1.

0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Church doctrine
Often the word doctrine specifically suggests a body of religious principles as promulgated by
the magisterium of the church. Doctrine may also refer to a principle of law, in the common-
law traditions, established through a history of past decisions within the church. Some of the
doctrines that have developed in the church include; the  Holy Trinity, soteriology, divinity and
humanity of Christ, Transubstantiation and Mariology.1 Below are the ways through which the
doctrine developed;

2.0 ROLE PLAYED BY CHURCH FATHERS

The Church fathers strongly explained the various teachings of the church; in view of responding
to the heretics who were diverting from the orthodoxy. Church Fathers like Ireneaues, Justin the
martyr, Augustine of Hippo, Jerome, Clement of Alexandria, Gregory the Great, Ignatius of
Antioch, Cyprian of Carthage, among others strongly defined the various beliefs of the Catholic
Church. The church fathers have considerable authority on matters of Christian doctrine. Most
soundly they echo proper stands about the two natures of Christ, Theotokos, Trinity,
Transubstantiation, soteriology among others.

Depending on the attacks from the various heretics, Church Fathers Like Irenaeus, in his work
Against all Heresies, he profoundly responds to the Gnostics who allege that Jesus took nothing
from the Virgin; he says they greatly err and he asks why did He then come down into Mary if
He were to take nothing of her? This was a foundation for Christology and elaborating on his
Humanity and divinity. Many more works that defend the church teachings were developed like
De Trinitate by St. Augustine of Hippo, giving clear and distinct explanations about the Holy
Trinity. Hippolytus of Rome, in the Discourse on the End of the world explains about salavation
and the life to come. Hippolytus still states in the Refutation of all heresies, that no one willrefute
heretics except the Holy spirit bequeathed unto the church, which the apostles transmitted to
those who rightly believed; he calls upon the guardians of the church to be vigilant in fighting
these erroneous teachings. Conclusively, according to John Henry Newman, when the Church
Fathers speak of doctrines, they speak of them as being universally held. He says they teach us
1
Tanner, Norman P. (ed.), Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, Volume One: Nicaea I to Lateran V,
Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press 1990. p. 35.

1
doctrine because they bare witness to what Christ has taught and passed on through apostolic
tradition. Therefore, we can’t shun the Fact that the church Fathers laid a foundation for the
development of doctrine.

3.0 ROLE OF ECUMENICAL COUNCILS

The purpose of these councils was to affirm the doctrines of the church and refute schismatic
heresies. The first two ecumenical councils were the first Council of Nicea (in 325 C.E) and the
Council of Constantinople (in 381 C.E). redifeined the creed and gave it a more defensive
approach, they fixed a date for easter, granted the holy sees of Rome, Alexandrisa, Antioch and
especially Jerusalem a place of influence in the church, and called the alternate faiths of
Arianism and Macedonism heretical. Their focus, though, was in defining exactly what the
relationship between God the Father, God the son and God the Holy spirit was. They decided
that the Father, the son and the Holy spirit were just three aspects of the same person and
summed it up in the Nicene creed. The council of Ephesus 431 C.E condemned Nestorianism,
which said that Mary had not given birth to God. After that decision, the church of the East
stopped attending the ecumenical councils. The council also called pelagism heretical.
Pelagianism was the belief that even with God that people have free will. 2 Perhaps the
importance of the councils was to make sure that all the different branches of Christianity are
teaching the same doctrines. The third and fourth ecumenical councils, the council of Ephesus in
431 C.E and the Council of Chalcedon in 451 C.E., reaffirmed the truth of the Nicene creed. The
fifth ecumenical council was the Second council of Constantinople, held more than one hundred
years after Council of Chalcedon. It condemned Arianism as universally accepted heresy and
repeated the condemnation of Nestorianism. In the second Council of Nicea 787 C.E, came a
decision that icons and other images of saints and religious figures could be venerated and that
these items were not idols, as had previously been declared by regional Christian groups. 3 The
formula for the Ecumenical councils was essentially uniform, certain doctrines were supported or
elucidated, and heresies were refuted. Other councils also ensured that secular leaders did not
meddle too much in church affairs, such as when rulers tempted to appoint their own religious

2
Erickson Mj. The word became flesh: A contemporary Incarnational Christology, New York: Baker Book
House, 1966. p. 114.
3
Tanner, Norman P. (ed.), 1990, Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, Volume One: Nicaea I to Lateran V,
Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press 1990.p.78.

2
leaders during the investiture crisis. It safeguarded the church against the growing heresies,
hence the doctrine flourishing.

4.0 ACUTENESS OF THEOLOGICAL ERROR

Heresy can be defined as a deviation away from established Orthodoxy into error. Departing
from the truth of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church is not only dangerous but
destructive because it disrupts and dilutes the truth or changes it in any way. Two well defined
heresies in the Arian strain and the Apollinarian strain brought Christological debates which led
to the definition of the incarnation and God-man in the councils. This culminated in the
development of doctrine of hypostatic union which recognized the two natures of Christ. Thus,
the Apostles communicated their witness experience to their disciples through oral transmission,
who then communicated it down the continuum of the church generation after generation, as
Holy Tradition. But gradually, the church had to use written formulations based on the original
preaching of the gospel to dispel certain points of view that were deemed to be inconsistent with
the deposit of faith.4 The attacks on the theology of the church, helped her to build and
strengthen her doctrine with all necessary theological arguments. Never the less, heresies were a
strong push for the church to structure and distinctly explain her theology and doctrine.

