Does the Bible endorse itself as the only rule of faith?
Not at all, in fact you will not even find the word Bible in scripture, that is because the New Testament of the Bible didn't even exist until around 393 AD - 397 AD. It was the Catholic Church that undertook the task of deciding which books were inspired and handed it over to the world.
Most denominations will defend 'sola scriptura' ( scripture alone) by quoting 2Timothy 3:16-17 "All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness". But as we know now, this verse is referring to Old Testament scriptures, which was the only one existing at the time. The New Testament was in the process of being written. Also, it says nothing about relying on scripture alone. Then again, this text is taken out of context as the previous verse tell a different story. 2 Timothy 3:14 says " But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings" Paul is advising Timothy to continue in what he has learned because of who taught him, which is Paul himself and because of what he has learned from Old testament scriptures. Thus we see that Paul is stressing on oral teachings from apostolic tradition as well.
The concept of 'sola scriptura' or in other words scripture alone, came from Martin Luther and that in itself is not scriptural, as the early Christians had no New Testament for centuries after the death of Christ. They relied only on the teachings of the Apostles, which were passed on orally. They were doing exactly what Christ commanded them after his resurrection " Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you." The disciples didn't write down but went around teaching. It was only when the disciples started to be persecuted that their teaching were recorded through writings. St Paul being the first to write letters to the various churches, then followed by Mark, a follower of Peter.
Therefore we understand that both the oral and the written words that the apostles spoke were important. In the words of St Paul " So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter. Both the oral and the written word are together called traditions. The Bible is a part of this tradition. Apart from that we also have the writings of the early church fathers who were successors of the Apostles, they gave us the correct interpretation of scripture and corrected the church in the face of heresies.
An argument to this is often made by quoting Mt 15:6, claiming that Jesus rejects tradition. But if you read the passage it is obvious that Jesus is rejecting certain traditions of the Pharisees such as Corban and the washing of hand which conflicted with the Word of God. If one had to hold on to their objections to traditions what would they make of 2 Thessalonians 3:6 "Now we command you, beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are living in idleness and not according to the traditions that they received from us." Here we are instructed to keep away from those who do not follow the traditions of the Church.
Therefore to answer the question....
To summarize how we would know the correct interpretation of scripture, let us see what Bible says about it and which is often neglected by those who hold on to sola scriptura.
In the words of St Paul in 1 Timothy 3:15 " If I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth."
It is the church which is the pillar and the defense of the truth. So if you want to know the truth, you have already been told where to go. Just to clarify, when we talk about the church, we are talking about the teachings handed over by the apostles to their successors and thus handed over to us through the church. These cannot be discredited by stating mistakes committed by people in the church as they do not interfere with the teachings that have already been handed over to us.
So true and very well explained. Thank you.
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