By the end of the fourth century, at the Council of Carthage in 397, the Church had finally accepted those books which became the Canon of the New Testament. Up until that time many of books had been in dispute and, as mentioned, many of them did not make it into the New Testament. The official Canon of the New Testament remained inaccessible to most Christians through the centuries that followed, right through the Middle Ages. When the printing press was invented, the Bible became more accessible but the majority of Christians remained illiterate and few people possessed copies of the Bible. It was far too costly for most people to purchase. Most churches might have had a copy and this was usually chained in place so no one would steal it. Some Protestants have claimed that these Bibles were chained in order to keep them away from the people. But anyone who wished to read the Bible, if able, could use this chained Bible in the church. But for most of the centuries of Christianity, the Bible was totally inaccessible to most Christians, because of its rarity and its cost, and because of illiteracy. It remains inaccessible to millions of Christians, and non-Christians, to this day, due to illiteracy. Yet these illiterate Christians have still heard the teachings of Christ and the Apostles. And readings from Scripture are an essential part of every Mass because every Mass is divided into the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist, just as described by St. Justin Martyr in 155 A.D. The Liturgy of the Word consists of readings from the Bible.

What does this reality say about the Protestant position that the Bible is the only source of God’s Revelation? Would God provide a source of His truth in a mode that was totally inaccessible to most Christians through most of Christian history? Did not Jesus say, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. . . ." [Matthew 28:19] Of course this admonishes them to teach; it says nothing about writing. And the Bible itself says nothing about it being the sole source of God’s revelation. Sola Scriptura is un-Biblical. Scripture says nothing about the Apostles being commanded to write anything. Rather it commands them to preach. Preaching was and is therefore the principle method by which God’s truth is revealed to us. "Now I make known unto you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand; by which also you are saved, if you hold fast after what manner I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all, which I also received: how that Christ died for our sins." [1 Corinthians 15:1-3]. "But the word of the Lord endures for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel has been preached unto you." [1 Peter 1:25]. The Gospel has not been written unto you. The words "preached," "delivered," and "received" refer to oral transmission.

[I]t is important to keep in mind what the Catholic Church means by tradition. The term does not refer to legends or mythological accounts, nor does it encompass transitory customs or practices which may change, as circumstances warrant, such as styles of priestly dress, particular forms of devotion to saints, or even liturgical rubrics. Sacred or apostolic tradition consists of the teachings that the apostles passed on orally through their preaching. These teachings largely (perhaps entirely) overlap with those contained in Scripture, but the mode of their transmission is different. They have been handed down and entrusted to the Church. It is necessary that Christians believe in and follow this tradition as well as the Bible (Luke 10:16). The truth of the faith has been given primarily to the leaders of the Church (Eph. 3:5), who, with Christ, form the foundation of the Church (Eph. 2:20). The Church has been guided by the Holy Spirit, who protects this teaching from corruption (John 14:25-26, 16:13). [www.catholic.com]

Now, Jesus said that the Gates of Hell would not prevail against His Church [Matthew 16]. He also said, "I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you." [John 14:25-26] Divine revelation, i.e., the Deposit of Faith, ended when the last Apostle died. Everything that the Church has taught since then is simply the passing down through the centuries of this Deposit of Faith from Jesus and the Apostles. The Holy Spirit would never allow error to creep in to this teaching, the Deposit of Faith. That does not mean that individuals themselves would not fall into error and become heretics, but the Church itself, the Magisterium, would, could never error. The Church is "the pillar and foundation of the truth." [1 Timothy 3:15] It never says anywhere in the Bible that Scripture is the "pillar and foundation of the truth" because the Church is the "pillar and foundation of the truth." This teaching remains intact, even if some of it is not in Scripture. All Sacred Tradition of the Church, not in Scripture, has come down to us from the first century, from Jesus and the Apostles. No teachings have been added or patched in, ever. So when dogmas are formalized, such as the Immaculate Conception in 1854, that does not mean that this teaching did not exist until then. It existed from the first century. Our understanding of various teachings has grown and deepened through the centuries. This is sometimes called "The Development of Christian Doctrine." Development of doctrine is defined as the increase in understanding -- by means of the teaching of the Holy Spirit, prayer, theological study, and the reflection of the Body of Christ as a whole -- of Christian doctrines which originated from the Lord Jesus Himself and which have been passed down through the Apostles, Fathers, Councils, and the Catholic Church in general. [Catechism of the Catholic Church, #94]

