So, I have to ask myself, did Paul believe or preach Sola Scriptura? Did any of the other early Church Fathers believe this as well?
Peace
St Paul definitely DID NOT believe in Sola Scriptura. He was a Pharisee. He was taught in Rabbinical schools. The Pharisees were essentially the keepers of the “Oral Torah”. They equated the Oral Torah (oral tradition) to be equal with the written Torah.
The people of the Old Testament were all people of Scripture and Tradition. They didn’t believe that you could understand the written Torah without the Oral Torah. (I would say we agree!) (This also sheds light on some of our NT verses)
The Sadducees were the first sect to promote a Sola Torah. They may have started as a heretical Pharasiac offshoot around 200 bce.
The Sadducees were somewhat elitist. And, we could consider them quite secular. They sought to take power away from the scribes and teachers of the law. They didn’t want to be told what to do.
So, they worked to increase their numbers politically on the Sanhedrin Council. They were political enemies of the Pharisees. The Pharisees were concerned about loosing Hebrew culture completely, the language, and the lineage. (Hence, the comissioning of the Septuagint) The Sadducees embraced the Hellenization of the Jews while loosing hold of tradition. The Sadducees usurped the power of the teachers by claim their freedom through Sola Torah.
The Sanhedrin Council of Jesus’ day had a heavy influence, if not a majority of Sadducees as Jesus rode into Jerusalem.
They apparently disappeared around 70 AD. Judaism’s Rabbinical schools of the period all existed to debate and protect what we would call the oral tradition.
I would venture an educated guess, that all the disciples of Christ, and their converts, all believed in oral tradition.
I can give you many links to Jewish sites to elaborate further if you would like. Or, I’m sure that
NewAdvent.org would substantiate most of this.
Best, Patrick