“The silence of Scripture on sola scriptura is deafening.”
The longest chapter in the Bible is Psalm 119, and it is all about the primacy of scripture. Jesus spoke on it in Mark 7:6-12 and Matthew 15:3-9. See also Deut. 4:2, 12:32, Prov. 30:6, Jer. 26:2, and Rev 22:18.
Now, the silence of scripture on the papacy, that is deafening.
“According to Scripture, the Church is the final court of appeal for the people of God in matters of faith, morals, and discipline.”
Court, yes. Legislature, no. The example that you cited in Matthew 18 does not indicate a reliance on scripture plus tradition, it is a commandment for men to use scripture to discipline others within the church. “If your brother sins” means “if your brother violates God’s Word”, not some tradition.
“In John 10:16, Jesus prophesied there would be “one flock, one shepherd.””
That’s not exactly what He said there, and to teach that this verse indicates anything like the Catholic church structure is a major reach. There is one flock and one Shepherd, but that Shepherd is Christ, not some imaginary vicar of Christ.
“Reliance on sola scriptura has not been effective in establishing doctrine or authority.” It has been very effective at establishing both, when it has been put into practice. When it’s not practiced, then there are problems (and there are MANY groups that you would call Protestant that don’t practice it. Some might give it lip service, but some don’t even bother.) If you think the scripture + tradition method produces great uniformity of doctrine and practice, you haven’t talked doctrine with many Catholics.
Good points!