Are You a Protestant or a Christian?
At face value, I am aware that the title of this article will offend some people. However, I ask you to stick with me so you can understand the reason I intentionally titled it the way I did.
Catholics are often asked by Protestants and Non Denominationalists, “Are you a Catholic or a Christian?” Or perhaps you know someone who left the Catholic Church to go to Pastor Bob’s Shepherd of the Truth down the street, and they say, “I left the Catholic Church, but now I go to a Christian church.” We have all heard phrases similar to these at some point or another.
Even Catholics have bought into this. I heard Catholics frequently make statements just like this all the time. “Well, I am a Catholic, but my coworker is a Christian.” It is such a strange paradox of the modern Western culture, and one that really did not exist prior to the 20th century. It is a recent phenomenon of history for people to divide these terms in this manner.
Throughout the entire history of Christianity, literally from its very beginning, the terms “Christian” and “Catholic” were synonymous words. In fact, a popular mantra of the early Church was found in this quote from St. Pacian of Barcelona in the late 4th century: “Christian is my name, and Catholic my surname. The one designates me, while the other makes me specific.”
If somebody asked me, “Joe, are you a man or a human being?” I would say, “I am both.” This is the irony when people ask if I am Catholic or Christian. Neither can be separated, for they are one and the same. Or it is like asking, “Do you drive a Chevy or an automobile?” Or here is another absurd rendering. “Are you drinking a Pepsi, or a soda beverage?” You get the picture.
So where did this divide originate? From my own observations, it seems to me to be uniquely cultural, meaning it is a product of modern Western culture. Even when my wife and I made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 2019, we learned that one is normally either labeled a Christian, an Orthodox, a Muslim, or a Jew. Protestantism is practically non existent as a term. The term “Christian” is seen as identical to the term “Catholic” in Israel. When one person from our group asked if there was a term for a Protestant, our tour guide politely told us that it is practically a foreign concept in that area, but they would most probably be considered believers of Jesus who do not follow the Christian Religion. Very interesting. This is because the term “Christian” in the Holy Land assumes that one is a Trinitarian, a disciple of Jesus Christ, sacramentally united to His Body, and under submission to His Vicar on Earth who is the Roman Pontiff.
After the Protestant Revolution of the 16th century, there were Lutherans, Calvinists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, Anglicans, Episcopalians, and more. The Catholic Church gave them all an equal label: they were heretics, belonging to the Protestant Religion and a member of one its sects. Well into the 20th century, Saints and Popes regularly referred to the Catholic Church simply as the Christian Religion, and when referring to Protestants, they were termed either as the Protestant Religion or as the Protestant sects. Of course, a shift happened in the middle of the 20th century, due to the conspiring of Freemasons and Modernists, where a new pastoral approach was adopted known as ecumenism, and suddenly now the Protestants became known as “separated brethren” and co-shared the term “Christian.”
As well, towards the end of the 19th century and the dawn of the 20th century, we had a new movement spring up within the Protestant ranks that called itself Fundamentalism. This then gave rise to the novel advent of Non Denominationalism, wherein literally anyone could be self-designated as a pastor and teach their own understanding of the Bible.
As this began growing, many of these groups preferred to not be recognized as “Protestant” denominations, since they saw themselves as protesting against nothing nor having any direct attachment to Martin Luther or John Calvin (even though they all began with the same heretical foundation as Luther and Calvin, namely Private Interpretation and Sola Scriptura). Instead, they wanted to be referred to simply as “Christian churches.” As a result, many people began growing up with the idea that the Catholic Church was a separate entity from these “Christian churches,” and thus Protestantism as a whole began to be seen as simply “Christianity” verses Roman Catholicism. This is an error of gigantic proportions.
If we grant that Christianity is separate from Catholicism, then what we are affirming is that Christianity was not founded until the 16th century, since that is when all these competing denominations, each interpreting Scripture differently and thinking they have the unique true gospel of Christ, first took their root. Or we are saying that Christ founded a church of believers, but then somewhere early in its history, His Church was perverted with false doctrines, causing true Christianity to disappear from the earth until Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli came onto the scene over sixteen centuries later. To even begin to contemplate such an idea is scandalous, because it effectively turns Christ into a liar, since He is the one who promised that the gates of hell would never prevail against His Church and that He would be with His Church all days, even until the end of the world. Where was He, then, when Catholicism allegedly corrupted true Christianity? If our theories turn Christ into a liar, then obviously it is not Christ who is wrong, but rather our theory is faulty.
