Gregory's Formula
From Neoredemptive
Perhaps the most famous phrase penned by Gregory of Nazianzus, in which he says:
to gar aproslepton, atherapeuton ho de henotai to theu, touto kai sozetai
(That which was not assumed is not healed; but that which is united to God is saved)
This statement illustrates the bridge in orthodox thinking from the Christology of the Nicene Creed and the Chalcedonian Creed, and was written in opposition to the position of Apollinaris that Jesus Christ, in his incarnation, did not assume a human mind. A more complete quotation makes this clear:
If anyone has put trust in him as a man without a human mind, he is really bereft of mind, and quite unworthy of salvation. For that which he has not assumed he has not healed; but that which is united to his Godhead he has also saved. If only half Adam fell, then that which Christ assumes and saves may be half also; but if the whole of his nature fell, it must be united to the whole nature of Him that was begotten, and so be saved as a whole. Let them not, then, begrudge us our complete salvation, or clothe the Saviour only with bones and nerves and the portraiture of humanity. (Edward R. Hardy, ed., Christology of the Later Fathers, p.218-219)
Bibliography
- Unapologetic Apologetics, Chapter 9 -- Can a Male Savior Save Women?
