If not, is then Sola Scriptura fake?
The concept of Sola Scriptura has become something very different than what it was originally intended. For the early Reformers such as Luther the appeal to Scripture was an essential aspect of reform. Since the central motivation of the Evangelical Reformation was the Gospel, it was right there in the Scriptures that the Reformers saw the pure preaching of the Gospel. When their opponents argued against them by pointing to the words of popes and recent church councils, the Reformers instead argued that instead of arguing from mutable words of modern popes and councils we should root our arguments in the immutable word of God as found in Holy Scripture.
Sola Scriptura, then, arose as a principle, not to deny or reject the historic teaching and tradition of the Church catholic, but instead as a basis by which to argue the primacy of the historic, immutable word of God over and against the prevailing opinions and philosophies of the age.
Sola Scriptura is not, as is often misunderstood by many--Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant alike--as "Bible onlyism" or some kind of biblicism; but it's not. Sola Scriptura does not deny the historic witness, teaching, and tradition of the Holy Catholic Church, it does not turn to the ancient Fathers and say "We don't need you". And it certainly does not deny the Creeds which are essential to the life and confession of the Christian Church. Sola Scriptura does not mean that every jot and tittle of Christian faith and practice must be arrived at by biblical proof text; it means to recognize that Scripture exists as an unchanging witness to the ancient and apostolic faith; Scripture therefore is always reliable, it is always trustworthy, it is always abiding. It means that should someone, even if they be a pope, say something that is contrary to the word of Scripture, we ought to go with Scripture. Scripture, therefore, alone is immutable and unfailing in its witness for us.
No, Scripture does not teach that we should use only the Bible; but then that's not what Sola Scriptura says. The point really is nothing other than that Scripture enjoys a primacy of importance that does not compare with anything else in the Church's historic toolset.
By the same token, however, the Reformers would never have accepted the use of Scripture to topple the historic structures and confession of the Christian Church. This is a misuse and abuse of Scripture, and the lone wolf who decides to take the Bible into their own hands to dismantle centuries of Christian confession, teaching, and conviction does so to their own spiritual destruction.
-CryptoLutheran
