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What happened when Menno Simons read his Bible

Mark Klassen

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Menno Simons was 28 years old when he first read the Bible. The year was 1524. At the time, he was already a priest in the Roman Catholic Church. Though some of the other priests were acquainted with the Bible and sometimes would discuss it, Menno confesses that he was so ignorant of God’s Word that he had nothing to contribute to such discussions. However, in his work as a priest, Menno became troubled over what the church taught about the Lord’s Supper and baptism, and in desperation he turned to the Bible.

We don’t know precisely why Menno looked for help in the Bible. The Roman Catholic Church of his day certainly acknowledged the Bible as an authority – along with the creeds, the writings of the Church Fathers and the accumulation of traditions that had been sanctioned by the Popes and the Roman Catholic hierarchy – but, practically speaking, even a basic knowledge of the Bible had been unnecessary for Menno’s training as a leader in that Church.

We know that Menno felt some indebtedness to the German Reformer Martin Luther. Menno confesses at one point, early in his time of questioning, that it was through Luther’s writings that he came to understand that the church’s traditions should not be accepted as an authority above the Bible and that human teachings should always be judged by the teachings of the Bible.

However, according to Menno, it was his own encounter with God as he read the Bible that made all the difference as he began to ask questions and look for answers. It was not so much through the help of others but simply through “the illumination of the Holy Ghost, through much reading and pondering of the Scriptures, and by the gracious favour and gift of God” that he came to his radical conclusions concerning the church of his day.

Those conclusions were that the Scriptures taught one thing about the Lord’s Supper and baptism and the Roman Catholic Church taught and practised another. However, for some time, Menno stayed in the church and continued in his duties as a priest.

It was the Scriptures, as well, that awakened Menno’s conscience concerning his own moral depravity. In his Meditation on the Twenty-Fifth Psalm, Menno wrote, “My life was darkness, my truth lies, my righteousness sin, my religion open idolatry, and my life certain death. O Lord, I did not know myself until I viewed myself in Thy Word.”

Menno’s conscience tormented him without ceasing until he could no longer live in hypocrisy. In 1535, he began to preach openly from the pulpit “in the power of the Scripture to reprove all sin and wickedness, all idolatry and false worship”. Finally, in January 1536, Menno formally renounced Roman Catholicism. Menno’s own words describe the magnitude of this decision: “The gracious Lord granted me His fatherly Spirit, help, and hand. Then I, without constraint, of a sudden, renounced all my wordly reputation, name and fame, my unchristian abominations, my masses, infant baptism, and my easy life, and I willingly submitted to distress and poverty under the heavy cross of Christ.”

It should be remembered that Menno studied the Bible for 12 years before he made the resolution described above. His journey was a gradual one which involved much intellectual questioning and searching. Finally, his faith required him to make this new and radical commitment. This commitment was a conversion in the true sense of the word. It involved a change of heart accompanied by a complete change in lifestyle. It was true repentance, a spiritual and ethical re-orientation, and it was occasioned by faith.

It’s amazing what God will do when people will read their Bibles.

Mark Klassen is an associate pastor in Yarrow, (B.C.) MB Church. All quotations are from The Complete Writings of Menno Simons (Herald Press, 1956).

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Last modified September 20, 2000.

© 2000 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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