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Jesus Founded the [Catholic] Church. If Not Him, Who?

Jesus Founded the [Catholic] Church. If Not Him, Who?

Last updated on: August 28, 2026 at 2:33 pm by Dave Armstrong

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Jesus Founded the [Catholic] Church. If Not Him, Who? 2026-08-28T14:33:28-04:00 Dave Armstrong

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This is my initial transcript for the video, Jesus Founded the Catholic Church. If Not Him… WHO? [Matt 16:18] [8-28-26 on Catholic Bible Highlights, with Kenny Burchard].

Rev. Dr. Jordan B. Cooper is a Lutheran pastor, professor of theology, and host of the popular Just & Sinner YouTube channel. We’re replying to his video, “Did Jesus Found the Roman Catholic Church?” – from May 3rd, 2019.

To talk about the beginning of Catholicism is like talking about a person tracing himself back to his conception in his mother’s womb. There is no logical or plausible starting-point except for Jesus’ commission to St. Peter:

Matthew 16:16-19 (RSV) Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” [17] And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. [18] And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. [19] I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Peter is presented as the leader of the disciples and of the early Church in the Bible. There are scores of reasons why we think this, based on the same Bible. We can’t get into all those now, but we’ll link to an article of mine where I present an in-depth analysis of 120 of those biblical reasons. After Peter, we know of a succession of the bishops of Rome, which is well-attested in early Church fathers. Thus, if Jesus began His Church with Peter as leader, then it follows straightforwardly that if there is an unbroken succession of popes from Peter till now, the Catholic Church was indeed founded by Jesus.

We’ll be playing several video clips from Rev. Cooper. Here’s the first one:

0:40 you’re presuming that Jesus created the Catholic Church not just the Catholic Church, but the Roman Catholic Church.

Yes we are, for the biblical and historical reasons summarized above. There is an entity that our Lord Jesus called “My Church”. It means something. It’s not merely some dreamy, ethereal, invisible, abstract thing, but institutional and historical and geographical: in space and time. Peter was the first leader. He went to Rome and became the bishop there, and Paul went to Rome, too. Both were martyred there. Rome became the center of the Church — starting with those events — by God’s design, since it was the center of the political and cultural world at that time. The leader had to be somewhere, and in God’s providence that place was Rome.

0:46 obviously if I accepted that Jesus Christ founded the Roman Catholic Church specifically, then I would be a Roman Catholic.

Yes, that’s the point. So since Rev. Cooper doesn’t want to become a Catholic, he has to come up with a way to contend that Jesus didn’t found the Catholic Church, and argue that someone else did. There are many tired, failed theories about that; the main candidates being the emperor Constantine (4th century), or Pope St. Leo the Great (5th century) or Pope St. Gregory the Great (6th century). None of them hold any water, when scrutinized for more than ten minutes.

1:02 to argue that Jesus is the founder of the Roman Catholic Church is to argue that Jesus appointed Peter as the first pope . . .

At the very least he was clearly intended to be the leader of the new Church, since Jesus appointed him as its foundation (“Rock”), that the Church was built upon. Whether one wants to call that a pope or not is up to them. But as the saying goes, “if it walks like a duck, smells like a duck . . .” Protestant T. W. Manson, in his book, The Sayings of Jesus: as Recorded in the Gospels According to St. Matthew and St. Luke (London: SCM Press, 1949) stated that Peter was by Jesus’ words intended to be “God’s vicegerent . . . The authority of Peter is an authority to declare what is right and wrong for the Christian community. His decisions will be confirmed by God” (1954 ed., p. 205). That sounds pretty “papal,” doesn’t it? Yet it’s a commentary from a Protestant on the words of Jesus. Other Protestant scholars say similar things:

The great scholar F. F. Bruce stated that

in the new community which Jesus was about to build, Peter would be, so to speak, chief steward. (The Hard Sayings of Jesus [Downers Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity, 1983], 143-144)

Craig S. Keener wrote:

The image of keys (plural) perhaps suggests not so much the porter, who controls admission to the house, as the steward, who regulates its administration / probably refers primarily to a legislative authority in the church. (The IVP Bible Background Commentary New Testament [Downer’s Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 1993], 256, 90)

R. T. France, widely considered to be one of the best biblical exegetes, stated:

Not only is Peter to have a leading role, but this role involves a daunting degree of authority . . . The image of ‘keys’ (plural) perhaps suggests . . . the steward, who regulates its [the house’s] administration . . . an authority derived from a ‘delegation’ of God’s sovereignty. (Vol. 1: Matthew, in Leon Morris, General Editor, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press/Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1985, 256)

Lutheran Oscar Cullman described Peter as the “administrator of the house” (Peter: Disciple, Apostle, Martyr, translated by Floyd V. Filson, [Philadelphia: Westminster, 1953], 203).

