On the other hand, some reformers rejected compromises with their Roman Catholic past. The authority of Scripture demanded complete obedience. Opponents of such independent groups called them “Anabaptists” because they baptized again (“ana” means “again”). Of course, if baptizing a baby is not biblical baptism, then baptizing believers—adults and teenagers—is not a ‘second’ baptism in form or in purpose. The Bible recognizes but one baptism, authorized by one Lord.
There is one body and one Spirit… one hope… one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God. (Ephesians 4:4-6 cf. 1 Corinthians 12:13)
In Short Apology (1526) Balthasar Hubmaier wrote,
I have never taught anabaptism…. but [I taught] the right baptism of Christ, which is preceded by teaching and oral confession of faith. I teach and say that infant baptism is a robbery of the right baptism of Christ.
“SOME REFORMERS REJECTED COMPROMISES.”
Anabaptists took seriously Jesus’ teaching against using violence. They also resisted forced submission to the state religions of Luther, Calvin, Zwingli and Rome. Enemies, both Catholic and Protestant, hated such uncompromising positions. Since Anabaptists lacked ties to protecting governments, they suffered the worst civil and religious persecutions of that age. For example, Hubmaier (1480-1528), a Catholic leader at Ingolstadt University, Germany, had oppressed and killed Jews, but the Bible changed him. Recognizing infant baptism as unscriptural, he was baptized as an adult (1525). Fleeing from the Catholic king, Ferdinand I, Hubmaier sought refuge with Zwingli in Zurich. Zwingli had Hubmaier tortured on the rack, a machine for pulling the human body apart. When the pain became too great, Hubmaier recanted. When Hubmaier was released, he fled to Moravia, only to be captured by King Ferdinand. This time, torture failed to make Hubmaier recant. He wrote, “I may err—I am a man, but a heretic I cannot be, because I ask constantly for instruction in the word of God.” Roman Catholic authorities in Vienna burned him to death in the public square. Three days later, they tied a weight to his wife’s neck and drowned her in the River Danube.