The belief was strongly held that the writers of the Bible were merely pens in the hand of God (Dei calami.{; ?} Hence the conclusion that not only the sense but the words, letters, and even the punctuation proceeded from the Holy Spirit.

Only on this one question of the origin of the Hebrew points was there any controversy, and this waxed hot.

It began to be especially noted that these vowel points in the Hebrew Bible did not exist in the synagogue rolls, were not mentioned in the Talmud, and seemed unknown to St.Jerome; and on these grounds some earnest men ventured to think them no part of the original revelation to Adam.
Zwingli, so much before most of the Reformers in other respects, was equally so in this.

While not doubting the divine origin and preservation of the Hebrew language as a whole, he denied the antiquity of the vocal points, demonstrated their unessential character, and pointed out the fact that St.Jerome makes no mention of them.

His denial was long the refuge of those who shared this heresy.
But the full orthodox theory remained established among the vast majority both of Catholics and Protestants.