I’ve been exploring some of the very modern worship songs as an old guy 😀. But now, I’ve decided to alternate between very modern hymns, old hymns, and in-between hymns, namely the worship songs from the 60s to the 90s that feature in hymnbooks such as Mission Praise. Today it’s the turn of the old hymns.
Today’s song is To God Be the Glory from 1875.
1 To God be the glory, great things He hath done,
so loved He the world that He gave us His Son,
who yielded His life an atonement for sin,
and opened the life-gate that all may go in.
Refrain:
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father through Jesus the Son,
and give Him the glory, great things He hath done.
2 O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,
to ev'ry believer the promise of God;
the vilest offender who truly believes,
that moment from Jesus a pardon receives. [Refrain]
3 Great things He hath taught us, great things He hath done,
and great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;
but purer, and higher, and greater will be
our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see. [Refrain]
My current church doesn’t sing old hymns, but we frequently sang this one in my previous churches. It was written by an American but was initially only popular in Britain. During the 1954 Billy Graham Crusade in Nashville, song leader Cliff Barrows introduced the hymn after learning it in Britain. Then it became widely popular.
I remember once hearing someone making a visual representation of the hymn for a children’s meeting. The “vilest offender” from verse three was portrayed as an unshaven guy with a cigarette in his mouth 😀. Well, I don’t know how I’d portray the vilest offender. We’re all vile offenders, which is why we need a Saviour.
Another memory was some hymnbooks changing the last line of the first verse from “that all may go in” to “that we may go in”. The death of Jesus doesn’t open heaven for everyone. It’s just for those who believe in him.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
But you could say that the gate is open for all and that the way to walk through it is to repent and believe. So, I’m happy with either version. Or you could say that “all” refers to all those who’ve been chosen by God before the foundation of the world. This touches on a theological debate between Calvinists and Arminians. I’m a Calvinist, but I’m happy to believe that things might be more complicated. I’ll find out whose right when I get to heaven. And if I’m correct, I’ll be able to boast about it to all the Arminians. But I’ll be a nice guy in heaven, so maybe I’ll just lie low for a while and keep quiet about my success 😀. Calvinist focus on God shaping everything and Arminians focus on human free will. Many believe that it’s more about different perspectives. For example, I might feel that I chose God, but I can also feel that God chose me. And both opinions can find plenty of New Testament verses to substantiate their outlook.
Leaving all that aside, the hymns is truly wonderful both lyrically and musically, and I hope that I’ll be able to sing it in church at some stage again.
Here are some other versions:
Galatians 1:3-5
3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Hibernia Gospel 