No, I would argue that Gods people who make up the Church came first.
To me, Gods Word is Yeshua, a living breathing being who I can have a relationship with, not a book.
Why limit God to words on a page?
We do not have a relationship with a book....it is that book that foster the relationship that we have with our Heavenly Father.
The Bible is Sacred Scripture but it is inferior to Yeshua, you cannot have a relationship with a book.
No one is making the bible superior to Christ. Because we quote it and think it's the authority of doctrine, all of a sudden we consider it superior to the One it witnesses about? No, we think the Scripture is superior to those who have come after it, i.e. those who canonized it and no matter what they believe, if it is not in Scripture, I wouldn't take their word for it. And no, we don't think it is superior to the Holy Spirit as well because we are told that the Holy Spirit will convict men of their sins and that's exactly what the Scripture does, because it was written by the Holy Spirit through inspired men.
I'm not interested in prosletysing, I'm here to debate, be challenged, be entertained and offer another point of view just like you are. I also want to understand how others practiced the faith and engage with fellow Christians.
Trying to rewrite Church history is intellectually dishonest. The
Apostles decided doctrine by the guidance of the Holy Spirit and then they taught the congregation, and that is the way it functioned for hundreds of years from Jesus Assumption till the Reformation. Individual interpretation of Scripture is a new invention.[/quote]
The Apostles didn't "decide" doctrine. They were given what to say because of the Holy Spirit:
John 16:5-15
5 “But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.
There are only 3 passages in Scripture where Paul tells us that what he is telling us is not the commandment of the Lord but they were his advice. But him and all the other writers make it known to us that they are writing what the Lord has command, some things the writers themselves would have no business knowing but you could tell that it was from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit they would write such a thing.
This is also true of the Old Testament days, doctrine was decided by the Priests and Rabbis and then taught to the congregation.
No Christian is an island.]A non-denominational church is based on the bible according to the way that particular pastor wants to interpret it. In a sense, the pastor of each such church acts as his own pope.
Is that why we see such amazing attitudes and perfect righteousness in the OT from the Israelites? I mean, we don't see any prophets reprimanding them telling them to follow God's commandments because they were such perfect stewardship of following those doctrines that the Priest and Rabbis taught. And I mean because the Priests and Rabbis taught oh so well, there was not a division created, men calling themselves Pharisee's and Sadducee and Christ certainly didn't have to come, correct and teach them the actual ways of which things were supposed to be.
[/sarcasm]
And no.........the preacher doesn't act like a Pope because we don't take the preacher's word over what is taught in the bible. There are some people who listen to their preacher and don't bother reading the bible themselves to see what it says and make sure what they are being taught is what Scripture is teaching them, but that's not everyone. And I know my congregation does not take the preacher's word over what we see in the bible. It just so happen that the Preacher, preaches what the bible says.
If a group of people from that church don't agree with him they break away and start their own based on what they think.
Blessings
Some do. But not everyone breaks off because of disagreements with the interpretation. Some of us, if we feel that the preacher taught in error to what the gospel says, then they would go to the preacher and present them the word and it's up to both people to come to the truth of Scripture. I don't think God is happy with us when we decide to divide His church.
But disagreements and breaking away isn't always wrong. Paul and Barnabas broke away from each other but continued on doing God's will. They eventually made up, but they didn't stop doing God's will because of a disagreement.