Did the apostles consider themselves to be Catholic?

Question

What do you think? This is the way they taught according to a quote from St Ignatius of Antioch (a student of the apostle, John, who also traveled some with Sts. Peter and Paul and was appointed Bishop of Antioch by St. Peter, himself);

"See that ye all follow the bishop, even as Jesus Christ does the Father, and the presbytery (priests)as ye would the apostles; and reverence the deacons, as being the institution of God. Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that be deemed a proper Eucharist, which is [administered] either by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church. It is not lawful without the bishop either to baptize or to celebrate a love-feast; but whatsoever he shall approve of, that is also pleasing to God, so that everything that is done may be secure and valid."

Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Smyraeans http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/

Answer 1

Catholic means universal. The whole church.

Jesus said, "Drink of this fruit of the vine, this is my blood that is shed for many. Eat of this bread, this is my body that is broken for you.... Do this in remembrance of me." The universal church is all who confess they're a sinner needing a Saviour & Jesus Christ their Lord & believe in their heart He died on the cross for their sins & rose up for their justification. They need to obey Jesus in remembering what He did for them.

A person who can be entrusted to administer Eucharist would be anyone that is a believer In what Jesus did on the cross (of a bible faith church). It is the leaders of the church that lead us into communion (grape juice & bread) to those in the church that are born again christian in rememberance of Him.

So the Apostles knew who Jesus was, and that His church consists of two sheep folds. The first priesthood - Levitical Where a Levite is the High Priest for Israel, the second Priesthood is Jesus the High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. He is the High Priest for us (from all nations) who are cleansed by His Blood.

Jesus Christ is the High Priest of The Church of Christ. He is the one who paid the debt for our sin by being the Lamb of God. He obeyed the Father to give His Life so We can have Life in Him. That is why He is our everlasting High Priest.

I think what you have written above was for that particular Catholic church at that time. Every church has its religious rules applied to their own church to follow. It is just to keep a general order of thing. The Catholic church rely on mans understanding what is secure and valid.

I choose to rely on the Holy Spirit & Truth on what is secure & valid. It is the anointing I have received that is the Spirit of Truth and is not a liar, & will lead me into all truth.

The quote from St. Ignatius of Antioch was valid for that particular catholic church at that time. Some of that is the culture of the time too.

Where 2 or more are gathered in My Name, there I AM also. The church is the body of Christ. The church consists of every person, from all nations, born of God.

To tell a born again christian they didn't do things in a legalized matter so therefore are not saved would be a false accusation.

Answer 2

Definitely NOT. Religion is not of God but of man trying to earn / work their way into Heaven. Why would Christ have to come and die for sin if man could earn / work their way to Heaven by being good or doing good deeds? Sin was paid for on the cross; therefore, how can man outdo what Jesus has already paid for? Accept Christ and live forever. God made Christianity from Christ not from religion. Religious people are far from Christian. I am a Christian and I follow Christ not man, so, I read my Bible (not whatever you were reading) to learn or understand what God wants me to know. If the truth be known, John was a Baptist (John the Baptist). Catholic means universal. Could this be the universal church that God hates and will destroy when He returns? The Lord's church is inside of every born again Christian not some building. You are being fooled by Satan and don't let this happen to you. Besides, Peter was a married man with children and the catholic church goes against God to procreate. Seek and you shall find. You just found out some of the important truths, my friend. Thank you for your question.

Answer 3

There wasn't really a need to distinguish between Catholics and non-Catholics because there was only one main church back then. Only during the Reformation, when Christians started to protest against the Church (hence Protestants), was there a need to distinguish Catholic Christians from non-Catholic Christians.

St. Ignatius of Antioch (1st century) was the earliest known writer to use the phrase "the Catholic Church". It excluded the heterodox groups whose teaching and practice conflicted with those of the bishops of the Catholic Church.

In keeping with this idea, the Roman Catholic Church sees as not part of the Catholic Church all the groups that it judges to be in a state of heresy or schism.

Others have, since the Protestant Reformation, used the word "Catholic" to designate instead adherence to the doctrines and essential practices of the historical institutional Churches, in contrast to those propounded by the Reformers.

In all the senses indicated in this paragraph, Catholic tends to be written with an upper-case 'C'.

Answer 4

Absolutely NO! The Catholic church didn't even come into existence until like 300 years AFTER the christian apostles. There have been many things that the Catholic church have quoted and/or taken credit for that are simply not true. For a wonderful historically accurate and reliable list of these, visit the following website!

Answer 5

The Catholic church can mean the Roman Catholic Institution (Church) or it can mean simply the universial church of all believers. Prior to Jesus there was no Catholic church or any Christian church. The Catholic church came into existence after the apostles were dead. I think the apostles simply considered themselves Christ followers or "Christians". There is nothing to indicate they wanted to be known as anything else. Protestant Churches came into existence in protest against the practices of the Catholic church. These of course include Episcoplian, Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, etc.

Answer 6

The Apostles were all Jewish and later called themselves Christian.

You know the word Catholic means "Universal" right? Since there was no other christian church at that time it was just the Universal Church.

Please tell me that we are not going to get into any These Christians are "righter than these others" thing here(I am aware that righter is not a real word). Jesus doesn't need any Spirit of Division ripping His body up any more please!

Answer 7

After they decided to let Gentiles join the new born Christian Church, I think they would have considered their Church "universal".

However, the first known use of the word "Catholic" came in 107 AD about 70 years after the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

With love in Christ.

Answer 8

You are quoting from something OTHER than the Word of God. No matter what you get your info. from, the only Truth lies in the Word of God. So, when you can tell us, just from studying God's Word (the Holy Bible), exactly WHAT religion the apostles were, I doubt the truthfulness to anything else you quote. The Word of God is the only truth, and Jesus said, "Upon this rock I build my church." which was not Catholic, or anything other than simply built upon HIM- the Rock of all ages.

Answer 9

I have never even seen the word Catholic in the Bible. I think we are supposed to be called Christians. The apostles were also given authority by God to act in his name. If Catholics were to have the same organization that existed in the primitive church where are all the apostles and prophets? These are very interesting concepts.

Answer 10

How could the Jewish apostles be catholic? They followed Jesus Christ, not Peter. It was the Catholic Church who started the process of bestowing sainthood on certain people of faith.

Matthew 16:18
They remembered that God was their rock, and that the Most High God was the One Who set them free.

Matthew 16:18-19
And I tell you that you are Peter. On this rock I will build My church. The powers of hell will not be able to have power over My church.

19 I will give you the keys of the holy nation of heaven. Whatever you do not allow on earth will not have been allowed in heaven. Whatever you allow on earth will have been allowed in heaven."


Jesus never said Peter was the rock he would build his church on, Jesus himself was that rock.