Scripture Came From the Church, Not the Other Way Around
Jesus never told anyone to write a book.
He didn’t say, “Blessed are you, Simon bar Jonah—now go write a book, and upon that book I will build my Church. I will give that book the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and whatever that book binds on Earth will be bound in heaven.”
He said:
“You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church… I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven…” (Matthew 16:18–19)
Jesus built a Church, not a book. He didn’t write anything Himself—except once in the dirt (John 8:6). He taught by speaking and by forming a community around the apostles, who passed His teaching on orally, as they were commanded to do (Matthew 28:19–20).
When the apostles went out to evangelize the world, they didn’t carry a Bible under their arms. There was no New Testament yet. What they carried was the Gospel they had heard, seen, and touched (1 John 1:1–3). They preached, baptized, appointed bishops, and celebrated the Eucharist.
Only when disputes arose, or clarity was needed, did they write letters. Those letters—Paul to the Romans, Peter to the churches of Asia, John to his beloved children—were written to already-existing churches that had been living the faith without any New Testament writings at all.
So what did those early Christians rely on before they had any written Scripture?
They relied on Sacred Tradition—the teaching handed down from the apostles—and on the leadership of the bishops, who were appointed to preserve that tradition. St. Paul told the Thessalonians:
“Stand firm and hold fast to the traditions you were taught, either by our spoken word or by our letter.” (2 Thessalonians 2:15)
In fact, many Christian communities didn’t have access to the full New Testament until centuries later. What sustained them? The liturgy. The Eucharist. The rule of faith. The guidance of their bishop. And the unity of the Church that Christ had established.
The Church didn’t grow out of the Bible. The Bible grew out of the Church.
That’s why the early Church Fathers, over and over, insisted that the faith was preserved not in private interpretation, but in the continuity of apostolic teaching:
“Suppose there arise a dispute concerning some important question. Should we not have recourse to the most ancient Churches, with which the apostles held constant intercourse, and learn from them what is certain and clear in regard to the present question?”
— Tertullian, Prescription Against Heretics, 21
That’s the opposite of sola Scriptura. That’s the Church—the one Christ founded, the one guided by the Holy Spirit, the one that compiled the Scriptures, and the one that still teaches with authority today.
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