Teachers of Scripture - Sola Scriptura

Is the existence of teachers of scripture incompatible with the idea that scripture itself is clear enough to understand when we read it? If scripture is clear, why would we need someone to explain it to us?

[daveevans]

You mention the Westminster Confession to drive your point. I’ll mention the creeds of the Early Church to drive my point: that this if the early Church believed in sola Scriptura, why do the creeds of the early Church always say “we believe in the Holy Catholic Church, ” and not “we believe in Holy Scripture” or “we believe that the Bible is the ultimate and only authority"? If sola scriptura was such a foundation, why is it not mention in the Creeds in any form?

[romancatholic]

Just as the doctrine of formal sufficiency of scripture is epistemically useless in determining the canon of scripture, so too is the doctrine of the perspicuity of scripture in determining which doctrines are 'essential' for salvation versus which are not. And we see the epistemic uselessness of the doctrine immediately after the Protestant Revolution comes into being.

[GustAdlph]

When Catholics hear the word "infallible, " they think of the Pope and the Magisterium (the teaching authority of the church). It's better to say the Scriptures are inerrant.

[geoffrobinson]

A good teacher is one who helps you see something that afterwards you're not sure how you didn't see it previously. Like Jesus on the Emmaus road rebuked the two for not recognizing Him in the Old Testament.