Salvation unto Us Has Come

Since the beginning of the school year, I have been teaching our Wisconsin Lutheran School teachers about hymns from our Christian Worship Supplement. We have finished that study. Now I am writing my own Bible studies based on familiar hymns from Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal.

CW: #390 – “Salvation unto Us Has Come”

Listen to “Salvation unto Us Has Come” sung in The Chapel of the Christ from MLC.

History of this hymn:

The hymn “Salvation Unto Us Has Come” was written by Paul Speratus, who lived from 1484 to 1551. This hymn has endured to this day because it is possibly the best Lutheran hymn ever written. It preaches Law and Gospel so clearly that it gives us the fullness of the Gospel story and gives us a framework from which we can understand all of Scripture.

Paul Speratus was born in what is now Germany in 1484 and became a preacher in 1518. He believed Luther’s teachings to be in accordance with what Scriptures teach and he was persecuted for his faithfulness to the pure Gospel. He was fired from his early preaching posts for expressing his views too openly. He was also one of the first priests to get married during the reformation period. He received his Doctor of Divinity degree from the University of Vienna, but was later condemned by the Vienna faculty for defending marriage and the doctrine of justification by grace through faith. His preaching, however, became very popular with the people and he was thrown in prison for it in 1523, where he stayed for three months. It was while he was in prison that he wrote this hymn, based on Romans 3:28: “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.” (musicalcatecheis.wordpress.com, October 27, 2010)

Originally published in 14 stanzas. We sing 6 of those stanzas in Christian Worship. It is one of the oldest and best known of Lutheran hymns and has been referred to as the true confessional hymn of the Reformation. Martin Luther shed tears when he heard it sung by a street-singer outside his window in Wittenberg. (Christian Worship Handbook, p. 408)

1. As was mentioned in the history and introduction, what in verse one makes this hymn so distinctly Lutheran?

Salvation comes to us through God’s grace. Nothing we earn. Nothing we deserve. Good works, penance, relics, indulgences cannot avert our doom. Those things only give us a false confidence. It is only faith in Jesus Christ alone that saves. “Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, O LORD, the God of truth” (Psalm 31:5)

2. What in verse two makes this hymn so distinctly Lutheran?

We cannot save ourselves. We cannot meet God’s demands in His holy Law. Whatever we do, whatever we try, will only bring wrath and woe. Many people like to think that we may not be perfect, but we’re not all that bad, either. We are vile offenders against a holy God. We have no pure desires within us. “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit” (John 3:6).

3. What in verse three makes this hymn so distinctly Lutheran?

Many Christian preachers use the Law as only a Guide. But Lutherans understand that God’s Law serves first as a Mirror to “bring the inbred sin to light.” It is the Law that shows people their sin and their need for a Savior. “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. ²⁰ Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.” (Romans 3:19-20)

4. What in verse four makes this hymn so distinctly Lutheran?

We cannot fulfill God’s Law. The debt is too high. The chasm is too wide. The price is too much. Because we could not pay the ransom price; because we could not obey the Law; because we could not still God’s anger and remove our punishment, Jesus did it all for us. “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

5. What in verse five makes this hymn so distinctly Lutheran?

Because Jesus paid the ransom price for us, He bought us back from the devil. He is the mediator between a holy God and sinful humanity. He is the atoning sacrifice that allows us to come into God’s presence. We build our faith upon this solid foundation of salvation through grace, faith and Christ alone. “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all men-- the testimony given in its proper time” (1 Timothy 2:5).

6. What in verse six makes this hymn so distinctly Lutheran?

We sing God’s praises as we close with a doxology. However, unlike contemporary Christian praise songs that simply tell God that we are praising Him, this hymn closes with the reason for giving our Triune God blessing, honor, thanks and praise – He has saved us by His grace.