The preceding chapter has shown that Zwingli thinks of
God's Word not in and for itself but in its movement: in the re-
lation between God and man in Jesus Christ. The exclusive
character of the Word is bound to this movement, because Jesus
Christ is the only way to God. Scripture thus has authority not
on its own but because of Christ. This observation suggests that
christology may well be the main pillar of Zwingli's theology, the
axis of his thought. We will try to document this point with pas-
sages from Zwingli's works, deliberately chosen from writings
of diverse kinds.

(Uslegen und Gründ der Schlussreden oder Artikel) 1523.

Zwingli's exposition of the sixty-seven theses he prepared for
the first disputation in Zurich is one of the most important system-
atic writings of the Reformer. These theses were designed to pro-
mote the reformation of the church, and deal mainly with practi-
cal questions, strongly criticizing certain features of traditional
church practice. ¹

It is not at all surprising that the theses, considering their pur-
pose, are based exclusively on Scripture and thus have a christo-
centric character. They are divided into two parts of unequal
length. The first part (theses 1 to 16) lays theological foundations;
the second (theses 17 to 67) draws practical consequences for
the situation of the Zurich church.

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