Hans Denck, an important early Anabaptist leader, offers wisdom for Mennonites today.

Hans Denck, an important early Anabaptist leader, offers wisdom for modern Mennonites. Both as a denomination and as individuals, we can live in community, loving our brothers and sisters in the midst of our disagreements.

Denck, who was born in 1500 and died of plague in 1527, was recognized by his contemporaries as a spiritual leader of the emerging Swiss/ South German Anabaptist movement. Denck was closely associated with such Swiss/ South German leaders as Balthasar Hubmaier and Hans Hut. In fact, Denck participated in a 1527 convocation in Augsburg that came to be known as the “Martyrs’ Synod.” Other than Denck, who left Augsburg for Basel right after the convocation, most participants were imprisoned and executed.

Denck asks the profound question of how God, who is unchanging and eternal, reveals himself in his created world, which is transitory and temporal. Denck’s answer is both transcendent and pragmatic; his answer addresses both the individual search for spiritual understanding and the corporate effort to find this enlightenment. Denck propounds a Logos theology in which God’s Word operates at two levels, as an inner word and outer word.

The inner Word is the ultimate Truth. This Word is Love, as God is Love. The Word was made incarnate in Christ Jesus. The quest to know and receive the Word is best satisfied through Jesus Christ. The true disciple of Christ must follow in his way, since this is the path of Christ Jesus, God’s Logos for this world. When we walk the way Christ walked, we are friends of God.

“For whoever supposes he belongs to Christ must walk the way Christ walked. Thus one enters the eternal dwelling of God” (The Spiritual Legacy of Hans Denck: Interpretation and Translation of Key Texts by Clarence Bauman, E.J. Brill, 1991). “Therefore, he who desires to know and to attain true Love, cannot receive it more directly and more easily than through this Jesus Christ.” (Quotations are from this translation.)

The Word has operated throughout the history of the world. This Word or Logos is Christ, and it existed before Christ incarnate and continues today. Christ, the Lamb, existed from the beginning of the world and will continue until the end of time. Christ the Lion from the tribe of Judah worked through the elect before Christ’s incarnation and will ultimately save the world.

“Indeed, even the Lamb that suffered in Christ has suffered from the beginning of the world (Revelation 13) and will suffer until the end of the world (Matthew 25). Even the lion from the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49), who triumphed through Christ (Revelation 5), also overcame from the beginning in all the elect (Numbers 23 and 24) and will do so until the last enemy is removed (Isaiah 30, 1 Corinthians 15). The Lamb and the lion are the one Word of God.”

Denck continues this passage with the assertion that this Word exists in our hearts. This is an incredible statement of faith. The Lamb and Lion are the One, unchanging, eternal Word of God “which is in our hearts.”

“The Lamb and the Lion are the one Word of God of which the whole world is full (Jeremiah 23, Wisdom of Solomon 1), indeed, which is in our hearts (Deuteronomy 30, Romans 10), not to be idle, but to do the mandate of the Father (John 4).”

God is perfect Love. His Word exists in its inner, eternal form in the Spirit, manifest in Christ, and within the heart of humanity. This “divine spark” connects us to the inner Word. This spark makes faith possible. “This spark … is not of man but has come from perfect Love.”

“One perceives a little spark of this Love in a few people, in some more than in others, although in most people of our time it is regrettably extinguished; nevertheless, since Love is spiritual and people are carnal, it is certain that this spark, however small it is in man, is not of man but has come from perfect Love. This Love is God.”

Scripture, the outer Word, is necessarily secondary to the inner Word. Although Denck values Scripture above all “human treasure,” he recognizes that Scripture is not the eternal Word of God. Scripture, written “with pen and paper,” is a temporal outer Word. God’s Word resides not primarily in created constructs, however valuable, but in the soul of humanity. The inner Word exists in the world as a “true spark of divine zeal” within all human hearts.

“Holy Scripture I hold above all human treasure but not as high as the Word of God that is living, powerful and eternal—unattached and free of all elements of this world; for, since it is God himself, it is Spirit and not letter, written without pen and paper so that it can never be eradicated. Therefore, salvation is not bound to Scripture, however useful and good it might be in furthering it. … But a devout heart, containing a true spark of divine zeal, is improved through all things.”

Hans Denck is uncharacteristically uncompromising, maybe even harsh, when he warns of legalistic religion based on a “dead letter.” Denck is concerned that biblical legalism will lead God’s children down the wrong path. “Seeking light” they will “find darkness.”

“Whoever has received the new covenant of God, that is, in whose heart the Law was written through the Holy Spirit, is truly righteous. Whoever supposes he will accomplish keeping the Law through the book, ascribes to the dead letter what belongs to living Spirit. Whoever does not have the Spirit and presumes to find it in the Scripture, seeks light and finds darkness.”

Early Anabaptism experienced conflict over the nature, function and interpretation of Scripture. Denck was aware of these disagreements and contradictory uses of biblical passages. (See “He Who Truly Loves the Truth,” a presentation of 40 biblical paradoxes.) Denck personally experienced the divisive tone of much of the theological discussion of his day. Unlike many of his Anabaptist contemporaries, Denck was not quick to find error in others; he was ever aware of his own propensity to err. Denck confessed, “I am a man who has erred and may yet err.” He recognized the limitations of human knowledge, even with the presence of the Word in the human heart. He advocated humility in the search for God’s revelation. This is genuine spiritual humility, a humility grounded in poverty of spirit.

