While writing against heresy in the church Balthasar Hubmaier gives time to the notion that the secular state and the church serve different functions when it comes to punishment and wielding the sword. Even though this document was written a year before he was formally associated with the Anabaptists he clearly preaches Anabaptist positions in this work. Later, John Howard Yoder, a Mennonite, would expound on similar notions in his works The Politics of Jesus and The Christian Witness to the State.
Without spending the time to outright proclaim that the church and the state play different roles in the world and thus are allowed different means of reaching their ends, Hubmaier points in this direction when he writes, "The secular power rightly and properly puts to death the criminals who injure the bodies of the defenseless (Rom. 13:3, 4). But he who is God's cannot injure anyone, unless he first deserts the gospel". Hubmaier goes on to support his point by looking to Jesus and writes, "Christ has shown us this clearly, saying, 'Fear not them that kill the body' (Matt. 10:28)". While this passage is a strange one to use for his point, Hubmaier in no way does a disservice to the scriptures. To the contrary, he points to the judgment of God and on this judgment is where Hubmaier rests his entire position that Christians must refrain from violence against their fellow man (at least in the realm of punishment within the church) and that the state alone has the authority to wield the sword that they wield.
To draw the distinction between the state and the church and the swords they may wield Hubmaier writes, "For each Christians has a sword against the wicked, which is the Word of God (Eph. 6:17), but not a sword against the malignant" and "The [secular] power judges criminals, but not the godless who cannot inure either body or soul, but rather are a benefit; therefore God can in wisdom draw good from evil". Hubmaier seems to be indicating that those belonging to the Church may not use the sword mentioned in Romans 13 that belongs to the state to punish criminals but instead has been given the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, mentioned in Ephesians 6. The Church must always stay true to the way of Christ even if the state does not for it was not on the state that Christ committed to build his Church (Matthew 16:18).
It seems that Hubmaier is perfectly content to see the secular authorities put criminals to death, which is a popular interpretation of Romans 13, but he confesses that Christians can not have a hand in such activity. Perhaps it would not be too advantageous to say Hubmaier would not approve of Christian possessing such secular authority since the Christian can not bear both the sword of the Spirit and the sword of the state (which perhaps could also be called the sword of wrath depending on one's interpretation of Romans 12-13). If this were his position we would agree. However, there is disagreement on the contentment of seeing the authorities put criminals to death. Athenagoras once proclaimed "We [Christians] cannot bear to see a man or woman put to death, even justly!" Christians can not only take the life of the wicked but they can not delight or desire the death of any wicked person if they are to be perfectly merciful as their Father is (Matthew 5:48, Luke 6:35, Ezekiel 18:23, 33:11). Even if it is true that the secular authorities wield the sword with good reason that does not necessarily mean they are, by design and desire of Christ (whom they were created for, through, and by) right and proper to put to death criminals. Regardless of the freedom given to the authorities the Church must acknowledge that she has a different freedom according to Paul of Tarsus in Romans 12 which sits shoulder to shoulder with the declaration of the freedom of auhtorities in Romans 13. The Church is the closest structure to the realized kingdom of God on this planet and she must give witness to the secular state (and the world) of what true justice looks like. It is for this reason the Church is unable to use violence as a form of punishment or discipline.
For Hubmaier justice is found in the judgment of God and this is the reason for Christians to not punish heretics with any kind of injury. He writes, "If these only knew of what spirit they ought to be, they would not so shamelessly pervert God's Word, nor so often cry, 'To the fire, to the fire!' (Luke 9:54-56)", "It is blasphemy to destroy a heretic, how much more is it to burn to ashes a faithful herald of the Word of God, unconvicted, not arraigned by the truth". Hubmaier earlier states whats seems to be his anchor point when he writes, "We should pray and hope for repentance, as long as man lives in this misery... A Turk or a heretic is not convinced of our act, either with the sword or with fire, but only with patience and prayer; and so we should await with patience the judgment of God... If we do otherwise, God will treat our sword as stubble, and burning fire as mockery (Job 41:29)". Not only does Hubmaier indicate that faithfulness is found in one's reliance on the judgment of God, and thus Christians are patient and prayerful, but he also indicates that a lack of faithfulness - found in swords and fires - does nothing to benefit the kingdom of God or the heretic and is all together wrapped in failure.
There is room to disagree with Hubmaier, even within Anabaptist circles, when it comes to the rights of the authorities to kill criminals or how Christians ought to react to such punishment but one thing the entire Church ought to agree with Hubmaier on is his final statement, "Now it is clear to everyone, even the blind, that a law to burn heretics is an invention of the devil". If there is one community in creation that does not kill the wicked but rather sacrifices themselves for their enemies it must be the Church for her members are not only imitators of Christ (Ephesians 5:1) but his very Body which was destroyed for the sake of His enemies while they were still against him so that they may live (Romans 5:6-8, John 3:16). As a Mennonite slogan suggests, "Let the Christians of the world agree that they will not kill each other." Instead, let Christians rely on the judgment of God and as a result, live with enemies with patience and prayer while speaking truth. The only appropriate weapon to use against heretics truly is the Sword of the Spirit which is "Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart" (Ephesians 6:12) as well as "useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2Timothy 3:16-17).
All Hubmaier quotes derive from A Reformation Reader edited by Denis Janz.
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