Leipzig Disputation of 1519<\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nIt was easily known or knowable in 1521 that whatever<\/em>\u00a0powers of infallibility or protection the pope was granted (there was some<\/em> dispute) were distinct from his personal holiness. That argument had been well-established by St. Augustine 1100 years earlier, and Luther was an Augustinian monk. It\u2019s two different things: infallibility and impeccability.\u00a0<\/span>
Luther not infrequently made this distinction about himself<\/em> (usually defending his acid tongue and hyper-rhetoric against complaints from friends and foes alike), but because of his prejudice against Catholicism, he is unable to fathom that the same thing holds there as well: office and personal sanctity are distinguishable from each other, with the former not dependent upon the latter.\u00a0<\/span>
What Luther\u2019s error here amounts to is the sort of excessive rigorism and legalism embodied by the Donatists, Montanists, and other such schismatic sects.<\/span><\/p>\nIt\u2019s ironic, too, that Luther, later in his life, was absolutely disgusted with his own faction of Lutherans, and is on record blasting them over and over in no uncertain terms (I\u2019ve documented it, as usual!). He even admits that their lives are no bet<\/span><\/span>ter than those of the \u201cpapists.\u201d So with this pseudo-Donatist view of offices \/ sinfulness, where does that leave his Lutherans? Obviously no better off than the Catholics. At least he was honest about deficiencies n his own party. Credit where it is due . . . But he\u00a0couldn\u2019t see that they largely derived from the false principle of sola Scriptura<\/em>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nSt. Paul called himself\u00a0the \u201cchief\u201d of sinners, yet Protestants are glad to grant him authority and make him their favorite saint and authority figure. King David and committed adultery, yet God (knowing he was to commit those crimes), said he was a man after his own heart, and made an eternal covenant with him. David was even a messianic prototype of our Lord Jesus.\u00a0<\/span>Judas was still truly a disciple, and Jesus picked him<\/span><\/span>, didn\u2019t He? Paul called the Galatians and Corinthians brethren, even though they had serious sin; Jesus called the seven churches in revelation \u201cchurches\u201d. They didn\u2019t cease being so because of all kinds of serious sin.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nThese distinctions of authority or legitimate category and personal holiness are pretty basic. Its hard to believe that Luther didn\u2019t grasp them. So I can only conclude that he got carried away by his negative emotions, and logic and knowledge of the Bible and the history of Christian doctrine went out the window, when he talked about the dreaded \u201cantichrist\u201d popes.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bears in Straw of wheat and pea, 2000 carnival procession , Empfingen, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany; by Werner Baiker [Wikimedia Commons \/\u00a0GNU Free Documentation License\u00a0and\u00a0Creative Commons\u00a0Attribution 2.0 Germany\u00a0license] The hypocritical Papists, being well aware that their false claim for the supremacy of the Pope cannot stand unless backed by his personal holiness, proceed to bolster up that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2331,"featured_media":2329,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,138],"tags":[139,140,141],"class_list":["post-2328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martin-luther","category-papacy-infallibility","tag-impeccability","tag-infallibility","tag-sinners-in-the-church"],"yoast_head":"\n
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Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \\\"Surprised by Truth\\\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \\\"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\\\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \\\"The Catholic Verses\\\" (2004), \\\"The One-Minute Apologist\\\" (2007), \\\"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\\\" (2009), \\\"The Quotable Newman\\\" (editor: 2012), and \\\"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\\\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \\\"The New Catholic Answer Bible\\\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \\\"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\\\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \\\"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\\\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \\\"Quotable Wesley\\\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. 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Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \"This Rock\" (now called \"Catholic Answers Magazine\"), \"Envoy Magazine\" (Patrick Madrid), \"The Catholic Answer,\" \"The Coming Home Journal,\" \"Gilbert Magazine\" (American Chesterton Society), and \"The Latin Mass.\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \"The Michigan Catholic\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \"Envoy Magazine.\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \"Catholic Answers Live\" (twice), \"Faith and Family Live\" (Steve Wood), \"Kresta in the Afternoon,\" \"Son Rise Morning Show,\" \"Catholic Connection\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \"The Catholics Next Door.\" His large and popular website, \"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \"Envoy Magazine.\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \"index\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \"Surprised by Truth\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \"The Catholic Verses\" (2004), \"The One-Minute Apologist\" (2007), \"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\" (2009), \"The Quotable Newman\" (editor: 2012), and \"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \"The New Catholic Answer Bible\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \"Quotable Wesley\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. 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