Luther was correct. In his day the Catholic Church did have the Word of God put together by Jerome. But after the Protestant split, the Council of Trent changed the original Word of God handed down by the fathers. After Trent, Catholics no longer have the Word of God as they have added to what the fathers had stated was the true Word of God.
The real problem for our Catholic friends is if the Church stated what was inerrant and infallible in 500AD, then how could they change that 1000 years later? This was the dilemma the Church found itself in (and still does).
The only way out of this dilemma to start calling all sorts of other writings "inerrant and infallible" elevating other writings to the same level as scripture. This was never the intent of the church fathers. They never believed their writings were on the same level as scripture. The fathers believed the scriptures were handed down to them or given to them by God. They were caretakers-not scribes. This is a distinction lost on Catholics today. Is it any wonder you see many Catholics here arguing about the validity of scripture?
I really don't see how this can be confusing. At one time Catholics had the Word of God. Now through their own muddling and arrogances they don't. They certainly can't blame anyone but themselves.
“We are compelled to concede to the Papists that they have the Word of God, that we received it from them, and that without them we should have no knowledge of it at all.”
Contrary to what the Roman Catholics would have us believe, this was not a compliment aimed at Rome, but an indictment, much like HarleyD delivered above. He was pointing out how OT priests had the word delivered to them and still persecuted God’s people. He went on to compare the persecution of Protestants by Rome with that of the true believers in the OT.
If I were trying to make a case that because Rome had Scripture it was somehow the true church, this is the last quote I would trot out.