LSB #746 "Through Jesus' Blood and Merit"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Romans 8:35-39, Ephesians 1:4-6

Romans 8:35-39:  "35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?  36 As it is written, 'For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.'  37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Ephesians 1:4-6:  "4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.  In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved."

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The text is public domain:

1 Through Jesus' blood and merit

I am at peace with God.

What, then, can daunt my spirit,

However dark my road?

My courage shall not fail me,

For God is on my side;

Though hell itself assail me,

Its rage I may deride.

2 There's nothing that can sever

From this great love of God;

No want, no pain whatever,

No famine, peril, flood.

Though thousand foes surround me,

For slaughter mark His sheep,

They never shall confound me,

The vict'ry I shall reap.

3 For neither life's temptation

Nor death's most trying hour

Nor angels of high station

Nor any other pow'r

Nor things that now are present

Nor things that are to come

Nor height, however pleasant,

Nor darkest depths of gloom

4 Nor any creature ever

Shall from the love of God

This ransomed sinner sever;

For in my Savior's blood

This love has its foundation;

God hears my faithful prayer

And long before creation

Named me His child and heir.

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The passage from Romans 8 is the main source for the hymn; verses 35-37 are paraphrased in the hymn's second verse, and verses 38-39 are paraphrased in the third verse and the first few lines of the fourth.

The passage from Ephesians 1 appears at the end of the fourth verse.

The line "Though thousand foes surround me" in the second verse may come from Psalm 3:6:  "I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around."

"Through Jesus' Blood and Merit"

About a year ago, I wrote a post about some features in "Through Jesus' Blood and Merit," but when it was the hymn in a Concordia University Wisconsin chapel service I watched recently, I found an-other small point to note.

The third line in the third verse, continuing the list of things that cannot separate us from the love of God, is "Nor angels of high station," sung to this phrase from the tune "Lob Gott getrost mit Singen":

"High" is sung to the highest pitch in the phrase (an A), so there's something of a sense of its meaning.

"Through Jesus' Blood and Merit"

I found a couple small features to note in "Through Jesus' Blood and Merit," sung to the tune "Lob Gott getrost mit Singen."

Here's the third musical phrase:

In the second verse, the text here (based on part of Romans 8:38-39) is "No want, no pain whatever."  The three syllables of "whatever" are each sung to a different pitch (A F# D), musically giving a sense of breadth.

The last musical phrase:

In the third verse, the text (still drawing from Romans 8) is "Nor darkest depths of gloom."  "Depths" is sung with a descending melisma (D C B), giving a sense of its meaning.  In Lutheran Worship, this line is "Nor depth of deepest gloom," where "deepest" is sung with a melisma (D C B A), which gives a sense not only of the meaning, but also of the superlative nature of this adjective (more notes for a greater degree).