[quadrant]

Which verse of Scripture prescribes a self-perpetuating visible and hierarchical church?
What makes you think that a “visible and hierarchical church” is any more divinely guided than a group of individuals inspired and guided by the Holy Spirit

[Petrosius]

You missed my point. Without such a church there is no way for us to agree what is Scripture in the first place. I say Maccabees belong in the Bible; you disagree. Some would want to include the “Lost Books of the Bible.” Who is to decide?

BTW, I do believe that there is plenty of Biblical testimony for a divinely guided visible and hierarchical church but I would rather keep the discussion to the above point for the moment.