Did Peter and Paul found the church in Rome?
The claims that the church of Rome was founded by
It is widely held that Saint Peter was the first Pope of Rome. He is believed to have founded the first Church in Rome and laid the foundation for all future Popes to come. All Popes are generally considered as the successors of the Saint.
Consequently, churches composed of both Jews and Gentiles were formed at Rome. According to Irenaeus, a 2nd-century Church Father, the church at Rome was founded directly by the apostles Peter and Paul.
Because Peter was the first to whom Jesus appeared, the leadership of Peter forms the basis of the Apostolic succession and the institutional power of orthodoxy, as the heirs of Peter, and he is described as "the rock" on which the church will be built.
Roman Catholicism also holds that Jesus established his disciple St. Peter as the first pope of the nascent church (Matthew 16:18). Centuries of tradition, theological debates, and the wiles of history have shaped Roman Catholicism into what it is today.
Note that the Christians in Rome were called to faith through the preaching of the gospel but not the personal preaching of Paul himself. Contrary to the claims of many people, especially those seeking to strengthen the papacy, neither Paul nor Peter established the church in Rome.
The Catholic Church teaches that it is the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church founded by Jesus Christ in his Great Commission, that its bishops are the successors of Christ's apostles, and that the pope is the successor to Saint Peter, upon whom primacy was conferred by Jesus Christ.
In his mission to proclaim the Good news of Jesus Christ Paul set up Churches in Galatia, Philippi, Thessalonika, Corinth and Ephesus. Each of these Churches had special challenges for Paul and he used different strategies to preach his mission in each one.
Paul understood the situation and wrote the letter to both the Jewish and the Gentile Christians in Rome in order to persuade them to build up a peaceful and close relationship between their house churches.
Peter's Life after Jesus: What is the Historical Evidence of Peter? In the New Testament we have two sources for the life of Saint Peter after Jesus' death. The first is the Acts of the Apostles, written by the author of Luke, and the second is the undisputed letters of Paul.
When did Peter establish the church in Rome?
The claims that the church of Rome was founded by Peter or that he served as its first bishop are in dispute and rest on evidence that is not earlier than the middle or late 2nd century. Words of John 21:18, 19 clearly refer to the death of Peter and are cast into the literary form of prophecy.
Jesus pronounced a blessing upon Peter and proclaimed Peter's answer as having been derived by divine inspiration. He then stated, “And I say also unto thee, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18).
According to church tradition, Peter and Paul taught together in Rome and founded Christianity in that city. Eusebius cites Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth as saying, "They taught together in like manner in Italy, and suffered martyrdom at the same time." This may indicate their reconciliation.
Jesus' chief disciple, Peter (also called Simon Peter or Cephas), has been associated with Rome for nearly 2,000 years. The earliest testimony to the apostle Peter's presence in Rome is a letter from a Christian deacon named Gaius.
"Roman Catholic" and "Catholic"
According to J.C. Cooper, "In popular usage, 'Catholic' usually means 'Roman Catholic'," a usage opposed by some, including some Protestants. "Catholic" usually refers to members of any of the 24 constituent Churches, the one Western and the 23 Eastern.
Roman Catholicism traces its history to Jesus during the period of Roman occupation in the early 30s of the Common Era. Over a period of years after Jesus' life and death his followers spread out across the world to form a “universal” (Greek, katholikos) church with the bishop of Rome holding primacy.
He probably started close to 20 churches himself, with many more born out of those by his apprentice leaders. In Asia alone, the NT mentions Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea, Colossae, and Hieropolis.
The first Christian church was not Roman Catholic.
After Jesus crucifixion and death, Peter travelled to Rome between 42 and 54 AD, during Claudius and Nero Emperor's reign. In the Eternal City, he managed to spread the faith more and more but this brought him enemies belonging to the wealthy social classes as well. For this reason Peter decided to ran away.
The Oriental Orthodox churches (Coptic, Syriac, Armenian, Ethiopian, Eritrean, Malankaran) also maintain the position that their communion constitutes the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.
What church was founded by Jesus?
The Catholic Church is the only church that can claim to have been founded by Christ personally. Every other church traces its lineage back to a mere human person such as Martin Luther or John Wesley. The Catholic Church can trace its lineage back to Jesus Christ who appointed St. Peter as the first pope.
Jul 16, 1054 CE: Great Schism. On July 16, 1054, Patriarch of Constantinople Michael Cerularius was excommunicated, starting the “Great Schism” that created the two largest denominations in Christianity—the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox faiths.
According to Paul's experience, the devout gentiles were responsive to the gospel. The Bereans were also more responsive than the Thessalonians as they preached the gospel (cf. Ac 17:1-14). Secondly, Paul and his team established churches in strategic cities and towns of the Roman Empire.
The Pastoral Epistles and early church history make it clear that the imprisonment at Rome recorded in Acts 28 was not the one that ended with Paul's beheading under Nero around AD 65. He would be released, possibly minister in Spain, and write to Timothy and Titus before being arrested a final time.
Indeed, Paul had no relationship to the Roman community prior to the drafting of his epistle. He neither established the church at Rome, nor, in fact, had he ever visited the illustrious city. The letter concerns not specific issues within the Roman church per se, but rather Paul's articulation of his own gospel.
