“Only Those Who Reform”: The First Adult Baptisms in Zürich and the Birth of the Free Church (1525)

**Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and a few others kneeling in prayer**

On a cold January night in 1525, a handful of young believers gathered in a house in Zürich to pray. They had been students and allies of the reformer Huldrych Zwingli, but now they were disillusioned. The city council moved slowly. Infant baptism continued. Church reform seemed chained to politics.

So they opened the New Testament. They read of people who repented, believed, and were then baptized. One of them, Felix Manz, had written to the Zürich authorities a year earlier:

“Only those should be baptized who reform, take on a new life, lay aside sins, are buried with Christ, and rise with him from baptism into a new life.”

That night, after earnest prayer, George Blaurock turned to Conrad Grebel and asked him to baptize him “upon his faith and knowledge.” Grebel did so. Then Blaurock in turn baptized the others gathered there. These were among the first adult baptisms of the Reformation era.

They believed they were not rejecting Christ, but taking His words more seriously:

“Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins… Those who accepted his message were baptized.”

They wanted a church made up of conscious followers, not everyone born in a parish. In doing so, they lit a fuse that would explode into persecution, martyrdom—and, centuries later, a powerful legacy of religious liberty.

Timeline: From Zürich House Church to Persecuted Movement

1523–1524 – Zwingli’s circle debates Scripture and reform; Grebel and Manz grow uneasy about the slow pace and the role of the city council.
Sept 1524 – Grebel writes against infant baptism; Dec 1524 – Manz tells Zürich lords that only those who “take on a new life” should be baptized.
Jan 21, 1525 – In a house in Zürich, Grebel baptizes Blaurock, who baptizes the others; the Swiss Anabaptist movement is born.
1525 – Baptisms spread to Zollikon and surrounding villages; a simple believers’ church forms, separate from the state church.
March 1526 – Zürich council decrees that adult rebaptism is punishable by drowning.
Jan 5, 1527 – Felix Manz is drowned in the Limmat River, the first Swiss Anabaptist martyr at Protestant hands.
Feb 1527 – At Schleitheim, Swiss Brethren adopt a confession outlining believer’s baptism, separation from state churches, and nonviolence.

From this tiny beginning, Anabaptism spread, but always as a small, hunted movement.

Why Adult Baptism? Scripture, Discipleship, and a Free Church

For Grebel, Manz, and the “Swiss Brethren”, baptism wasn’t a civil ceremony. It was a covenant sign for those who had:

Repented and turned from sin.
Believed the gospel.
Chosen to follow Jesus in a new life.

Manz wrote:

“Only those should be baptized who reform, take on a new life, lay aside sins, are buried with Christ, and rise with him from baptism into a new life.”

They looked at Scriptures where people:

Heard the message.
Believed.
Were then baptized—often immediately.

They concluded:

Baptism was for disciples, not for infants who could not yet believe.
The church was to be an intentional community of believers.
Faith could not be compelled by birth, law, or sword.

“The main impetus of the idea of religious liberty for the Anabaptists was the application of the New Testament standard of the Christian church, which was an independent congregation of believers marked only by adult baptism.”

By insisting that baptism followed personal faith, they implicitly affirmed freedom of conscience and church–state separation:

If you must personally consent to be baptized, no magistrate can automatically count you as Christian.
The church is not the same as the population; it is a gathered body of those who’ve responded to Christ.

Zwingli and Zürich: From Colleagues to Persecutors

**left: Zwingli preaching in Grossmünster; right: small Anabaptist gathering in a home, passing bread and cup**

Zwingli, Grebel, and Manz all began wanting Scripture at the center. Zwingli’s lectio continua preaching had shaped their hunger for the Word.

But they diverged on how reform should proceed:

Zwingli worked with the city council, believing magistrates should guide reform.
Grebel and Manz felt the council was dragging its feet, compromising clear obedience.
They argued that Christ, not the council, is head of the church, and that His commands—like forming a believers’ church—cannot wait on politics.

“This small group… began meeting in secret in January 1525 to study the Bible after disagreeing with Zwingli and the Zurich City Council over the role of civic authorities in religious reforms.”

Zürich responded with laws:

Outlawing unsanctioned meetings.
Requiring infant baptism.
Making adult baptism a capital offense.

On Jan 5, 1527, Felix Manz, only 28, was tied and drowned in the Limmat with the words:

“Whoever baptizes again will be treated likewise.”

A plaque now marks the spot:

“Here in the middle of the River Limmat from a fishing platform were drowned Felix Manz and five other Anabaptists during the Reformation…”

The tragedy is stark: those who had learned to love Scripture under Zwingli now died at his city’s command—for trying to obey Scripture as they understood it.

