Reply to False Accusations
This treatise responds to accusations leveled against Anabaptist teaching by Gellius Faber, a Reformed minister in Emden who had published attacks on Mennonite communities in East Frisia. Writing in 1552, Menno Simons faced mounting pressure from both Catholic and Protestant authorities who viewed Anabaptist movements as threats to established religious and social order. Faber's criticisms focused particularly on Anabaptist practices of adult baptism, separation from state churches, and what he characterized as dangerous sectarianism.
Simons methodically addresses Faber's charges by grounding his defense in scriptural exegesis and early church practice. He argues that true baptism must follow genuine conversion and personal faith, making infant baptism not merely invalid but contrary to apostolic teaching. The work demonstrates Simons' characteristic approach of combining biblical literalism with pastoral concern, showing how Anabaptist communities sought to recover New Testament patterns of discipleship rather than create novel doctrines. He defends the practice of church discipline and separation from unregenerate society not as sectarian pride but as obedience to Christ's call for holiness. Throughout, Simons portrays his movement as the faithful remnant preserving authentic Christianity against both papal corruption and magisterial Protestant compromise with worldly power.
The Reply stands as one of the clearest articulations of early Anabaptist ecclesiology and remains significant for understanding how these communities understood their relationship to both established churches and civil authority. It reveals the theological sophistication behind practices that critics dismissed as fanaticism, showing how Anabaptists developed coherent alternatives to Christendom's assumptions about church, state, and society.
Who should read this: Scholars of Reformation history and anyone seeking to understand Anabaptist theological reasoning will find essential material here. Those interested only in devotional or practical spirituality may find the polemical format and detailed scriptural argumentation challenging.