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Examined Doctrine

Council of Constantinople I on Original sin & the human will

381 · ECUMENICAL COUNCIL · DOCUMENT, NOT A PERSON
READ IN A PRIMARY SOURCENO POSITION FOUND
NO STANCE — AND WHY

No position located on this map

Searched in the sources read for this figure and not found. A limit of the reading rather than a claim about the figure — a source not yet read could settle it.

We acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins.
The Constantinopolitan Creed (381) — the nearest the creed comes to the fall, and it is a premise rather than an account

THE POSITION

The creed of 381 expands Nicaea on the Spirit, the church and the age to come; it says nothing about what the fall did to human nature. The canons are occupied with named heresies, jurisdiction and the reception of converts. The question this locus asks is nowhere addressed — searched and not located rather than unaskable, since Tertullian had been arguing for transmitted sin since around 210 and Latin theology had not stopped. This council's subject is the Spirit's deity, and it stays on it.

WHAT OTHERS HOLD HERE

Will in bondage; needs sovereign grace to be freedAUGUSTINE · VODDIE BAUCHAM · CALVIN · JONATHAN EDWARDS · THE CHURCH OF ELEVEN22 STATEMENT OF FAITH · M. HEISER · JOSH HOWERTON · TIM KELLER · SECOND LONDON BAPTIST CONFESSION · LUTHER · JOHN MACARTHUR · JOHN OWEN · JUSTIN PETERS · JOHN PIPER · R.C. SPROUL · CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON · WESTMINSTER CONFESSION · GEORGE WHITEFIELD · ZWINGLI
Nature wounded but not destroyed; grace perfects itAQUINAS · ATHANASIUS · EPHESUS · WILLIAM OF OCKHAM · JOHN DUNS SCOTUS
Depraved, but prevenient grace restores ability to respondJACOBUS ARMINIUS · BILLY GRAHAM · PHILIP MELANCHTHON · WESLEY
Free will substantially intact; God and man cooperateBASIL THE GREAT · CHRYSOSTOM · CHARLES GRANDISON FINNEY · IRENAEUS
See all 36 figures on original sin & the human will →

ABOUT THIS FIGURE

Completed the creed with a full article on the Holy Spirit as Lord and Giver of Life, proceeding from the Father. Condemned the Pneumatomachi and Apollinarians.

5 OF 5 POSITIONS QUOTED
Everything Constantinople I holds →
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"Council of Constantinople I on Original sin & the human will", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/constantinople-1/original-sin (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/constantinople-1/original-sin).

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