A True Catholic

By Arthur J Licursi *

In the Catholic Encyclopedia, the entry for the term “Catholic” begins, “The word Catholic (katholikos from katholou—throughout the whole, i.e., universal) occurs in the Greek classics….”

I agree that the term catholic simply means “universal.” In the early church, the terminology catholic Church was used by Christians to distinguish the true Church from those who held to the heretical teachings of Gnosticism and pantheism.

The true Church is comprised of all those, regardless of their race, gender, denomination, or other religious affiliation, who place their faith in the finished work of Christ on their behalf (Eph. 1:12-13), that He died for their sins, was buried, and rose again the third day (I Cor. 15:1-4).

According to the Word of God, the true Church is called “the church, which is His body” (Eph. 1:22-23).

 “He (Christ) also is the Head of [His] body, the church; seeing He is the Beginning, the Firstborn from among the dead, so that He alone in everything and in every respect might occupy the chief place [stand first and be preeminent]. Colossians 1:18 (AMP)

The Roman Catholic Church, as we know it, technically did not come into existence until 325 A.D., during the reign of Constantine, the ruler of the Roman Empire at the time. He adopted Christianity as the state religion of the empire and adopted all the trappings that eventually came with it.

While Rome has always touted itself as being the “true Church,” which is universal, the very title, Roman Catholic Church is a contradiction of terms. “Roman” is a “specific term,” referring to only those who align themselves with her unsound teachings and her pope, while the term catholic means universal. The two terms “Roman” and “Catholic” are therefore inconsistent.

In reality, those who are true to the Bible will arrive at the belief that that the Church, the Body of Christ is catholic or universal, wherein; “There is [now no distinction] neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28 (AMP)

This universal Church includes those individuals within the Roman Catholic Church who have placed their faith solely in the finished work of Christ, and not in religious works, rites, rituals, or the organized church and it’s Pope.

Rome has often pointed out that the beliefs of Protestantism are something relatively new. It claims they are merely the fruits of the Reformation, but this is far from the case. We certainly agree that the Reformers were used of the Lord to confront the indiscretions and outright errors of the organized church of their day and to encourage believers to return to the Scriptures as their final authority.

The Reformers, to their credit, were simply returning to biblical Christianity. Essentially, the beliefs of the Reformers were the same as the early Christians during the first three centuries of Christianity.

Some of those elementary teachings include that are opposed by the Roman Church are these.

·       The sole authority of the Scriptures. (2Tim 3:16)
·       Justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ’s finished work alone. (Eph 2:8-9)
·       That there is only “one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1Tim 2:5)

Most fundamentalist and evangelical Protestants today hold these doctrines to be among the fundamentals of “the faith.” Hence they also should never claim their organization to be the one true church.

*Portions drawn for a paper by Paul Sadler, The Berean Bible Society