Question about when the Church began

[Gianna_MarieJMJ]

How do I answer this…A Presbyterian minister told me that the Church began from the beginning of human history- since the Garden. That Jesus did not ‘create’ a Church, that he was building upon the same Church that was created from the beginning of time upon the prophets’ preaching. (Eph. 2:20)

I know that He said to Peter that ‘Upon this Rock I will build my Church’. ‘will build’
What else can I say to him to defend the Catholic Church?

Thank you!

 

[DavidFilmer]

How do I answer this…A Presbyterian minister told me that the Church began from the beginning of human history- since the Garden.

That’s one way of looking at it (and it is perfectly valid). You could also say that the Jewish Church “became” the Catholic Church (ie, if all the Jews had accepted Christ at Pentecost, our Church would probably still be called the Jewish Church today). The only reason we perceive a difference (and need a different name) is because many Jews did not accept Christ.

As Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matt 5:17).

But there is no question that the character of the Church changed. The old Covenant with Moses was supplanted by a new Covenant, preached by Jesus and the Apostles. In this sense, it is obvious that the Church of Jesus Christ is different from the Jewish Church or any other religious system that preceded it.

 

[Myqyl]

Ask him what Jesus meant when He said “… and upon this rock I will build My Church”

God bless

 

[Aelred_Minor]

The word “Church” means Assembly. Did God found an Assembly to worship Him in the Garden? Maybe, depending on how broadly you define the word.

However, I think we need to recognize the unique way in which God called Abraham and the heirs to the Covenant out of the midst of the nations to form a new, special kind of assembly of God.

There is a certain degree of continuity between the “Old Testament Church” and the New Testament Church in that the founding community of the New Testament Church, including all the Apostles, were Jews and Christianity is the fulfillment, not simply the replacement, of Judaism. On the other hand we must recognize that we have something unique in the Catholic Church which did not exist in ancient Israel. Israel may have been the bride of God in a certain analogical sense, but the Church is the Bride and Body of Christ in a much more real and mystical sense. There’s a real communion and sanctifying grace involved.

Therefore the Church can in a very real sense be said to have been founded by Jesus Christ in the 1st century, not excluding other senses in which there is a degree of continuity with the more distant past.