A Hymn Of Grace: Jesus Lives And So Shall I

Jesus lives, and so shall I.
Death! thy sting is gone forever!
He who deigned for me to die,
Lives, the bands of death to sever.
He shall raise me with the just:
Jesus is my Hope and Trust.

Jesus lives and reigns supreme;
And His Kingdom still remaining,
I shall also be with Him,
Ever living, every reigning.
God has promised: be it must;
Jesus is my Hope and Trust.

Jesus lives, I know full well,
Naught from Him my heart can sever,
Life nor death nor powers of hell,
Joy nor grief, henceforth forever.
None of all His saints is lost;
Jesus is my Hope and Trust.

Jesus lives, and death is now
But my entrance into glory.
Courage, then, my soul, for thou
Hast a crown of life before thee;
Thou shalt find thy hopes were just;
Jesus is the Christian’s trust.

—Christian F. Gellert (Translated by Philip Schaff)

“Jesus Lives and So Shall I” is worthy to be called a hymn of grace because of its unconditional expression of the absolute assurance of the believer’s salvation. The hymn proclaims that this assurance is based solely upon Christ’s death for us (stanza 1), and God’s promise to us (stanza 2), and that the Lord’s resurrection is our positive proof that His sacrifice on our behalf secured everlasting life for those who believe. The final phrase of each stanza emphasizes that the Lord Jesus, rather than one’s own merits, is the true basis of the believer’s hope and trust. Perhaps the author had been meditating on 1 John 5:13: “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God” (NKJV).

Christian Fürchtegott Gellert (whose middle name means “God-fearing”) was a German poet who lived from 1715 to 1769. He wrote many hymns which became popular with both Lutherans and Roman Catholics. [1] Philip Schaff (1819–1893) translated the lyrics into English. Schaff was born in Switzerland and educated in Germany. After coming to the United States he became a professor at the German Reformed Seminary in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, in 1844. In 1870, he became a professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York. He edited a great deal of theological literature, including an American adaptation of Herzog’s Realencyclopädie and a series of translations of the church fathers. [2]

The hymn tune “Zuversicht” was written by the post-Reformation composer, Johann Cruger (1598–1662), who served for forty years as cantor of St. Nicholas Church in Berlin. [3] The Reformation’s revival of congregational singing created a need for suitable hymn tunes. Cruger was one of the outstanding composers of such melodies.

Reynolds evaluates him highly:

Cruger was a skillful composer and his tunes are sturdy, simple, and syllabic, with firm metrical rhythm. There is a lyric quality quite unlike the early, primitive chorale melodies. [4]

Gellert’s words, skillfully put into English by Schaff and wedded to Cruger’s strong melody, make for a powerful statement of the grace of God in Christ.

—Frances A. Mosher (Pianist, Christ Congregation, Dallas, Texas)

Notes

1. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, edited by Elizabeth A. Livingstone (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977), 208.
2. Ibid., 461.
3. William Jensen Reynolds, A Survey of Christian Hymnody (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1963), 23.
4. Ibid.