Salvation by grace; faith expressed in communal life and Gelassenheit
Hutterites affirm salvation by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ. They share the Anabaptist conviction that genuine faith is expressed in a transformed life of Gelassenheit (yieldedness) and communal obedience, not merely in a private spiritual experience or doctrinal assent. Salvation is inseparable from membership in the community of faith and from the communal practice of sharing all things.
Peter Riedemann's Rechenschaft (1542), the foundational doctrinal document of Hutterite theology, affirms grace-based salvation while insisting that genuine faith produces the fruit of communal life, including community of goods. Assurance of salvation is held with Anabaptist humility — trusting in God's mercy rather than asserting personal certainty.
Key Distinctions
- Justification means:
- grace through faith; community life and sharing as expression of salvation
- Election type:
- Arminian; free will; universal atonement
- Baptismal regeneration:
- adult baptism as covenant; symbol of entering the community of salvation
- Eternal security:
- community faithfulness important; no strong 'once saved always saved'
Scripture References
Sources
- Peter Riedemann, Rechenschaft (1542)
- Hutterite Five Articles (1547)