Repeat - It was the Christian Church. Is that not clear enough?

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Repeat - It was the Christian Church. Is that not clear enough?

Forum: Theological Expressions
Re:

"Impartation" theology
Re:

For those interested only - On Cessationism. (Christopher Yip)
Re:

Chris............ (Emmanuel)
Re:

Neither. It was the Christian Church. (eom) (Christopher Yip)
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Pls specify clearly, my dear! (Emmanuel)
Date: 2001, Jun 29
From: Christopher Yip CKHY

Dear Emmanuel,
YOU: The early church that you are specifying is a Catholic church,
ME: You are absolutely right! Catholic as in universal - it included everyone from everywhere. This is different from ROMAN Catholic.
Catholic simply means Сuniversal,Т and it was a term used in the early Church to differentiate true believers from those outside. СRoman CatholicТ carries far more СbaggageТ than the mere term СCatholic.Т It includes, as it is used by modern Roman apologists, the idea of Papal authority, doctrines such as purgatory, indulgences, Marian dogmas, etc. The early church was СcatholicТ but it was surely not СRoman Catholic.ТФ
But let's get even clearer. When was the early church first called "Catholic"? Since you have been to Tung Ling Bible College, could you tell us WHEN and by WHOM?
Now, I'll just take a wild guess in order to continue. Let's say if the early church was indeed first called "Catholic" in either AD 107 or AD116 by Ignatius ["wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church" (Ignatius, VIII Let Nothing Be Done Without the Bishop. The Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans, not even to Rome!)], this Catholic Church would have consisted of the church mainly in Jerusalem but also included those at Antioch, Ephesus, Corinth, Rome, Thessalonica, Colossae, etc. So, rather than referring to one single church - the Church of Rome, the term "Catholic" in fact referred to the ENTIRE collection of believers from everywhere. Together they are the Catholic Church of the early centuries.
But since the term "Catholic" appeared only after AD100, what was the church called between AD30 to AD100? It was called the Apostolic Church or simply the Christian Church.
Therefore, the Catholic Church of the first century, that founded upon Christ and the apostles, consisted of all the churches in Jerusalem, Antioch, Colossae, Thessalonica, Ephesus, Corinth, ROME, etc. Gradually, it came to be represented by the Pentarchy, the five main churches at Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem. If it helps you to see better, you can call them the Roman Catholic Church, the Constantinople (or Byzantine) Catholic Church, the Alexandria Catholic Church, the Antioch Catholic Church and the Jerusalem Catholic Church. The Catholic Church, as a general term, refers to all the congregations represented by all these churches. Among these, the Roman Catholic Church has gone apostate.
What about the term Roman Catholic Church? It seems that the term "Roman" was given by the Church of England to differentiate itself (which is also a CATHOLIC CHURCH) from the church of Rome at the time of its split from Rome around the time of King Henry VIII in AD1534. I could be wrong, perhaps your lecturers from Tung Ling can correct me.
So, the first century Church was the Christian Apostolic Church, the second to fourth century the Catholic Church, and after the fourth, there was no more ONE church. The schism began from AD 431 with the separation of the Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Assyrian Church of the East when they refused to attend the Council of Ephesus in protest of "Nestorian controversy".
YOU: please go and enrol for a biblical study and exam on the book of Acts, about the early churches at Tung Ling Bible College, thks.
ME: Perhaps you can teach me and I can save the expense. :-))
Christopher