True Church?

If you believe in the truth of the Resurrection and teachings of Christ, you have to ask the question: how do you follow Christ? Indeed, today there are many options available. Did Christ give His followers a Church? If He did, which Christian denomination is the one that Christ founded, or does it even matter? How do you determine which denomination Christ founded? In this paper, we will confront these questions and attempt to find the answer.

To begin, however, one must confront the first question: did Christ give His followers a Church? Three proofs exist to support a positive answer: a Scriptural proof, a historical proof, and a logical proof.

It is logical that Christ would found a Church. He taught His followers doctrinal(1) and moral(2) truths and instituted a form of liturgy(3). If these teachings and institutions were to remain unchanged, an organized institution was needed. After Christ left this world, He could not be there to constantly remind His followers of His doctrines; even with salvation, man’s nature is fallen and cannot retain the perfection of Christ.

Not only is it logical that Christ would make provisions for the humanity of His followers, but Scriptural proof can be found. A strong passage that proves this point is Matthew 16:18(4); “‘And so I tell you, Peter: you are a rock, and on this rock I will build my church.’” In the teaching of the Good Shepherd, in John 10, Christ told them that there would be one flock, one shepherd(5). He gave the Apostles, His head followers, the authority they needed(6) to shepherd and govern His followers throughout the ages.

His Apostles used this authority, and the proof to the affirmative is shown in the historical proof that Christ founded a Church. Immediately after Christ’s Ascension, the Apostles arranged the Church and began to follow His words to them(3). If Christ had not told them to begin this organization, they would not have gone against His direct wishes. Not only this, but Acts of the Apostles describes an orderly church. Leaders were chosen(7) to go to the faithful in far away places, and the Apostles themselves traveled to distant countries and cities to preach the Word of God and to found Christian societies there.

Once one has established that Christ did mean to found a Church, it is time to face the second question: does it matter which Christian church one belongs to? A lack of options is not the problem; more than thirty thousand Christian denominations exist. Although they each claim to have the same fundamental truths, no two denominations believe exactly the same thing. Anne Carroll sums this up well when she says(8), “A statement cannot be both true and false at the same time. Yet different denominations have contradictory beliefs. One will say that Christ is really present on the altar under the appearances of bread and wine; another will say that Christ and the bread and wine are both present.” Only one Church will be entirely true in all the truths that it teaches its faithful, and it is to this Church that one should belong.

Since it is now known that only one Church will have the full truths taught by Christ, it must be asked: how does one know which church is the Church founded by Christ? Given that Christ wished that all humanity to believe in Him and belong to His Church, it should be easy to find. Using a reasonable approach, the True Church should teach all the things that Christ taught, and teach the same things, regardless of in which building the parish is housed; be holy itself and strive to make its members holier; evangelize to all people without taking into account their race, culture, or financial situation; and have a direct historical link and lineage to Christ Himself. These are often called the four marks of the True Church: one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.

Of the thirty thousand plus denominations of Christians in the world today, only the Roman Catholic Church can claim all four marks. The Catholic Church is one; she also has the only claim for this mark. Protestant churches claim to represent Christ but allow for private interpretation of the Scriptures, thus disrupting the unity of all its members. In the Catholic Church, the Pope has the final authority on the interpretation of Scripture. None of the other denominations has one supreme head. The Catholic Church is also holy. She honors those of her members who were exemplary in their holiness and names them saints, and sets them before her followers to encourage them in their personal journeys toward holiness. Each saint is an individual with a different vocation, and so can be applied to each life differently. She is also universal, or catholic. Since her founding in approximately 30 A.D., her missionaries could be found in every corner of the world. Even today does she continue her missionary efforts. She is in every country. No other Protestant church can even come close to matching her missionary activities. And, finally, she is apostolic; she can trace an unbroken line of Popes from St. Peter, appointed before Christ left this world and by Christ Himself. Most other Christian churches had their founding later, with most Protestant denominations starting one thousand five hundred years later. Nor can any of the other Christian churches claim to be founded by someone directly appointed by Christ.

Thus, the Catholic Church is the True Church. Christ did found a Church; it was logical for Him to do so, and both Scriptural and historical evidence exist to confirm His founding. He would not have founded multiple churches; it would not make sense for Him to do so. His one True Church has four easily recognizable marks; she will be one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. The Catholic Church is the only one that has all four of these marks, and so is the True Church established by Christ.

Footnotes

(1) “Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ ‘Good for you, Simon son of John!’ answered Jesus. ‘For this truth did not come to you from any human being, but it was given to you directly by my Father in heaven.’” Matthew 16:16-17 (GNT)
(2) “‘And God said, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and unite with his wife, and the two will become one.’ So they are no longer two, but one. No human being must separate, then, what God has joined together.’” Matthew 19:5-6 (GNT)
(3) “‘Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.’” Matthew 28:19 (GNT)
(4) GNT
(5) “‘I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd.’” John 10:16 (NAB)
(6) “‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.’” Matthew 18:18 (NAB)
(7) “They appointed presbyters for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, commended them to the Lord in whom they had put their faith.” Acts 14:23 (NAB)
(8) Following Christ in the World, pgs. 16-17

Bibliography
—, Good News New Testament, American Bible Society, 1992
—, New American Bible, American Bible Society, 1970, 1986, 1991
Carroll, Following Christ in the World, Seton Press, 2000