January 10, 2025 • 11 mins
One of the common objections to Catholicism is: “You say the Catholic Church is the true Church, but the words ‘Catholic Church’ are not in the Bible!” Or are they? In this presentation you’ll discover that the origin of the term Catholic Church is to be found in the pages of Sacred Scripture. For more on the biblical evidence for the Catholic Church visit: https://nononsensecatholic.com/the-biblical-evidence-for-the-catholic-church/
https://youtu.be/RnPxef9qdh4
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
One of the common objections to Catholicism is,
(00:03):
you say the Catholic church is the true
church,
but the words Catholic church are not in
the Bible.
Or are they?
Today, you'll discover that the origin of the
term Catholic Church is to be found in
the pages of Sacred Scripture.
But before we dive in, I just wanna
say thanks again for all the comments and
(00:23):
likes on our first couple of videos,
and ask if you haven't already that you
kindly take a second to like and subscribe.
I also wanna let you know that the
audio of these presentations are now up and
running on Iheartradio
and the popular podcast platforms.
Okay.
Although the Holy Bible clearly presents the church
(00:43):
founded by Christ as a visible reality,
Most protestants and evangelicals
believe that Christ's true church is a spiritual
union of all believing Christians regardless of denomination.
As so long as they accept Jesus as
their personal lord and savior and the fundamental
tenants of Protestantism,
(01:03):
they can simply agree to disagree on all
the rest.
And in a sense, it is true that
at the most basic level, Christians are united.
Everyone who receives valid Christian baptism technically belongs,
however, imperfectly to the Catholic church.
And Catholics look with hope for the day
when all divisions will be overcome, and our
(01:25):
separated brethren will enter into the fullness of
the truth.
However, we believe that the one true church
of Jesus Christ
subsists in the Catholic church alone.
Now the word subsists is a theological term
that's consistent with classical western philosophy,
and it means to exist as a substance
(01:46):
not as a subset.
And this means that while elements of the
Church of Christ can exist outside the visible
confines of the Catholic church,
and other Christian communities may possess elements of
truth and sanctification,
like the holy bible, prayer, and valid baptism,
the complete and authentic expression of Christ's church
(02:08):
is fully realized only within the Catholic church.
Catholics
understand that their church is the continuation
of the community established by Christ and the
apostles.
The Catholic church is the only Christian church
that goes all the way back in history
to the time of Christ.
Look it up in the Encyclopedia
(02:29):
Britannica,
and you'll discover that the Catholic church was
founded by Jesus Christ in Jerusalem
in 33 AD.
According to the catechism,
the church is the body of Christ.
It is a visible society,
a community of believers who are united by
faith,
sacraments,
and the authority of the Pope.
(02:51):
The Catholic church is the one true church
founded by Christ, and it possesses the fullness
of the means of salvation.
The followers of Jesus were originally called Nazareans
after Jesus of Nazareth.
And around 35 AD, the term Christians was
coined because the apostles claimed that Jesus was
(03:12):
the Christ.
Scripture says, it was in Antioch that the
disciples were first called Christians.
You'll note that it doesn't say they called
themselves that.
In his letter to the Smyrnaans,
Saint Ignatius of Antioch wrote, where the bishop
is, there let the multitude of believers be.
(03:32):
Even as where Jesus is,
there is the Catholic church.
Understand that these words were written within living
memory of the ministry of the apostles.
Ignatius was a church father of the 1st
century and was a disciple of Saint John.
In context, he clearly expects his readers to
(03:54):
understand what he means by Catholic church.
In fact, he is appealing to their knowledge
of this Catholic Church to make a point.
So the term Catholic Church must be older
even than his writing.
But if so, then where did the term
Catholic Church originate?
The answer
is to be found in the pages of
(04:15):
the Holy Bible.
Most people know that the word Catholic as
an adjective means universal.
In the book of Acts, we read,
the church throughout all Judea,
Galilee, and Samaria was at peace.
It was being built up and walked in
the fear of the Lord, and with the
(04:37):
consolation of the Holy Spirit, it grew in
numbers.
Notice the scripture refers to the church in
the singular,
the church.
