“Nehemiah 8:8: “And they read from the book, from the law of God, clearly; and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.” (cf. Mark 4:33-34).
Acts 8: 27-31: “And he rose and went. And behold, an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a minister of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of all her treasure, had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go up and join this chariot.’ So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and asked, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ And he said, ‘How can I unless someone guides me?’ And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.”
2 Peter 1:20: “First of all, you must understand this, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation.” (cf. 2 Peter 3:15-16).”
...Does the Bible itself teach that it can be understood by anyone who is filled with the Holy Spirit as Luther claims (elsewhere he claimed that even a “plowboy” could understand it)? This is not the outlook of the writers of the Old Testament. Indications are numerous:
Moses was told to “teach” the Hebrews the statutes and the decisions, not just “read” them to the people (Exod. 18:20). The Levitical priests interpreted the biblical injunctions (Deut. 17:11). The penalty for disobedience was death (Deut. 17:12; 33:10; cf. 19:16-17; 2 Chron. 15:13; 19: 8-10; Mal. 2:6-8). Ezra, a priest and a scribe, taught the Jewish law to Israel, and his authority was binding, under pain of imprisonment, banishment, loss of goods, and even death (Ezra 7:6; 10:25-26).
In Nehemiah 8:1-8, Ezra read the Law of Moses to the people in Jerusalem (8:3). In 8:7 we find thirteen Levites who assisted Ezra and who “helped the people to understand the Law.” Much earlier in King Jehoshaphat’s reign, we find Levites exercising the same function (2 Chron. 17:8-9). There is no “sola Scriptura” with its associated idea of perspicuity here.
The two passages above from the New Testament (cf. Acts and 2 Peter) demonstrate that this function did not change with the New Covenant. The Apostles promulgated an authoritative tradition (see next section) and they did not tolerate dissension from it (see the previous chapter on divisions and denominationalism). Once again, we find that an important Protestant distinctive is not biblical...”
from “The Catholic Verses,” Dave Armstrong, Sophia Institute Press, Manchester, NH. 2004. pp 31-33.
The great leap is in the self-reinforcing notion that the earthly institution of the Roman Catholic Church is the sole and infallible fulfillment of this teaching.
2 Peter 1:20: “First of all, you must understand this, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation.” (cf. 2 Peter 3:15-16).”
21 For prophecy came not by the will of man at any time: but the holy men of God spoke, inspired by the Holy Ghost.