Evidently, a lot of people nowadays are of that opinion. But I am not one of them.
What I'm trying to point to is the limited utility of the Holy Scriptures if they are not illuminated by God's Grace, through the action of the Holy Spirit. Without that, the Holy Bible is a dead letter.
Which is to say that "sola scriptura," unilluminated by the power of the Spirit, comes close to bibliolatry — worship, not of God, but of a text which has been drained of its Spirit.... It might as well be an ordinary user manual, or a cookbook, or a scientific text.
Because this is my belief, my dear brother MHGinTX accuses me as a proselytizer of "mystery religion." But for heaven's sake, Christianity is deeply, deeply mysterious at its foundation, and miraculous through and through.
Scripture
The Bible tells us that Jesus is the King of the eternal and redeemed Davidic Kingdom. (Luke 1:32)
In the ancient Davidic kingdom, the palace majordomo served as the representative of the king (or vice-regent) in the king's absence. (Isaiah 22:15-25)
The authority of this office was represented by an over-sized key which the vice-regent wore around his neck. (Isaiah 22:22)
As the King of the eternal House of David, Jesus holds the Key of David. (Rev. 3:7)
Jesus gave the "keys of the kingdom," representing the office of the vice-regent of the eternal, redeemed House of David, to Peter. (Matthew 16:19)
Early Christians
St. Irenaeus"The blessed apostles [Peter and Paul], having founded and built up the church [of Rome] . . . handed over the office of the episcopate to Linus" (Against Heresies 3:3:3 [A.D. 189]).
Tertullian
"[T]his is the way in which the apostolic churches transmit their lists: like the church of the Smyrneans, which records that Polycarp was placed there by John, like the church of the Romans, where Clement was ordained by Peter" (Demurrer Against the Heretics 32:2 [A.D. 200]).
The Little Labyrinth
"Victor . . . was the thirteenth bishop of Rome from Peter" (The Little Labyrinth [A.D. 211], in Eusebius, Church History 5:28:3).
Cyprian of Carthage
"The Lord says to Peter: ‘I say to you,’ he says, ‘that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it. . . . ’ [Matt. 16:18]. On him [Peter] he builds the Church, and to him he gives the command to feed the sheep [John 21:17], and although he assigns a like power to all the apostles, yet he founded a single chair [cathedra], and he established by his own authority a source and an intrinsic reason for that unity. . . . If someone [today] does not hold fast to this unity of Peter, can he imagine that he still holds the faith? If he [should] desert the chair of Peter upon whom the Church was built, can he still be confident that he is in the Church?" (The Unity of the Catholic Church 4; first edition [A.D. 251]).
"Cornelius was made bishop by the decision of God and of his Christ, by the testimony of almost all the clergy, by the applause of the people then present, by the college of venerable priests and good men, at a time when no one had been made [bishop] before him—when the place of [Pope] Fabian, which is the place of Peter, the dignity of the sacerdotal chair, was vacant. Since it has been occupied both at the will of God and with the ratified consent of all of us, whoever now wishes to become bishop must do so outside. For he cannot have ecclesiastical rank who does not hold to the unity of the Church" (Letters 55:[52]):8 [A.D. 253]).
"With a false bishop appointed for themselves by heretics, they dare even to set sail and carry letters from schismatics and blasphemers to the chair of Peter and to the principal church [at Rome], in which sacerdotal unity has its source" (ibid., 59:14).
Eusebius of Caesarea
"Paul testifies that Crescens was sent to Gaul [2 Tim. 4:10], but Linus, whom he mentions in the Second Epistle to Timothy [2 Tim. 4:21] as his companion at Rome, was Peter’s successor in the episcopate of the church there, as has already been shown. Clement also, who was appointed third bishop of the church at Rome, was, as Paul testifies, his co-laborer and fellow-soldier [Phil. 4:3]" (Church History 3:4:9–10 [A.D. 312]).
Pope Julius I
"[The] judgment [against Athanasius] ought to have been made, not as it was, but according to the ecclesiastical canon. . . . Are you ignorant that the custom has been to write first to us and then for a just decision to be passed from this place [Rome]? If, then, any such suspicion rested upon the bishop there [Athanasius of Alexandria], notice of it ought to have been written to the church here. But now, after having done as they pleased, they want to obtain our concurrence, although we never condemned him. Not thus are the constitutions of Paul, not thus the traditions of the Fathers. This is another form of procedure, and a novel practice. . . . What I write about this is for the common good. For what we have heard from the blessed apostle Peter, these things I signify to you" (Letter on Behalf of Athanasius [A.D. 341], contained in Athanasius, Apology Against the Arians 20–35).
Council of Sardica
"[I]f any bishop loses the judgment in some case [decided by his fellow bishops] and still believes that he has not a bad but a good case, in order that the case may be judged anew . . . let us honor the memory of the apostle Peter by having those who have given the judgment write to Julius, bishop of Rome, so that if it seem proper he may himself send arbiters and the judgment may be made again by the bishops of a neighboring province" (Canon 3 [A.D. 342]).
....”What I’m trying to point to is the ‘limited utility’ of the Holy Scriptures ‘if they are not illuminated by God’s Grace’, through the action of the Holy Spirit.’’’’ Without that, the Holy Bible is a dead letter.......................
Which is to say that “sola scriptura,” unilluminated by the power of the Spirit, comes close to bibliolatry — worship, not of God, but of a text which has been drained of its Spirit.... It might as well be an ordinary user manual, or a cookbook, or a scientific text.”....
Now I understand and agree.
Thank you for clarifying this.