“Where there is a part that he [the true disciple of Christ] cannot understand from the whole, he certainly scorns no scriptural testimony but rather examines it with all diligence and holds it up for comparison. But he will not accept it until it is first interpreted to him through the anointing of the Spirit. He reserves judgment concerning what he does not understand and awaits revelation from God.”

Our individual quest for understanding occurs within both a solitary and corporate setting. The corporate setting for discernment tends to be messy. We should learn to listen to other viewpoints. Perhaps we will understand and agree. If we do not understand, then we should withhold judgment.

“But you, when hearing your brother speak something that is strange to you, do not immediately contradict it but hear if it be true, that you might also accept it. If you cannot understand it, you should not judge him, and, if he considers you to be slightly in error, consider whether your error might be even greater.”

In our search for understanding—the “costly pearl”—we must be free. Coercion, however well intended, should not be employed in controversial matters. Unfortunately, it is sometimes better to separate from or “shun” someone when they refuse to listen to what others have to say. “I cannot have much fellowship with those who do not wish to hear me … but would forcibly drive me from my faith and coerce me to theirs.”

Although Denck acknowledges the need for shunning, this need for separation is tempered with a nuanced call for shunning in a spirit of love.

“Those hearts that exalt this blessed deed of God through Christ and follow in his footsteps make me rejoice, and I love them as well as I know how. However, I cannot have much fellowship with those who do not wish to hear me and yet will not keep silence in controversial matters, for I sense not the mind of Christ in them but rather a perverted one that would forcibly drive me from my faith and coerce me to theirs, God allow, whether it be right or not. And if he indeed is right, the zeal may well be good, but he exercises it without wisdom. For he should know that in matters of faith everything should be voluntary and without compulsion. Thus I separate myself from some, not because I consider myself better or more righteous than they but (although in such a case much is lacking in my relation to them) in order that I may unhindered freely seek the precious pearl and, inasmuch as I have found it, that I might (as far as I am able) retain the same with everyone’s peace. … With this conscience I await gladly and fearlessly the judgment of Jesus Christ. … On which account I wish not to be justified but know and realize full well that I am a man who has erred and may yet err.”

Denck is confident that the truth will ultimately be revealed to true friends of God, in whom the spark of Love has grown. This discernment has nothing to do with coercive, manipulative “cunning.” “What is true discernment will indeed remain before the world. Cunning which is not of God a true friend of God can and must counter and confound solely with the truth.”

Until that day, however, when all is revealed, “the day of the revelation of all mysteries … when the Lord will come in his glory,” Love must govern our differences of opinion. God is Love, and God revealed his Love in Christ, and this Love exists in the heart of humanity.

“Here, all the wise are in need of wisdom, and all the friends of God in need of Love, lest they prefer the love of man to God’s Love. For whoever loves someone other than through God’s truth and Love, hates him; but whoever for the sake of God’s Love hates someone, loves him more than the other. Yet, for the sake of Love, one cannot hate anyone beyond the intention of earnestly admonishing him and, with heartfelt sorrow shunning him, if he does not wish to hear: this also is called being truly loved.”

It is time to reclaim the wisdom of Hans Denck. I suggest we take a more “Denckian” approach to discernment of Truth, particularly in regard to biblical interpretation. How might we apply Denck’s wisdom to our corporate search? What guidance does Denck offer Mennonites today?

Regarding Mennonite Church USA, I offer the following suggestions:

1. Encourage sharing of differing viewpoints; show respect and love especially when we do not understand the viewpoint.

2. Practice humility when we use Scripture to buttress a viewpoint. Our statements of faith should be bracketed by expressions of humility as our understanding of God’s Word is incomplete and prone to err.

3. Abandon the perverted use of the “Menno­nite Confession of Faith” as some sort of final truth. Instead use it as a picture of understanding at a point of time before “the day of revelation of all mysteries.”

4. Allow individual congregations to follow their own understanding but be prepared to say goodbye to groups who “do not wish to hear.” This means saying goodbye to those who promote their particular line of “dogma” but refuse to be open to others’ viewpoints.

Regarding the broader Mennonite/Anabaptist community, I suggest increased communication with more listening and less talking.

(1) Listen to and seek out sharing of differing viewpoints. Try to understand. If this is impossible, recognize humbly the time of revelation is not ripe.

(2) Join in support of those areas in which agreement exists.

(3) Remember the controversies of our history that time has proved to be irrelevant.

Let us reclaim the wisdom of Hans Denck.

“Where this covenant [of baptism] is, there the Spirit of Christ also comes hither and ignites the fire of love, which consumes fully what infirmity remains and completes the work of Christ.”

May the spirit of Christ, God’s Word, “ignite the fire of love” to consume what is imperfect and “complete the work of Christ” in our individual and corporate life.

Ruth Anne Abraham is a member of Austin (Texas)Mennonite Church.