It was being built up, and it grew
in number.
In the original Koine Greek of the book
of Acts, the expression the church throughout all
is.
(04:59):
Is church and
throughout all, from which is derived Catholic
or universal.
From the beginning, it designated the one church
manifest in all the places where the gospel
had been preached.
In other words, the universal church to which
all the various local communities belonged.
(05:21):
So when someone asks where is the term
Catholic church in the bible,
the answer is Acts 931.
But there's more.
It is well known that many Christian denominations
disagree
about what Christ actually taught on many important
issues.
Just take baptism.
(05:42):
One denomination holds that baptism must be by
immersion only.
Others approve baptism by sprinkling. Still others say
water baptism is not necessary at all, etcetera.
But Jesus made it plain that there should
not be many denominations when he said, there
shall be one fold and one shepherd.
And if a house is divided against itself,
(06:05):
that house will not be able to stand.
Saint Paul takes up this theme when he
says, make every possible effort to preserve the
unity of the spirit through the bond of
peace.
There is one body and one spirit, as
well as one hope to which you have
been called by your vocation.
(06:25):
One lord,
one faith, one baptism,
one God and father of all, who is
over all and through all and in all.
Catholics, therefore, cannot believe that Christ would ever
sanction divisions in his church.
On the contrary,
the night before he suffered and died, Christ
(06:47):
prayed for his followers.
May they all be 1.
As you, father, are in me and I
in you,
may they also be in us
so that the world may believe that you
have sent me.
The fact that believers are divided into tens
of thousands of rival denominations
is not the unity that Jesus prayed for.
(07:10):
It's the scandal of Christendom.
My own conversion came about like everyone else's.
I was granted the gift of faith by
the Holy Spirit.
But the intellectual linchpin of my conversion to
Catholicism
was the apostolic succession.
You see,
many non Catholics look at the early church
(07:30):
like a man looking down a well.
All they can see is a long dark
tunnel and their own reflection at the other
end.
In other words, they project themselves onto the
church of the New Testament
and ignore everything that happened between the 1st
century 16th.
And one of the comments on my first
video was, I'm afraid Catholicism is a poisoned
(07:53):
chalice.
It uses some biblical terminology and trappings to
come across as Christianity,
but it poisons the cup with all its
other false teachings, etcetera, etcetera.
The biblical evidence for the Catholic church is
rooted in the teachings of Jesus,
the authority of the apostles,
the presence of the holy spirit,
(08:14):
the call for unity,
the sacramental life, and the understanding of the
church as the body of Christ with Jesus
as the head.
These elements all support the Catholic church's claim
to be the 1 holy
Catholic and apostolic
church established by Christ.
(08:34):
This person seems to labor under the misconception
that the bible came before the Catholic church,
but it's the other way around.
Once upon a time, a protestant fellow said
to me, you know, Matthew, if all you
had was the bible,
if you just sat down and read the
New Testament,
you have to admit you would not invent
Catholicism.
(08:56):
And I said, you know what? You're absolutely
right.
But that's not how the church came to
be.
The first Christians did not sit down with
a Bible and invent the church.
Christ founded the church, and it was the
church who gave us the New Testament.
So your evangelical fundamentalist friend is right when
he says the Catholic Church is not Bible
(09:16):
based.
The Catholic church is Christ based
and the bible
is church based.
Now, I remember when I was introduced to
the apostolic succession.
I got a mental image of pope John
Paul the second standing at the head of
a long line of popes stretching all the
way back to Saint Peter.
(09:36):
And I realized that's why you can trust
the Catholic church's teaching
because it is the one church that has
been there all along
from the beginning,
in every time and in every place, the
the church throughout all.
And it follows that if Jesus only founded
(09:56):
that one church,
then all the rest of them were founded
by mere human beings.
And although non Catholic communities may possess many
elements of truth and sanctification,
and may believe much that is true,
and may have many members who sincerely love
the lord,
Catholics remain faithful to the church founded by
(10:18):
our savior
to be the pillar and bulwark of the
truth.
And that's
no nonsense.
Okay. That's it for now.
