Why does the creed include the “catholic church” when many Christians repeat it every Sunday in Protestant churches everywhere?

To start with, let’s notice that the word “catholic” is spelled with a lower case “c.”

Next, let’s check a dictionary to see what the word catholic means. The Miriam Webster online dictionary gives us these definitions:

• a often capitalized :  of, relating to, or forming the church universal
• b often capitalized :  of, relating to, or forming the ancient undivided Christian church or a church claiming historical continuity from it
• c capitalized :  Roman Catholic

So what are we actually saying when we repeat this line of the Creed? We are affirming the body of true believers in all Christian denominations who have put their faith in Jesus Christ. The holy catholic (lower case “c”) church exists as a circle that is much larger than all of our church buildings and denominational walls.

Matthew is the only one of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) that mentions the church, and each time it quotes Jesus. The first instance is in Matthew 16:13-20. When Peter acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, Jesus responded by saying, “…you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.” (from verse 18 NIV)

This is a verse that Protestants interpret differently from Roman Catholics, who believe that Peter was the rock the church was founded upon, and that Peter became the first Pope of the Catholic Church. Protestants, however, believe that it was the belief in Jesus as the Messiah that was the rock on which Christ founded the church.

The other place where Jesus referred to the church was in Matthew 18:15-17 where he teaches Christians (believers) the proper channel for addressing sin in fellow believers.

The word church does not appear in the Old Testament. In the New Testament the word church generally refers to the body of Christ, or the believers. Sometimes it refers to the church at large and sometimes the Scriptures refer to the church at Antioch (or some other city), and occasionally the church that met in someone’s house.

Ephesians 1:22-23 tells us, “And God placed all things under [Jesus’] feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. (NIV)

Listen to this beautiful rendition of “We Are the Body of Christ.”