“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.

Martin Luther: Making Grace Accessible to All (1521–1534)

Hidden in Wartburg Castle after his stand at Worms, Martin Luther turned enforced isolation into one of the Reformation’s greatest gifts: the Bible in the language of the people. In just about eleven weeks (Dec 1521–Mar 1522), he translated the New Testament from Greek into vivid, everyday German. The “September Testament” (1522) quickly sold out, followed by a revised edition; by 1534, with help from colleagues like Philipp Melanchthon, Luther completed the full German Bible.

This was sola fide and sola scriptura made concrete: God’s grace in Christ, revealed in Scripture, placed directly into the hands and homes of ordinary people. The triune God—Father revealing, Son redeeming, Spirit illuminating—was no longer locked behind Latin and clerical mediation, but speaking in the heart‑language of farmers, mothers, and children.

Medieval castle on a forested hill with German flag flying — Wartburg Castle: Luther’s ‘Patmos,’ where exile became a workshop for translating grace.

Wartburg and the “Lightning” Translation

After the Diet of Worms (1521) declared him an outlaw, Elector Frederick the Wise arranged Luther’s “kidnapping” to Wartburg. Disguised as “Knight George,” Luther battled loneliness, illness, and spiritual attacks. Yet in that hidden place, he began his German New Testament.

Working from Erasmus’s Greek text and consulting the original languages, he aimed not for literal stiffness but for living speech:

Whoever wants to speak German must not use Hebrew or Latin idioms. He must ask the mother in the home, the children in the street, the common man in the marketplace, and watch their mouths to see how they speak.

Luther listened carefully to everyday speech so that when Germans heard the Bible, it sounded natural, memorable, and singable.

The September Testament (1522) sold an estimated 3,000–5,000 copies within weeks—an enormous figure for the time—and several revised editions followed. The printing press multiplied its reach; soon hundreds of thousands of copies of Luther’s Bible and other writings circulated across German lands.

Now ordinary people could read—or hear read—the stories of Jesus, Paul’s teaching on justification by faith, and the promises of grace in their own tongue. As Luther later said of the Reformation, “The Word did everything.”

Medieval scholar writing with quill in a stone room with books, candle, and crucifix — Knight George at work: Luther turning Greek and Hebrew into German that butchers and bakers could understand.

Hymns, Catechisms, and the Priesthood of All Believers

Luther knew that grace must sing and teach, not just sit on a page.

He wrote hymns—most famously “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” based on Psalm 46—to put doctrine into melody. Families and congregations sang the faith together, embedding theology in the memory of even the illiterate.
His Small Catechism (1529) and Large Catechism explained the Ten Commandments, Creed, Lord’s Prayer, and sacraments in simple language for households, schools, and pastors.

At the heart lay the priesthood of all believers. Every baptized Christian has direct access to God through Christ; no human priest is a necessary mediator. Baptism, not ordination, consecrates believers as priests, and all vocations—farmer, mother, craftsman, ruler—are holy callings where faith expresses itself in love.

Scripture in the vernacular empowered ordinary people to:

Read and meditate on the Bible.
Pray and teach their children.
Test preaching and practices against the Word.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9). Grace was no longer a scarce commodity dispensed by the Church; it was God’s gift, heard and believed through His Word.

Reformation congregation singing with hymnbooks and preacher — Grace in stereo: Scripture preached and sung, with the whole congregation participating.

Marriage to Katharina von Bora: Grace in Everyday Vocation

In 1525, Luther married Katharina von Bora, a former Cistercian nun who had fled her convent. The marriage was controversial—some feared it would damage the movement—but Luther saw it as a public rejection of compulsory clerical celibacy and an affirmation that marriage is a good gift of God.

Katie managed the home, brewed beer, oversaw gardens and livestock, and hosted a constant stream of students, refugees, and guests. Together they raised six children and cared for orphans and relatives, experiencing both joy and grief (two daughters died young).

Luther called marriage a “school of character” where forgiveness, patience, and service are practiced daily. Here, the Reformation’s teaching on vocation came alive:

Clergy and laity share the same dignity before God.
Family, work, and civic duties are arenas of worship.
Grace shapes not just church services but kitchen tables and city councils.

A family around a wooden table eating and listening to a man reading from a book — The parsonage as classroom: Luther and Katie modeling grace in family, work, and hospitality.