As I said before, I very much appreciate
all your comments. But if you would like
to contact me directly,
please visit my website, no nonsense catholic.com.
(10:40):
Next time, we're going to talk about the
secret of protecting yourself from what I call
Catholic Kryptonite.
Until then, thanks for listening, and may God
richly bless you and your family.
One of the common objections to Catholicism is,
(00:03):
you say the Catholic church is the true
church,
but the words Catholic church are not in
the Bible.
Or are they?
Today, you'll discover that the origin of the
term Catholic Church is to be found in
the pages of Sacred Scripture.
But before we dive in, I just wanna
say thanks again for all the comments and
(00:23):
likes on our first couple of videos,
and ask if you haven't already that you
kindly take a second to like and subscribe.
I also wanna let you know that the
audio of these presentations are now up and
running on Iheartradio
and the popular podcast platforms.
Okay.
Although the Holy Bible clearly presents the church
(00:43):
founded by Christ as a visible reality,
Most protestants and evangelicals
believe that Christ's true church is a spiritual
union of all believing Christians regardless of denomination.
As so long as they accept Jesus as
their personal lord and savior and the fundamental
tenants of Protestantism,
(01:03):
they can simply agree to disagree on all
the rest.
And in a sense, it is true that
at the most basic level, Christians are united.
Everyone who receives valid Christian baptism technically belongs,
however, imperfectly to the Catholic church.
And Catholics look with hope for the day
when all divisions will be overcome, and our
(01:25):
separated brethren will enter into the fullness of
the truth.
However, we believe that the one true church
of Jesus Christ
subsists in the Catholic church alone.
Now the word subsists is a theological term
that's consistent with classical western philosophy,
and it means to exist as a substance
(01:46):
not as a subset.
And this means that while elements of the
Church of Christ can exist outside the visible
confines of the Catholic church,
and other Christian communities may possess elements of
truth and sanctification,
like the holy bible, prayer, and valid baptism,
the complete and authentic expression of Christ's church
(02:08):
is fully realized only within the Catholic church.
Catholics
understand that their church is the continuation
of the community established by Christ and the
apostles.
The Catholic church is the only Christian church
that goes all the way back in history
to the time of Christ.
Look it up in the Encyclopedia
(02:29):
Britannica,
and you'll discover that the Catholic church was
founded by Jesus Christ in Jerusalem
in 33 AD.
According to the catechism,
the church is the body of Christ.
It is a visible society,
a community of believers who are united by
faith,
sacraments,
and the authority of the Pope.
(02:51):
The Catholic church is the one true church
founded by Christ, and it possesses the fullness
of the means of salvation.
The followers of Jesus were originally called Nazareans
after Jesus of Nazareth.
And around 35 AD, the term Christians was
coined because the apostles claimed that Jesus was
(03:12):
the Christ.
Scripture says, it was in Antioch that the
disciples were first called Christians.
You'll note that it doesn't say they called
themselves that.
In his letter to the Smyrnaans,
Saint Ignatius of Antioch wrote, where the bishop
is, there let the multitude of believers be.
(03:32):
Even as where Jesus is,
there is the Catholic church.
Understand that these words were written within living
memory of the ministry of the apostles.
Ignatius was a church father of the 1st
century and was a disciple of Saint John.
In context, he clearly expects his readers to
(03:54):
understand what he means by Catholic church.
In fact, he is appealing to their knowledge
of this Catholic Church to make a point.
So the term Catholic Church must be older
even than his writing.
But if so, then where did the term
Catholic Church originate?
The answer
is to be found in the pages of
(04:15):
the Holy Bible.
Most people know that the word Catholic as
an adjective means universal.
In the book of Acts, we read,
the church throughout all Judea,
Galilee, and Samaria was at peace.
It was being built up and walked in
the fear of the Lord, and with the
(04:37):
consolation of the Holy Spirit, it grew in
numbers.
Notice the scripture refers to the church in
the singular,
the church.
It was being built up, and it grew
in number.
In the original Koine Greek of the book
of Acts, the expression the church throughout all
is.
(04:59):
Is church and
throughout all, from which is derived Catholic
or universal.
From the beginning, it designated the one church
manifest in all the places where the gospel
had been preached.