And this is beside the simple fact that the writings of early Christian authors are available for all to read. The Church does not keep them hidden; anybody can ready through them to see what early Christians did in fact believe, from the late 1st century and on. And as Protestants find out time and time again, the early Church was solidly Catholic in its worship and beliefs. In fact, it was St. Ignatius of Antioch in 107 AD who first called the Church “Catholic,” and it was also in Antioch where the term “Christian” originated as well (Acts 11:26). The difference between the Catholic Church and Protestantism is simply one is Christ-founded, and the other is man-founded. That is the core difference. One traces back historically in an unbroken line of apostolic succession directly back to Jesus, St. Peter, St. Paul, and the Apostles. The other traces back, at the earliest and most conservative estimate, no earlier than the 16th century, since that is historically when Protestantism first began. You won’t find the novel ideas of “Sola Scriptura” or Private Interpretation as the final arbiter of truth prior to the 16th century. You will not find the concept that the “Holy Spirit leads all of us into truth equally, even though we all disagree with each other on doctrines of faith and morals” prior to the 16th century. This is because such concepts are not Christian teachings, nor do they have any place in the Christian Religion established by Our Lord.
I originally posted this rhetorical challenge on a previous article I wrote regarding the dogma of Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus. I am posting it here as well to drive the point home. Gather a handful of Protestants from different denominations, and “non-denominations,” together. Put them in a room. They all claim that Jesus is their Lord, and they all believe the Holy Spirit leads them into truth. They all believe the Bible alone suffices to equip them in doctrine. Ask them their thoughts on:
The Augsburg Confession, the Formula of Concord, the Westminster Confession, the Thirty Nine Articles, the Reformed Helvetic Confessions, the Heidelberg Catechism, the role of Baptism, sprinkling or immersion, infant baptism, the Eucharist as sacrament or memorial, predestination and free will, eternal security, total depravity, can grace be resisted, the purpose and effect of the Atonement, worship on Saturday or Sunday, the structure of church leadership, speaking in tongues as a manifestation of receiving the Spirit, Original Sin, the Virgin Birth, the inerrancy of Scripture, young earth vs old earth creationism, eschatology, pre-trib or mid-trib or post-trib Rapture, Jesus has two Natures or one, Jesus has two Wills or one, the use of statues and art inside churches, whether Hell is eternal, universal salvation, inner religious prayer services, ordination of women, homosexual marriage, test tube fertilization, artificial contraception, artificial insemination, divorce and remarriage, abortion, cloning, surrogate motherhood, masturbation, the use of mind altering drugs, cremation, Just War doctrine, Church and State relations, Capitalism and Communism.
See how much agreement you find amongst them. Which one is accepting Jesus as Lord? Which one is led by the Holy Spirit? Which one is the heretic? Which one is the man of God who is equipped by the sufficiency of Scripture alone? After all, saying Jesus is Lord is saying as well that He is our Teacher and has the freedom to teach and guide us as He deems best for our eternal salvation and ongoing sanctification. So is Jesus a clear teacher or unclear? If He is clear, why so much disagreement? One may answer that some of these topics are not pertinent to salvation, but again, another might disagree with them. Do the sheep know the voice of the Good Shepherd, or is it perhaps our own inner voices we are following?
Jesus taught one body of doctrine. He charged His Apostles with teaching one body of doctrine. His Apostles charged their successors with propagating this one body of doctrine. That is His Church. When the Apostles met at the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15, St. Peter didn’t say, “Well, personally, this is my best guess on what to do with these Gentile converts.” St. Paul didn’t then say, “That’s fine for you, but personally, I think you are misinterpreting things.” St. James didn’t chime in, “You both have valid points, but personally, I think you are both wrong, and I have the truth.”
When St. Paul wrote the Corinthians regarding his apostolic authority, and the divisions among their local church, he didn’t say, “Well, how do you interpret Jesus’ words?” No. He wrote them as an authoritative leader. And he reminded them that they weren’t Apostles. When he wrote to the Ephesians, he didn’t say, “Well, here are my opinions and best guesses on how the local church should be run. What do you think?” There is one Lord, one faith, and one Baptism. There are not as many “faiths” as there are people who profess to follow the one Lord. Our Lord had twelve Apostles; He did not start twelve denominations. Our Lord has one Body, not tens of thousands. He has one Bride, and He is fiercely monogamist. He is not a spiritual polygamist. He did not leave His Church to the whims of relativism in determining doctrine, disciple, and worship.
