The Anabaptist Voice 06

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The Anabaptist Voice
06/10/2009

Proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of God: Love, Joy and Peace in Jesus.

Dear friend,

       Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray you are well under the love and the grace of our Lord. Our weather here in the desert of southern Arizona has been nice, about 90 degree with the usual very low humidity.
       We are having beautiful sunny days and enjoying the flowers and plants that God created for us. When we are looking outside, the plants are just outside the window and they are so beautiful and alive. That means God is giving us the presence of living beauty just for us to enjoy. The wild rabbits, doves, and quail with their babies are a joy to watch.
       When we eat watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries, and all the food, we realize that they are special gifts from our Heavenly Father. He created air, water, food for us, so we can live. It is not natural, but they are all gifts. We think it is natural and we do not even thank the Lord. He is in charge. He can give or stop giving. He loves us and He wants to have fellowship with us, just like He went to visit Adam and Eve at the beginning. We need to thank Him more and accept all the gifts He has given us, especially Jesus for what He has done for us.
       Naomi came home last Friday afternoon from Special Touch Camp. She had a wonderful time. We are thankful that Mike Brown and Georgianne Goralski from CDO church took her and brought her back. They must have had a wonderful trip home. They were all so happy when they got out of the car. Thank you, Lord for blessing them.
      Today is granddaughter Elizabeth Michiko’s 3^rd birthday. Happy Birthday to you. Our other granddaughter, Eryn, just graduated from high school. Here is a picture of her with her mother Arlene and our son Mike. May our Heavenly Father protect you, guide you and bless you both.
       Michi and Naomi went on Monday to Linda Dowdle’s house to worship our Lord Jesus. Many people are sincerely trying to follow the Lord, and it was encouraging and blessing. When we were getting in the car to leave, a lady came out. We do not know her name. She told us that she felt very strongly that she should be praying for Naomi. She told us when she got the message, she was almost in tears. She laid her hand on Naomi and prayed for her. Thank you, Lord. Please bless her.
       Yesterday afternoon, Naomi went to visit her friend Mary. She always has a wonderful time there. Mary is teaching Naomi how to crochet a specially designed blanket, and Mary and Donna are helping her. The fellowship was so precious to Naomi. We are grateful for them.
       Mary’s daughter, Donna, brought Naomi home and she stayed for the church. Donna is a nurse in a hospital, working nights. She is such a good Christian and she works hard to follow the Lord. She gave her kidney to a friend several years ago. When she is with us for our daily 5 pm church, our spirits are lifted and we are blessed.
       Here is a photo of a pickup truck trying to cross illegally from Mexico into Arizona, just south of us. The truck was trying to smuggle in $250,000.00 of illegal drugs (pot) when it got stuck on the ramp that the smugglers had built over the border barrier.
     May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you. (2 Cor 13:14)

Your brother and sisters in Christ,

Don, Michi & Naomi Murphy
Tucson, AZ, phone 520-297-1639
www.AnabaptistChurch.org

Jesus said, "People will know that you are my disciples by your love for one another." (John 13:35)

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The Theology of Anabaptism
by Robert Friedmann
Part Three, page 78
Wipf and Stock Publishers
Eugene, OR

Soteriology: Salvation - justification - Grace

In the light of the preceding discussion it should not, be surprising that "soteriology," traditionally the very nucleus of all theology, is not and cannot be a major theme in Anabaptist thought. The concern as to "how to escape eternal damnation," or in Luther's terms, "how to find a gracious God," was certainly not a major concern of the Anabaptists. As has been said, they did not start with the crushing awareness of being lost sinners but began rather with the glorious experience of regeneration or spiritual rebirth. This signifies basically a positive experience of God's grace which subsequently leads to a rather different chain of insights. Granted, it was rather uncommon, this experience which so overwhelmed seekers that they spontaneously joined the flock of Anabaptist disciples wherever they found them. These early Anabaptists were not particularly bothered by guilt feelings; they desired to walk in the footsteps of the Master, "in love and cross," as Sebastian Franck described them. Therefore, the question of "salvation" naturally dropped into the background and was dealt with only casually.

A personal experience may serve to dramatize this situation and make the genius of Anabaptism come more alive. Several years ago, after a conference in South Dakota, a number of ministers decided to visit a nearby Hutterite Bruderhof, the oldest one in the United States, and I was invited to join this group. We were cordially received and shown around and then the elders were ready to discuss their way of life. One of the first questions the ministers asked was this: "What do you people teach regarding salvation?” Thereupon the very intelligent brother, who had very likely not anticipated this question, paused a moment and then said quietly but with great assurance: "If we live in obedience to God's commandments, we are certain of being in God's gracious hands; we do not worry further about our salvation. Rather, we try to walk the narrow path in the fear of the Lord. We fight sin and practice brotherly love. How then can redemption be lacking?” This reply was as simple as it was authentic. Now it was the ministers, trained in conventional theology, who were surprised and even a bit shocked. They had not anticipated such an answer.

One may rashly judge that such teachings smack of Werkgerechtigkeit (meritorious acts). But that would be a serious misinterpretation of such a statement as the one above, true to an ancient tradition. As early as 1541 Peter Riedemann, one of the great lights of early Hutterianism, vigorously denied this reproach in his great Rechenschaft as follows: "Many say of us that we seek to be good through our own works. To this we say "No," for we know that our work, in so far as it is our work, is naught but sin and unrighteousness; but insofar as it is of Christ and done by Christ in us, so far is it truth."

Peter Walpot, in his Great Article Book of 1577, wrote in a similar vein, while discussing the story of the rich young man in Matthew 19: "To give to the poor should not be understood in such a way as if being poor could save the young man. That he follows Christ in his words and commands: that alone is what saves him.” This expresses quite generally the idea held by most Anabaptists. It is living in "childlike obedience" without any thought of "working" for salvation or gaining merits by work that was meant by the Anabaptists of four centuries ago, as well as the Hutterite brothers in South Dakota today.

Thus the subject of soteriology does not really occupy the center of Anabaptist thought but receives its relevance primarily against the background of the tension between normative Protestantism and Anabaptism. It was only natural that the soteriological question should arise frequently in debates and court trials, and the brethren had to clarify their stand concerning salvation, justification, and atonement.

(Robert Friedmann (1891-1970) was a history professor at Western Michigan University.)

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