Scripture is the Greek word for ...... Wait for it.......writing!
Same quewstion that your cohort refuses to answer, was the Epistle of Barnabas "Scripture", The Gospel of Peter, the Didache?
In the formation of the NT Canon, 20 out of the 27 books were universally accepted IMMEDIATELY as genuine. Only Hebrews, 2 and3 John, 2 Peter, Jude, James and Revelation were questioned by some. The main objections were that Hebrews did not bear the name of its author; 2Peter differed from 1Peter in style; the writers of James and Jude called themselves servants instead of apostles; and the writer of 2 and 3 John called himself an elder instead of an apostle. The book of Revelation was questioned because of its peculiar character. After deliberate examination, however, these books were also received as genuine and authentic. By the beginning of the 4th century all 27 books of the present NT had been received by all churches without further doubt. Of the 8 authors who wrote the 27 books of the NT not one ever suggested that HE was adding to a collection of Holy Scriptures. Nevertheless, the NT books WRITTEN BY THE APOSTLES THEMSELVES and other inspired men were soon held to be as sacred and inspired as the OT books. -Dake's Annotated Reference Bible. Formation of the N.T. Canon, p. 510.
What do you think believers did for the first 300 years? Sat around waiting to be told what was true and what was not? Do you not know the Holy Spirit inspired the authors of the Bible and what they wrote? Do you not know that believers have the Holy Spirit indwelling them? And that the Holy Spirit bears witness with the believer's spirit? Each and every one of us. Not some group of men, sitting around deciding what God "meant to say" or "meant to be His Word". The Bible exists as it does because it's God's Word, and His desire that ALL men be saved. We have His Word because He made sure of that. Not the Catholic Church.