His motto was "Spes mea crux Christi; gratiam, non opera quaero" which translates to "The cross of Christ is my hope; I seek mercy, not works".
At one point the reforming bishop "warned his clergy not to curl their hair with curling-tongs, nor to carry on trade in the churches, or to raise a disturbance there, not to keep drinking booths or to engage in horse-dealing, and not to buy stolen property."
While serving under Bishop von Utenheim, Oecolampadius demonstrated his reforming fervor when he criticized the introduction of humorous stories into Easter sermons.
Throughout the 1520s von Utenheim held on as bishop in Basel as the Reformation, a movement which increasingly ignored established episcopal authority, steadily gained momentum in the city.
On 26 January 1524 the beleaguered von Utenheim, along with the bishops of Lausanne and Konstanz, complained at the Diet of Luzerne of the deteriorization of ecclesiastical unity.