Acts 17:11; 1 Cor 4:6; and 2 Tim 3:16-17 are common “proof-texts” for Sola Scriptura. I have exegeted these texts and others in my article Not by Scripture Alone: A Latter-day Saint Refutation of Sola Scriptura (available in book format at Amazon).
Today I read a book by Brian J. Wright, Communal Reading In The Time of Jesus: A Window Into Early Christian Reading Practices (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2017). The following are comments Wright made about these texts which were interesting:
On Acts 17:11
Paul and Silas waste no time finding a Jewish synagogue in order to participate in the Jewish communal reading events held there (17:10). As they proclaimed the word of God in order to assure them that the Jewish scriptures affirm that Jesus is the Messiah, the Jews in the synagogue examined the Scriptures daily in order to determine whether they should accept or deny these claims. One detail of particular is the use of examined here. The verb is “nowhere else in the NT used of the study of Scripture; it suggests rather the legal examination of witnesses . . . And this is in fact the sense it is used here. Paul has set up the Scriptures as witnesses: does their testimony, when tested, prove his case?” Thus, beyond this merely being another location where communal reading events took place, there is a stated quality control regarding everything read and taught from Scripture. (p. 146, emphasis in original)
On 1 Cor 4:6
Paul also seems to stress that his letter is to act as a control, in the sense that he can explicitly state, “Nothing beyond what is written” (4:6). Regardless of what writings(s) he is referring to, the reference is clearly to a written text that this community is meant to judge others according to. This is why he states in 4:14 that he is writing these things, and not just passing them on orally. It can be inferred that Paul is writing to the people in his churches, even calling them his children, so that his letters will be read communally and words heeded. One of the strongest terms he uses for this type of control is found in the next verse, 4:15. He emphasizes their relationship in familial terms by using the term guardian. By doing so, he softens the bluntness that comes next, essentially saying, “I want to remind you of my teaching, which is similar to everywhere” (4:17). Gordon Fee notes that Paul “expects the letter also to take the place of his presence . . . to remind them that what he and Timothy have taught them is in keeping with what is taught in the church universally, at least in all the Pauline churches.” This written letter, then, also functions as a reference point that can be used to verify the content of what is being taught. (pp. 157-58)
On 2 Tim 3:15-6
First, in 3:15, the author suggests that from “childhood” Timothy was acquainted with the sacred writings. It seems most probably from 1:5 that his Jewish mother and grandmother would have been the main ones who brought him up in traditional Jewish fashion (Deut 6:2, 7, 20). They would have been the ones to read and teach him the Jewish Scriptures in his formative years. Second, “the gospel” the author is promoting finds its basis in Scripture (3:16). In other words, Timothy’s training in the same Scriptures ought to form a base that he stands on in contrast to false teachers. Again, it seems communal reading of these texts throughout Jewish history is the background and certainly should remain in the foreground. (pp. 178-79)
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