Some quotes on Sola Scriptura

The following are some quotes I've used in previous posts on my own blog. I thought they would be relevant and helpful here.

But the Reformers did not intend by that phrase [sola scriptura] to claim that Scripture was the only religious authority; rather, they uniformly held it to be the supreme authority. It stood alone as the only unquestioned authority. The Reformers had tested the other claimants to religious authority and found them all wanting...But all the Protestant Reformers looked with respect and admiration on Christian antiquity - specifically on the church fathers, the ancient creeds and the doctrinal decrees of of the ecumenical councils - and acknowledged a subordinate religious authority inhering in them. [Payton, James R. Getting the Reformation Wrong: Correcting Some Misunderstandings, pg. 156]

Another quote:

Sola scriptura literally means, "Scripture alone." Unfortunately, this phrase tends to be taken in the vein of "Scripture in isolation, Scripture outside of the rest of God's work in the church." That is not its intended meaning; again, it means "Scripture alone as the sole infallible rule of faith for the church"...A rule of faith is hat which governs and guides what we believe and why. [White, James. Scripture Alone, pg. 27-28; all emphasis in original]

Authority stems solely in the Word of God, and it is by this authority that all other supposed authorities must be tested. To give a brief quote on this subject:

Genuine authority realizes that it can exist only in the service of Him who alone has authority...The Church will place its confidence only in the simple servant of the Word of Jesus Christ because it knows that then it will be guided, not according to human wisdom and human conceit, but by the Word of the Good Shepherd. [Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Living Together, pg. 109]