If Catholics are not the first Christians who was?

Question

stevewhat, who was Paul writing his letters to

stevewhat, who was Paul writing his letters to

sand and surf, you got a thumbs up from me.

cheerful charles, i agree that both Ctholics and Orthodox are direct descendants of the Apostolic Church founded by Christ

Michael P, most Catholics and Orthodox would say that you are correct and Mary is the very first Christian universally

Answer 1

The term "catholic" wasn't applied until around the 3rd century, but the early Christians who became the Catholic Church were the only Church. The specific word "Catholic" wasn't used, but that's what it was.

Answer 2

The term Catholic is derived from the Greek which means general or universal. The first person who used it in a Christian context was St Ignatius of Antioch who was martyred in about 107. Before that Christians were called many things including atheists because they did not worship the Emperor but 'people of the way' was common.
Before that they were a sect with Judaism
There is a long history of discussion about which geographical unit of the church were the most senior. The main contenders were Rome, Constantinople and Jerusalem.
Rome became top dog in the west and Constantinople in the east so I guess the answer to your question is that it was a sort of tie between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church.

Answer 3

Jews were the first Christians. Yep, it's true. Peter, Andrew, Matthew, and the rest of the disciples were Jewish. They spread Christianity to the whole world.

St. Thomas went to India
St. Mark went to Egypt
Sts. Paul and Peter went to Rome

The four earliest church centers were in Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria and Rome.

Don't forget Catholic also means Universal, and during the times of the early Church everyone was by definition Catholic (unified under one set of beliefs)... but be careful: that's not the same as Roman Catholicism today.

Answer 4

The emperor Constantine wasn't born until 313, somewhere in there. He was the one that started the Catholic church.

The first Christians were those who knew Jesus and heard the gospel and received it and began to spread it.

The gospel is the good news that God was in Christ reconciling man, whom sin had separated from God, back to God.

Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.

Jesus paid the price, once and for all.

Answer 5

A Christian is a person who believes in Christ. Therefore the first Christians were the people that lived at the same time as Jesus and followed Him.

Answer 6

The first Christians had no doubts about how to determine which was the true Church and which doctrines the true teachings of Christ. The test was simple: Just trace the apostolic succession of the claimants.

Apostolic succession is the line of bishops stretching back to the apostles. All over the world, all Catholic bishops are part of a lineage that goes back to the time of the apostles, something that is impossible in Protestant denominations (most of which do not even claim to have bishops).

The role of apostolic succession in preserving true doctrine is illustrated in the Bible. To make sure that the apostles’ teachings would be passed down after the deaths of the apostles, Paul told Timothy, "[W]hat you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also" (2 Tim. 2:2). In this passage he refers to the first three generations of apostolic succession—his own generation, Timothy’s generation, and the generation Timothy will teach.

The Church Fathers, who were links in that chain of succession, regularly appealed to apostolic succession as a test for whether Catholics or heretics had correct doctrine. This was necessary because heretics simply put their own interpretations, even bizarre ones, on Scripture. Clearly, something other than Scripture had to be used as an ultimate test of doctrine in these cases.

Pope Clement I



"Through countryside and city [the apostles] preached, and they appointed their earliest converts, testing them by the Spirit, to be the bishops and deacons of future believers. Nor was this a novelty, for bishops and deacons had been written about a long time earlier. . . . Our apostles knew through our Lord Jesus Christ that there would be strife for the office of bishop. For this reason, therefore, having received perfect foreknowledge, they appointed those who have already been mentioned and afterwards added the further provision that, if they should die, other approved men should succeed to their ministry" (Letter to the Corinthians 42:4–5, 44:1–3 [A.D. 80]).


Pope Clement - a pope in the year 80. That's a Catholic thing pretty early in the history of christianity.

Of course the Bible doesn't call them Catholic - look up what the word means. It doesn't mean a special type of Christian - it means universal.


Tertullian



"[The apostles] founded churches in every city, from which all the other churches, one after another, derived the tradition of the faith, and the seeds of doctrine, and are every day deriving them, that they may become churches. Indeed, it is on this account only that they will be able to deem themselves apostolic, as being the offspring of apostolic churches. Every sort of thing must necessarily revert to its original for its classification. Therefore the churches, although they are so many and so great, comprise but the one primitive Church, [founded] by the apostles, from which they all [spring]. In this way, all are primitive, and all are apostolic, while they are all proved to be one in unity" (Demurrer Against the Heretics 20 [A.D. 200]).

"But if there be any [heresies] which are bold enough to plant [their origin] in the midst of the apostolic age, that they may thereby seem to have been handed down by the apostles, because they existed in the time of the apostles, we can say: Let them produce the original records of their churches; let them unfold the roll of their bishops, running down in due succession from the beginning in such a manner that [their first] bishop shall be able to show for his ordainer and predecessor some one of the apostles or of apostolic men—a man, moreover, who continued steadfast with the apostles. For this is the manner in which the apostolic churches transmit their registers: as the church of Smyrna, which records that Polycarp was placed therein by John; as also the church of Rome, which makes Clement to have been ordained in like manner by Peter" (ibid., 32).


Looks like the Catholic Church can trace itself right back to Peter. Lots more references, but this post is plenty long already.

EDIT: Gotta love it - I provide proof and get 2 thumbs down. Why bother? No one is so blind as he who will not see.

Answer 7

The Disciples of Jesus. The church was started on the day of Pentacost with 120 disciples in a upper room. Within that day it expanded by 3,000 others. All written in the Book of Acts in the Bible. Catholocism started unter Constantine 300 years later.

Answer 8

followers of christ during and after his lifetime were the first Christians. Catholics only came about once some christians realized they needed to organize and take control.

Answer 9

Acts 11:26 (b) And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.

Answer 10

Christian was originally a pugoritive term, intended to insult those that were like Christ, so obviously he was first.

The Apostles were first folllowers (Christians), unless you count Mary who knew she was going to give birth to the son of God!

Answer 11

The people who heard Jesus speak and followed his teachings. After his death, they lived in a very socialist-like utopia where everyone helped each other out. It only lasted one generation until the powers at the time sought to destroy them. (Later, of course, Chrisitanity became the power and did it's own destroying, which is sad.) But that first generation of Christians; they were something to look up to for sure.