"It would appear that Zwingli takes his own place in the turbulent era of the Reformation. He maintained the Scriptures over against the prevailing humanism and emerging radicalism of his time. In this respect he still is an example for the church, in 1984, four hundred years later."

Remember⤒🔗

If the year 1983 was the year in which churches all over the world commemorated the 500th anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther, the year 1984 should be dedicated to the memory of another reformer, Ulrich Zwingli, born on January 1, 1484. Standing somewhat "in the shadows," between such giants as Luther and Calvin, Zwingli's person, work, and life merit some more attention than he has received through the years, least of all not in Reformed circles. The call to "remember your leaders" (He­brews 13:7) extends also to this man and the work he was enabled to do by the Lord.

In this article we wish to take a brief look at the significance of Zwingli's work for the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Priest in Glarus and Einsiedeln←⤒🔗

Ulrich Zwingli was born into a rela­tively prosperous family living in the mountainous region of Wildhaus, Switzer­land, as one of many children. Already at a very young age he leaves home, first to learn from an uncle, Bartholomew Zwingli, priest in the town of Wiesen. When he is ten years old, Zwingli pro­ceeds to the grammar schools in Basel and Bern. Fearing that because of his beautiful singing voice Zwingli will be in­ducted into monastery life, his parents send him on to Vienna, where he studies especially (natural) science and literature. Here in Vienna, Zwingli is drenched in the humanistic philosophy of his time. In 1506 Zwingli returns to Basel where he is promoted to magister artium (Master of Arts). After a brief training in (mostly scholastic) theology, Zwingli is ordained as priest in the village of Glarus. At this time Zwingli is a typical priest: well-educated but humanistically oriented in his thinking.

Zwingli's period of service in Glarus is significant in many ways. It is here that he begins to study both Christian and secular classics, and becomes attracted to the works of Erasmus, the Dutch humanist. Here, also, Zwingli displays some of the patriotism for which he will become legendary. Although he twice ac­companies Swiss infantry in battle for the Pope against the French, Zwingli be­gins to discourage young Swiss men from becoming mercenaries in foreign service. He expresses these sentiments strongly in the famous Fable of the Ox. Having ex­perienced the ugly, mass slaughter of the battlefield, Zwingli turns to a more paci­fistic philosophy.

In 1516, Zwingli leaves Glarus and takes up ministry in Einsiedeln. Here Zwingli further refines his emerging pac­ifistic views. During this time he con­siders all service in foreign armies a curse, although he maintains that it is one's patriotic duty to defend one's homeland.

While in Einsiedeln, Zwingli meets Erasmus and discovers Erasmus' edition of the Greek New Testament. As he pro­ceeds to study this edition, Zwingli be­gins to distantiate himself more and more from Erasmus' humanistic views and from the prevailing allegorical inter­pretation of Scripture. He begins to study the Word of God in its own light and begins to understand that the Scrip­tures require a literal interpretation. He realizes that the scholastic and philo­sophical approach to the Bible and the­ology must be rejected. It is during this same time that Zwingli makes a serious study of the works of Augustine and comes to condemn the worship of relics and the adoration of saints. This growing resistance gradually deepens into a care­fully-worded warning against the worship of Mary and a ridiculing of the in­dulgences.

Ministry in Zurich←⤒🔗

In 1519 Zwingli is installed in Zu­rich, and it is in this city that he clearly makes himself known as a prophetic re­former of great influence. It becomes evident that Zwingli wants to let the Scriptures speak for themselves and that traditions and precepts of men that are made binding for the church are to be rejected. The sola Scriptura of the Refor­mation begins to take powerful form in his ministry!

Zwingli supports those who reject the Romanist laws of fasting. He speaks out against celibacy and himself marries a widow of class, Anna Reinhart, a mar­riage which became officially known two years later, in 1524. That same year Zwingli breaks with the Church of Rome by declaring that he can no longer accept the Pope as the "head of the church," instead accusing the Pope of abusing worldly power. Christ is declared as the only Head of the church and His Word as its only guide.

