The Catholicity of The Trinitarian Churches
Catholicity Is a Feature of THE Church Universal (and the Churches or Parishes).
The Roman church (popularly called the Roman Catholic Church) is not catholic. Its membership is restricted to those who submit to the rule of the Roman Bishop (a.k.a. the “pope”). He presides only over all “churches” (“parishes,” rather) which submit to his authority. However, “the church” – those who affirm the Triune God and the Creeds (i.e. Apostles’ and Nicene) – may be called “catholic” in as much as those of that fold are spread throughout the whole world: North, South, East, and West.
So goes the confusion: our Romanist brethren have pirated the term (which means “universal” – as the church of God surely is – inclusive of people from any nation or race). But in as much as Lutheran or Presbyterian or Methodist or Greek Orthodox or Baptistic or Pentecostal churches have deployed missionaries and established churches throughout the world, so they also are “catholic” churches. And in as much as they affirm, whether by formal proclamation or by simple assent, the Trinitarian doctrine and salvation through death and resurrection of Jesus, they are “catholic Christians.”
The Roman Church does not have an exclusive claim to that elevated description of the People of God – “catholic” – as they are not the only form of orthodox Christianity found throughout the globe (Take the eastern Orthodox for example!). It is not “Romanists” only who may make the claim to universality or catholicity. There are many churches throughout the world affirming the essential tenets of the Creeds (Apostles’, Nicene, Chalcedonian, Athanasian) whether by formal or by informal assent.
Inasmuch as Protestant churches preach sound doctrine – a Gospel message which does not contradict the historic foundational creeds clarifying Christological and Trinitarian doctrine (i.e. to the exclusion of “liberal” Bible-rejecting denominations) all such are, indeed, “catholic” churches with or without submission to the Bishop of Rome (averred also to be “the Pope”).
17 Nov., 2021
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