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Julia_Mae
Guest
What is the earliest recorded use of the word “universal” in relation to the Christian Church of Jesus Christ? I need an original document if anyone has the info. Thanks!
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Skeptic92
Guest
St Ignatius of Antioch-'Letter to the Smyrnaeans' circa 110AD:
“Greek Original of previous quote said:
Emphasis mine, from my knowledge of the Greek alphabet, I think I identified the correct part of the quote, this is circa 110AD, give or take a few years, the earliest written record of the Church referred to the Catholic Church, however St Ignatius of Antioch uses the term as if it was in wide spread use.
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adstrinity
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St. Paul uses it…I don’t remember where.
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ChrisRedfield47
Guest
Ive never heard of St. Paul using the term (I may be wrong though). But even if the term wasn’t used by him or any of the apostles, the term clearly was already wide spread when St. Ignatius of Antioch used it. The word Catholic I believe is not in the bible, but i’m pretty sure that if it was in it, all Christians today would want to be called Catholic just as all of them want to be called Christians (and that word is int the bible). So “Catholic” was the word used to distinguish our church (the true Christian Church) from heretical sects that also wanted to be called “Christians”.
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Julia_Mae
Guest
Tnak you very much, just what I needed to know!
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TimothyH
Guest
The word “Christian” is in the Bible, in Acts 11.
and when he had found him he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a large number of people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians. (Acts 11:26)
Many non-Catholic Churches do call themselves catholic (with a lower case C) AKA universal, even though they are not part of the Catholic Church under the leadership of the supreme pontiff. I believe Lutherans, Anglicans, and even Methodists use the nicene creed in their worship services and consider themselves part of the catholic AKA universal Church.
-Tim-
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Julia_Mae
Guest
I believe Chris was saying the word “catholic” is not in Scripture as referring to Jesus’ followers.
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ConstantineTG
Guest
I believe “catholic” was used to distinguish from the Jewish faith which was exclusive to Jews. Anyone can become a follower of Christ, gentile or Jew.
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adstrinity
Guest
No, I’m pretty sure it was used by St. Paul in one of his letters. I think I learned that here at CAF. He uses the word “universal” for the Church, in Greek, Catholicos or something like that.
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Julia_Mae
Guest
After going through a bunch of tranlsations, I found it at the Blue Letter Bible site under the Darby Translation:
Hebr 12:23 the universal gathering; and to [the] assembly of the firstborn [who are] registered in heaven; and to God, judge of all; and to [the] spirits of just [men] made perfect;
But the Greek word here is panegyris which means “complete” or “whole assembly.”
In the Vulgate the verse is:
et ecclesiam primitivorum qui conscripti sunt in caelis et iudicem omnium Deum et spiritus iustorum perfectorum
I’m a Latin dunce. Did we get “Catholic” from caelis?
I need a priest in here!!! Or, yanno, a smart person…
Anyway, I thought “Universal/Catholic” referred to the fact that the Church comprises both the living and those passed, which is what this section in Hebrews looks like. Plus ANGELS - don’t forget the angels are part of us also. .
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Julia_Mae
Guest
No, wait… this is from Wikipedia:
Catholic
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the worldwide communion of Christians in communion with the Bishop of Rome, see Catholic Church.
The word catholic (derived via Late Latin catholicus, from the Greek adjective καθολικός (katholikos), meaning “universal”[1][2]) comes from the Greek phrase καθόλου (kath’holou), meaning “on the whole,” “according to the whole” or “in general”, and is a combination of the Greek words κατά meaning “about” and όλος meaning “whole”.[3][4] The word in English can mean either “including a wide variety of things; all-embracing” or “of the Roman Catholic faith.” as “relating to the historic doctrine and practice of the Western Church.”[5]
I searched the Vulgate NT for catholicus and it doesn’t appear.
Catholic
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the worldwide communion of Christians in communion with the Bishop of Rome, see Catholic Church.
The word catholic (derived via Late Latin catholicus, from the Greek adjective καθολικός (katholikos), meaning “universal”[1][2]) comes from the Greek phrase καθόλου (kath’holou), meaning “on the whole,” “according to the whole” or “in general”, and is a combination of the Greek words κατά meaning “about” and όλος meaning “whole”.[3][4] The word in English can mean either “including a wide variety of things; all-embracing” or “of the Roman Catholic faith.” as “relating to the historic doctrine and practice of the Western Church.”[5]
I searched the Vulgate NT for catholicus and it doesn’t appear.
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guanophore
Guest
This is true. It is used by Luke as an adjective to describe the Church.
In Acts 9:31 we see the first use of this word, translated “the Church throughout”. Ecclesia kath holos.
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Julia_Mae
Guest
Those are three words, with four you get eggroll:
ekklesia kata holos loaia
church(es) throughout all Judaea
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