Timeline: Making Grace Accessible (1521–1534)

1521–1522 – Hidden at Wartburg; translates the New Testament in about eleven weeks.
September 1522 – “September Testament” New Testament published; sells out quickly, followed by revised editions.
1522 – Luther returns to Wittenberg; preaches the Invocavit Sermons to calm unrest and refocus on the gospel.
1525 – Marries Katharina von Bora (June 13).
1529 – Publishes Small and Large Catechisms; helps organize schools and standardized teaching.
1534 – Completes full German Bible (Old and New Testaments) with collaborators.
1520s–1530s – Writes many hymns, reforms worship, and encourages education for boys and girls.

1534 Luther Bible title page facsimile — A people’s Bible: Luther’s 1534 German edition put the whole story of redemption into everyday speech.

Realism: Complexities and Sins in Application

Luther’s reforms had unintended consequences and serious failures:

During the Peasants’ War (1524–1525), some rebels misused talk of Christian freedom to justify violence. Luther initially sympathized with grievances but strongly opposed revolt, urging princes to restore order. His harsh pamphlet Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants reflected fear of chaos and a deep concern for order, but its tone has rightly been criticized.
In later years, frustrated by the lack of Jewish conversions and influenced by medieval anti‑Judaism, Luther wrote anti‑Jewish treatises (e.g., On the Jews and Their Lies, 1543). These writings are deeply sinful and stand in tension with the gospel he proclaimed. Modern Lutherans and many Protestants have openly repudiated them as contrary to the message of grace.

Realism requires we confess that the instruments of grace remain sinners. God advanced His Story of Grace through Luther, but not because Luther was flawless—rather, because God is faithful.

Lessons: Grace for Every Believer, Every Calling

This period of Luther’s ministry shows several ways God’s grace expands in ordinary life:

Direct Access Through the Word
Translation and printing put Scripture into everyday hands. Grace is known not only in church, but in homes and fields as people hear God’s promises and commands for themselves. “All Scripture is God‑breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16).
Priesthood of All Believers
Every Christian is a priest before God, called to trust, pray, and serve. This frees and dignifies ordinary people and breaks down artificial hierarchies where only a few are considered “spiritual.”
Vocation as Worship
Grace transforms daily tasks—marriage, parenting, farming, governing—into acts of love and service flowing from faith. Work is not a way to earn God’s favor, but a response to it.

Remove crucifix, keep simple cross on wall — Reading, praying, learning: Luther’s emphasis on Scripture and catechism shaped homes and schools alike.

Echoes Today: Literacy, Liberty, and Grace in Daily Life

Luther’s Bible and teaching helped:

Boost literacy and standardize the German language.
Promote public education so children could read Scripture.
Shape ideas about personal dignity, conscience, and family life that influenced later societies.

In the American context, these currents flowed into:

Pilgrims and Puritans seeking freedom to live by the Word.
Founders who spoke of rights given by the Creator.
A culture that, at its best, honors work, family, and individual responsibility before God.

Today we enjoy unprecedented access to Scripture—printed, digital, audio—yet face new challenges: biblical illiteracy, fragmented communities, and the temptation to treat “grace” as vague positivity rather than God’s costly gift in Christ. Luther’s example urges us to:

Translate and teach the Word clearly in our own settings.
Let grace shape our vocations—jobs, families, civic engagement.
Guard the gospel from distortion, acknowledging our own blind spots.

Living Out Grace in Church, Society, and Vocation

Back in Wittenberg after Wartburg, Luther used his Invocavit Sermons (1522) to calm more radical reformers and insist that change must come through the Word, not violence. Worship was reshaped around preaching and congregational song; schools were organized; catechisms and hymnals circulated widely.

Luther’s teaching on the two kingdoms—God ruling spiritually through the gospel and outwardly through law and government—encouraged Christians to be:

Free in conscience before God.
Dutiful in love toward neighbor and society.

This helped shape Protestant attitudes toward work, politics, and family: the so‑called “Protestant work ethic” viewed diligent labor as a calling from God to serve others, not a means of self‑salvation.

Preacher giving sermon from wooden pulpit to seated congregation in historic church — Pulpit, table, and people: grace preached, received, and lived out in community.

Luther’s Legacy in God’s Ongoing Story of Grace

From Wartburg’s hidden study to Wittenberg’s busy parsonage, Luther’s work from 1521–1534 made grace tangible:

Bibles in the language of the people.
Hymns that sang theology into hearts.
Catechisms that trained families and congregations.
A view of vocation that turned everyday tasks into arenas of love.

He stood within God’s big story of creation, fall, redemption, and new creation—used, despite his sins, to recover the central truth that sinners are saved by grace through faith, known through Scripture, and called to live that grace in every corner of life.

Six centuries later, his message still matters: grace is for all, not just the learned; it is for every day, not just Sunday; and it flows from the triune God who continues to speak through His Word, forgive through His Son, and empower through His Spirit.