In his book The Living Text of the Gospels D.C. Parker writes:  ”Scripture is tradition.” (p. 207)

“What is above all to be emphasized is that any study must start with the fact that [what Christians have] is a manuscript tradition.”  (p. 212)  And “the tradition is manifold.  There are four quite different Gospels, none with a claim to authority over the other three; there is no authoritative text beyond the manuscripts which we may follow without further thought.  There is a manifold tradition to be studied and from which we may learn.  But once that is done, the people of God have to make up their own minds.  There is no authoritative text to provide a short cut.”  (p. 212)

“Rather than looking for right and wrong readings, and with them for right or wrong beliefs and practices, the way is open for the possibility that the church is the community of the Spirit even in its multiplicities of texts, one might say in its corruptions and its restorations.”  (p. 212)

May God help the community of the Spirit to be as good as its good texts and help it to ignore (without deposing of) those texts which are bad for the world that God so loves.