100/6
antichriste.
This section on the recognizable signs of Antichrist expounds
four NT texts foretelling the rise of a vicious and powerful opponent of
Christ and his elect. The term "Antichrist " occurs in 1 John 2.18, 2.22, 4.7, and 2 John 7. But Tyndale 's proofs that the papacy is
the foreseen antagonist use other passages with different vocabularies.
They are 2 Pet. 2.1–3 (100/ 15–19), Matt. 24.24 (101/9–12), 2
Thess.2.9–11 (102/1–6), and, climactically , 2 Tim. 3.1–9
(102/29–104/29).
During the first millennium, unformulated opinions about the Antichrist
were held by various Christian thinkers. These beliefs
then came together in a widely accepted scenario about the role of the
great persecutor to appear shortly before the end of the world. Amid
papal-imperial struggles from Gregory VII (pope, 1073–85) to the
Concordat of Worms (1122), the term "Antichrist" was first used as a
polemical epithet hurled against an opponent now living in this world.
The radical Franciscans of the early 14c branded John XXII (pope, 1316–34) "Antichrist" for his rejection of
the spiritual church. The background of this theme is treated, with
abundant bibliography, in the multi-authored entry "Antichrist," TRE
3.20–50. See Bernard McGinn, Antichrist, Two Thousand
Years of Human Fascination with Evil (San Francisco: Harper,
1994).
Wyclif's late writings list numerous signs that the papal, hierarchical
church is Antichrist, now in conflict with Christ and the predestined
elect. Cf. De postestate papae,
ed. Johann Loserth (London: Wyclif Society, 1907) 118–26, 148–50, 185–90, and
322–30. The Lollards transmitted this fragment of Wyclif's polemic: the
pope is Antichrist (Hudson 122/7, 126/159, 126/164, and 126/172);
prelates will be damned (Hudson 122/13, 125/128). Tyndale is in all
likelihood an eventual recipient of and further spokesman for this
conviction. Responding to Exsurge Domine, Leo X's
bull of
censure, Luther first targeted the papal
Antichrist in two works of late 1520: Adversus
execrabilem Antichristi bullam (WA 6.597–612; not in LW) and
Wider die Bulle des Endchrists (WA 6.614–29;
not in LW). Luther restated this theme in his pamphlet following the
burning of Exsurge in Wittenberg on 10 December
1520 (WA 7.176–80; LW 31.392–94). Tyndale almost certainly knew Luther's
expanded case for the pope as Antichrist, given in an exposition of Dan.
8.23–25, published in 1521 in the Responsio to an
attack by the Dominican Ambrosius Catharinus (WA 7.705–78; not in LW),
interpreting Daniel on 722–77. But this exegetical treatment starts with
a prologue expounding 2 Pet. 2.1–3 (ibid., WA 7.725–28; not in LW), upon
which Tyndale draws below. In 1524 this work came out in German under
the title Offenbarung des Endchrists aus dem propheten
Daniel, which John Frith translated as . . . The reuelation of Antichrist (Antwerp, 1529) STC 11394, and
which was banned in 1530. Cf. TRP 1, no. 129, p. 194.
Luther argues that the pope is the rex potens
faciebus of Dan. 8.23 because of the massive edifice
of external forms (facies), such as rank, riches,
garb, buildings, rites, and allied institutions, which in the papal
church overlay God's fundamental ordinances. Then Luther expounds how
the papacy is intelligens propositionum (Dan.
8.23) through the plethora of enactments and doctrines (propositiones) raised by popes to greater binding
power than God's word itself. On Luther's Antichrist argument, see John
M. Headley, Luther's View of Church History (New
Haven: Yale UP, 1963); Scott H. Hendrix , Luther and the Papacy: Stages in a Reformation Conflict
(Philadelphia : Fortress, 1981); Konrad Hammann, Ecclesia spiritualis: Luthers Kirchenverständnis in
den Kontroversen mit Augustin von Alveld und Ambrosius
Catharinus (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1989)
162–219 (text), 294–314 (notes), on Luther's interpretation of Dan. 8 in
1521.
Tyndale's first independent work, Mammon, is
partly a translation of Luther's sermon for the Ninth Sunday after
Trinity, 1522 (WA 10/2.283–92; not in LW). In the preface (A3v-A4v), the English reformer asserts that Antichrist is a stealthy
spiritual force present throughout history, which has emerged in the
pope and his prelates and which is now raging because those versed in
Scripture
have begun to unmask him. Tyndale developed
the Antichrist motif in an extended passage of Obedience (I8v—L8v), less in order to prove its realization in
the papacy than to unmask the practices of pope and prelates as
fulfilling what Jesus had foretold about Antichrist's ways in Matt.
24.24 and Mark 13.6. Special emphasis fell on their craft against kings
and their laws (K3), leading to Tyndale 's outcry for monarchs
to arraign prelates, judge them by Scripture, and regain their rightful
authority (K6—L8v). Other references show Antichrist opposing
key Reformation doctrines by giving false interpretations of Scripture
(B6) and teaching that good deeds earn God's love (Q3r—v). Both Obedience (I8v—L8v) and Answer (100/6–109/5) devote a whole section to Antichrist.
Other references in Answer assert that Antichrist
has already appeared (95/9–11) in the person of the pope
(144/14–145/9, 175/5–9); the imposition of clerical celibacy is one of
his works (162/26–33). In 1 John (D7r—v, D8v),
Tyndale recognizes the presence of Antichrist in the
apostolic era and in the Docetist heresy (F3), which denies the true
humanity of Jesus. (JW)
100/15–19
there . . . ouer
you. 2 Pet. 2.1–3. Tyndale's Prologue to 2 Peter concludes with
a brief outline of the epistle taken from Luther's 1530 revised preface.
The whole second chapter is accordingly Peter's prophetic
description of conditions in the era of papal rule and the dominance of
human, not godly, doctrine (WA/DB 7.315; not in LW). (JW)
100/20–21
law . . .
law. Rom. 3.19.
100/22–24
Now . . .
Christe. Tyndale follows Luther's proemium to his exegesis of Dan. 8.23–25 in the Responsio to Ambrosius Catharinus, 1521 (WA
7.726f; not in LW), where the "sectes" are identified as the religious
orders, each of which has a different garb and a rule prescribing
certain works as a way to salvation. For the clothing of the various
orders, cf. 11/20n. (JW)
100/26
they . . .
trueth. Cf. 2 Pet. 2.2.