The Free Church and Religious Liberty: Small Numbers, Lasting Impact

Anabaptists were always a minority:

One study of court records finds only about 12,522 Anabaptists documented in 16th‑century South/Central Germany, Switzerland, and Austria.
Yet they populated over 2,000 towns and villages in that region.

Despite their small size, their ideas proved explosive:

They insisted the church must be voluntary, not established by law.
They rejected using state power to enforce faith.
They taught nonviolence and refusal to swear oaths, separating their allegiance to Christ from earthly powers.

Christian History Magazine notes:

“Anabaptists are the originators of the ‘free church.’ Separation of church and state was an unthinkable and radical notion when it was introduced by the Anabaptists.”

A modern thesis puts it this way:

“The idea of religious liberty and the realization of that ideal… by the Anabaptists… was considered to be revolutionary in a society characterized by the union of church and state.”

Over time, their descendants—Mennonites, Hutterites, Amish, and others—helped seed:

Traditions of religious liberty and freedom of conscience.
Models of communities that live distinctly from the state, yet serve the common good.
In places like North America, they helped normalize the idea that people can live under the same laws while belonging to different churches—or none.

Today, core American principles like no established church, freedom of worship, and conscience protections echo themes first lived out, at great cost, by people who insisted that only those who personally believe should be baptized.

Realism: Suffering, Weakness, and Human Flaws

The Swiss Anabaptist story is not romantic.

They were harshly persecuted by both Catholics and Protestants.
Many were imprisoned, exiled, or executed—by drowning, burning, or the sword.
Some groups became sectarian, withdrawing from broader social engagement.

At times they struggled with:

Rigid legalism within their own communities.
Suspicion of education and broader culture.
Division over details of practice.

Yet the New Testament itself says God chooses the “weak things of the world to shame the strong.” Their suffering bears witness:

To the Father’s care for those who refuse to save their lives at the cost of conscience.
To the Son’s path of cross‑shaped, nonviolent faithfulness.
To the Spirit’s power to sustain small, scattered communities in hope.

Lessons for Today: Baptism, Freedom, and the Trinity’s Work

What might God be saying through these first adult baptisms of 1525?

Faith Cannot Be Forced
Baptism that follows personal trust in Christ embodies a truth central to the Triune God: Love does not coerce. The Father draws, the Son invites, the Spirit convicts—but none override the will by force.
Church and State Must Not Be Confused
The Swiss Brethren saw that when citizenship = baptism, the church becomes a tool of the state. Their costly witness pushed history toward the idea of a free church in a free state, foundational for Western and American life.
Small Obediences Can Have Huge Consequences
A handful of people in a Zürich living room, praying and obeying their conscience, helped shape centuries of thinking about conscience, community, and liberty. Ordinary believers, listening together to Scripture, can participate in God’s long work of renewing societies.
We Must Hold Truth and Love Together
Zwingli’s resort to coercion—and later Protestant persecutions of Anabaptists—show how easily reformers can betray their own principles. Today, any time Christians use political or social pressure to crush opponents rather than persuade and serve, we repeat those sins.

Summary

On January 21, 1525, in Zürich, Conrad Grebel baptized George Blaurock “upon his faith and knowledge,” and Blaurock then baptized the others present. Together with Felix Manz, they believed that “only those should be baptized who reform, take on a new life, lay aside sins, are buried with Christ, and rise with him from baptism into a new life.” Their insistence on believers’ baptism marked a decisive break from a state‑church model where everyone was baptized as an infant and considered Christian by birth. Though quickly outlawed, and with Manz drowned in the Limmat in 1527 for refusing to recant, the Swiss Anabaptists helped birth the free church, pioneering ideas of religious liberty, church–state separation, and the necessity of personal faith. Their small, persecuted communities became seeds for movements like the Mennonites and Hutterites, and their principles influenced later Western—and especially American—convictions about freedom of conscience and voluntary faith. Their story, with its courage and its imperfections, calls the Church today to honor the Triune God by holding together truth, love, and freedom as we baptize, build community, and engage a broken world.

Thomas Müntzer, the Peasants’ Revolt: When the Sword Replaces the Cross

In 1524–1525, Germany exploded. Hundreds of thousands of peasants, miners, weavers, artisans, and vagrants rose up against crushing taxes, serfdom, and feudal abuses. Their demands were gathered in the famous Twelve Articles, a program that some scholars now call “the first draft of human rights and civil liberties” on European soil since ancient times. They wanted fair rents, local control over pastors, common use of forests and streams, and relief from arbitrary lordly power.

Into this revolt stepped Thomas Müntzer (c. 1489–1525), a radical reformer and pastor who believed that the Holy Spirit was calling the poor to destroy tyrants and establish a new, godly order. Under torture before his execution, Müntzer reportedly confessed he had roused the peasants “in order that Christianity should make all men equal”, insisting that nobles who refused to share their goods “according to need” should lose their heads.