Spurred on by Zwingli's preaching, the city council of Zurich refuses to give in to the objections of the Bishop of Constanz, but it does agree to conduct a public disputation. The first of these disputations — not unknown in the days of the Reformation — takes place in Jan­uary 1523 between Zwingli and the in­fluential Romanist prelate, Johann Faber. The result is a smashing victory for the Reformation, for at its conclusion the city council of Zurich decrees that from then on nothing may be preached which is not in full accord with the gospel.

Growing Divisions←⤒🔗

Many Swiss cities, such as Basel and Bern, take the side of the Reformation in Zurich and, in 1528, form a Christian federation. However, the Roman Catho­lic cantons are also organized against the influence of Zwingli and Zurich. This situation ultimately must and does lead to battle and bloodshed.

On October 11, 1531, near Kappel, in a battle which was not expected any­more from Reformed side, Zwingli is killed along with 400 other citizens of Zurich. After having declared him to be a heretic, a hastily formed court lets his body be quartered and burned. Zwingli paid the price in blood; at age 47, his earthly course suddenly comes to an end.

While the rift between the Romanist and Reformed factions in Switzerland is inevitable, there emerge also other, per­haps not so expected, divisions. There are radicals in Zurich who feel that Zwingli has not gone far enough in his reforms. These radicals, such as Konrad Grebel and Felix Mantz, begin to reject all civil authority. The Anabaptist movement is born and it causes so much dis­sension and confusion that the city coun­cil of Zurich arrests its leaders. One of these, Felix Mantz, is executed by drown­ing in 1527, and the Anabaptist move­ment also has a martyr. All this is a source of great sorrow for Zwingli; many of the Anabaptist leaders were former associates and close friends.

Of greater significance, perhaps, is the growing division between Zwingli and Luther. In 1529, in a meeting in Marburg, Luther and Zwingli discuss at length the matter of the Lord's Supper but cannot come to agreement. Luther's theory of consubstantiation is too far from Zwingli's symbolic interpretation. Although both agree that Christ is pres­ent in bread and wine, they cannot agree as to the manner. Luther and Zwingli de­part bitterly from each other and become estranged. This controversy, of course, greatly damaged the cause of the Refor­mation. Since it furthered Zwingli's isolation, it also contributed to his death.

Significance←⤒🔗

It is not easy to estimate the signifi­cance of the work of a person such as Zwingli. Because of his own development and changing insights, Zwingli's signifi­cance cannot be caught in an easy formula. In liberal circles, Zwingli is hailed as the reformer who was a true humanist, a worthy forerunner of contemporary radical and political theologians. His hu­manistic background and patriotic zeal, perhaps, cause him to recede somewhat to the background in Reformed appreciation. We generally turn to Calvin for advice.

Yet it cannot be denied that Zwingli's basic convictions and personal en­deavors are true to the spirit of the Great Reformation. Zwingli wanted nothing else than to live by the Scriptures alone and to let the Scriptures explain them­selves under the illumination of the Holy Spirit and not under the tradition of the church. For Zwingli it was without doubt that it is not the church with its sacra­mental administration that governs the flow of grace, but that men are recon­ciled to God only by the death of His Son. He clearly rejected the "cursed idolatry" of the mass and its excesses in the worship of saints and relics, pro­claiming that our salvation lies only in the sacrifice of Christ, once offered on the cross. Zwingli did not tire in defend­ing the just cause of the Reformation over against Anabaptist heresies, and he remained firm with respect to the Scrip­tural doctrine of infant baptism. Although in many ways a disciple of Erasmus, he refuted the teaching of the master that the will of man is free. Man cannot save himself, Zwingli emphasized time and again, but must have true knowledge of God and sin, knowledge learned only from the Word of God. Man has no sav­ing knowledge in himself! It is clear, then, that in these key issues there is a direct line from Ulrich Zwingli to John Calvin.

It would appear that Zwingli takes his own place in the turbulent era of the Reformation. He maintained the Scrip­tures over against the prevailing human­ism and emerging radicalism of his time. In this respect he is still an example for the church, in 1984, four hundred years later. It would be good if in this com­memorative year his works were redis­covered and studied anew. Since we are faced in our time with similar extremes, humanism and radicalism, we can learn from Zwingli's struggle. Zwingli defi­nitely does not belong in the shadows between Luther and Calvin.