This Council of Carthage canonized nine beliefs to be received by the
Church. These nine statements were put
forth to deny the errors of Pelagius.
They are as follows:
1.
Death came from sin, not man's physical nature.
2.
Infants must be baptized to be cleansed from original sin.
3. Justifying grace
covers past sins and helps avoid future sins.
4. The grace of
Christ imparts strength and will to act out God's
commandments.
5. No good works
can come without God's grace.
6. We
confess we are sinners because it is true, not from humility.
7. The
saints ask for forgiveness for their own sins.
8. The
saints also confess to be sinners because they are.
9.
Children dying without baptism are excluded from both the Kingdom
of heaven and eternal life.
Every canon was accepted
as a universal belief of the Church and
banished all Pelagians from Italy.
These Carthaginian canons were
accepted by the Church at the
Ecumenical Council in AD 431. They
were received yet again at the Seventh
Ecumenical Council (the Second
Council of Nicea) in AD 787.