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Anabaptist: Believers
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There were some features common to most Anabaptist groups throughout the early modern period. Like other Protestants, Anabaptists rejected papal authority in favor of biblical authority. However, while most other Protestants began establishing new professional clerical elites soon after the initial ferment of the Reformation, Anabaptists maintained their reliance on lay leadership much longer, and it was not uncommon among early groups to believe that ordinary men and women could receive direct inspiration from the Holy Spirit. Like other Protestants, Anabaptists emphasized the importance of grace for salvation, but they ... placed a great deal of emphasis on the need for true faith to result in the transformation of believers' lives. And like other Protestants, Anabaptists accepted only two sacraments, communion and baptism. Their symbolic, commemorative understanding of communion was similar to that held by Reformed Protestants.
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The Anabaptist heritage rejected the need for an official interpreter of Scripture. The study groups around Zwingli interpreted Scripture and they taught that every believer had that privilege. Scripture interpretation was not the dominion of any Priesthood. The humblest believer could find in his Bible what was necessary for salvation under the direction of the Holy Spirit. But blessings often have dangers as well.
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During the period from 1612-1660, the term Anabaptist was often used to describe or smear certain other sects who seemed to hold or practiced believers baptism or baptism by immersion by their opponents. These included the General Baptist, the Particular Baptist, and other sects of the Interregnum.
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The Anabaptist name was not taken by themselves. It is a term of abuse and means "rebaptizers." Of course an Anabaptist would not think of believer's baptism as "rebaptism," only Baptism properly administered for the first time. There were many other terms of abuse. Some were:
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