17Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 4:17 NASB
Where is the word sola scriptura?
While the phrase sola scriptura is not found in the Bible, the Bible testifies, as God's written word of the necessity of reading His Word to learn the truth. Which is the essence of sola scriptura.
Everything one needs to know how to have a relationship with God can be found in the Scriptures.
The phrase, "it is written" is attested to 76 times in the Bible. 16 in the OT; 60 in the NT.(searching on "it is written" using NASB at biblegateway.com).
We have 166 uses of the word book..indicating a written record of some form...129 OT; 37 NT.
Obviously there is great importance in God communicating to His people in written form.
We have the earliest example of the Ten Commandments where the Lord Himself wrote the Ten Commandments
Now the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and remain there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commandment which I have written for their instruction.” Exodus 24:12 NASB
Now the Lord said to Moses, “Cut out for yourself two stone tablets like the former ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you shattered. Ex 34:1 NASB
The OT Law was written so the people would have a permanent record.
When Jesus was tempted by Satan He appealed to, "it is written" and quoted Scripture in each reply to Satan.
In Paul's most theological writing in Romans, he appealed to, "it is written" 16 times. More than any other book in the Bible.
John wrote twice on the premise of why he wrote. 13These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. 1 John 5:13 NASB
but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name. John 20:31 NASB
Paul directed Timothy to the Scriptures for truth.
14You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:14-17 NASB
The appeal to the written word as authority is clear for anyone with an open mind to read and study.
Christianity can point to far more examples of what we believe than can the Roman Catholic dare to.
The advantage of the written word is that it does not change.
We can still go back to the oldest manuscripts available and look at them and they are still the same as they were almost 2000 years ago.
Word of mouth, and tradition, no matter how sacred it is claimed to be, just cannot compete in the reliability department.
Why anyone would think to put that on the same level as written Scripture is beyond me.
Well, not really. I mean I know some people have their pet dogmas and doctrines that they want support for but I cannot see why they stick to them when shown to contradict Scripture instead of changing what they thought.