"The Bible doesn't list its own books" does not invalidate Sola Scriptura

In an effort to refute the Biblical fact of Sola Scriptura, Catholics like to point out that the scriptures do not contain a list of books, and so Sola Scriptura cannot be Biblical because you have to go outside the scriptures to figure out what exactly is scripture. Furthermore, they claim that their Church produced the Bible, and so it must be the true Church.

There is a comparable situation. The scriptures tell us that they were designed to give us everything we need to be complete men of God and thoroughly equipped for every good word (e.g. 2 Timothy 3:15-17), and yet do not give us a list of scriptures. Likewise, Ephesians 4:29 and other verses forbid Christians from swearing, and yet neither the Bible, nor the Catholic Church, contain a list of forbidden words. Is it therefore appropriate for Christians to swear?

The obvious answer is no. The Bible forbids corrupt, unwholesome, and cursing speech. Thus it is clearly wrong to swear. We may not have a comprehensive list of swear words, but we naturally recognise swear words (in our own language, at least), and if there is doubt, there are experts who have no authority over the English language, but are capable of understanding it.

Similarly, although the Bible does not explicitly name every book (though it does a pretty good job of defining many of them as scripture), the Bible does set forth the idea that the scriptures are the only infallible authority in Christianity. Just as we can naturally recognise swear words, we can reason as to which books are genuine scripture, and just as we can rest fairly safely on expert opinion, we are fortunate in that the scriptures were recognised almost as early as they were written, long before the Catholic Church can even prove it existed. Thus, the argument that the Bible does not list its own books neither refutes Sola Scriptura, neither does it bolster the Catholic Church.