The year 2007 marks the 400th anniversary of the birth of Lutheran pastor and hymnist Paul Gerhardt. He was born in 1607 in a village near Wittenberg, Germany, and died in 1676 in Lubben, Germany. Gerhardt wrote a total of 133 hymns. Gerhardt’s hymns were born during a life of adversity, yet they proclaim a strong trust in God’s Word.

Lutheran hymns have a rich heritage of confession, profession and faith. Their main theme is faith in a gracious God and in Jesus as the Savior of the world. The Lutheran Sentinel pays tribute to those hymns by looking at Paul Gerhardt’s life during this year.

"I Will Sing My Maker's Praises"

Paul Gerhardt, ELH #448

“We didn't lose the game; we just ran out of time,” quipped one of the most successful coaches in football, Vince Lombardi, on a rare losing occasion. His forte was a focus on the fundamentals, and he strove to build character in his players, both on and off the field. On the field of play, they were trained to be focused, professional, bone-crushing machines. But off the field, they were expected to be kind, polite gentlemen and role models to society.

Paul Gerhardt was of a similar character. Writing to his son, who was training to be pastor, Gerhardt offered this advice: “Outside of your office and vocation do not become angry” (cf. Sentinel, June 2007, p.4). With the Apostle Paul's counsel in mind, “Be angry and do not sin” (Ephesians 4:26), Gerhardt advised his son to be immovable and courageous in the church militant, even exhibiting a righteous anger against all evil and false doctrine, but kind and long-suffering in the world. His hymns reflect that mindset, especially one of his best, "I Will Sing My Maker's Praises."

This hymn of praise to God's eternal love in the midst of trouble and suffering was first published in Johann Crüger's Berlin hymnal in 1656. At the end of each of the first five stanzas is this refrain, which summarizes the hymn: "All things else have but their day, God's great love abides for aye." A more literal translation of the German perhaps says it better: "Things of earth do break or bend, God's great love shall never end."

This hymn provides the Christian with a source of comfort in the midst of trials. It is a hymn filled with the promises of God's Word that all things work together for the good for the people of God, even when things go badly. It lifts the beaten-down soul out of the depths and into the peaceful hand of God our Creator. This is especially voiced in the first verse: "For in all things I see traces of His tender love to me."

Gerhardt was very familiar with trouble, due to his unwavering faithfulness to God's Word. While in Berlin he became involved in the conflict between Elector Friedrich Wilhelm (who was of the Reformed Church) and the Lutheran clergy of Berlin. Because he refused to bend to the edict of Wilhelm, which forbade Lutheran clergy from exposing the doctrinal errors of the Reformed church, Gerhard was deposed from his pastoral office by the Elector. At the last church he served, this is written under his portrait: “a theologian sifted in a sieve.”

It goes without saying that every hymn writer must undergo the comparison with the great German hymn writer, Martin Luther, and not many can stand the test as well as Gerhardt. Even though in the same class, Gerhardt's emphasis was different from Luther's, which was concerned with establishing and reinforcing the sound doctrine of the Gospel in congregational singing. Luther’s hymns often used the words “we” and “our,” thus reflecting the emphasis on the congregation. Examples of this are “A Mighty Fortress is Our God,” and “We All Believe in One True God.” On the other hand, we find in Gerhardt's hymns an emphasis on the individual. Sixteen of Gerhardt's hymns begin with “I,” as in “I Will Sing My Maker's Praises,” while none of Luther's begin this way.

This emphasis on the individual by Gerhardt is not to be understood as self-centered indulgence or equated with the mediocre praise songs of contemporary worship. Instead, “I Will Sing My Maker's Praises” offers a song of substance to the beleaguered soul, who in the midst of the struggle with sin, death and the devil, is encouraged to look constantly to the never-ending love of God in Christ and not to their own act of praise.

The Cross and the Atonement of Christ stand squarely in the center of Gerhardt's hymns. It could be said that Luther's hymns firmly establish the sound doctrine in congregational song, and Gerhardt's hymns, a century later, apply the sound doctrine of God's Word to the daily life of the individual Christian.

Richard Waters is pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Carthage, Missouri.