He quoted Jesus’ words, “I did not come to bring peace, but a sword,” and asked, “What must you do with that sword? Only one thing… drive out and destroy the evil ones who stand in the way of the Gospel.” For many, he became the “theologian of revolution”—a man who tried to turn the cross into a weapon.

This article will:

Tell the story of Müntzer and the Peasants’ War with historical clarity.
Explore how he interpreted God’s Story of Grace and where he went tragically wrong.
Show how the revolt both advanced and distorted longings for freedom and justice that echo into the modern West and America.
Draw lessons about the Triune God, politics, and violence in a fractured world.

Timeline: The Peasants’ War and Müntzer’s Role

1517 – Martin Luther publishes the Ninety-Five Theses; reformation debates begin.
Early 1520s – Economic hardship, new taxes, and feudal abuses fuel unrest in rural Germany.
Summer 1524 – Peasant uprisings begin in southwest Germany; religious ideas from the Reformation mix with old social grievances.
Feb–Mar 1525 – Peasants draft the Twelve Articles in Memmingen, presenting grievances and appealing to the gospel; the text spreads widely via printing.
1524–1525 – Thomas Müntzer preaches radical sermons, urging the poor to become God’s instrument of judgment; organizes a “covenant” of the elect.
May 15, 1525 – Battle of Frankenhausen: Müntzer leads a poorly armed peasant army; they are crushed by princely troops.
May 27, 1525 – Müntzer is executed after torture.
By 1526 – The revolt is brutally suppressed; perhaps 100,000 peasants killed; lords tighten control.

Historian James Stayer has called the Peasants’ War the “expression of the Reformation in the countryside”—a tragic, violent outworking of spiritual and social upheavals unleashed by the Reformation.

Thomas Müntzer: From Reformer to Revolutionary

Müntzer began as a reformer:

He studied theology, influenced by Luther but also by mystics and apocalyptic thinkers.
He served as a pastor in Zwickau, where he clashed with town authorities and developed an ever more radical vision of the Spirit’s work.
He believed that true Christians must experience the inner work of the Spirit and that God was about to overthrow the wicked and inaugurate a new age.

His sermons burned with concern for the poor:

“The worst of all the ills on earth is that no one wants to concern themselves with the poor. The rich do as they wish… Our lords and princes encourage theft and robbery… When the poor man takes even the slightest thing, he has to hang.”

He saw princes and exploitative clergy as “enemies of God”, oppressing the poor whom God loves. There is resonance here with Scripture’s denunciations of unjust rulers and its insistence that those who oppress the poor insult their Maker.

But Müntzer concluded that only violent revolution could bring God’s kingdom:

He organized a select group of “elect” bound by covenant.
He taught that the Spirit spoke directly through him, beyond Scripture and established order.
He preached that the faithful must “smite the godless” and bring in a new order without class or private property.

Under torture he admitted he wanted a Christianity where all men were equal and nobles who refused to share their goods according to need were to be killed. Later writers have seen him as an early egalitarian or even proto‑communist figure.

The Twelve Articles: Gospel and the Rights of the Poor

The Twelve Articles of the Swabian peasants (1525) were not written by Müntzer, but his preaching intersected with their movement. They demanded, among other things:

The right for villages to elect and remove pastors who faithfully preach the gospel.
Reduction of excessive tithes and rents.
Restoration of common lands (forests, meadows, waters) taken by lords.
An end to serfdom—they argued that, since Christ had redeemed all, no Christian should be a serf.

“The Twelve Articles were written to explain and justify the German Peasants’ War… They are considered the first document concerning human rights in Europe in the Early Modern Period… a precursor to later revolutionary writs such as the American Declaration of Independence.”

Here we glimpse part of God’s Story of Grace at work:

Peasants appeal to Scripture, claiming that the gospel forbids arbitrary oppression.
They argue that all Christians, rich or poor, share equal dignity before God.
They call for reforms that anticipate later ideas of civil liberties, local governance, and accountable leadership.

Yet their cause, however reasonable in many points, became entangled with violence, plunder, and radical calls like Müntzer’s to exterminate “godless” nobles. The line between righteous protest and destructive revolt grew thin.

Luther vs. Müntzer: Two Ways of Reading the Sword

**Luther writing and Muntzer preaching**

Both Luther and Müntzer believed in God’s Word and the authority of Scripture. But they interpreted its political implications very differently.

Müntzer preached from Matthew 10:34 (“I did not come to bring peace but a sword”) and urged peasants to use the sword to destroy the wicked. He believed that resisting tyrants with violence was obedience to God.

Luther initially sympathized with many peasant grievances and castigated lords as tyrannical. But when uprisings turned violent, he denounced both sides and then wrote his infamous pamphlet “Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants”.

