The Truth about the Origins of the Roman Catholic Church

Ever since the beginning of the Reformation, other churches have tried their hardest to obfuscate the origins of the Church. That intentional confusion, never stands up under Biblical criticism. One of the truths of the Church is that we did not make it up, we did not find ourselves a messiah and then build a theology around it. Almost all other churches have done this as a way of justifying their schism. Christ walked among us, he told and taught us things, he appointed Peter, who went to Rome and there the Church grew. We’ve spent nearly twenty centuries trying to figure out what Jesus meant, trying to get what he taught us, right. All that we did not get right is nothing compared to the extraordinary promises of Christ. The first truth about the origins of the Church is that Jesus chose Simon for something extraordinary and even changed his name to demonstrate it. That Simon is the only person to have his name changed by Christ is ultimately important.

“He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood* has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church,* [note that Jesus said, “upon this rock – called Peter – I will build my church.” He did not say upon this “faith” I will build my church” but upon the man, Simon, now called Peter. To top this off he gave this disciple, Simon Peter, all authority] and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.* Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:16-17)

Thus, it is upon the person of Peter who Christ says He will build his church, not upon “a rock of faith” as Protestants would have us believe. Jesus would not have handed over the keys of the Kingdom and the power to loose and bind to an idea. However, Jesus did not stop there in pointing to Simon Peter:

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He then said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” [Jesus] said to him, “Feed my sheep.”

(John 21:15-17) We can be assured that other disciples were there when Jesus said these things to Simon Peter. Jesus had already called Simon “Petra”, Peter, the Rock. Here, Jesus specifically spoke to Simon Peter and commanded him to “feed, tend, feed” meaning “lead” as the Shepherd. Jesus gave these commands to Simon Peter to ensure that Peter would lead and build His Church. This is all we have with which to interpret Jesus’s intentions for His Church. The central focus of the Church has always been the Eucharist because this is what Jesus intended. Almost all Protestant churches have abandoned Jesus’ teaching here:

“Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst. “The Jews murmured about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven,” and they said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” “Stop murmuring* among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?” Here is where Jesus could have said, “hey, just being symbolic!” But He didn’t. Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats* my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Then many of his disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” (John 6:36-60)

Protestants and Evangelicals cannot accept this and just as these Jewish disciples left Him, all those who do not believe what He said, have, essentially, left Him. While there are many interpretations of Scripture to be had, some are just clearly explained leaving only those with other agendas to allow their unbelief to overcome His words. Ultimately, our job, as Catholics, is to teach these teaching, demonstrate the magnificent fullness of the Church, and bring as many as we can back to the flock. We must, ultimately, do this with love and charity.