Of course the gospels do not contain every word Jesus ever spoke. And, of course, Jesus did not repeat EVERY teaching of the Jewish faith when those would never be questioned by his audience, such as the Old Testament’s moral teachings.
My point was that it seems improbable that, if God willed that ONLY writings were to be the source of our belief, that those writings themselves would make no mention of that fact.
The Scriptures themselves (the NT) do not contain any statement of the doctrine of sola scriptura.
The Protestant claim (which I have found empirically true) is that the biblical writings are enough to be a spiritual salvational witness link from the 1st century church that wrote them, to modern disciples. Of course there is work of the Holy Spirit being performed here too. Protestants hold that you don’t need to have a physical organizational link to that early church to be brought into the universal church. In fact the way John the Baptist warned the Jews that God could raise sons of Abraham out of the stones, so that basically the physical sons of Abraham shouldn’t get haughty about their lineage, seems to warn against trusting in physical organizational links.
However it remains true that Christ’s audacious promise that the church would not become extinct, kept saving faith alive in the Catholic/Orthodox complex when it was the only game in town.
I am a kind of a weird Protestant, a Crazy Evangelical, who acknowledges genuine saving faith in Christ in all the three branches of modern Christendom. Because it is the Person who saves. I regard the places that Christian worship communities fall down as tragic and sad, but they do not snuff out Christ’s promise.
Consider yourself taught, corrected, and rebuked!
2 Timothy 3: 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
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2 Peter 1: ... 19 We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Don't have to...The scriptures don't mention the Trinity but we can see by studying the scriptures that the Trinity is all over the place...Same with scripture alone...By studying the bible, we can see 'bible alone' every where we look...
The bible does however spell out that the bible alone contains EVERYTHING we need to know to learn about and receive salvation...
So aside from choir practice and pot-luck bingo, what could any religion contribute that would make any difference in anything???
Arthur, i would posit that the Lord basically did teach that only writings were the supreme transcendent standard for faith and obedience (which does not exclude reason, the church or other helps), as they are abundantly evidenced to be that standard.
And and it was upon Scriptural substantiation in text and in power that He established His claims, as did the apostles and early church. (Mt. 22:23-45; Lk. 24:27,44; Jn. 5:36,39; Acts 2:14-35; 4:33; 5:12; 15:6-21;17:2,11; 18:28; 28:23; Rm. 15:19; 2Cor. 12:12, etc.)
This is in contrast to the alternative in which the stewards of Scripture, and inheritors of promises of God's presence and perpetuation, and who had historical descent are the supreme indisputable authority (all of which RCs argue makes Rome to be so).