He called rebels worse than wild beasts and urged princes to “smite, slay, and stab” them like mad dogs. In a letter he later said it was better for all peasants to die than for princes and magistrates to perish, because rulers—even abusive ones—were ordained by God.

One modern summary:

“When push came to shove, Luther sided with the aristocratic elite against peasant rebels who were often motivated by his own theology. In fact, Luther was one of the most violent cheerleaders of the nobles’ counterrevolution in Germany.”

So:

Müntzer turned the sword against lords in the name of the poor.
Luther turned the sword against peasants in the name of order and the gospel.

Both invoked Romans 13 and other texts. Both were convinced they were defending God’s kingdom. Both were implicated in a bloodbath that killed tens of thousands.

The Outcome: Blood, Backlash, and a Chastened Reformation

The Peasants’ War ended in catastrophe:

As many as 100,000 peasants may have died.
Nobles tightened their grip; serfdom and heavy dues often worsened.
The Reformation in many territories moved into the hands of princes, emphasizing order and obedience.

“Although the revolt was supported by Huldrych Zwingli and Thomas Müntzer, its condemnation by Martin Luther contributed to its defeat… Reprisals and increased restrictions discouraged further attempts to improve the peasants’ plight.”

The violence had several long-term effects:

It discredited radical uses of Scripture to justify violent revolution in many Protestant circles.
It pushed much of Lutheranism into an alliance with state power, with both good (some protection for preaching) and ill (less space for social protest).
It created a memory of peasant resistance and elite repression that later thinkers—socialists, democrats, and Christian reformers—would revisit.

Some modern writers see the Peasants’ War as one more step in the long road toward European democracy, even though it failed. The Twelve Articles’ call for fair law and local voice foreshadows later struggles for rights that would eventually flower in places like America.

The Triune God, Revolt, and Today’s Questions

How does this story fit within God’s Story of Grace, and what can it teach us?

God Hears the Cry of the Poor

Müntzer was right to protest a system where:

Lords lived in luxury off the backs of peasants.
Peasants were punished harshly for minor “theft” while noble exactions went unchecked.

This aligns with Scripture’s repeated declarations that God defends the poor, condemns false balances, and calls rulers to care for the oppressed. The Father’s care for the lowly and the Son’s identification with “the least of these” are not in doubt.

The Spirit and the Sword

But Müntzer erred in claiming the Spirit sanctioned killing perceived enemies of God. The New Testament consistently shows:

The cross, not the sword, at the center of God’s victory.
The Spirit’s sword as the Word, not the steel blade.
The call to overcome evil with good, and to “bless those who persecute you.”

When believers claim direct revelation that contradicts the character of Christ—who rebuked Peter’s sword—they risk turning zeal into fanaticism. Müntzer’s story warns us against baptizing our rage with the language of the Spirit.

Law, Rights, and the Long Arc of Justice

The peasants’ Twelve Articles show how the gospel can inspire deep questions about law and society:

Are rulers subject to justice, or above it?
Do common people have a God‑given right to voice, fair treatment, and communal resources?
Can Scripture speak to economic and social arrangements, not just private piety?

These debates continue today in the West and America, in discussions about economic inequality, labor, land, and racial justice. The Peasants’ War shows both the nobility of such questions and the danger when they become weaponized without the cross-shaped love of Christ.

Humility About Our Heroes

Luther’s harsh stance reminds us:

Even great reformers can be complicit in injustice.
Loyalty to order and fear of chaos can blind us to legitimate cries for justice.

God’s Story of Grace includes these failures so the Church will remain humble, repentant, and willing to learn from the margins.

Summary

Thomas Müntzer was a radical reformer who believed the Holy Spirit was calling the poor to tear down tyrants and create a new egalitarian Christian order. During the Peasants’ War (1524–1525), his preaching intersected with a massive uprising rooted in real grievances over serfdom, taxes, and feudal abuses. The peasants’ Twelve Articles appealed to the gospel to justify demands for fair rents, local control of pastors, and the end of serfdom, a document some scholars see as a precursor to modern human rights declarations. Müntzer, however, went further, urging violent revolution and interpreting Jesus’ “sword” sayings as a mandate to “drive out and destroy the evil ones who stand in the way of the Gospel.” The revolt was crushed with terrible bloodshed—perhaps 100,000 peasants killed—and both Müntzer’s militancy and Luther’s brutal call to “smite, slay, and stab” the rebels left deep scars. Yet even this dark chapter became part of God’s Story of Grace, exposing injustice, cautioning against sacralized violence, and contributing—through the memory of the Twelve Articles—to later Western and American ideas about rights, law, and the dignity of the poor. The Triune God still calls his people to seek justice for the oppressed, but to do so in the way of the crucified Christ, not the sword.