I once undertook an experiment: I read from the entire New Testament at the rate of about 20 minutes per day. It took me about six weeks to complete. Jesus spent most of three years, nearly 24/7, with His Apostles. "[R]emember that for three years, night and day, I unceasingly admonished each of you. . . ." [John 20:31]. He obviously said much more to them than 20 minutes per day for six weeks. "There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written." [John 21:25]. So most of what He taught never got written down, but has been passed down to us by word of mouth, as Tradition. Jesus said, "Observe ALL that I have commanded." This certainly includes everything Jesus taught, which is both in Scripture and outside Scripture. It would seem, logically, that these verses are enough to disprove Sola Scriptura. Matt 24:14 "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come." Many verses support this argument that Jesus taught many things that were never recorded in Scripture:

• Mark 4:2: He taught them many things by parables. . . .
• Luke 5:3: He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. [It was not recorded what he taught them]
• Mark 4:33: With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand.
• John 4:40-42: When the Samaritans came to him, they invited him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. Many more began to believe in him because of his word, and they said to the woman, "We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world." [Nothing is recorded regarding what Jesus taught to them during these two days.]
• Luke: 5:3: He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
• Mark 6:34: . . . He began to teach them many things. [none of these "many things" are recorded here.]
• John 16:12: I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. [These "many things" must have been spoken during Jesus' post-Resurrection appearances; few of them are recorded.]
• John 20:30: Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book.
• Acts 1:2-3: . . .the apostles. . . to them he presented himself alive after his passion by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days, and speaking of the kingdom of God. [These are not recorded in the Bible.]

Therefore an authority is necessary to interpret Scripture, an authority other than one’s prideful self. "Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He (Jesus) interpreted to them what referred to Him in all the Scriptures." [Luke 24:28] There are "certain things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable distort, as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction [2 Peter 3:16] The Church existed before the New Testament. Jesus did not leave behind any writings nor did He command that anything be written down. The New Testament grew out of the Church. And nowhere in the Bible does it say what books belong in the Bible. The Church decided what books belong there, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. So when a Protestant reads the Bible, he is acceding to the authority of the Catholic Church.

The Protestant argument for Sola Scriptura is often based upon 1 Corinthians 4:6:"Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that in us you might learn not to exceed what is written, in order that no one of you might become arrogant in behalf of one against the other." But this is St. Paul’s reiteration of 2 Peter 3:16 (see above).

St. Paul makes three statements arguing for the truth of Tradition: "So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which were taught, whether by word or by letter from us." [2 Thess. 2:15] "Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep aloof from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us." [2 Thess 3:6] "Now I praise you because you remember me in everything, and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you." [1Cor 11:2] Now, a Protestant argument goes like this: "The Bible does not tell us that there is a pool of Tradition which exists separately from the Bible. Nor does the Bible give to this alleged tradition the weight of added certainty of the revelation of God that is necessary for our Salvation or Sanctification or Service. When things of substance are spoken of in the Bible, the apostles appealed to the Written Word and not to an alleged outside source of tradition." [www.sxws.com]. First of all this argument is logically in error because Tradition, by its very nature, consists of a pool of beliefs. There is no need for the Bible to say there is a pool of tradition; it is self evident. Secondly, whenever statements are made about the Apostles appealing to Scripture, they are always appealing to the Old Testament. The New Testament had not yet been written. And the Jews had many traditions not found in the Old Testament. Finally, all arguments against Sacred Tradition fall flat in the face of Timothy 3:15.