A QUICK WORD ABOUT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” (Matthew 16:13-18)

The Holy And Apostolic Catholic Church

Unfortunately a problem we run into today is that so many people are simply ignorant about the history of the early Christian Church, and as a result, they end up being misled by some who really ought to know better regarding the use of the word catholic in the ancient creeds. In fact, I personally know a man who left a Baptist church in just such a way, and went into apostate Roman Catholicism.

People like him—who are not grounded in their faith—are shown one of the early Creeds of the ancient Christian Church like the Nicene Creed, which speaks of the “holy catholic and apostolic church,” and someone who is trying to talk them into the Church of Rome then “helps” them to wrongly assume that this was talking about the Roman Catholic Church.

However, as the Evangelical Dictionary of Theology correctly teaches us, the word “catholic” is a:

transliteration of the Greek katholikos, “throughout the whole” [of something]… In the earlier Patristic period it had the denotation of universal. This is its meaning in the first occurrence in a Christian setting — “Wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the catholic church” (Ignatius, Smyrneans 8:2). Here the contrast with the local congregation makes the meaning “universal” mandatory

When the term begins to appear in the Apostles’ Creed — “the holy catholic church” (ca. 450) – as it had earlier appeared in the Nicene — “one holy catholic and apostolic church” — it retains the sense of universality and thus accents the unity of the church in spite of its wide diffusion. The catholic epistles of the NT were so designated…to indicate that they were intended for the whole church rather than a local congregation. (215, emphasis mine)

In other words; as anyone who is familiar with the rich history of the ancient Christian Church knows these early Creeds refer to all those who are called out of the world to assemble to worship God; which would be that universal — katholikos — “catholic” Church scattered all over the world. You see, there’s a really simple reason why these creeds are not talking about Roman Catholic dogma at all.

This is because the Church of Rome as such did not yet exist. As was pointed out elsewhere there wasn’t any centralized Roman authority until the tenth century when the eastern and western churches split. So I emphasize again that this universal or “catholic” Church is made up of all of the “born again” members of the Body of Christ no matter what denomination they might happen to be in.

The Bible clearly says that once someone is regenerated and receives Christ as Lord and Savior he is immediately baptized by God the Holy Spirit into God’s invisible katholikos Body of Christ. And this is the universal, or catholic, Church that we’ve just seen Christ Jesus refer to as “My church” in our opening text above.

See also:

WHY THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION CANNOT BE UNDONE

HAS THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH REALLY CHANGED?

THE HOLY AND CATHOLIC CHURCH IS NOT THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

ROMAN CATHOLICISM: ANOTHER GOSPEL OF BAPTISM AND SACRAMENTS 

THE DECEIVERS OF ROMAN CATHOLICISM

ROMAN CATHOLICISM: A FALSE HOPE IS NO HOPE AT ALL

THINK YOU’RE A ROMAN CATHOLIC IF YOU DISAGREE WITH THE POPE; BETTER THINK AGAIN