Luther and the “Repair of Chalcedon”1

Abstract

Luther's Christology has long been suspected of deviating from the Chalcedonian Definition. Analysis of the suspicions raises in turn questions about Chalcedon as an incoherent compromise between the forces of Cyril and Leo. Complicating the issue is the metaphysical rendering of hypostasis as suppositum in medieval Western scholasticism. Luther's theopaschite Christology presses for the “repair” of Chalcedon by situating the Antiochene concern for Christ's human obedience within the divine self-donation of the Eternal Son according to the Alexandrians. In a Trinitarian Christology incorporating the Antiochene concern for the human obedience of Christ, there would be no competition between the personal union of the divine Son in taking on human body and soul and the Holy Spirit anointing this assumed flesh to create of it the new Adam.