Guest Post by Rev. C. R. Biggs
Part I
By the middle of the second century,the Church had developed the Apostle's Creed which contained the foundational doctrines, or essential beliefs of the Christian Church. In the 4th century, the doctrines of the Trinity and the two natures of Christ had been established at the Councils of Nicea in 325 AD, Ephesus in 431 AD, and Chalcedon in 451 AD. The doctrine of soteriology however, or the doctrine of salvation and grace had not been clearly and systematically established until Augustine and the Pelagian controversy in the 5th century in the West. These doctrines of Salvation and Grace would continue to be debated throughout church history, through the Medieval period, the Reformation, and up to the 20th century. In contrast to these Augustinian doctrines of sin and grace, the controversial doctrine of Pelagianism would reappear in many forms to challenge these doctrines.