Giving a Piece of My Mind on Roman Catholicism's Misapplication and Misinterpretation of the Greek in Acts 9:31
Studying the Greek and what it stands for is absolutely important. What I found out is that Roman Catholic apologists may either nicely point out or rudely point out that the word "kath holEs" appears in the Greek text which is translated as "done whole" and the words "eklEsiai" which means "called out". The word eklesia where we get the word "Iglesia" means church or called out assembly. In due fairness, they're right that the word "kath holEs" is found in the Greek but I'd like to point out what's wrong with the argument.
Let's tackle on what the word "Catholic" means. Older versions of the Apostle's Creed (which was named as such to summarize the beliefs of the apostles but not written by the apostles themselves) called the church "Catholic". Catholic is simply a synonym for universal yet the early believers in Jesus Christ were not called Catholics but CHRISTIANS in Antioch (Acts 11:26). The Roman Catholic takes verses out of context and the Greek out of context for its own convenience.
Here's what Bro. Gerry Soliman has to say in a related post:
What was throughout all (kath holEs) Judea, etc. is peace. This peace was being experienced by the church (ecclesia). It does not read as "the Catholic Church had peace throughout all Judea..." because there is only one kath holEs in the verse.
Fr. Abe is misleading his readers here due to what is seemingly convenient positioning of Greek words. Probably he has forgotten about analyzing the words within their context.
Yes, we also believe that the church can be called Catholic Church for it welcomes people from all nations, races, age, gender, and status; therefore, it is a universal church. The title is not its official name but it nevertheless describes the church. However, this is not to mean that the Catholic Church we are speaking of is the Roman Catholic Church as we know it today.
Speaking of the Greek and context, I could quote this from Homilitical and Pastoral Review (a Roman Catholic website) on what it said about expository preaching from the article called "What Evangelicals Can Learn From Catholics" saying:
The ideal Evangelical sermon not only teaches the meaning of the biblical text, it also applies that text to the real-world concerns that the members of the congregation face. Many pastors use expository preaching, which means the pastor will have a series of sermons on a single book of the Bible. Each week, the sermon explains another section of the book, verse by verse, so that by the end of the sermon series, the congregation has a good understanding of the main message of the book. Sadly, expository preaching is probably the biggest reason that Catholics leave the Church in favor of an Evangelical congregation. Ex-Catholics often say that they understood the Bible for the first time after regular attendance at an Evangelical church.
As said, a proper exegesis would help us understand that when Catholic (kath holEs) appears in Acts 9:31, it's obvious as day that it was the whole of Judea is at peace not the Catholic Church had peace throughout all Judea. Although word catholic is acceptable in describing the Church because it's universal (both are just synonyms) but the Roman Catholic is definitely wrong. Many cults can go ahead and call themselves fancy names like "Church of Christ", "Iglesia ni Cristo", "Jehovah's Witness" or whatever names make them sound biblical but their doctrines don't much their labels.
Besides, if the apostles were all Roman Catholic (or Catholic) as Catholic apologists say then a lot of stuff that Roman Catholics believe and practice are not in the Bible. Here are some practices that we don't see in the Bible but are practiced in the Roman Catholic church: (1) praying to Mary only began in 431 A.D. in Ephesus, (2) priestly celibacy was never commanded but 1 Timothy 3:1-7 commands that the church leaders must be a husband of one wife and the Old Testament commanded that the priests are to be married, and (3) the early church didn't pray to saints just to name a few.
Besides, if the apostles were all Roman Catholic (or Catholic) as Catholic apologists say then a lot of stuff that Roman Catholics believe and practice are not in the Bible. Here are some practices that we don't see in the Bible but are practiced in the Roman Catholic church: (1) praying to Mary only began in 431 A.D. in Ephesus, (2) priestly celibacy was never commanded but 1 Timothy 3:1-7 commands that the church leaders must be a husband of one wife and the Old Testament commanded that the priests are to be married, and (3) the early church didn't pray to saints just to name a few.