1. The Holy Christian Church, whose only head is Christ, was born from the Word of God, and abides in it, and does not listen to the voice of strangers.
  2. The Church of Christ does not establish laws and commandments outside the Word of God. Because of all the human traditions, which they call Ecclesiastical, they bind us only insofar as they are founded and commanded in the Word of God.
  3. Christ is the only wisdom, justice, redemption, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. Therefore, to admit another merit of salvation and satisfaction for sin is to deny Christ.
  4. That the body and blood of Christ are essentially and corporeally present in the bread of the Eucharist cannot be demonstrated from Holy Scripture.
  5. The Mass, as it is practiced today, in which Christ is offered to God the Father for the sins of the living and the dead, is contrary to the Scriptures, and is blasphemous to the most holy sacrifice, passion and death of Christ, and because of its abuses is abominable before God.
  6. Just as Christ alone died for us, so is he alone to be worshiped as the mediator and advocate between God the Father and us who believe. Therefore, to propose other mediators who exist outside this life to be worshiped, conflicts with the foundation of the Word of God.
  7. That there is a place after this life in which souls are purified is not found in Scripture. Therefore, all the services instituted for the dead, such as vigils, masses for the dead, funerals, seventh day anniversaries, thirtieth day anniversaries, lamps, candles, and such other things, are vain.
  8. To make images for the sake of worship is contrary to the understanding of the Word of God, the books of the Old and New Testaments. Therefore, if they are set up as objects of worship, they must be abolished.
  9. Marriage is not forbidden to any class of men in the Scriptures, but as a means of avoiding fornication and impurity, it is commanded and permitted to men of all classes.
  10. Because an open fornicator should be excommunicated according to the Scriptures, it follows that fornication or impure celibacy, are accounted as scandalous, and is harmful to all orders of men — even more to the priesthood.

English Translation of the Ten Theses of Berne by Peter Chapman, licensed under CC BY 4.0.