“it proves itself”
As opposed to the Didache?
“The Bible stands on its own authority.”
Except that the Bible accords to itself no such authority. Who wrote the Bible? The early Church. Who put the first bible and the Canon together? The Church with Pope Damasus in 400 AD. Why is scripture authoritative? Because of the Church. You cannot argue that Scripture is authoritative and the Church itself is not anymore so than you can divorce Apostles from the Church.
“Except that the Bible accords to itself no such authority.”
Oh no?
Heb 4:12 -
“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
Isaiah 55:11 -
“So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper [in the thing] whereto I sent it.”
John 1:1-2 - “
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Seems to me that you are forgetting the Word of God is much more than a simple dusty tome compiled by men long ago. The Word of God IS God, and carries all of the authority of God, as God’s authority cannot be diminished.
“You cannot argue that Scripture is authoritative and the Church itself is not anymore so than you can divorce Apostles from the Church.”
No, but you can argue as to what the relative degrees of authority are. Christ obviously had greater authority than the Apostles who followed Him, who had greater authority than the disciples who followed them. Similarly, the Scriptures, being the Word of God, carry greater authority than the Church which follows them. You claim the Church “wrote” the Bible, but the Bible is clear that its author is God, and He doesn’t share a credit with anyone else.
” Who wrote the Bible? The early Church”
Well, parts. Moses wrote the first five, at least the majority. David of course was a writer; Solomon, all those prophets - so it was not just the early church.
The New Testament was written by the apostles. A couple of the books don’t claim a human author - I think Hebrews is one of those. If you want to call the apostles the early Church I suppose I could go with that. They were certainly the authorities of the early Church, and rightly so.