Apologetics : Where is the Catholic Chuch refereced in the Bible?

Technical terms were still being developed when the New Testament was being written, and defined  later for precision. For example The word for priest derives from the Greek presbyteros, which means elder or senior, although in the early Christian presbyteros could refer to a bishop or a priest. The English word  "priest" is a derivative of the word presbyter.

The word ‘catholic’ itself is not found in the Bible. However “KAΘ OΛHC” (pronounced as ‘kath oles’) is found in the  of Acts 9:31.

A three word phrase from Acts 9:31 is “EKKΛHCIAI KAΘ OΛHC” (pronounced as “ekklesiai kath oles”) which is Koine Greek for “church all over” or “church universal.” Swap those words around and you get “universal church.” This is exactly what the word  Catholic means, the Universal Church, i.e The Catholic Church. We will cover this more below.

While of course this reference isn't definitive but is does circumstantially point to the origins of the term "Catholic" for the true Church.

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 The word Catholic [derived from the Late Latin Catholicus and from the Greek adjective καθολικός (katholikos) meaning “universal”] comes from the Greek phrase καθόλου (katholou), meaning “on the whole”, “according to the whole”, “throughout all” or “in general”, "universal" and is a combination of the Greek words κατά meaning “about” and ὅλος meaning “whole”. In Latin, the word Catholic is also translated as “Universa”, which can be read in the Holy Bible:

“Et factus est timor magnus in UNIVERSA ECCLESIA et in omnes qui audierpunt haec” (Acts 5:11 Latin Translation)
"And there came great fear upon the whole church, and upon all that heard these things."(Acts 5:11)

Note that in the given verse, the word Universa literally means “for/of all nations”. But why is the church described and named as Universal? It is simply because our Lord Jesus Christ Himself wanted the Church to be for all peoples, as He said:

“And he taught, saying to them: Is it not written, My house shall be called the house of prayer to ALL NATIONS? But you have made it a den of thieves.
” (Mark 11:17)

What does the "House of God" mean in the New Testament?  It also mean the Church.This is what St. Paul the Apostle said:

“in case I am delayed, so that you may know how to behave in HOUSE OF GOD, which is the CHURCH OF THE LIVING GOD, the pillar and foundation of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15)

Therefore, the House of God is the indeed the Church of the living God, and yet our Lord Jesus Christ wanted it to be called OF ALL NATIONS. The Church is the  Universal Church of all nations, aka the Catholic Church.

Furthermore, the Church, being Universal, can be found not just in Jerusalem but also in different localities. However, the Church’s universality does not mean plurality of doctrine. The Church remains ONE and unified in doctrine wherever she may be. That is why the Church is  called "Throughout All" :

“So the CHURCH THROUGHOUT ALL Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.” (Acts 9:31 ESV)

 I know it is a stretch, as we said above, but it is strong circumstantial evidence.

In the original Greek Bible, this is what it said:

Acts 9:31 (Greek Bible), “ai men oun EKKLESIA KATH OLES tēs ioudaias kai galilaias kai samareias eichon eirēnēn oikodomoumenai kai poreuomenai tō phobō tou kuriou kai tē paraklēsei tou agiou pneumatos eplēthunonto.”

Notice that the verse in the original Biblical language used the term EKKLESIA KATH OLES (Church Throughout all), a Church present not just in Judea but also in Galilee and Samaria. It is the same term where the word Catholic was derived from. The Church, founded by our Lord, was indeed described and called KATH OLES (Catholic).

The Prophet Isaiah prophesied:

“Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an HOUSE of prayer FOR ALL PEOPLE.” (Isaiah 56:7)

The Saints early use of the word “Catholic” Church

Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Disciple of Saint John the Apostle- “Wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.” (Letter to Smyrna [69 AD])

Martydom of Saint Polycarp- “And of the elect, he was one indeed, the wonderful martyr Polycarp, who in our days was an apostolic and prophetic teacher, bishop of the Catholic Church in Smyrna. For every word which came forth from his mouth was fulfilled and will be fulfilled” (Martyrdom of Polycarp 16:2 [A.D. 155]).

