \\\"Kresta in the Afternoon,\\\" \\\"Son Rise Morning Show,\\\" \\\"Catholic Connection\\\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \\\"The Catholics Next Door.\\\" His large and popular website, \\\"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\\\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \\\"Envoy Magazine.\\\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \\\"index\\\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \\\"Surprised by Truth\\\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \\\"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\\\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \\\"The Catholic Verses\\\" (2004), \\\"The One-Minute Apologist\\\" (2007), \\\"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\\\" (2009), \\\"The Quotable Newman\\\" (editor: 2012), and \\\"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\\\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \\\"The New Catholic Answer Bible\\\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \\\"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\\\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \\\"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\\\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \\\"Quotable Wesley\\\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. 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Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \"This Rock\" (now called \"Catholic Answers Magazine\"), \"Envoy Magazine\" (Patrick Madrid), \"The Catholic Answer,\" \"The Coming Home Journal,\" \"Gilbert Magazine\" (American Chesterton Society), and \"The Latin Mass.\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \"The Michigan Catholic\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \"Envoy Magazine.\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \"Catholic Answers Live\" (twice), \"Faith and Family Live\" (Steve Wood), \"Kresta in the Afternoon,\" \"Son Rise Morning Show,\" \"Catholic Connection\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \"The Catholics Next Door.\" His large and popular website, \"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \"Envoy Magazine.\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \"index\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \"Surprised by Truth\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \"The Catholic Verses\" (2004), \"The One-Minute Apologist\" (2007), \"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\" (2009), \"The Quotable Newman\" (editor: 2012), and \"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \"The New Catholic Answer Bible\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \"Quotable Wesley\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. They have three sons and a daughter, and reside in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit).","sameAs":["https:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@LuxVeritatisApologetics"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/author\/davearmstrong"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}