[circlecity]

“Except for the inconvenient fact that until fairly recently people couldn't afford books, which were hand-written and hand-copied.”

So? Everything the Apostles preached was scripture and their writings were widely read to congregations. The ability to read scripture does not change the fact it is the only infallible rule of faith.

[Texas_Guy]

But the scripture they refer to in the new testament was the old testament. The new testament hadn’t been written yet.

Plus there were spurious books out there such as the shepherd of Hermas, Gospel of Judas, etc. It took the Catholic Church about 400 years later to determine what was inspired and what wasn’t.
We even grouped the books by topic, not chronological, for teaching purposes.

The Bible came out of the church, not the other way around.