Rev. Cooper continues in his video:

1:09 . . . and that Peter was given instructions to then lay hands on another individual after him who would also be the next pope and Vicar of Christ

That would follow, seeing that we have the model of Judas being formally replaced by Matthias (Acts 1:20-26). St. Paul also seems to regard Timothy as his successor:

2 Timothy 2:1-2 You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, [2] and what you have heard from me before many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

If one of the disciples who wasn’t the leader, was replaced in such a way (highly suggesting apostolic succession), then it stands to reason that the leader of the disciples and the early Church (appointed by Jesus Himself as such) would have a successor as well. Why, after all, would there be a leader of the Church only for the lifetime of Peter? No one ever thinks like that about other leaders.

If a country is a monarchy, it has a succession of kings. We have a succession of Presidents in America. No one thought in 1789 that George Washington was our one and only President, and then we would no longer need one at all. Sports teams have successions of coaches. Corporations have a succession of CEOs, cities have mayors, schools have principals, etc. The offices or positions don’t simply end.

Yet when it comes to the papacy, people think like that. It’s absurd from common sense and these comparisons, but we also have biblical data that expressly contradicts it. Protestants even acknowledge other biblical Church offices of leadership that continue (pastors and deacons, and in some cases, bishops), yet they hesitate to accept papal succession.

Moreover, we have strong early testimony as to the Roman succession of popes, from St. Irenaeus (130-202), The Muratorian Canon [c. 180-200], the oldest list of New Testament writings, and Tertullian, writing around 200 AD. That’s all documented on my blog.

1:35 that’s the question: did Jesus found the Roman Catholic Church? . . . that’s the whole point of why we’re not Roman Catholic, because we don’t think he did.

On what basis? If He didn’t, who did, and why is that believed? When did the so-called “Roman Catholic Church” begin? It’s here now; it obviously had to have an origin at some point of time. If Lutheranism merely reformed the one true Church during its time – and that’s the claim they make (and many Catholics don’t understand this) –, then obviously that Church had to have a history and an origin; and Lutherans claim they are following the Church fathers, so that takes it back to the first five centuries or so. There had to have been some “Church” in existence. What was it, and when did it begin? It’s easy to make these sweeping claims, but they have to be backed up with something solid and sensible. One has to come up with a credible, plausible alternative. I have provided the Catholic arguments in brief.

2:13 I think that as Christians we all can look at the early church and say this is our heritage, which is why we can have a kind of unity over certain things like confessing the early Creeds of the church, and we can find common ground in the early church fathers that we all claim . . . and we do all branch out of that church, which was the early church, so all of us have our roots there.

Exactly! So Rev. Cooper now needs to tell us what this early Church is, how and where it began. He refers to this thing called “the early Church”, so I assume he must have some conception in his mind of its beginning. The Church fathers were real people; likewise, the Church that they constantly referred to was a real thing that began somehow and somewhere in history.

It began at some point and it had to continue on through history, since according to the Bible it can’t die (being guarded by the Holy Spirit; what is called indefectibility). It seems utterly clear that it began with Jesus’ commission of Peter. The key question is: what Church today has the most plausible claim to be identified in the fullest way with this “early Church” that goes all the way back to Christ? Which one continues the beliefs that were held in those early days? Only one Church fills those requirements – for many many solid reasons that can be and have been given — , and we are defending it.

SOURCES

BOOK

Biblical Proofs for an Infallible Church and Papacy (March 2012, 150 pages)

ARTICLES

St. Peter the First Pope: 120 Bible Proofs [10-22-25]

Article this video was drawn from: “Yes, Jesus Founded the Catholic Church (vs. Jordan Cooper)” (3-6-24)

WEB PAGES

The Papacy and Infallibility

The [Catholic] Church and Ecclesiology

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Summary: Who founded the [Catholic] Church? Was it Jesus in Matthew 16, or someone else centuries later? Somebody founded it. If it wasn’t Jesus, who was it, and when was it?

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Practical Matters: This is the most comprehensive and multi-faceted Catholic apologetics blog: rated #1 for Christian sites by leading AI tool, ChatGPT. I offer more than 5,000 free online articles, fifty-nine books, and many scores of videos at the Catholic Bible Highlights YouTube channel (please subscribe!). If you believe my full-time apostolate is worth supporting, please seriously consider financially supporting it. PayPal donations are the easiest: just send to my email address: [email protected]. You’ll see the term “Dave Armstrong Bookstore”. To learn about the different methods of contributing (including Zelle and 100% tax-deductible donations if desired), see my page: About Catholic Apologist Dave Armstrong / Donation Information. Thanks a million!

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