The Schleitheim Confession
Anabaptists define themselves
Two years after the kitchen in Zurich, the Anabaptist movement is fragmenting. Different leaders have taken it in different directions — some toward revolutionary violence, some toward bizarre spiritualism, some toward the patient, nonviolent discipleship that becomes its lasting core.
On February 24, 1527, a group of Anabaptist leaders meets in the village of Schleitheim and produces a confession of faith that becomes the foundational document of the peaceful Anabaptist tradition.
The Schleitheim Confession is drafted primarily by Michael Sattler, a former Benedictine prior who has left his monastery, married a former nun, and become the most articulate voice of the nonviolent wing of the movement.
Seven articles. Believers' baptism. The ban — the practice of excluding unrepentant members. The memorial meal. Separation from the world. Pastors supported by the community. Nonviolence — the sword is for the world, not for those who follow Christ. The refusal of oaths.
The Schleitheim Confession defines what will become the Mennonite, Hutterite, and Amish traditions — and, more broadly, the entire tradition of Christian pacifism and nonviolent witness that runs from the sixteenth century to Martin Luther King Jr.
Three months after writing it, Michael Sattler is arrested.
“The sword is ordained of God outside the perfection of Christ. In the perfection of Christ, however, only the ban is used for a warning and for the excommunication of the one who has sinned.”
— Michael Sattler, Schleitheim Confession, Article VI, February 24, 1527 AD
“But I tell you, don't resist him who is evil; but whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also.”
The Schleitheim Confession draws a clean line: the way of Christ does not include the sword. The state may use the sword — it is ordained for that purpose. But the church of Jesus, following the one who refused to call down legions of angels, refuses it.
This is not pacifism as mere political preference. It is a theological conviction rooted in the incarnation and the cross — in the God who absorbed violence rather than returning it, who said forgive them rather than destroy them.
The Anabaptist tradition paid for this conviction in blood. The very authorities who were supposed to protect citizens drowned them for refusing to take up the sword.
Five centuries later, the question Michael Sattler died for is still alive: what does following Jesus require of his disciples in a violent world? And is there a form of faithfulness that refuses the sword regardless of the cost?