In response to Thomas More's Dialogue Concerning Heresies, London, 1529, Tyndale published Answer to More, Antwerp, 1531. Tyndale's Answer opens with a short epistle to the reader in the spirit of St. Paul. Unwilling to follow More's theological lead, Tyndale announces six themes in his foundational essay: Church, Scripture, faith, the papacy, the Fathers and sacred signs. More was correct in recognizing that Tyndale's diction assumes a decentralized, desacralized church: "congregation" for "church," "elder" for "priest," "love" for "charity," "favour" for "grace," "knowledge" for "confession." "repentance" for "penance." Tyndale defends his choices on linguistic grounds by appealing to the Greek and Latin New Testament of More's friend Erasmus. After "Church" and "Scripture," Tyndale next discusses "faith," the God-given response to the preached or written Word. While the reader's attention is keenest, Tyndale explains his major concerns in the first third of Answer to More.
In the rest of the treatise, Tyndale rebuts arguments from the four books of the Dialogue. In affirming justification by faith, Tyndale, more than Luther, extols love of the law over freedom from sin. Like Zwingli, Tyndale holds that the Eucharist is only a sign of Christ's Passion. More countered the Answer with his wordy Confutation of Tyndale's Answer in 1532-33, but Tyndale returned to his work of translating and explaining the Bible. More's best arguments are lost in his meandering Dialogue or his circuitous Confutation - in spite of passages of warm humour. Tyndale's forthright claims and brisk wit capture the reader in this work.