In answering this question, we will consider 3 things: 1) What is the Catholic Church? 2) Who started the Catholic Church? 3) What part did the Apostles play in the Catholic Church?

1) What is the Catholic Church? You may have been thinking of the “ROMAN Catholic Church,” but as we shall see the Church in the book of Acts was NOT the Roman Catholic Church. The word “catholic” means “universal, whole.” When we speak of the Catholic Church, we are speaking of ALL THOSE who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ and are members of His church. It began on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4); it is continuing to grow (Acts 2:47); and when it is completed Christ will come to take His church home to heaven (John 14:2-3; 1st Thessalonians 4:15-18 and Ephesians 5:25-27).

2) Who started the Catholic Church? I stated earlier that the Church is “Christ’s Church” and He is the One Who started it. In Matthew 16:18 Jesus said, “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and ON THIS ROCK I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH.” Peter had just confessed that Jesus was “the Christ, the Son of the living God (verse 16). Belief in Christ IS THE ROCK upon which the church is being built. John the Baptist, in speaking of Christ, said “this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit” (John 1:33). Jesus sent the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost to form those who had believed on Him into the Church. He had told His disciples of this in Acts 1:5, “You shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” The moment the Spirit descended to earth He baptized them into the church, the body of Christ. We see this truth also in 1st Corinthians 12:13, For by one Spirit we were all baptized into ONE BODY—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.” So, Christ IS BUILDING HIS CHURCH. The moment one confesses Jesus Christ as “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” they are saved and ADDED TO THE CHURCH. This is borne out in Acts 2:47, “And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” This truth clearly refutes the view that “the Roman Catholic Church” is the church spoken of in the book of Acts (or any other book for that matter). And it also refutes the view that the Apostles started the church.

3) What part did the Apostles play in the Catholic Church. We have seen that Christ, by the Holy Spirit, is building the Church, yet Christ also used the Apostles to “teach the truth about Christ and the Church” and in their teachings the Church is “BUILT UP on their most holy faith.” Here is what Paul said to believers in Ephesians 2:19-22, “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been BUILT ON THE FOUNDATION OF THE APOSTLES and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” There is a lot of precious truths in this passage, but the point I want to make here is that the Apostles LAID DOWN THE FOUNDATIONAL TRUTHS of Christ and the Church. In 1st Corinthians 3:10-11 the Apostle Paul refers to this same truth: “According to the grace of God which was given to me, AS A WISE MASTER BUILDER I HAVE LAID THE FOUNDATION…for no other foundation can anyone lay that that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Again, the truth that Paul gave to us is the FOUNDATION OF TRUTH concerning Christ and the Church. Paul was “NOT building the church,” but in his writings he was “building the church up on their most holy faith” (see Acts 20:32 and Jude 20). His truth about Christ and the church was meant to “ESTABLISH them in the truth” so they could function as the body of Christ and be a true witness for Christ before the world. I would only mention in closing that one only lays a foundation once, so after the Apostles “laid the foundation” apostles were no longer needed. They had accomplished their mission. Now our mission is to “continue steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine” (Acts 2:42). If we do, we will indeed be firmly grounded in the truth and able to “earnestly contend for THE FAITH which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).  (DO)  (605.3)