I was very confused, to say the least, when the topic of being catholic came up in one of the courses I am taking online as a foundation in our church. Now, I must say that the church I attend is very much Baptist, which in every fiber of our beliefs is very much not Catholic. So why am I being led to believe that part of the foundation of my church is to be catholic.

To quote Dr. Sean McDonough, faculty at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, the exact term and meaning is “catholic (whole church, widespread church, not just one church)”. By the term “whole church, widespread church”, that comes to mean “universal church”. So wait…is that to say we are all Catholic? No. It is to say we are all catholic, the universal Church and Body of Christ, with Christ as our Head, our Cornerstone, and our Foundation.

Matthew 16:13-20– “When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

In this, Jesus is telling all that Peter is the first to receive the gift of the Spirit, as he has become saved with his proclamation and identification of Christ as the Messiah, as all will be who profess Christ as their savior, and who have the solid foundation in his heart like building a house on the rocks,(Matthew 7:24-25), listening to God and His will, asking questions, and hungering and thirsting for His word. This is the beginning of the universal, ecumenical, catholic church, the true church of Christ. (The Roman Catholic Church uses this as sign of Peter being the first Pope, but in that, this would negate all of us becoming saved spokespeople for Christ, which is unscriptural, as there is no biblical evidence that shows Peter has actual authority himself over the other apostles. )

In Matthew 10, Jesus “called unto Him twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.” Now mind you, I cannot walk up to a sick person, smack them on the forehead and magically heal them in Jesus’s name, though every thing is made possible through Him and nothing is impossible (Matthew 19:26). God needed to allow His workers at that time to fulfill these smaller missions to make way for a much greater missions, therefore giving them authority to perform miracles. Do not be confused, these men were not all powerful, however under the authority of Christ, they were given power, just as we have authority under Christ to pray over people and pray with people; power in prayer. The power doesn’t come from us, but directly from God, who hears and answers our prayers.

“And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” John 14:13-14; This is why we ask everything in Jesus’s name at the end of our prayers..not to get everything we ask for, but to ask it in His name under His authority.

In Peter’s report to the Church, which takes place in Jerusalem, he tells them, ““Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.” But Peter began and explained it to them in order: “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ But I said, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’ This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven. And behold, at that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were, sent to me from Caesarea. And the Spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter; he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?” When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.” (V. 1-18)

This goes with Galatians 3:28 that says that “There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, there is neither male or female, for you are all one in Jesus Christ”, meaning we are not to discriminate against anyone based on creed, gender (and yes, there is a distinction between male and female, this is often misinterpreted to assist in Satanic gender neutral agendas) practice or status, Christians are all one body under the universal Church of Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:13- For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit”)

Here are further verses supporting our unified body of Christ as the original and only church….

https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Body-Of-Christ,-The-Church

We can add a capital and give a structure a name in it’s likeness, but unless all have the same unified belief that God is our all mighty powerful Father, who sent His Son, to die for our sins, and is our Savior, the Messiah, and that we should have faith and belief in this notion, professing this in our very hearts and from our very tongues, then we will continue to have lost goats that wander outside the realms of His Church.