By what authority

[exiled]

It is my understanding of sola scriptura that only the teachings of the apostles had/have any authority. Now that they are gone, it is only their writings that we have to rely on for our faith, since they are the only ones who were originally give some charism of “infallibility” in order to establish “the church” in the first place. Which brings me to my question. By what authority do SS-ist reject, or not include, letters from Matthias, Philip, Thomas, Andrew, Bartholomew, etc.
And by the same token, by what authority do they include books by Luke and Mark? Paul also was not one of the 12, but I will grant that he received a special commission so I guess he is considered an apostle.
SS-ists seem to want it both ways, either the apostles alone had teaching authority, or it is extended to others as God sees fit.

 

[alexaustralia]

They will focus more on the Holy Spirit’s intervention rather than the apostles (or writters of the Bible). For them it was the Holy Spirit alone that guided the Church (as a community of believers; i.e. no Church hiearchy or office) to recognise the books that ought to be considered Scripture. They will show how the Early Church Fathers had already compiled the list for the NT way before the Council of Constantinople in the 400’s AD. The thing they always fail to realise is that their lists either contain books that we no longer believe to be Scripture or vice versa. The Council was necessary to put the matter to rest. The fact that it did shows that the Council had authority over Christian believers. Also it is of interest that they need the ECFs to validate their point but when we refer to them to point to Catholic beliefs (such as the Eucharist) SS protestants are quick to reject the ECF’s views on the matter (as they are outside Scripture).

Well other people will fill in

Alex

 

[vern_humphrey]

This is what I call “Garage Sale Theology” – the idea that the New Testament is brand new (perhaps discovered at a garage sale) and that people living today are more qualified to interpret it than people who heard the Gospel from the Apostles’ own lips.

The proof that this is wrong is all around us. The Catholic Church has taught a consistent message for almost 2,000 years. In less than a quarter of that time, Protestants have quarreled, split, fragmented and resplit into the thousands of denominations taht exist today.