Theology Thursday: The oldest Christian church?

Welcome to Theology Thursday! Theology is the study of God, his relation to the world, and our relation to him. I hope these newsletters help enhance your faith and deepen your love for God and his people, the church.

Today's question:
Here's a question I got from a reader: "How did Catholicism become the oldest Christian tradition? You referenced in your writing that Martin Luther wanted to reform the Catholic Church, but how did Catholicism get such strong and deep roots?"

Pastor Brady's thoughts:
While all Christians, generally, trace the establishment of the universal church to the Pentecost event in Acts chapter 2 (when the Holy Spirit of Christ came upon Jesus's apostles and followers), Catholics trace the specific founding of their church - which they believe to be the one, true church - to a moment in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 16. Jesus is talking with his disciples (his closest followers) and specifically with Simon Peter: 

Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. Now I say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell[g] will not conquer it. And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.” (Matthew 16:15-19)

There is disagreement about what Jesus meant when he said "...upon this rock." Catholics believe he meant Peter specifically, while most protestants (non-Catholic Christians) believe he meant Peter's faith, or Peter's statement that Jesus is "the Messiah, the Son of the Living God." You can read more about this debate here.

Catholics consider Peter to be the "first Pope," and believe in something called "apostolic succession," which is the idea that, starting with Peter, each subsequent pope is anointed with a special spiritual power to communicate with God and then communicate God's will to humans, thus granting the Catholic Church a special spiritual authority on par with the Bible.

For the first 280 years or so of Christian history after the ascension of Jesus back to heaven, Christianity was banned by the Roman Empire and Christians were persecuted. This changed with Emperor Constantine a little after A.D. 300, when he lifted the ban and worked to adopt Christianity as something of an "official" religion for Rome. This effort led to the mixing of Christian faith and secular government/values/culture/etc. in a way that hadn't been the case before, resulting in - among other things - the formation of the Roman Catholic Church as a recognizable and formal institution (whereas before the "church" was a much less formal body of believers who claimed faith in Jesus).

While there have always been sects and factions of Christian groups with varying beliefs and practices, the Roman Catholic Church was by far the most prominent formal Christian church organization in the world for the next several hundred years after Constantine. 

Part of the reason for the Reformation was a rejection of extra-biblical (meaning, things arguably not in the Bible) ideas such as apostolic succession, purgatory, indulgences, and the veneration of Mary (and her supposed “immaculate conception,” perpetual virginity, and assumption - the belief that she never physically died, but was taken into heaven at the end of her earthly life). 

Beginning around 1500 A.D., Church reform efforts led by Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, Huldrych Zwingli, and then later John Wesley, Charles Finney, Charles Spurgeon, and others all generally rallied around agreement on the rejection of these Catholic doctrines (and what they deemed to be abuses of power and distortions of faithful practice). However, they disagreed on much else regarding the interpretation and application of Scripture, resulting in much of the denominational system we are familiar with today: Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, etc. 

Globally, Catholics still comprise the largest group of Christians. There are about 1.4 billion today. For comparison, there are about 900 million protestants globally.

So, it's relatively accurate to consider the Roman Catholic Church to be the oldest recognized formal Christian church institution. If we date it to Constantine's reign, the Roman Catholic Church developed its governance structure, documents of doctrines (teachings) and practice, and clerical hierarchy earlier than any other formally organized group. But the Christian faith itself predates Catholicism by those 300 years, of course. And there have always been non-Catholic Christians, even if they were a small minority of the population of believers around the world from 300 A.D. or so to 1500 A.D. or so. 

As protestants, we can be thankful for the work and courage of the reformers who insisted that the word of God in the holy scripture was the ultimate and only infallible spiritual authority - not the fallible humans that comprise the church. For all of protestantism’s denominational disagreements on what the Bible says, we all largely agree that what the Bible says carries supreme weight over what any particular minister says or group of clergy say. 

In terms of spiritual authority (doctrine, instruction, theology), scripture and the church are not equal. They are both of God, but until Jesus returns, only one - the Bible - perfectly communicates what God intends it to communicate. The church - led by imperfect humans (for now!) - does not. 

However, we can also be thankful for Catholicism’s persistent and enduring witness throughout the centuries. We can disagree with the Catholic Church’s position and posture on any number of things, but still appreciate its elevation of God-honoring worship as the central call on believers’ lives and its stalwart insistence that faith should be put into action.  
There’s no formal institution older than the Catholic Church, and I hope its staying power is both a result of God’s providential guidance and a representation of human faithfulness. I don’t know that that’s the case, but I hope it is.  

TO KNOW GOD AND TO MAKE HIM KNOWN!
- Pastor Brady

Have a question for Theology Thursday? Send an email to office@minierchristian.org and we'll respond, or we'll include in a future Theology Thursday Buffet.