Section 08: The Theology of Christ and Redemption
For Leo the two natures are never an abstract puzzle but the very ground of salvation: only because Christ is at once true God and true man can He save humanity at all. This section expounds Leo’s soteriology of the Incarnation — the admirabile commercium, the “wondrous exchange” that is the Latin counterpart to Eastern theosis — and the idea of the “Roman faith” as the touchstone of orthodoxy, distinguishing the Christology the East received from the ecclesiology it did not.
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (Church Father / Latin)
Contents
| File | Title | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| the-incarnation-and-the-two-natures.md | The Incarnation and the Two Natures | Leo’s soteriology: why the two complete natures are the ground of salvation; the admirabile commercium with the Sermon 21.3 “partaker of the divine nature” text; the redemptive arc (Nativity–Passion–Resurrection–Ascension–Pentecost) through the sermons; the relation to Eastern theosis as convergent Latin idiom; the communicatio idiomatum and the unity of the suffering person. |
| the-roman-faith.md | The Roman Faith | Leo’s idea of the Roman/Petrine faith as touchstone of orthodoxy; the Latin theological synthesis he carries (Tertullian, Augustine, Hilary, Ambrose) into a conciliar definition; the East’s reception of the Christology set beside its non-reception of the primacy claims — the dogma stated as the Church’s own, the primacy claims as a doctrine she has examined and not received, with pointers to Sections 05 and 09. |
How to Use
- Read The Incarnation and the Two Natures for the soteriology proper — the theological core of Leo’s whole project.
- Then read The Roman Faith for the way Leo bound that Christology to the authority of Rome, and for the fault line where the East received the one and declined the other.
Cross-References
- The Tome to Flavian — the dogmatic statement of this Christology.
- Preaching the Mystery — the pulpit form of the same soteriology.
- The Contested Legacy — the long debate over the “Roman faith” claim.
- Theosis — the deification doctrine to which the admirabile commercium corresponds.
- Ecumenical Councils — the conciliar reception of this Christology.
References
Full citations are at the foot of each file. The sermons are cited from CCSL 138/138A and PL 54 (trans. Freeland & Conway, FOTC 93; Feltoe, NPNF 2nd ser. vol. 12); the Tome as Ep. 28; the secondary scholarship principally Wessel, Neil, Grillmeier, and Meyendorff.