From Two kinds of obedience, by Michael Sattler
Two Kinds of Obedience
This early Swiss Brethren essay, attributed to Michael Sattler, was bound
together with the Schleitheim Confession and other documents. Michael Sattler
(1490 - 1527) was a German monk who left the Roman Catholic Church to become a
leader and teacher in the Anabaptist movement. He is most noted for his efforts
in producing the Schleitheim Confession of Faith. Due to the Schleitheim
Confession and his other labors, he was apprehended, severely tortured, and
burned at the stake in 1527.
Servile and Filial Obedience Distinguished
Obedience is of two kinds, servile and filial. The filial has its source in the
love of the Father, even though no other reward should follow, yea even if the
Father should wish to damn His child; the servile has its source in a love of
reward or of oneself. The filial ever does as much as possible, apart from any
command; the servile does as little as possible, yea nothing except by command.
The filial is never able to do enough for Him; but he who renders servile
obedience thinks he is constantly doing too much for Him.
The filial rejoices in the chastisement of the Father although he may not have
transgressed in anything; the servile wishes to be without chastisement of the
Father although he may do nothing right. The filial has its treasure and
righteousness in the Father whom it obeys only to manifest His righteousness;
the servile person's treasure and piety are the works which he does in order to
be pious. The filial remains in the house and inherits all the Father has; the
servile wishes to reject this and receive his lawful reward. The servile looks
to the external and to the prescribed command of his Lord; the filial is
concerned about the inner witness and the Spirit. The servile is imperfect and
therefore his Lord finds no pleasure in him; the filial strives for and attains
perfection, and for that reason the Father cannot reject him.
The filial is not contrary to the servile, as it might appear, but is better and
higher. And therefore let him who is servile seek for the better, the filial; he
dare not be servile at all. The servile is Moses and produces Pharisees and
scribes; the filial is Christ and makes children of God. The servile is either
occupied with the ceremonies which Moses commanded or with those which people
themselves have invented; the filial is active in the love of God and one's
neighbor; yet he also submits himself to the ceremonies for the sake of the
servants that he may instruct them in that which is better and lead them to
sonship. The servile produces self-willed and vindictive people; the filial
creates peaceable and mild-natured persons. The servile is severe and gladly
arrives quickly at the end of the work; the filial is light and directs its gaze
to that which endures. The servile is malevolent and wishes no one well but
himself; the filial would gladly have all men to be as himself.
The Old Covenant and the New
The servile is the old covenant, and had the promise of temporal happiness; the
filial is the new covenant, and has the promise of eternal happiness, namely,
the Creator Himself. The servile is a beginning and preparation for happiness;
the filial is the end and completion itself. The servile endured for a time; the
filial will last forever. The servile was a figure and shadow; the filial is the
body and truth. The servile was established to reveal and increase sin; the
filial follows to do away with and extirpate the revealed and increased sin.
The Law and the Knowledge of Sin
For if a man wish to escape from sin he must first hate it, and if he would hate
it he must first know it, and if he would know it there must be something to
stir up and make known his hidden sin. Now it is Law or Scripture which does
this: for as much as the Law demands, that much more the man turns from God to
that which he has done, justifies himself therein, by his accomplishments,
clings thereto as to his treasure and the greater such love becomes the more and
the greater will grow his hatred for God and for his neighbor. For the more and
the closer a man clings to the creature the farther he is from God. The more he
desires the creature the less he will have of the Creator.
Moreover, the law gives occasion to people to depart farther from God, not
because of itself (for it is good) but because of the sin which is in man. This
is also the reason why Paul says that the law was given that it might increase
sin, and sin might thereby become known. Yeah, the law is the strength of sin
and therefore it is just like the servile obedience, that is, obedience to law,
which leads people into the most intense hatred of God and of one's neighbor.
Therefore filial obedience is a certain way through which man escapes from such
hatred and receives the love of God and of one's neighbor.
From the Old Testament to the New
Therefore, as one administers death, the other administers life. The one is the
Old Testament; the other, the New. According to the Old Testament only he who
murdered was guilty of judgment; but in the New, he also who is angry with his
brother. The Old gave permission for a man to separate from his wife for every
reason; but not at all in the New, except for adultery. The Old permitted
swearing if one swore truly, but the New will know of no swearing. The Old has
its stipulated punishment, but the New does not resist the evil.
The Old permitted hatred for the enemy; the New loves him who hates, blesses him
who curses, prays for those who wish one evil; gives alms in this manner that
the left hand does not know what the right has done; says his prayer secretly
without evident and excessive babbling of mouth; judges and condemns no one;
takes the mote out of the eye of one's brother after having first cast the beam
out of one's own eye; fasts without any outward pomp and show; is like a light
which is set on a candlestick and lightens everyone in the house; is like a city
built on a hill, being everywhere visible; is like good salt that does not
become tasteless, being pleasing not to man but to God alone; is like a good eye
which illuminates the whole body; takes no anxious thought about clothing or
food, but performs his daily and upright tasks; does not cast pearls before
swine, nor that which is holy before dogs; seeks, asks and knocks; finding,
receiving and having the door opened for him; enters through the narrow way and
the small gate; guards himself from the Pharisees and scribes as from false
prophets; is a good tree and brings forth good fruit; does the will of his
Father, hearing what he should do, and then doing it.
The Church of True Believers
The church of true believers is built upon Christ the chief cornerstone; stands
against all the gates of hell, that is, against the wrathful judgment of the
Pharisees, of the mighty ones of earth, and of the Scribes; is a house and
temple of God, against which no wind and water may do anything, standing secure,
so that everything else which withstands the teaching which proceeds from it,
denying its truth, may itself finally give evidence that it is a dwelling of
The believer's church is now maligned by the Pharisees and Scribes as a
habitation of the devil: yea, finally they shall hear, Behold, the tabernacle of
God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and
God Himself shall be with them, and be their God, etc. But of the house of the
Pharisees and Scribes, it shall be said, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen,
and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a
cage of every unclean and hateful bird, etc.
Closing
But to God (through whom everything which boasts that is not, may be manifested
that it is) be all honor, praise and glory through His beloved Son, our Lord and
Brother Jesus Christ. Amen.
