Not really — it is more of a fundamental difference between Catholic and Protestant Christianity. We don’t recognize an infallible extra-Biblical human source for Christian doctrine ... in Luther, Calvin, the Pope, or the Vatican.
The analogy that comes to mind is King George and George Washington. The American Revolution was a fight to overthrow the authority of King George on American shores. But there was a movement thereafter to make George Washington a King. To replace one tyranny with another, more benevolent (at least for the time being) tyranny. To do so would’ve betrayed the principles that the Revolution was based on.
The Protestant Reformation was, at least partially, a movement which said there is no one infallible person (or church heirarchy) representing God on earth, and to object to the Catholic church’s claim on that authority. To then look to Luther and Calvin as an infallible spokesman for God would be only to replace one infallible representative with another infallible representative ... and would pretty well invalidate the movement itself.
I think its just a difference in thinking. Catholics quote Luther to us as if we look to Luther/Calvin in the way Catholics look to Popes, Catechisms, the Vatican, etc. We don’t. Luther/Calvin may have originated the movement ... but they were just as likely to make mistakes as you, or I, or the Pope. They were not doctrinally infallible.
Their theology was also colored by Catholic teaching prior to the reformation, and they were therefore more likely to accept specific Catholic doctrines (like perpetual virginity) that may not be Biblically justifiable.
SnakeDoc
“I think its just a difference in thinking. Catholics quote Luther to us as if we look to Luther/Calvin in the way Catholics look to Popes, Catechisms, the Vatican, etc. We don’t. Luther/Calvin may have originated the movement but they were just as likely to make mistakes as you, or I, or the Pope. They were not doctrinally infallible.”
Sir, this article is from a Protestant who was a protestant and converted over. Many Protestants do look at Luther and Calvin and Zwingli as authoritative, which is why they call themselves Lutherans and Calvinists. Or Mennonites as the case may be.
Now, you are quite right that Protestants don’t have an overarching authority besides their own conscience. So in a sense, everyone picks and chooses what they want to believe and have in essence their own, personal theology.
If you sincerely believe that you can be in error, why are you a Protestant? What happens if you’ve misunderstood scripture and gotten it wrong? Won’t you be doomed to Hell because you’ve not properly understood what is going on?
Amen and well said.