Unless stated otherwise, my source for hymn texts and tunes is The Lutheran Service Book.

Wednesday, July 7, 2021

LSB #580 "The Gospel Shows the Father's Grace"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Romans 1:16-17, John 3:16, 1 John 4:9-10, Hebrews 9:28

Romans 1:16-17:  "16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith.'"

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.'"

1 John 4:9-10:  "9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.  10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

Hebrews 9:28:  "so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him."

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The text is public domain:
The Gospel shows the Father's grace,
Who sent His Son to save our race,
Proclaims how Jesus lived and died
That we might thus be justified.
It sets the Lamb before our eyes,
Who made the atoning sacrifice,
And calls the souls with guilt oppressed
To come and find eternal rest.
It brings the Savior's righteousness
To robe our souls in royal dress;
From all our guilt it brings release
And gives the troubled conscience peace.
It is the pow'r of God to save
From sin and Satan and the grave;
It works the faith which firmly clings
To all the treasures which it brings.
It bears to all the tidings glad
And bids their hearts no more be sad;
The weary, burdened souls it cheers
And banished their guilty fears.
May we in faith its message learn
Nor thanklessly its blessings spurn;
May we in faith its truth confess
And praise the Lord, our righteousness.
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The verses from Romans 1 seem to be referred to at the beginning of the hymn ("The Gospel shows the Father's grace..."), but they appear more clearly in the fourth verse:  "It is the pow'r of God to save...."  The repeated "May we in faith" in the last verse seems to come from "The righteous shall live by faith" in verse 17.

John 3:16 and 1 John 4:9-10 seem to be combined in the rest of the first verse:  "Who sent His Son to save our race, / Proclaims how Jesus lived and died / That we might thus be justified."

Hebrews 9:28 is the basis for most of the second verse.  "The Lamb" in the first line, however, refers to John the Baptist's title for Jesus in John 1:29 and 36.  The "eternal rest" in that verse and the line "The weary, burdened souls it cheers" in the fifth verse may be references to Matthew 11:28:  "'Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.'"

The lines "It brings the Savior's righteousness / To robe our souls in royal dress" in the third verse may be a reference to the white robes in Revelation 7.