Chelčický inspired the Unitas Fratrum, who opposed transubstantiation and monasticism, insisting on pacifism and the primacy of scripture.

He proposed a number of Bible-based improvements for human society, including nonresistance, which influenced humanitarians Tolstoy, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King.

[6] On one occasion, Chelčický called himself a peasant, but this description is at odds with his ability to live in Prague from 1419 to 1421, his rudimentary knowledge of Latin, and the time he was able to devote to literary, political, and religious pursuits.

Petr Chelčický believed in a strict adherence to the principle of sola scriptura and read the bible in the vernacular.

His strict adherence to sola scriptura caused Petr Chelčický to occasionally contradict John Wycliffe and other Hussites.

[9][10] He rejected the papacy and Catholic hierarchy, believing that the early church had no pope, kings, lords, inquisitions or crusaders.

Chelčický used the parable of the wheat and the tares[13] (Matthew 13:24–30) to show that both the sinners and the saints should be allowed to live together until the harvest.

[citation needed] According to Karl Kautsky in Communism in Central Europe in the Time of the Reformation, "The nature of the first organisation of the Bohemian Brethren is not at all clear, as the later Brothers were ashamed of their communistic origin, and endeavoured to conceal it in every possible way."

[18][19][20] Petr Chelčický did not believe that baptism by itself could save but is a part of the process of salvation which included instruction, confirmation and discipleship.

[21] Petr Chelčický based his teaching on the Sermon on the Mount, renouncing violence, bearing arms and oaths.

[25] Chelčický held that apostolic succession is not determined by laying on of hands but it is a matter of the clergy following the teaching of Christ.

He also criticized the chiliasts, opposed physical warfare and noted that obligations of debts gave lenders power over debtors.

In O trojiem lidu řeč ("On the Triple Division of Society")[26] Chelčický criticized the nobility, the clergy and the middle class.

Important similarities can be seen between his teachings and the Continental Anabaptists, and, to a lesser extent, the English Baptists, though no direct connections have been shown to exist.

Chelčický's work, specifically The Net of Faith,[29][30] influenced Leo Tolstoy and is referenced in his book The Kingdom of God Is Within You.