The first Anabaptist baptism took place in Zürich on 21 January 1525, marking a decisive moment in the history of the Radical Reformation. This event signalled a clear break not only with Roman Catholicism but also with the emerging Magisterial Reformation led in Zürich by Huldrych Zwingli.
The immediate context was a growing disagreement over the pace and extent of reform. A group of Zwingli’s former associates most notably Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, and George Blaurock became convinced that Scripture required the baptism of professing believers rather than infants. When the Zürich City Council ordered the continuation of infant baptism in January 1525, the reform-minded dissenters chose obedience to conscience over civic mandate.
On the evening of 21 January, the group gathered in a private home in Zurich. There, George Blaurock requested baptism upon confession of faith. Conrad Grebel baptised him, and Blaurock in turn baptised the others present. This simple act performed without church sanction constituted the first known “believers’ baptism” of the Reformation era and effectively inaugurated the Anabaptist movement.
The theological significance of this baptism was profound. It embodied the Anabaptist conviction that the church should be a voluntary community of regenerate believers, distinct from the state and governed by the authority of Scripture. Baptism, in this understanding, was not a civic rite but a testimony of personal faith and discipleship.
The consequences were severe. Zürich authorities quickly moved to suppress the movement. Within a few years, Felix Manz would be executed by drowning, becoming the first Anabaptist martyr. Nevertheless, the baptism of January 1525 proved decisive. From Zürich, Anabaptist ideas spread across Switzerland, southern Germany, and beyond, leaving a lasting legacy on later Baptist, Mennonite, and Free Church traditions.
Though small and quiet in its immediate setting, the first Anabaptist baptism in Zürich stands as a pivotal moment in Christian history one that reshaped debates over church, state, conscience, and the meaning of faithful obedience to Christ.
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