He died because of Reformation debates surrounding the Lord’s Supper—a Christian practice that believers today too often relegate to secondary importance, at best. Frith rejected the belief that Christ’s body and blood exist literally within the elements of the Lord’s Supper—that is, within the bread and wine. And for this reason, he burned.

“Amongst all other chances lamentable, there hath been none a great time which seemed unto me more grievous, than the lamentable death and cruel handling of John Frith” – John Foxe^[1]

Confined in London’s Newgate prison in the summer of 1533, a young English Reformer penned a brief tract with the title, “The Articles Wherefore John Frith Died.”^[2]

The tract’s author, 30-year-old John Frith, had already suffered much for his Reformation beliefs. In 1528, he languished for weeks in an Oxford University fish cellar, where he saw some of his companions die. He then experienced the hardship of exile on the European continent. Later, while on mission in England, he was taken as a vagabond and put in the stocks—fearing for his life, should anyone discover his identity. Only by citing portions of Homer’s Iliad in the original Greek from memory did he convince his captors that he was no vagabond, but rather a traveling scholar. So he escaped, this time. On his second mission to England he was imprisoned on charges of heresy. But this time, he was never released.^[3]

On July 4, 1533, Frith burned at the stake as a heretic.

But why? Here, we turn to Frith’s own account, spelled out in his tract. According to Frith, he would soon die for two reasons: First, he rejected the existence of Purgatory—a fiery netherworld where the souls of baptized Christians would be purged of their sins (See Dante’s Divine Comedy for one detailed, literary account of this realm). Frith argued that, through faith in Christ’s atoning death on the cross, each Christian’s soul is already purged of sin. Moreover, each Christian’s flesh is purged of its sinful inclinations through the pains of this life and, ultimately, through death itself. As a result, the Christian has no need for Purgatory after death.

But, ultimately, Frith died for another reason. He died because of Reformation debates surrounding the Lord’s Supper—a Christian practice that believers today too often relegate to secondary importance, at best. Frith rejected the belief that Christ’s body and blood exist literally within the elements of the Lord’s Supper—that is, within the bread and wine. And for this reason, he burned.

To fully grasp what Frith believed and why it matters, we need to consider some background about Reformation debates regarding the Lord’s Supper.

Read More