# First Use of the Word "Catholic" in Early Church Literature



## DTK (Nov 28, 2009)

The first use of the word 'Catholic' in the extant literature we possess from the Early Church is that which we find in one of the epistles of Ignatius of Antioch...

*Ignatius of Antioch (martyred @ 110 AD):* Wherever the bishop appears, there let the congregation be; just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the catholic church. See J. B. Lightfoot and J. R. Harmer, eds. and trans., _The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations of Their Writings_, 2nd. ed., _The Letters of Ignatius, To the Smyrnaeans_, Chapter 8.2 (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1992), pp. 189 & 191.
*Greek text:* Ὅπου ἂν φανῇ ὁ ἐπίσκοπος, ἐκεῖ τὸ πλῆθος ἔστω, ὥσπερ ὅπου ἂν ᾖ Χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς, ἐκεῖ ἡ *καθολικὴ* ἐκκλησία. See J. B. Lightfoot and J. R. Harmer, eds. and trans., _The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations of Their Writings_, 2nd. ed., _The Letters of Ignatius, To the Smyrnaeans_, Chapter 8.2 (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1992), p. 190. 

*Fn #109 from the above work by Lightfoot and Harmer: *The term catholic here occurs in Christian literature for the first time. In later use (by ca. A.D. 200) the word catholic became a technical term designating “the Catholic Church” as opposed to the heretical sects, but here the expression is used in the sense of “universal” or “general” (thus the adjective could be attached to words like “resurrection” or “salvation” as well as to “church”), or possibly “whole” (conveying the idea of organic unity or completeness); cf. Lightfoot, AF 2.2.310-12; Schoedel, Ignatius, 243-44. See J. B. Lightfoot and J. R. Harmer, eds. and trans., _The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations of Their Writings_, 2nd. ed., _The Letters of Ignatius, To the Smyrnaeans_, Chapter 8.2 (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1992), p. 191.

*J. N. D. Kelly:* As regards ‘Catholic’, its original meaning was ‘universal’ or ‘general’, and in this sense Justin can speak of ‘the catholic resurrection’. As applied to the Church, its primary significance was to underline its universality as opposed to the local character of the individual congregations. J. N. D. Kelly, _Early Christian Doctrines_ (San Francisco: Harper, 1960), p. 190.

DTK


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## Andres (Nov 28, 2009)

in the last part of the apostles creed it states:
I believe in the Holy Ghost;
the holy *catholic *church;
the communion of saints;
the forgiveness of sins;
the resurrection of the body;
and the life everlasting.

When my now wife first started attending our OPC church, she refused to say that one line because she didn't understand why we would pledge our allegiance to the Roman Catholic church. It wasn't until we learned it mean "universal" that she was able to repeat the creed in it's entirety.


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## johnbugay (Nov 29, 2009)

*A.A. Hodge: "There is but one church"*

AA Hodge on “What is the Church?”
From "Evangelical Theology" pgs 174-177



> What is the Church? There is one thing certain about it: the Church has a great many attributes, but that which is absolutely essential is its absolute unity. There is no doubt if there be but one God, there is but one Church; if there be but one Christ, there is but one Church; if there be but one Holy Ghost, there is but one Church. This is absolutely settled—there is but one Church. We have heard about the visible and invisible Church, as if there were two churches. There cannot be two churches, one that is visible and another that is invisible. There is but one Church, and that Church is visible or invisible just according to the eye that is looking, just according to the point of view taken….
> 
> There have been two distinct conceptions of the Church: one is the theory that the Church consists of an organized society which God has constituted, that identity consists in its external form as well as in its spirit, and that its life depends upon the continuity of officers from generation to generation. This is held by a great many able men, men of intellect, and by many respectable, level-headed Christians as well.
> 
> ...


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