The word of mouth message (2 Thess. 2:2; 2:15) that the NT refers is about the centrality and supremacy of the divine gospel (2 Thess. 2:16-17). It does not refer to something new that the Bible does not directly mention!
The only "documents" that refer to Marian worship is false writings not meant to be taken as God's literal tradition of the divine gospel.
The gospel is the divine truth of God. That is, it is divine because of the written Scriptures. There are certain questions that come to mind in our quest for the divine truth of God.
To determine what the gospel is we must understand what God has said about His gospel. What "holy book" should we trust to determine how to be right with God?
How do we know the written Scriptures are ultimately divine rather than human in origin? How do we know that the written Word is inspired, infallible, divine, and inerrant?
Do we know these theological and doctrinal subjects because of a particular Council in early church history? Do we know the books of the Bible because of a selection from the Church? How should we view what we should believe about God? The Bible is God's divine truth (Ps. 119:160), perfect (Ps. 19:7), sharp to convict sin (Heb. 4:12) and divinely pure (Prov. 30:4).
The Bible is divine rather than human in origin. That is, the ultimate author of the Bible is God the Holy Spirit. This refers to the Bible's reliable, credible and trustworthy self-authentication. That is, what does it say about itself? It refers to itself as divinely authoritative (1 Pet 4:11), God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16), infallible (Jn 10:35) and fulfillment of historical prophecy (Jn 5:39, 45-47).
The Bible demonstrates through internal and external evidence that it is God's Word. It is important to test "religious writings" in light of the Bible's divine reliability. Does an ancient book include "Thus says the Lord...?" This was a essential test for the Old Testament. We see that Jesus spoke in His own divine prerogative when He said "truly, truly, I say to you" or "amen, amen, I say to you." We can test the Bible's internal evidence (see 2 Tim. 3:16-17) and external evidence (see Heb. 2:1-4).
We learn that Jesus Christ is God in human flesh (Jn 1:14). That is, there is no one equal to Him. The Definition of the Council of Chalcedon (451 A.D) is in line with the divine Word. Some Christian are unfamiliar with it. For it states,
Therefore, following the holy fathers, we all with one accord teach men to acknowledge one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting also of a reasonable soul and body; of one substance with the Father as regards his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us as regards his manhood; like us in all respects, apart from sin; as regards his Godhead, begotten of the Father before the ages, but yet as regards his manhood begotten, for us men and for our salvation, of Mary the Virgin, the God-bearer; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union, but rather the characteristics of each nature being preserved and coming together to form one person and subsistence, not as parted or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son and Only-begotten God the Word, Lord Jesus Christ; even as the prophets from earliest times spoke of him, and our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us, and the creed of the fathers has handed down to us.
The Bible's whole message is about Jesus Christ. If someone denies the hypostatic union of Jesus, they deny the divine gospel. That is, it is meant to exalt, glorify and magnify Him alone. The Bible declares itself to be God's Word (Heb. 4:12), the Word of Truth (Js 1:6), oracles of God (Rom. 3:2), the Word (Js 1:21-23), the Holy Scriptures (Rom. 1:2), the Sword of the Spirit (Eph. 6:17) and the Scriptures of the prophets (Rom. 16:26). The Bible is also able to "search hearts" (Heb. 4:12), produce life (Jn 20:31) and help Christians grow spiritually (Acts 20:32).
The early council that dealt with the books of the Bible declared God's determined providential plan in that they proclaimed "we receive." I suggest to you that the ancient council was not a superior authority over the divine Scriptures. Rather in the providential acknowledgment of the reception of God's Word means the council handled the Scriptures above the understanding of the Church. Moreover, there are early fathers that recognized the books of the Bible before any council.
The Bible says not to trust another source (1 Cor. 4:6). That is, to never go beyond what is written. The Bible also says not to add to the written Scriptures or to take away from the written Scriptures (Deut. 4:2 cf. Rev. 22:18-19).
Some historians, theologians and apologist say that the Roman Catholic Church or the Eastern Orthodox Church gave us the collection of books in the Bible. That say "that is why Protestants have a Bible." I suggest to you that teachings like papal infallibility and the Roman practice of indulgences (for example, it started around the eleven century) were completely absent from the beliefs of the Christians at that time. The Orthodox teachings were also largely absent.
The question is, if Rome decided what books should be in the canon why is there a difference in the number of books in the Protestant canon? For example, the early church fathers rejected the "Apocryphal Books" in the Roman Canon. That is, the church fathers like Athanasius, Melito of Sardis, Jerome, and Pope Gregory the Great never embraced these books in the canon of divine Scripture! The early fathers held to sola scriptura and not the supremacy of the church over Scripture. Rather in their view it was the supremacy of the written Word over the organization of the local church.
The gospel is of God (Rom. 1:1), Christ (2 Cor. 2:12), the divine kingdom (Mt. 24:14), the holy grace of God (Acts 20:24), divine peace (Eph. 6:15), supernatural salvation (Eph. 1:13) and the divine glory of Christ (2 Cor. 4:4). The gospel in the written Word is described as supernatural (Gal. 1:10-12), from God's divine power (Rom. 1:16), Word-revealed mystery (Eph. 6:19), divine revelation (Eph. 3:1-6) and divine truth (1 Cor. 15:1-4).
The way someone is right before God is through Christ alone. We dare not add our filthy rages of righteousness to Him. For Scripture declares about the Word-based gospel,
"...and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith..." (Phil. 3:9 NASB).
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