In his book “What is a Catholic?,” written in 1913, Fr. Xavier Sutton defines a Christian as, “One who belongs to that Church which is know as the Catholic Church… all bound together under their one head, the Pope of Rome, who is the successor of St. Peter.” We could add to this as well that a notable mark of a Christian is one who is sacramentally united to Christ, meaning they have been baptized, receive Holy Communion, and have their sins absolved in the Sacrament of Confession. This is most appropriately how one ought to define a Christian. One who follows everything that was revealed and taught by Our Lord Jesus Christ, and who is taught by God Himself in the Holy Spirit as He continues to protect and guide the Church. Thus, if one person claims to believe something that he learned from Pastor Bob, but it disagrees with another person who was taught by Pastor Jim, we know that this is not the mark of a Christian, properly speaking.
Fr. Sutton goes on to write regarding Christians that they are “spread over the world,” and yet, they “agree in one faith and worship, receive the same sacraments, hold the same principles of religion; all acknowledge the Bishop of Rome, as successor of St. Peter, to be the Head of the Church; all obey one ecclesiastical authority; and thus all are perfectly one fold and one body as the Church of Christ must be. On the other hand, those who have fallen from this Catholic Church are divided among themselves, having many different confessions of faith. The private spirit and private judgments which they and their leaders follow in expounding Scripture constitute the very principle of division.”
Late 19th century Methodist, J.B. Hemmeon, wrote, “It is a strange and lamentable fact that not one Protestant in ten thousand knows the truth about the teaching and practice of the Catholic Church. Many do not know that there was any Christian church from the first or second century until the Reformation.
The Encyclopedia Britannica notes, “The Roman Catholic Church traces its history to Jesus Christ and the Apostles.” The Handbook of Christian Denominations, put out by a notable Protestant publisher, says, “For the first 1,500 years if Christendom until the time of the Protestant Reformation, the Western world was almost solidly Roman Catholic… The Roman Catholic Church dates its beginning from the moment of Christ’s selection of the apostle Peter as guardian of the keys of heaven and earth and as chief of the apostles, and it claims the Fisherman as its first pope.”
Since we know the proper definition of a Christian, and the history of the Christian Faith, we ought to counter such silly questions asking if one is “Catholic or Christian” with a question of our own: Are you a Protestant or a Christian? Are you a Non Denominationalist or a Christian? If someone says they are a Christian, then ask them if that means they recognize the authority of the Roman Pontiff, they are sacramentally united to the universal Church, they accept everything Jesus and the Apostles taught as contained in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, they accept everything the Holy Spirit has instructed as upheld and enforced by the teaching authority of the Catholic Church. If these boxes check off, then they are a Christian. If they do not check off, then their religion started somewhere most likely after the 16th century. If someone believes novel heresies that no one had ever dreamed of prior to the 16th century, then how can one honestly consider themselves to be a Christian?
People may be offended because we live in an overly sentimental, sensitive, and relativistic culture. All thanks to the onslaught of Modernism. People today think that as long as one claims Jesus is their Savior then they are entitled to the name of Christian. The real challenge is whether they also accept Jesus as their Lord and King, and also whether they recognize Mary as their Queen as well. As King, Jesus has clear commands and teachings for His Kingdom. If a system is set up where “believers” can disagree with one another on His commands and teachings, chances are it is not Christian as the term has always been traditionally and ecclesiastically understood. I am not proposing to offend anyone, but rather I am seeking to state an objective fact. The term “Christian” actually means something and has a tangible definition. It is not merely claiming to have Jesus as a Savior. It means you humbly submit to His rule in every possible way. And we know His rule through His Church.
My sincere prayer to everyone reading this is that you will come to know Christ also as Lord and King, that will you come to trust the Holy Spirit as our true teacher and guide, that you will belong to the One Body of Faith, also known as the Christian Religion, also known as the Catholic Church. Are you a Protestant or a Christian? We encourage you, in all charity, to leave behind the religions and traditions of mere men, and come to the Christian Religion founded by Our Lord for our sanctification and salvation.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. We love you. Save souls. Amen.