In other words, the universal church to which
all the various local communities belonged.
(05:21):
So when someone asks where is the term
Catholic church in the bible,
the answer is Acts 931.
But there's more.
It is well known that many Christian denominations
disagree
about what Christ actually taught on many important
issues.
Just take baptism.
(05:42):
One denomination holds that baptism must be by
immersion only.
Others approve baptism by sprinkling. Still others say
water baptism is not necessary at all, etcetera.
But Jesus made it plain that there should
not be many denominations when he said, there
shall be one fold and one shepherd.
And if a house is divided against itself,
(06:05):
that house will not be able to stand.
Saint Paul takes up this theme when he
says, make every possible effort to preserve the
unity of the spirit through the bond of
peace.
There is one body and one spirit, as
well as one hope to which you have
been called by your vocation.
(06:25):
One lord,
one faith, one baptism,
one God and father of all, who is
over all and through all and in all.
Catholics, therefore, cannot believe that Christ would ever
sanction divisions in his church.
On the contrary,
the night before he suffered and died, Christ
(06:47):
prayed for his followers.
May they all be 1.
As you, father, are in me and I
in you,
may they also be in us
so that the world may believe that you
have sent me.
The fact that believers are divided into tens
of thousands of rival denominations
is not the unity that Jesus prayed for.
(07:10):
It's the scandal of Christendom.
My own conversion came about like everyone else's.
I was granted the gift of faith by
the Holy Spirit.
But the intellectual linchpin of my conversion to
Catholicism
was the apostolic succession.
You see,
many non Catholics look at the early church
(07:30):
like a man looking down a well.
All they can see is a long dark
tunnel and their own reflection at the other
end.
In other words, they project themselves onto the
church of the New Testament
and ignore everything that happened between the 1st
century 16th.
And one of the comments on my first
video was, I'm afraid Catholicism is a poisoned
(07:53):
chalice.
It uses some biblical terminology and trappings to
come across as Christianity,
but it poisons the cup with all its
other false teachings, etcetera, etcetera.
The biblical evidence for the Catholic church is
rooted in the teachings of Jesus,
the authority of the apostles,
the presence of the holy spirit,
(08:14):
the call for unity,
the sacramental life, and the understanding of the
church as the body of Christ with Jesus
as the head.
These elements all support the Catholic church's claim
to be the 1 holy
Catholic and apostolic
church established by Christ.
(08:34):
This person seems to labor under the misconception
that the bible came before the Catholic church,
but it's the other way around.
Once upon a time, a protestant fellow said
to me, you know, Matthew, if all you
had was the bible,
if you just sat down and read the
New Testament,
you have to admit you would not invent
Catholicism.
(08:56):
And I said, you know what? You're absolutely
right.
But that's not how the church came to
be.
The first Christians did not sit down with
a Bible and invent the church.
Christ founded the church, and it was the
church who gave us the New Testament.
So your evangelical fundamentalist friend is right when
he says the Catholic Church is not Bible
(09:16):
based.
The Catholic church is Christ based
and the bible
is church based.
Now, I remember when I was introduced to
the apostolic succession.
I got a mental image of pope John
Paul the second standing at the head of
a long line of popes stretching all the
way back to Saint Peter.
(09:36):
And I realized that's why you can trust
the Catholic church's teaching
because it is the one church that has
been there all along
from the beginning,
in every time and in every place, the
the church throughout all.
And it follows that if Jesus only founded
(09:56):
that one church,
then all the rest of them were founded
by mere human beings.
And although non Catholic communities may possess many
elements of truth and sanctification,
and may believe much that is true,
and may have many members who sincerely love
the lord,
Catholics remain faithful to the church founded by
(10:18):
our savior
to be the pillar and bulwark of the
truth.
And that's
no nonsense.
Okay. That's it for now.
As I said before, I very much appreciate
all your comments. But if you would like
to contact me directly,
please visit my website, no nonsense catholic.com.
(10:40):
Next time, we're going to talk about the
secret of protecting yourself from what I call
Catholic Kryptonite.
Until then, thanks for listening, and may God
richly bless you and your family.
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