In the midst of this penitential season of Lent it is refreshing to confess and reaffirm our faith as we do in this hymn. While The Lutheran Hymnal declares the author of this hymn to be anonymous, and Lutheran Worship lists the text as authored by L. Bollhagen, and our Lutheran Service Book lists the authors as Heiliges Lippen and Hertzen-Opffer, my readings attribute the hymn to Johann Olearius. Olearius was a German hymn writer, preacher, and academic. He taught philosophy at his alma mater, the University of Wittenberg. He also served as a court preacher and chaplain. As a preacher and theologian he wrote this hymn expressing Bible truths to be sung for our encouragement, comfort and hope.
Stanza one, “God loved the world so that he gave His only Son the lost to save That all who would in him believe Should everlasting life receive.” The first stanza of this hymn is almost a direct translation of John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” As we make our way through the season of Lent, reflecting on our sin and our part in putting Jesus on the cross, the words of what we call “the Gospel in a nutshell” bring continued hope and comfort. It is not the Law that moves us to confess our sins. Remember the Law only leads us either to despair, believing we have no hope, or it leads us to works righteousness, believing we can do something, we can work off our sins, we can earn forgiveness and eternal life. Rather it is the Gospel, the good news of the fact that our sins have already all been paid for that leads us to repentance. Thus it is with blessed assurance that our sins have been forgiven and that we have eternal life in heaven that we boldly confess our sins, are given forgiveness and are moved to confess our faith in the One who gave His life to save us.
Stanza two, “Christ Jesus is the ground of faith, Who was made flesh and suffered death; All then who trust in Him alone Are built on this chief cornerstone.” Here in stanza two we affirm our faith in Jesus as true God in human flesh who came to live for us, that is to do what is demanded of us and what we are unable to do, live a perfect life. Not only did Jesus live the perfect life for us in our place, but then He took all our sins, our imperfect life upon Himself, while giving us His perfection, and He suffered death for us in our place. As we are reminded that the price for sin, that is the price for human sin is human death, so Jesus had to be truly human in order to be our substitute, in order to give His life for ours. In this stanza we are bold to confess that Jesus is the chief cornerstone of the Church and our faith so that all who believe in Him are saved. It is not about us and what we do, but about Jesus and what He has already done for us. He has completely paid the price for our sins and gives us complete forgiveness.
Stanza three, “God would not have the sinner die; His Son with saving grace is nigh; His Spirit in the Word declares How we in Christ are heaven’s heir.” In this stanza we confess our Trinitarian faith as we confess our faith that God’s desire is that all people are saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. We confess that it is God the Holy Spirit who works through the means of grace, the Word and Sacraments in order to bring us to confess our faith in God’s saving grace purchased and won for us by His Son, Jesus. Thus we declare what God declares, that by faith in Jesus we are heirs of heaven.
Stanza four, “Be of good cheer, for God’s own Son Forgives all sins which you have done; And justified by Jesus’ blood, Your Baptism grants the highest good.” As we take the time to reflect on our lives in this world, as we wonder through the Ten Commandments, as we hear God’s Law which reflects our sinful image and shows how sinful we truly are we need to hear words of forgiveness and hope. In this stanza we sing of the confidence we have that all our sins have been paid for and are forgiven in Jesus. We sing how we know that we are justified, that is we are made just and right before God by Jesus blood. There is nothing in us that is good. There is nothing in us that earns or deserves forgiveness, indeed, we cannot gain forgiveness by ourselves no matter how hard we might try. Forgiveness is a gift given to us by God, earned and paid for by Jesus’ shedding His blood on the cross. And we are reminded that Jesus’ life and death are enough, no more needs to be done. He died, once for all.
And so we rejoice in our Baptism because it is our Baptism that secures us in our faith. Baptism is not what we do but what God does for us. Baptism is God putting His name on us, forgiving us our sins, washing us in the waters of forgiveness, robing us with His robes of righteousness, writing our names in the Book of Life. Baptism is God’s doing and God’s giving and our being done to and given to and so what else can we do but rejoice and give thanks to God for giving us our highest good.
Stanza five, “If you are sick, if death is near, This truth your troubled heart can cheer: Christ Jesus saves your soul from death; That is the firmest ground of faith.” In this stanza, stanza five we are reminded that it is in times of struggles, sickness and death, in times of trouble that we are encouraged to take heart and be of good cheer. And why are we of good cheer during struggles, trials and tribulations? Because our hope is not in the finiteness of this world, but in the infiniteness of heaven. This world and our lives in this world are short and sweet, but our true life, our real life is our life in heaven which is forever. And we have the certainty of our life in heaven because it is Jesus who has saved us, our soul from eternal death and hell. Indeed, Jesus and faith in Him is the firmest ground of faith.
Stanza six, “Glory to God the Father, Son, And Holy Spirit, Three in One! To you, O blessed Trinity, Be praise now and eternally!” Having had the Law show us our sins and the Gospel declaring us forgiven by the blood of Jesus in this last stanza we are moved to confess our faith in our triune God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In this doxological stanza we praise His name now and forever. Well, what else can we do? As you continually hear me say, we get it right when we point to Jesus and this hymn and especially this stanza points us to Jesus, true God in human flesh, one with the Father and the Holy Spirit, the blessed Trinity so indeed, Be praised now and eternally.
We are now over half way through the season of Lent. We have taken the time and we continue to take the time during this penitential season, to take stock of our sins and our part in Jesus’ suffering. In our hymn for today we rejoice in our singing more of our confession of the Gospel and sins forgiven. Perhaps similar words are in our minds as were in the author’s mind, words like those of Titus, “4But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:4-7). Or words like those of Paul written to Timothy, “9who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began” (2 Timothy 1:9). Or even the very words of Jesus Himself, “2And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven’” (Matthew 9:2).
Indeed, we confess what we sing in this hymn that God not only loved the world but continues to love the world. He loved the world so much that He gave His only Son, indeed, He Himself came, was born in human flesh, lived the perfect life, took our sins upon Himself in order to give His life for ours. The cornerstone, the foundation of our faith is Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. And yet, Jesus is not simply one of many gods, He is the One true God, the one true triune God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We rejoice and confess that our sins, all our sins, our sins of commission and omission, our sins of thought, word and deed, all our sins have been paid for by Jesus’ blood. We are made right in God’s eyes, that is we are justified before God by Jesus’ blood. And this justification becomes ours, is given to us at our Baptism where in water and God’s name are placed on us and through which the Holy Spirit gives us faith, forgiveness and eternal life. Our sins are forgiven. Heaven is ours. What else can we do except give praise and glory to our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, for His name’s sake. Amen.
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