RnMomof7:
And that Church grew up in a Roman/Greek Culture, not a Northern European Calvinist Culture. The Church was described as Catholic as early as St. Ignatius of Antioch’s 7 exant letters to various Churches in circa 107 AD. The Creeds of the early Church speak of the Catholic Church, not Calvinist, Christian, Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, etc, etc, etc.
The Canon was not formally settled well until the end of the 4th century at which time various Synods and Councils [Rome 382 AD, Hippo 393 AD; Carthage 397 AD] debated the Canon and with respect to the Carthage 397 AD, its decrees were sent to Rome for affirmation, to thus give the Council canons authority over the entire Western Church. The Eastern Church also under the influence of the St. Athanasius, the Bishop of Alexandria, also drew up a list of 27 NT books in the late 4th century reflecting the consensus of the East.
One one finds is that Hebrews was always looked at with questions in Rome, given that it had a better idea of what was authentically from St. Paul given that in God’s providence, it was in that eternal city that St. Paul was martyed, as was St. Peter. In the East, the book that was most question was Revelation.
St. Athansius, who was run out of Alexandria several times by the “Arius supporters” fled to Rome where his influence most likely got Rome to accept Hebrews as being used in Sacred Liturgy in the Eastern Church, which was among the major criteria used to accept a book into the Canon. Rome came around to accepting Revelation before the East and it seems that Rome’s influence for that book influenced St. Athansius to accept it into the canon, as his Easter Letter circa 370 AD affirms.
In closing, it was the “One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church” that determined the canon, the undivided Roman/Latin West and Greek/Byzantine East. Even Martin Luther recognized as much for he when as for to say, we owe the “Papist much for it is because of them that we have the Sacred Scriptures”
The Roman church did not"give us the NT" The New testament is inspired by the Holy Spirit and was written and compiled before the Roman institution existed . I am a catholic..belonging to the universal church of Christ that is composed of the "called out" ones..We are the invisible church found all around the world , known only to God. We have different churches, different denominations , but are united in Christ, by grace through faith ...
One thing the Catholic Church has that no other church has is Saints.