Around the second century the popular heretical religion at the time was Christian Gnosticism. Among other things the Gnostics believed that Jesus secretly had a favorite apostle with whom he shared a secret message. This message was the key to true salvation. The apostle passed it down to his favorite disciple and so forth. To combat this false idea that the authority of Jesus rested with a certain apostolic successor, the church started calling themselves Catholic. Catholic means “universal”, or “according to the whole.” The idea behind it is the authority of Christ was given to any and every Bible believing church. The whole of Christian believers is to carry on the gospel of salvation. The church being the main instrument through which God operates.
The irony comes in through an evolution that took centuries, debates regarding the true meaning of “catholic” came to be centered on the person and authority of a single apostle—Peter. The Catholic Church believes that Jesus gave the authority of the church singularly to Peter.
If you are interested in knowing more look up Matthew 16:15-18. Here Catholics claim that Jesus is giving the authority of the church to Peter. The Bible says:
"But what about you?" [Jesus] asked. "Who do you say I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
It is almost understandable that they would claim that from this verse, however, it is a classic mistake of reading a passage out of context. The word Peter means rock and the apostles and Jesus are having this conversation in front of a massive wall of rock in Caesarea Philippi (see picture). The rock being refered to is clearly seen in verse 16, “You are the Christ the Son of the living God.” Christ is the rock the church is to be built on, Jesus, not Peter. Jesus was simply using a play on words which was quite common in the Gospels. The disciples, including Peter, have the responsibility to build the church, hence all the binding and loosing talk. The disciples do not have the authority of the church within themselves. Something the second century “catholic” church knew very well.