The Muratorian Canon- “Besides these [letters of Paul] there is one to Philemon, and one to Titus, and two to Timothy, in affection and love, but nevertheless regarded as holy in the Catholic Church, in the ordering of churchly discipline. There is also one [letter] to the Laodiceans and another to the Alexandrians, forged under the name of Paul, in regard to the heresy of Marcion, and there are several others which cannot be received by the Church, for it is not suitable that gall be mixed with honey. The epistle of Jude, indeed, and the two ascribed to John are received by the Catholic Church (Muratorian fragment [A.D. 177]).

Tertullian-“Where was [the heretic] Marcion, that shipmaster of Pontus, the zealous student of Stoicism? Where was Valentinus, the disciple of Platonism? For it is evident that those men lived not so long ago—in the reign of Antonius for the most part—and that they at first were believers in the doctrine of the Catholic Church, in the church of Rome under the episcopate of the blessed Eleutherius, until on account of their ever restless curiosity, with which they even infected the brethren, they were more than once expelled” (Demurrer Against the Heretics 30 [A.D. 200]).

Saint Hippolytus of Rome, disciple of Irenaeus, who was a disciple of Polycarp , who was a disciple of Saint John the Apostle -
"Fly to the Catholic Church! Adhere to the only faith which continues to exist from the beginning, that faith which was preached by Paul and is upheld by the Chair of Peter." [235 A.D.]

Saint Augustine of Hippo- “We must hold to the Christian religion and to communication in her Church, which is catholic and which is called catholic not only by her own members but even by all her enemies. For when heretics or the adherents of schisms talk about her, not among themselves but with strangers, willy-nilly they call her nothing else but Catholic. For they will not be understood unless they distinguish her by this name which the whole world employs in her regard” ( The True Religion: 7:12 [A.D. 390]).

Saint Cyprian of Carthage- “You ought to know, then, that the bishop is in the Church and the Church in the bishops; and if someone is not with the bishop, he is not in the Church. They vainly flatter themselves who creep up, not having peace with the priest of God, believing that they are secretly in communion with certain individuals. For the Church, which is one and catholic, is not split or divided, but is indeed united and joined by the cement of priests who adhere to one another” (Letters 66[67]:8 [A.D. 253]).

“[The Church] is called catholic, then, because it extends over the whole world, from end to end of the earth, and because it teaches universally and infallibly each and every doctrine which must come to the knowledge of men, concerning things visible and invisible, heavenly and earthly, and because it brings every race of men into subjection to godliness, governors and governed, learned and unlearned, and because it universally treats and heals every class of sins, those committed with the soul and those with the body, and it possesses within itself every conceivable form of virtue, in deeds and in words and in the spiritual gifts of every description” (Catechetical Lectures 18:23 [A.D. 350]).

“And if you ever are visiting in cities, do not inquire simply where the house of the Lord is—for the others, sects of the impious, attempt to call their dens ‘houses of the Lord’—nor ask merely where the Church is, but where is the Catholic Church. For this is the name peculiar to this holy Church, the mother of us all, which is the spouse of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God” (ibid., 18:26).

Objection: “But the Catholic Church quoted by these early Christians is not the same as the modern day “Roman” Catholic Church!, it was pagan made by Constantine!”

  Answer :If this wasn’t the case, why do Catholics believe in the same biblical traditions that the early Church Fathers do, like the Eucharist, intercession prayers to the saints, Bishops, deacons & priests, infant baptism, the papacy & much more unlike most modern day protestants. How could we have Catholic Church councils like the Council of Carthage or the Council of Elvira in 300 A.D., along with Popes who existed before Constantine the Great who legalized the Christian Faith.

Never forget that 136 years before Constanine, Saint Irenaeus himself, a disciple of Saint Polycarp who was a disciple of Saint John the Apostle proclaimed that all churches must be in unity with the Church of Rome.