VOLUME 3

AN ANSWERE VNTO SIR THOMAS MORES DIALOGE

LOCATION
KEY Commentary Side Textual Bibliographic Scriptural

of their hertes. For as they write / so they beleue. Other felynge of the lawes of god and feyth of chryst haue they none / then that theyr God the pope so sayth. And therfore as the pope preacheth with hys mouth only / even soo beleue they wyth theyr mouth only what soeuer he preacheth / with out moare a doo / be it neuer so abhominable / and in theyr hertes consent vnto all their fathers wekednesse and folow hym in theyr dedes as fast as they can runne.

101/1 pena culpa. This Latin term meaning absolution "from punishment and guilt" was coined by Peter Lombard and adopted by Aquinas (Summa I, Q. 48, Art. 5). God discharges the guilt in view of the penitent's contrition and faith; the priest remits the punishment of eternal damnation upon the penitent's confession and satisfaction. Tyndale asserts that Christ's satisfaction for sin cancels out these legalistic measures. Cf. 154/24, 205/4; Obedience N7, V8; 1 John A2V, A3v, B6. (JW)

The turkes beinge in numbre. v. tymes mo then we knowlege one God and beleue many thynges of God moued only by the auctoryte of theyr elders and presume that God wyll not let so greate a multitude erre so longe tyme. And yet they haue erred and bene faythlesse thys .viij. hundred yeres. And the Iewes beleue thys daye / as moch as the carnall sorte of them euer beleued / moued also by the auctoryte of theyr elders only / and thynke that yt ys impossyble for them to erre / beynge Abrahams seed and the chyldern of them to whom the promysses of all that we beleue were made. And yet they haue erred and bene faythlesse thys .xv. hundred yeres. And we of lyke blyndnesse beleue only by the auctoryte of our elders and of lyke pryde thynke that we can not erre / beynge soch a multytude. And yet we se how God in the olde testament did lett the greate multitude erre / reseruynge al waye a litle flocke to call the other backe agayne and to testifie vnto them the right waye.

101/9–12 their shal . . . true waye. Matt. 24.24, which is also paraphrased in 101/15–17. Matt. 24.24 is cited by a Lollard text against the papacy, cf. Hudson 126/150–53. Luther cited or referred to Matt. 24.24 four times in his treatment of Dan. 8, taking the Gospel text as prophetic of the papacy and helpful in elucidating Dan. 8.25, Et prosperatur dolus in manu eius. This is the papal deception (dolus) by which otherwise good Christians, like Bernard, Dominic, Francis and Bonaventure, were deceived into acknowledging papal supremacy, cf. Responsio to Ambrosius Catharinus, 1521 (WA 7.744; not in LW). But Tyndale's interpretation develops instead an aspect of the condition of the remnant of tempted and persecuted elect persons who rely only on canonical Scripture. (JW)

101/12 false annoynted. Cf. 2 Cor. 11.13.

101/13–14 they shal come in his name. Cf. Matt. 7.22, Mark 13.6, Luke 21.8.

101/17–18 the electe . . . called. Cf. Matt. 20.16, 22.14.

¶How this word church hath a double interpretacyon

This ys therfore a sure conclusyon / as paul sayth .Ro. ix. that not all they that are of Israel are Israelites / neyther because they