Trading One Pope for Another

Hubmaier [Another Anabaptist leader] “concludes by promising a sort of infallibility to the pious Christian who read with a clear conscience: ‘Then judge in your own conscience and understanding according to the simple Word of God…and you can be well assured you will not err.’ This short sentence is a clear statement of Hubmaier’s understanding of how Scripture is to be interpreted. Hubmaier rejects both medieval Scholastic exegesis with its great respect for tradition and the classical Protestant method of exegesis. In its place he puts a very private sort of personal illumination.” (Hughes Oliphant Old, The Shaping of the Reformed Baptismal Rite in the 16thCentury, p. 97)