What I wrote isn't exactly what was intended.
So you say the Word preceded the Church. So then, how was it decided exactly what the Word was, i.e., who had the authority to declare what writings were to be included in Sacred Scripture?
Jesus did. He said that others would be saved through believing the message about Him spread by the Apostles.
The issue wasn't deciding what the Scripture was. The issue was simply verifying which writings went back to the Apostles.
Once identified those words of the Apostles were greater than our own. The church is subordinate to the apostles and not vice versa.