The Protestant Reformation had reshaped Christianity, as its currents ran deeper than Luther’s theses or Calvin’s Institutes. But among the radicals stood the Anabaptists, who were a movement bent on stripping the church back to its New Testament bones.
Balthasar Hubmaier, who was a scholar and then turned to a martyr, emerged as their theological torchbearer, his ideas prefiguring modern provisionist soteriology, a view that God’s grace is provided for all, freely accepted by any who believe.
I want to share my thoughts in this article that delves into Hubmaier’s works, the Anabaptist beliefs, and their resonance with provisionism, explores what it means to reform not just the church, but it’s very soul, to biblical roots.
The Anabaptist Impulse, A Radical Return
In 1525, Conrad Grebel who baptised George Blaurock in Zurich, and rejecting infant baptism and birthing Anabaptism. These “re-baptizers” weren’t tweaking the system but torching it.
They envisioned a church of believers, not citizens, marked by voluntary faith, adult baptism, and separation from state power.
Scripture was their compass, the early church in Acts their map: a community of choice, not coercion.
Persecution came fast, drownings, burnings, beheadings, from both Catholics and Protestants. Courageous Leaders like Michael Sattler, Menno Simons, and Hubmaier who carried the flame, of their martyred blood a movement that refused to give way. They had a deep courage in the face of much adversity; it was a true testament to the resilience and inspiration of the Anabaptist movement.
Hubmaier’s Works, A Biblical Blueprint
Balthasar Hubmaier (1480–1528) wasn’t your average radical. A Catholic priest with a doctorate from Ingolstadt, he swapped vestments for Anabaptist conviction by 1525, leading communities in Waldshut and Moravia until his execution in Vienna.
His writings, lucid, biblical, and defiant, set him apart. In On the Christian Baptism of Believers (1525), he argued baptism was a believer’s act, not a state ritual, rooting it in Matthew 28:19 and Acts 2:38. He saw it as the public seal of a faith freely chosen, not a ticket punched at birth.
His soteriology shines in On Free Will (1527), where he tackled human capacity and divine grace. Against Luther’s bondage of the will and Calvin’s nascent determinism, Hubmaier posited a middle path: sin cripples us, but God’s grace restores our ability to respond. “The soul, though wounded by sin, is not dead,” he wrote, citing Ezekiel 18:4, “the soul who sins shall die”, to show personal accountability.
John 1:9, “That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.” Christ’s grace reaches all, not a select few. Hubmaier’s God doesn’t drag the elect kicking and screaming; He invites, and we answer.
In A Simple Instruction (1526), he unpacked the gospel’s scope: “Christ died for all, and God wills all to be saved.” 1Timothy 2:4 and 2 Peter 3:9 weren’t poetic asides but bedrock truths.
His Catechism (1526) reinforced this, teaching believers to trust a God who provides, not predestines. Hubmaier’s works, written under the shadow of persecution, didn’t systematize like Calvin’s Institutes. His work came from the roots of Scripture, a call to live the faith, not just debate it.
Anabaptists in Context, Scotland, the UK, and Beyond
Anabaptism’s skipped Scotland’s. John Knox’s Presbyterian triumph in 1560, steeped in Calvinism, built a kirk of structure and sovereignty.
Anabaptist hallmarks, believer’s baptism, church-state divorce, found no echo amid Scotland’s state-backed Reformation.
Dutch trade or English refugees might’ve slipped ideas into Dundee or Aberdeen, but no Hubmaier rose here. Southward, though, Joan Bocher blazed briefly.
A Kentish Anabaptist, she rejected infant baptism and died at Smithfield in 1550 under Edward VI, a stark sign of Anabaptism’s British flicker, too radical for even Protestant England. Some fleeing her fate might’ve drifted north.
Later, Scotland’s Baptists, sparked by the Haldanes in the 1800s, bore Anabaptist DNA, voluntary faith, believer’s baptism, though tinged with Calvinist hues. Globally, Mennonites and others carried the torch, proving Anabaptism’s grit.
Provisionism Today, Hubmaier’s Echo Amplified
Modern provisionism, as voiced by Leighton Flowers and others, picks up Hubmaier’s thread and runs with it.
It’s a soteriology of provision, not predestination: God offers salvation to all, and all can respond. Calvin’s TULIP, Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, Perseverance of the Saints, frames grace as a locked vault, opened only for the elect.
Provisionism sees it as a banquet, free to all who RSVP. John 3:16, “whoever believes”, is no riddle; it’s a promise. John 12:32, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”
Romans 5:18, “Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.”, gets twisted by Limited Atonement into “all the chosen,” but provisionists, like Hubmaier, take it straight: Christ’s death covers everyone, effective for those who believe.
Romans 9, with its potter and clay, isn’t about individual souls but God’s plan through Israel and Gentiles, this context Calvinists often sidestep. Ephesians 1:4, “chosen in him”, speaks to the church’s identity, not a pre-birth draft pick.
2 Corinthians 5:19, “God was reconciling the world to himself”, leaves no room for a limited scope.
Provisionism doesn’t deny depravity, sin’s real, and we’re broken, but rejects “total inability.” Grace enables, not enforces. John 6:44, “no one can come unless the Father draws”, pairs with John 16:8, where the Spirit convicts the world.
It’s a universal draw, not an irresistible yank. Hubmaier’s free-will stance lives here: God’s provision precedes our choice, but the choice is ours. This sidesteps Arminianism’s focus on foreseen faith and Calvinism’s divine micromanagement, this lands on a biblical middle ground.
Reforming the Reformation
The Reformation isn’t looking through kaleidoscope grasses of, Luther’s grace, Calvin’s logic, Anabaptism’s fire. Hubmaier’s works and the provisionist lens remind us, it’s not all done.
Reform isn’t swapping one system for another: it’s peeling back tradition to Scripture’s true voice.
Hubmaier life, as a scholar, pastor, martyr, who embodies that true quest. In a church that wrestle with sovereignty and freedom. Hubmaier and provisionism ask: what if the gospel’s simpler than we’ve made it?
In my article, I ask: what if it’s an invitation, not a decree? Isn't this a profound biblical truth worth embracing?
Recommended References
- Hubmaier, Balthasar. Balthasar Hubmaier: Theologian of Anabaptism. Edited and translated by H. Wayne Pipkin and John H. Yoder. Herald Press, 1989. (This is my primary book for sourcing his works like On Free Will and On the Christian Baptism of Believers.)
- Estep, William R. The Anabaptist Story: An Introduction to Sixteenth-Century Anabaptism. Eerdmans, 1996. (This is a great overview of Anabaptism, with a solid Hubmaier section.)
- Flowers, Leighton. The Potter’s Promise: A Biblical Defense of Traditional Soteriology. Trinity Academic Press, 2017. (Modern provisionism, aligning with the ethos of Hubmaier’s.)
- MacCulloch, Diarmaid. The Reformation: A History. Penguin, 2005. (This solid book gives a broad context, including Joan Bocher and the UK Reformation.)
- Snyder, C. Arnold. Anabaptist History and Theology: An Introduction. Pandora Press, 1995. (Deep dive into Anabaptist thought and figures.)
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