Rudolf Gwalther (1519–1586) on Christ’s Death for All

I underlined the questionable words in the above picture.

Again, when he commends the preaching of the Gospel to his Apostles, he will first have repentance to be taught, next after which, he will have remissions of sins to be joined. Therefore Peter [in Acts 2] does not without a cause proceed in this order, that speaking of the death of Christ, he first proves his hearers to be guilty, and to be the authors [auctors?] thereof. And so it is necessary to have Christ's death preached in these days, that all men might understand the Son of God died for their sins, and that they were the authors [auctors?] thereof. For thus it shall come to pass, that men shall learn to be sorry [sorye?] in their heart for their sins, and shall embrace the salvation offered them in Christ with the more fervency of faith.

Rudolf Gwalther, A Hundred Threescore and Fifteen Homilies or Sermons Upon the Acts of the Apostles, trans. John Bridges (London: Henrie Denham, 1572), 108. I have taken the liberty to modernize the English.

Biographical Information:

Gwalther, Rudolf (also Walther, Walthard, Gualther; 1519–1586), third Antistes (or Bishop) of the Reformed Church of Zurich, following Bullinger and Zwingli in that office. Gwalther was Bullinger’s student at Kappel in 1528, and later, upon taking up residence in Bullinger’s house in Zurich in 1532, came to be treated almost as a son. In 1537 Gwalther traveled to England, and from 1538 to 1541, with a scholarship from Zurich, he studied at Basel, Strasbourg, Lausanne, and Marburg. He attended the Colloquy of Regensburg with the theologians from Hesse in 1541, where Calvin was also present. Upon returning to Zurich in 1541, Gwalther married Regula Zwingli, the daughter of the reformer, who also was a resident in the Bullinger household. After her death in 1565, he married Anna Blarer. In 1541 Gwalther became pastor at Schwamendingen. The following year he succeeded Leo Jud as pastor of Saint Peter’s church in Zurich. For more than thirty years he worked closely with Bullinger until the latter's death in 1575. In his Testament, Bullinger named Gwalther his successor.

As the leader of the Zurich church, Gwalther defended the Zurich version of the Protestant faith, especially against the Lutheran authors of the Formula of Concord. He was instrumental in developing good relations between the Zurich church and other Reformed churches in Europe. He had many contacts in England, where he was very influential, particularly as an advocate of the Zurich model of the state church. Gwalther’s son, Rudolf, received a master of arts degree from the University of Oxford in 1574, and Gwalther regularly corresponded with English bishops and others.

Gwalther’s works include Latin homilies on all the gospels, as well as on Acts of the Apostles, Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, and the twelve minor prophets. He also edited three volumes of the works of Zwingli and translated many of Zwingli’s German works into Latin. Gwalther’s famous work on the Antichrist (Der Endtchrist, 1546) was translated into several languages. He wrote poems and two works on metrics. He even tried his hand at drama (Nabal comoedia sacra, 1562). After his death his sermon notes on Esther, Isaiah, Psalms 1 to 94, and on all the books of the New Testament except Revelation were published.

J. Wayne Baker, “Gwalther, Rudolf,” in The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation, ed. Hans J. Hillerbrand (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), 2:203.

Gualter, Rodolphus, son-in-law of Zwingli, and one of the first Swiss Reformers, was born at Zurich Nov. 9, 1519, succeeded Bullinger as pastor, became superintendent at Zurich in 1575, and died Nov. 25, 1586. His commentaries are highly esteemed and rare, viz. Homiliæ cccxi in Matthæum (Zurich, 1590–96, 2 vols. fol.):―Homil. clxxv in Acta (Zurich, 1577, fol.). He wrote also a strong anti-papal treatise, Antichristus (Zurich, 1546, 8vo). A complete edition of his works appeared at Zurich in 1585 (15 vols. 8vo).―Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Généale, xxi, 810; Winer, Theol. Literatur, ii, 555; Darling, Cyclop. Bibliographica, i, 1350.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, eds. John McClintock and James Strong (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1981), 3:1024.

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