5.0 ROLE OF THE PAPACY

During the early history of Christianity, Rome became an increasingly important center of the
faith, which gave the bishop of Rome more power over the entire church, thereby ushering in the
era of papal supremacy. Being the Vicar of Christ and as pastor of the entire Christian Church,
the Pope has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole church, a power which can
always exercise unhindered-that, in brief, the Pope enjoys, by divine institution universal power
in the care of souls.”5 The doctrine had the most significance in the relationship between the
church and the temporal state, in matters such as ecclesiastic privileged, the actions of monarchs
and even successions. The creation of the term papal supremacy dates back to the 6th century, at
the time of the fall of the western Roman Empire, which was the beginning of the rise of the
Bishops of Rome in the early Christian era, Rome and a few other cities had claims on the
4
Cross FL. Heresy. Oxford dictionary of the Christian Church. 3rd ed. Oxford, Oxford
University Press, 2005.p. 302.
5
Mcdonald Hd, Development and Christology. Vox Evangelica 9:5-27. 1975.

3
leadership of the worldwide church. During the 1st century of the church (30-130), the Roman
capital became recognized as a center of exceptional importance. In the 2nd century, there were
more manifestations of Roman authority over other churches. In 189, assertion of the primacy of
the church of Rome may be indicated in Irenaeus’s work Against Heresies: With (church of
Rome), because of its superior origin, all the churches must agree…and it is in her that the
faithful everywhere have maintained the apostolic tradition. In 195, Pope Victor 1, in what is
seen as an exercise of Roman authority over other churches, excommunicated the
Quartodeciman for observing Easter on the 14th of Nisan, the date of the Jewish Passover.
Celebration of Easter on a Sunday, as insisted on by the pope, is the system that has prevailed.6

When Constantine became emperor of the western Roman empire in 312, in the Edict of Millan,
which mandated toleration of all religions in the empire. Decisions made at the council of Nicea
325 about the divinity of Christ led to a schism; the new religion, Arianism, flourished outside
the Roman Empire. This led to further schisms. In 380, the Edict of Thessalonica declared
Nicene Christianity, as opposed to Arianism, to be the state religion of the empire, with the name
Catholic Christians reserved for those who accepted that faith. While the civil power in the
Eastern Roman Empire controlled the church and the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople, the
capital wielded much power, in the western Roman empire the bishops of Rome were able to
consolidate the influence and power they already possessed. 7 After the bishop of Rome gaining
supremacy, now it meant definition and defending of the doctrine by the magisterium. Through
encyclicals and declaring dogmas to protect her teachings, this later led to the growth of Church
doctrine.

6.0 CONCLUSION

The doctrine of the church developed as result of attacks or wrong teachings made by the
different heretics. The attempt to respond to them by the Church Fathers enlightened more about
the stand of the church on her beliefs which were more profoundly defended in the ecumenical
councils. The pope had to declare dogmas on every grave theological error that could distort the
teaching of the church in the end, this could protect her doctrine and thus flourish.

6
Grillmeier A. Christ in Christian Tradition: from the Apostolic Age to Chalcedon (451),
Louisville, Westminster John Knox press, 1975. p. 210.
7
John A. Haldon (ed), Arianism, Modern Catholic Dictionary. New York Doubleday, 1966. p.41.

4
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Tanner, Norman P. (ed.), 1990, Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, Volume One: Nicaea I to
Lateran V, Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
Baker M. T.F, Torrance and Eastern Orthodoxy: Theology in reconciliation, USA: (2015)
Wipfandstock.
Cross FL. Heresy. Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford
University Press. 2005
Erickson Mj. The word became flesh: A contemporary Incarnational Christology, New York:
. 1966 Baker Book House.
Grillmeier A. Christ in Christian Tradition: from the Apostolic Age to Chalcedon (451),
Louisville: 1975, Westminster John Knox press.
Haldon JA. Apollinarianism. In John A Haldon Sj(ed) Modern Catholic Dictionary. New
York: Doubleday, 33.
Haldon JA. Arianism. John A. Haldon (ed), Modern Catholic Dictionary. New York Doubleday,
41. 1966.
Macleod D, The Person of Christ, Nottomgham: SPCK Publishing. (1998)
Mcdonald hd, Development and Christology. Vox Evangelica 9:5-27. 1975

Table of Contents

1.0 INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................1

5
 1.1 Church doctrine......................................................................................................................1
2.0 ROLE PLAYED BY CHURCH FATHERS.............................................................................1
3.0 ROLE OF ECUMENICAL COUNCILS...................................................................................2
4.0 ACUTENESS OF THEOLOGICAL ERROR...........................................................................3
5.0 ROLE OF THE PAPACY.........................................................................................................3
6.0 CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................4
BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................................................5